![\"Donald](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/EM3SGXJIKJDDBDCO4UB5ISAK74.jpg\")
Johnson, and Trump, have repeatedly blamed the Democrats for the shutdown. Joe Raedle\/Getty Images <\/p>\nMSNBC\u2019s Morning Joe opened Thursday with a five-minute tirade from host Joe Scarborough, who erupted over House Speaker Mike Johnson\u2019s response to a tearful Republican voter\u2019s plea about the government shutdown.<\/p>\n
The segment featured a viral C-SPAN clip showing Johnson taking a live call from \u201cSamantha,\u201d a mother and military spouse from Fort Belvoir, Virginia. She described living \u201cpaycheck-to-paycheck\u201d while caring for \u201ctwo medically fragile children\u201d and a husband with PTSD after two tours of duty.<\/p>\n
She warned Johnson that her family could miss a paycheck due Oct. 15 because of the ongoing shutdown. The Louisiana Republican offered sympathy but shifted blame to Senate Democrats, saying he was \u201cso angry\u201d that \u201cmilitary families are being put in this position.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnson, and Trump, have repeatedly blamed the Democrats for the shutdown. Joe Raedle\/Getty Images <\/p>\n
Scarborough cut in before the clip ended, blasting Johnson for what he called \u201ceffortless lying.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA guy who says that he\u2019s going to rule by the Bible? It\u2019s really surprising. He lies so effortlessly,\u201d Scarborough said. \u201cThat poor caller, who\u2019s a Republican, who is only asking that our men and women in uniform get paid\u2026 while the speaker is getting paid.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scarborough accused Johnson of omitting key facts.<\/p>\n
\u201cDemocrats have a plan to make sure the military is paid,\u201d he said. \u201cRepublicans are blocking it. Don\u2019t believe me? Ask Elise Stefanik, who\u2019s also putting a bill on the floor to stop Mike Johnson from blocking payments to the military.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Republicans have pointed the finger at Chuck Schumer for causing the shutdown. Tom Williams\/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Imag <\/p>\n
Stefanik is leading a push for a standalone military pay bill during the shutdown. She has publicly called for a floor vote on what\u2019s being called the Pay Our Troops Act, in contrast to House leadership, including Johnson, who have resisted bringing such a measure to the floor.<\/p>\n
The MSNBC host claimed Johnson could \u201cpick up the phone right now\u201d and call Stefanik to hold a vote that \u201cwould pass today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scarborough then connected the standoff to Johnson\u2019s handling of another controversy, claiming the speaker \u201cshut down Congress\u201d to avoid releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cMike Johnson won\u2019t swear in a democratically elected congresswoman because that will be the deciding vote on a discharge petition to have the Epstein files released,\u201d Scarborough said. \u201cHe won\u2019t do it. And now he\u2019s claiming he can\u2019t do anything to have the military be paid.\u201d<\/p>\n
That comment references the controversy around Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva and Johnson\u2019s refusal\u2014or delay\u2014to swear her into the House. Grijalva won a special election, and supporters argue that once sworn in, she would be the final signature needed for a discharge petition to force a vote on releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files. Johnson has denied that politics is at play. <\/p>\n
Scarborough, meanwhile, ended his rant by warning Republicans that the optics are bad.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re getting paid… but you\u2019re not working,\u201d he said. \u201cMeanwhile, I\u2019m on a military base and can\u2019t support my family. That\u2019s not a winning formula.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnson\u2019s media team has been contacted for comment. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MSNBC\u2019s Morning Joe opened Thursday with a five-minute tirade from host Joe Scarborough, who erupted over House Speaker…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":292812,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[171,8119,173,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-292811","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-mike-johnson","10":"tag-tv","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}