Furor over GOP's anti-Muslim posts leaves Mike Johnson in awkward spot
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House Speaker Mike Johnson fields questions from the media after attending congressional briefings on Iran at the U.S. Capitol on March 3. Photo: Heather Diehl/Getty Images
House Democrats' effort to censure two GOP members over Islamophobic social media posts is poised to put Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) in the hot seat after he declined to condemn the remarks.
Why it matters: Recent violent attacks in Michigan and Virginia have heightened partisan tensions on Capitol Hill.
- Democratic leadership is coordinating with rank-and-file members on efforts to censure Reps. Randy Fine (R-Fla.) and Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) for a series of anti-Muslim posts each has made over the last several weeks, Axios' Andrew Solender reports.
- "We need more Islamophobia, not less. Fear of Islam is rational," Fine posted to X Thursday.
- The comments from Fine and other GOP lawmakers prompted swift outrage from their Democratic colleagues.
Driving the news: Johnson declined earlier this week to directly condemn Ogles' past anti-Muslim comments when reporters asked him about them at the House Republican retreat.
- Instead, the speaker defended members' right to oppose what he called "the imposition of Sharia law."
- Ogles posted on social media Monday that "Muslims don't belong in American society."
- Fine previously wrote, "If they force us to choose, the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one."
What they're saying: The speaker said he personally would not have phrased the remarks that way but argued concerns about Sharia law in the U.S. are legitimate.
- "The demand to impose Sharia law in America is a serious problem," he told reporters at a press conference Tuesday.
- Neither Ogles nor Fine differentiated between Muslims and Sharia law in their posts.
- Johnson added he had previously spoken with Fine and Ogles about "our tone and our message and what we say."
"When you seek to come to a country and not assimilate but to impose Sharia law … that is the conflict that people are talking about," Johnson said.
- "It's not about people as Muslims. It's about people who seek to impose a different belief system that is in direct conflict with the Constitution."
- Johnson declined to take follow-up questions on the subject Tuesday, and his office declined to comment Friday on the latest posts.
Zoom out: Censure was once the House's most serious punishment short of expulsion, but its use has surged in recent years — turning it into what many lawmakers now view as little more than a symbolic rebuke.
- The House only needs a simple majority to censure, and any member can force it to a vote.
What to watch: How swing-district Republicans vote on the censure resolutions could reveal how much political risk the party sees in defending or distancing itself from the comments.
