Speaker of the House Mike Johnson was quick to defend President Donald Trump’s widely reported remarks following Wednesday’s sharp spike in inflation, which is now at a three-year high.

“I knew somebody was going to ask me that,” Johnson told CNN’s Manu Raju. “It was totally out of context, you know what he was talking about.”

When pressed whether Trump’s remarks were what voters want to hear right now, Johnson insisted that the president “is laser-focused on the domestic economic situation.”

“He is working to bring down prices, he is going to get the Strait of Hormuz reopened,” Johnson insisted. “We have passed legislation, he has used executive orders to get the cost of living down. Everybody got their highest tax refunds they’ve had in their whole lives, they’re getting great paychecks, there’s all sorts of great economic indicators, but there’s still challenges — gas prices among them.”

“So, what he was saying is, it’s going to be great having that number and compare it to what comes next when we get these situations resolved — that’ll be a fun thing to consider and compare — that was the context,” said the Speaker.

Speaking about the inflation report, as CNBC reported, Trump had told reporters: “No, I love it, the numbers were great.”

“You know what I really love? I love the inflation. You know why?”

“Because as soon as this war is over, you know I can say it now … you know we’ve been taking out millions of barrels of oil.”

“Nobody knows it. You know who doesn’t know about it? Iran, until right now,” Trump said.

CNBC noted that Trump, “speaking with reporters in the Oval Office, also predicted that inflation is ‘going to come down like a rock’ after the United States’ war against Iran is over.”

Critics blasted Speaker Johnson.

“Trump meant what he said and if people are taking things outta context maybe trump should speak English,” said one social media user.

Another called Johnson a “Trump apologist.”

A third remarked, “Aaaand, right on cue, here’s Mike Johnson, denying Trump said and meant what we all heard him say.”

Speaker Johnson says Trump’s “I love the inflation” comments were taken out of context.

Asked him if that’s what voters want to hear right now. “The president is laser focused on the domestic economic situation.” pic.twitter.com/n3SS0vtqyS

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) June 10, 2026

Image via Reuters

Political strategist Steve Schmidt, a Republican turned Democrat, is blasting President Donald Trump as “despised,” “decrepit,” “bitter,” “angry,” “old,” “lonely,” and “hated” — while warning that “this week of desecration is only going to get worse from here.”

The co-founder of The Lincoln Project, Schmidt declared Trump’s White House — complete with a UFC cage match “Octagon” constructed to celebrate his 80th birthday and the start of the nation’s 250th birthday celebrations — a “symbol for the destruction of this era.”

That destruction, Schmidt says, includes “red hot” inflation and a lost Iran war.

Trump “isn’t just mistrusted. And disliked,” says Schmidt, “Donald Trump is genuinely despised. He’s hated.”

“He has earned this hatred, well and fully,” Schmidt declares, before calling Trump a “decrepit man” who is “the leader of a cult in America.”

“Consider his decrepitude,” Schmidt urges. “He cannot walk in a straight line.”

Offering examples, Schmidt points to Trump’s ankles, his sleeping in meetings, his “slurring of the words.” Trump “is physically and mentally incontinent,” says Schmidt, in words similar to those he used on Monday when he declared the president “psychologically incontinent.”

“And yet, the cynical men, the vandals, who have assaulted the Republic, lit the Constitution on fire, and have curated this fascism from day one, insist, by the time we get to 2028, Trump will just be getting started,” he warned, before playing video of former Trump adviser Steve Bannon declaring he believes Trump will run for president again in 2028, despite the current constitutional ban.

“Donald Trump is the worst president in American history,” Schmidt continued. “He is a human malignancy. A pancreatic cancer on the American Republic, a lethal terminal cancer,” a “MAGA cancer” that “must be excised, fully from our politics.”

“Despite what men like Steve Bannon and Donald Trump promise and threaten,” Schmidt observes, “and then abuse and break, we will always have a vote. And the American people will vote these people out of office with an extreme prejudice come November. We will vote them out from coast to coast. From the top of the ballot to the bottom of the ballot.”

“Donald Trump,” Schmidt continues, “is unfit, physically. Emotionally. In every conceivable way. But especially morally. And because of that, all of us, the American people, all the people of the world are in danger. Make no mistake about that.”

Image via Reuters 

Senate Republican Majority Leader John Thune was noticeably absent from Wednesday’s Oval Office bill signing ceremony — but top House and Senate leaders — including Speaker Mike Johnson — were present, cheering on the president. Thune did take time to talk with reporters, where he tied Wednesday’s surging inflation numbers to Trump’s Iran war.

The Washington Examiner’s David Sivak asked Thune directly why he wasn’t present at the president’s signing of the $70 billion reconciliation bill to fund ICE and the Border Patrol, or to talk about FISA legislation with Trump.

Thune noted that Speaker Johnson is “down there anyway” and that he and Johnson “talk regularly,” Sivak reported.

Thune appeared to suggest that there might not have been an invitation, adding, “I don’t know that we got asked, but I’ve got stuff going on here, as you know.”

Thune spelled out the inflation connection to reporters, as Punchbowl News’ Andrew Desiderio reported.

“The sooner we get the situation in Iran stabilized, the Strait [of Hormuz] opened up, those [inflation] numbers will trend in a better direction,” he said. “But obviously right now there are important national security objectives we’re trying to achieve.”

“The American people realize that if we’re heading in the right direction and the trendlines are good and the confidence is good long-term — which I [think] it will be because of all the other things we’ve done on the economy — then obviously people will start to see improvement,” he also said. “It may not happen overnight, but it will. But at least for now, we’ve got to do everything we can to keep the pressure on [in] getting the situation in the Middle East resolved.”

Getting the situation in Iran resolved was not how President Trump appeared to approach Iran on Wednesday.

“Iran’s Military is a complete and total mess,” he wrote on Truth Social. “Much of it, like their Navy and Air Force, doesn’t even exist anymore – They have been completely defeated. Iran is all talk and no action. The Bully of the Middle East is dead!!! They’ve taken too long to negotiate a deal that would have been great for them, now they will have to pay the price!!!”

In that Oval Office meeting, Trump also slammed Iran, saying that the U.S. would hit Iran hard again on Wednesday, and insisted the Iranian government is “playing us for suckers.”

Thune has distanced himself from the president over time, refusing his repeated demands to pass the controversial SAVE America Act — legislation some call voter suppression — to kill the filibuster, and to fire the Senate parliamentarian. He has also opposed Trump’s intelligence nominee. Thune tried to persuade Trump to back Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), but the president endorsed Ken Paxton instead — and Paxton went on to defeat Cornyn in the May primary runoff.

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