MSNBC host Joe Scarborough reportedly launched into a five-minute tirade Thursday morning after House Speaker Mike Johnson fielded an emotional call from a Republican-voting military wife and mother pleading for help to prevent a shutdown-related pay stoppage.
The call, which aired on C-SPAN, featured a woman identified as “Samantha” from Fort Belvoir, Virginia. She told Johnson that her family — including her husband, a veteran living with PTSD after two tours of duty, and their “two medically fragile children” — was struggling to stay afloat “paycheck-to-paycheck.” She feared the looming government shutdown could delay her husband’s October 15 paycheck, leaving them without critical income.
Johnson, visibly moved by the woman’s story, expressed sympathy and frustration at the situation, telling her he was “so angry” for what military families face during budget standoffs.
He blamed Senate Democrats for the impasse, noting that their spending priorities had delayed a bipartisan agreement to fund the government.
But that explanation triggered an explosive response from Scarborough, who accused the Republican speaker of “lying effortlessly” and misleading viewers about who was to blame.
“A guy who says that he’s going to rule by the Bible? It’s really surprising,” Scarborough said, his voice rising as he interrupted the C-SPAN clip. “He lies so effortlessly. He really does. But that poor caller, who’s a Republican, who is only asking that our men and women in uniform get paid and that their children be able to get health care during the government shutdown while the speaker is getting paid.”
Scarborough claimed Johnson “left out two things”: first, that Democrats had a plan “to make sure the military is paid,” and second, that Republicans were “blocking it.” He invoked Rep. Elise Stefanik, a Republican from New York, who he said had also introduced a measure to ensure uninterrupted pay for service members.
“Mike Johnson can pick up the phone right now, call Elise Stefanik: ‘Elise, we’re going to vote. I’m going to call everybody back in and we’re going to vote on your bill today.’ And it would pass,” Scarborough said.
He then accused Johnson of deliberately halting congressional business to avoid discussion of unrelated controversies. “Mike Johnson shut down Congress and sent his members home because he didn’t want them talking about the Epstein files,” Scarborough claimed, alleging that Johnson refused to swear in a Democrat whose vote could have forced the release of sealed documents related to Jeffrey Epstein.
Scarborough concluded by warning Republicans that their position on the shutdown was politically perilous. “Republicans are starting to feel the pressure,” he said. “They’re hearing from their constituents who are coming up and saying, wait a second, congressman, you’re getting paid… you’re not working, but you’re getting paid. And here I am working on the military base, and I can’t support my family. You’re not paying me.”
He called the GOP’s handling of the issue “not a winning formula.”
For Speaker Johnson, the exchange underscored both the human cost of Washington’s fiscal gridlock and the partisan rancor it continues to fuel.
His defenders argue that Senate Democrats have refused to negotiate on spending cuts, while critics like Scarborough accuse him of using military families as pawns in a political standoff.
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