‘Every accusation is a confession’: Mike Johnson is threatening to withhold federal aid after deadly California wildfires

As Los Angeles residents flee their homes and watch from afar as their lives are burned to ash from the county’s various wildfires, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is contemplating how to capitalize on the horrific situation.

Dozens are dead and hundreds of thousands of California residents are displaced as fires continue to ravage their communities. Harsh winds continue to both feed and spread furious flames across several southern California neighborhoods, and the state is increasingly desperate for aid. Just under a week into the fire’s spread, things are dire for nearly half a million American citizens, but there are politicians still willing to let them suffer for the sake of leverage. Politicians like Mike Johnson.

The Republican leader of the House of Representatives indicated on Jan. 13 that “conditions” will be attached to any funding provided to the historically Democratic state’s disaster relief. It seems he’s planning to initiate a political tug-of-war over vital aid Californians desperately need, but he’s not overly specific about what terms would be attached.

Johnson joins Donald Trump and a bulk of right-wing airheads claiming the fires are a result of Democratic leaders who “were derelict in their duty.” They believe California Governor Gavin Newsom should resign, and they’ve been blame-slinging since the flames first started spreading through the Golden State.

Keep in mind, of course, that this is the same political party that thinks Democrats control the weather. So, brutal as it is, it’s actually quite reasonable to believe that Johnson, egged on by the likes of Marjorie ‘Space Lasers’ Greene, thinks negotiating with the Democrats is akin to harnessing Mother Nature.

Johnson told reporters on Monday that the House Republican Conference is prepped for a “serious discussion” about aid for California. “I think there should probably be conditions on that aid,” he said. “That’s my personal view. We’ll see what the consensus is. I haven’t had a chance to socialize that with any of the members over the weekend because we’ve all been very busy, but it’ll be part of the discussion.”

So there’s a very real chance that, if the nation wants to see California receive Congressional aid, Democrats will be forced to meet conditions laid down by Johnson. These will likely have nothing at all to do with disaster response, access to water, or brush removal, but rather lean into the disastrous policies championed by their incoming president-elect. The same ones Democrats have been ardently opposed to from the start.

That fact wasn’t lost on the American public, which let its ire be known in social media pushback to Johnson’s statement. Over on Reddit, commenters pointed out that Johnson is engaging in the exact same behavior Republicans are always accusing Democrats of, and he’s not even being clever about it. “Literally every accusation is a confession with those dipshits,” another added.

Johnson’s comments came after he was asked if he was open to sending funding, which may leave it up to a bare few Republican voices to decide how much help California citizens deserve. There’s no indication of when said discussion will occur, but as strong winds continue to hamper first responders’ efforts to tame the flames, we must hope it will be soon. More lives and land are lost every moment that Johnson and his crowd delays, but that seems to matter little when it’s a Democratic state that’s suffering.

Keep in mind that President Biden, in response to those hurricanes Greene is convinced Democrats control, sent nearly $2 billion in assistance for hurricane recovery efforts. Biden sees people where Johnson sees pawns, and he’s about to hand the reigns over to the guy pulling Johnson’s strings. Lord, help us all.