During an interview with CBS’s Tony Dokoupil, the Speaker spoke about the state of the country under the Trump administration ahead of November’s midterm elections.
Dokoupil claimed that CBS polling shows that Americans are feeling prices “rising faster than their wages.” Johnson accused Biden of creating an “economic” mess and claimed Trump had “reversed literally all of that.”
Johnson acknowledged that voters are still struggling but that the president and Republicans are working to provide more relief.
Below is a transcript of the exchange:
DOKOUPIL: “What can the president say tonight to change that? What can he do with Congress to fix it?”
Johnson: “I think you’ll continue to hear the president sharing the exciting facts about what we’ve been able to accomplish after his first year of his second term. Remember, we inherited a real mess, the Biden-Harris economy was a disaster. We had the highest inflation in 40 years. We had paychecks were getting smaller, taxes were getting higher. We reversed literally all of that. Now, it takes a while to reverse that trend. You don’t flip a switch right after the election and it all just is fixed magically.”
DOKOUPIL: “But, Mr. Speaker, I mean, on groceries, for example, they’re still 20 percent higher than they were in 2022 under Biden and Harris. But 20 percent means that when someone spends $100 at the grocery store today, they are paying $120 for the same things they were getting a few years ago.”
Johnson: “Inflation is gradually coming down. It’s not completely fixed yet, but we are on the right trajectory. Wages are going up. We have the lowest gas prices we’ve had in many years. Under Biden, for example, with gas prices, they hit a peak of $4.99 a gallon and the national average was about $3 for most of his term. The president reversed that. It’s the result of policy changes that have made this possible. And the working families tax cut, the Big Beautiful Bill, we infused it with pro-growth policies. And that legislation, seismic in nation shaping as it is, was written for lower and middle class earners. So they’re beginning to feel that relief. It’s going to result and is already resulting in bigger tax refunds for people as they file their taxes this year, bigger paychecks that will be coming. The estimate is $10,000 per citizen on average that they’ll have more money in their pockets because of the Republican policies that have been implemented and signed into law by President Trump. So we’re on the right trajectory.”
DOKOUPIL: “The president campaigned on closing the border and mass deportation. They were waving signs with that at the RNC. Something seems to have gone wrong, and terribly so. He’s now underwater on that issue, and I think we all know why.”
Johnson: “Well, there’s a perception out there that it was overzealous in some respect, but the president’s intention has always been to rid the country of dangerous criminal illegals. That’s what they’ve accomplished.”
DOKOUPIL: “Is it merely a perception?”
Johnson: “I think Tom Homan has done a great job when he went into Minneapolis, for example, and he brought calm to the situation and restored common sense. Immigration reform has to be done in a smart, strategic way. We have to follow the law. That’s what the American people demand. The polling is still high on removing people who are here illegally and causing harm to our communities, and that’s been a top priority. They’ve done it well. I think Tom Homan’s brought a steady hand to that issue, and Minneapolis is a great example of that, how we did it in short order. And of course, we removed the extra agents from there now because it was mission accomplished. Tom brings 40 years of experience to the job. He’s been awarded by Democrat presidents and Republican presidents alike. And that’s the kind of steady hand, I think, that you’ll see going forward.”
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