As speaker of the House, Mike Johnson (LA-04) is naturally keeping a close eye on the midterm elections. Republicans only have the slimmest of House majorities as it stands – the current split is 219R-212D (with four vacancies) – so the chamber could easily flip come November's elections.
As a leader of the Republican Party, Johnson is keenly aware that Democrats are increasingly flirting with socialism, particularly among younger voters, and he nailed the problem during a Saturday interview on Kayleigh McEnany's Fox News show, Saturday in America.
When asked by McEnany if there are any examples of socialism actually working, Johnson said there aren't any; and, furthermore, the midterms this year are a "contrast election" and will come down to "common sense versus communism."
He continued:
Communism and this philosophy has led to the murder of more than 100 million people in the last century. It has never worked anywhere it’s been tried. And the reason is because it runs completely counter to human nature and to the principles that made our country the greatest nation in the history of the world.
We believe in individual freedom. We believe in limited government. We believe in free markets and free enterprise and the dignity of work, and all these things that have made America exceptional. They want to turn all of that upside down.
NEW: @SpeakerJohnson told me, "these insurgent left candidates are winning the Democrat primaries all across the country."
"The barbarians are inside the gate. It's very, very serious stuff."
Speaker Johnson explained that communism "begins with the wrong premise."
"Communism is anti-American. It's the opposite of our ideals. We're one nation under God."
"Communism begins with the premise that there is no God. The state is the god, effectively."
"It never works, and it ends in poverty, destruction, political violence, human suffering. That is the story of Communism."
"This election really does draw a contrast in a sharp way for the American people."
Johnson was adamant about one thing in particular: this threat is here, not in some future political world. "This is what we’re facing right now," the speaker told McEnany of socialism's creep into the Democrat Party.
In remarks earlier this month, Johnson drove the point home, decrying how badly the other side had botched things over the last ten years.
"Could we've imagined even 10 years ago, if somebody told us that on the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the greatest nation in the history of the world, in the midterm, in the fall of 2026, we'd be in a contest to determine whether we're going to maintain our constitutional republic — the greatest nation in history — or go down this dark, dangerous, deadly road to communism?" Johnson said.
Things are precarious, not just for the House GOP and its seat count, but for the country as a whole. Johnson’s point is that socialism’s appeal may be getting a shiny new look from a new generation of candidates, but the underlying ideology hasn’t changed one bit. And this is something young voters aren’t hearing nearly enough about.
It's not something Speaker Johnson intends to be quiet on, judging by his conclusion, "And so we are here as the Republican Party to stand on the founding principles of the greatest nation in the history of the world. It is our duty to do that, and we’re doing it on behalf of everybody."
https://redstate.com/terichristoph/2026/08/15/mike-johnson-nails-why-gen-z-is-embracing-socialism-n2205634
