House Speaker Mike Johnson just proved why so many conservatives are fed up with Republican leadership.
When push came to shove, the man who’s supposed to defend his party chose the path of least resistance.
And Mike Johnson made a cowardly surrender in this fight with Ilhan Omar.
Johnson’s Weak Response to Omar’s Outrageous Comments
Republican leaders love to talk tough on Sunday morning television.
But when it comes time to actually do something about the radical left’s most dangerous rhetoric, they suddenly develop a case of amnesia about their own power.
House Speaker Mike Johnson proved this point perfectly when he responded to Ilhan Omar’s disgusting comments about Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
During an appearance on Mehdi Hasan’s podcast, Omar essentially blamed Kirk for his own brutal murder.
"Yeah, there is nothing more effed-up, you know, like than to completely pretend his words and action have not been recorded," Omar said while discussing Kirk’s assassination.
She went even further, suggesting that Kirk and his supporters "can’t continue to set the fires that end up consuming them and cry about it."
Translation: Kirk said things Omar didn’t like, so no one can cry when he gets gunned down in cold blood.
The day after Kirk was murdered, Omar doubled down by reposting a video calling Kirk a "reprehensible human being" and claiming "Charlie Kirk was Dr. Frankenstein, and his monster shot him through the neck."
Republican Leadership Fails to Act
When Johnson appeared on Fox News Sunday, he offered the kind of weak, milquetoast response that makes conservative voters want to tear their hair out.
"She clearly has no idea what she’s talking about. She has not followed Charlie. She’s playing into this characterization of him that the left has been advancing," Johnson said. "We’ve got to turn the rhetoric down. That is exactly the opposite of what we should be doing, what you just saw in that video right there."
Turn the rhetoric down?
That’s Johnson’s response to a sitting congresswoman essentially celebrating the assassination of a prominent conservative activist?
When reporters asked Johnson’s office about potential disciplinary measures on Monday, they got radio silence.
Not a single concrete plan emerged from the Speaker’s team.
Here’s a guy who has the power to strip Omar from her committee assignments with a simple majority vote.
He could put forward a resolution calling for her expulsion from Congress.
He could at least force a censure vote to put every Democrat on record defending Omar’s sick comments.
Instead, Johnson chose to do absolutely nothing.
It took Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA) to show some actual leadership by introducing his own measure to kick Omar off key committees.
Carter’s resolution would boot her from both the Budget Committee and the Education and Workforce Committee.
That resolution should have come from the Speaker’s office the moment Omar opened her mouth.
The Pattern of Weak Republican Leadership
Look, this isn’t Omar’s first rodeo when it comes to outrageous statements.
She’s faced multiple censure resolutions for antisemitic comments, including suggesting Jewish students were "pro-genocide" and claiming "Israel has hypnotized the world."
In 2023, House Republicans finally worked up the courage to remove her from the Foreign Affairs Committee.
Omar celebrated that punishment as a victory on her website.
You want to know what that tells you about the effectiveness of Republican leadership’s previous attempts to hold her accountable?
It tells you they’ve been about as effective as a screen door on a submarine.
Here’s the thing that should make every conservative voter furious: Omar keeps making these statements because she knows there will be no real consequences.
She represents a district in Minnesota that’s been flooded with Somali immigrants who see her as their voice in Congress.
She’s not worried about losing an election anytime soon.
The only thing that might get her attention is actual punishment from Congressional leadership.
But Johnson can’t seem to find the backbone to deliver it.
What This Really Means for Conservative America
This goes way beyond just one radical congresswoman running her mouth.
Omar’s comments came right after she complained that Republicans "don’t mind" Kamala Harris "getting killed" because they didn’t extend her Secret Service protection indefinitely.
She’s painting conservatives as people who want their political opponents dead.
Can you imagine how that sounds to some unhinged leftist with a weapon?
Omar and Hasan spent their entire interview complaining about dangerous rhetoric while simultaneously engaging in the most dangerous rhetoric imaginable.
They blamed Kirk for his own assassination because he dared to advocate for conservative positions.
This is the same playbook the left uses every single time: accuse conservatives of exactly what they’re doing themselves.
The difference is that when conservatives engage in heated political rhetoric, Republican leaders immediately call for "lowering the temperature" and "civility."
When leftists like Omar essentially celebrate political assassinations, those same Republican leaders offer gentle criticism on Sunday morning talk shows.
You want to know why Trump won in a landslide?
It’s because conservative voters are sick and tired of Republican leaders who act like they’re more afraid of bad press coverage than they are of letting radical Democrats get away with dangerous rhetoric.
Johnson had a golden opportunity to show some backbone and hold Omar accountable for comments that crossed every line of human decency.
Instead, he chose to play the role of the concerned Sunday school teacher calling for everyone to just get along.
The American people deserve better leadership than this.
They deserve Republicans who understand that when someone celebrates the murder of your political allies, you don’t respond with gentle requests for civility.
You respond with consequences.
¹ Beth Brelje, "Johnson Has No Plans To Punish Omar For Comments Justifying Charlie Kirk’s Murder," The Federalist, September 15, 2025.
² Ibid.
³ Ibid.
⁴ Ibid.
