Mike Johnson Panics About Losing the House in 2026 Midterms

House Speaker Mike Johnson let slip Tuesday night just how badly President Donald Trump needs Republicans to hold onto Congress.

Following Trump’s long State of the Union address, Johnson tried to maintain an upbeat mood about the administration, telling Newsmax, “He needs all four years, not just two, to fix the mess.

“If we lost the midterms—heaven forbid, if we lost the majority in the House, it would be the end of the Trump presidency in a real effect,” Johnson said. “So we’ve got to keep this going, and I think we’re excited to put our candidates on the field to explain all of this to the people.”

Johnson seems well aware that if Democrats gain a sizable majority in at least the House, they can slow down the Trump agenda, subject the White House to investigations, slow or block funding, and even attempt to impeach administration officials. ICE could be severely curtailed from its reckless and violent deportations and detentions, and laws could be passed against Trump’s whimsical tariffs.

Trump knows this too, which is why he constantly suggests taking over elections and instituting voter suppression laws, such as the SAVE Act. Johnson and his fellow Republicans, rather than use their power as a separate branch of government to check Trump’s bad impulses, want to keep enabling everything he does because they fear him turning on any one of them. Meanwhile, the economy continues to sputter and federal agents continue to violate the Constitution.

Aliya Rahman probably thought she was done getting arrested when she attended Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday.

Rahman, a U.S. citizen with autism and a traumatic brain injury, was previously detained by ICE while on her way to a medical appointment in Minneapolis. After stopping her car due to a traffic jam caused by ICE agents, Rahman was dragged from the car and pulled out of her vehicle, getting dangerously tangled in her seatbelt. She later stated that she blacked out in her holding cell.

Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar made Rahman one of her four guests to the State of the Union address. The other three guests were also Minnesotans who had been targeted by ICE agents, or who had helped protect their communities from the havoc.

But an hour into the event, Rahman was again arrested, this time by the Capitol Police for “disruption of Congress.” It’s unclear exactly what Rahman said or did before being detained.

“All State of the Union tickets clearly explain that demonstrating is prohibited,” the Capitol Police said. “At approximately 10:07 p.m., a person in the House Gallery started demonstrating during tonight’s State of the Union Address. The guest was told to sit down, but refused to obey our lawful orders.”

Other attendees were also escorted out over the course of the evening, though Rahman appears to be the only guest who was arrested. Before Trump’s speech, Texas Representative Al Green was removed for holding up a sign directed at Trump, reading “Black People Aren’t Apes.”

Following the publication of this article, The New Republic received a comment from Rahman’s attorney, Alexa Van Brunt, alleging that Rahman did not do anything disruptive during the event. “Aliya Rahman was targeted at the State of the Union last night,” said Van Brunt, who is also the director of the Illinois office at the MacArthur Justice Center. “After standing up in silence during the speech, Aliya was quickly taken away and arrested for ‘unlawful conduct’ and released just before 4 am today. There is nothing unlawful about standing in silence and this is a blatant abuse of power. She was not disruptive or disrespectful. She was not holding a sign, making gestures, or wearing protest gear. She was simply standing in silence.”

This story has been updated.

While President Trump ranted about tariffs, immigration, and hockey at his State of the Union address Tuesday night, Democrats were celebrating three local election victories in crucial swing states.

Ana Tiburcio of Alleghany County and Jennifer Mazzocco of Lehigh County were elected as Pennsylvania state representatives on Tuesday, securing a Democratic majority in the state legislature—a huge win for Governor Josh Shapiro.

“Congratulations to Representatives-Elect Ana Tiburcio and Jen Mazzocco on winning tonight and joining our House Democratic majority! I’ll see you both at the Capitol as we keep working to get stuff done and protect our freedoms and democracy here in Pennsylvania,” Shapiro wrote. “Folks are fired up across our Commonwealth—and ready to win up and down the ballot this November.”

And in Maine, Scott Harriman defeated Republican Janet Beaudoin and further cemented Democrats’ hold on the state House.

“Another Tuesday, another defiant round of wins for state legislative Democrats,” Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee President Heather Williams wrote in a press release. “The split screen tonight couldn’t be starker: As President Trump drones on and tries to cover up his agenda that’s left working families behind, Democrats are winning elections.”

The State of the Union address is an opportunity for all branches of government to convene over the most pressing issues of the year. But Republicans treated Donald Trump’s sophomoric performance more like a rowdy sports game than a presidential appearance.

Practically the entire caucus participated in the rah-rah, jeering and chanting “U-S-A.” But the fanboying was especially true for Texas Representative Troy Nehls, who soundly secured the most cringeworthy moment of the night by begging the president to sign his Trump-themed tie.

As Trump exited the lower chamber, he caught a glimpse of Nehls dutifully waiting in line to greet him—but more importantly, he spotted Nehls’s tie, an American flag print with several repeated images of Trump’s face.

“Oh, look at this guy, I like that tie, I want that tie,” Trump said, grabbing Nehl’s tie while addressing someone else. “Give me that tie!”

“Thank you! Initial, just an initial,” responded the 57-year-old lawmaker, hunched over as he offered a pen to the president.

Without speaking to Nehls directly, Trump obliged.

The moment did not play well with the American public, who used the moment to highlight how sycophantic and subservient conservatives in Congress have become to the party’s White House figurehead.

“Even the die hards in North Korea don’t grovel and beg for an autograph,” wrote a self-identified progressive on X.

Other critics derided the interaction as “grotesque” and “pathetic.”

“Definitely not a cult,” remarked another X user.

One account compared Nehls to Oliver Twist, sharing a meme of the impoverished Charles Dickens character trumpeting his famous line: “Please sir, may I have some more?”

“A 57 year old asking for an autograph of his favorite sexual predator?” posted another user. “Good God.”

Their opinions are immaterial for the Texas lawmaker, regardless of whether they live in his district, as Nehls is not seeking reelection at the end of his term. Trump has endorsed Nehls’s twin brother to replace him.

In his State of the Union Tuesday night, Donald Trump claimed that he had secured $18 trillion in foreign investments for the United States. But his own website says that isn’t true.

“I secured commitments for more than $18 trillion, pouring in from all over the globe,” Trump said in the speech, complete with a graphic on the official White House stream to drive home the point. NBC News was quick to point out that this wasn’t true, and produced proof that the White House itself had posted online.

“The commitments and investments the White House touted on its own website total $9.7 trillion,” the news outlet reported, noting that the investments Trump has bragged about are in line with previous announcements, or are only slight increases.

A Bloomberg analysis has found that $2.27 trillion of that can’t be considered actual investments, but only “vague promises to increase trade or bilateral economic relationships, or purchase commitments.” And $3.5 trillion would be from sovereign pledges, with $3.5 trillion being investments from corporations.

Of that $3.5 trillion, $2.9 trillion would go toward data centers, according to Bloomberg. On top of that, more than $250 billion of the pledges Trump is claiming as a big accomplishment were actually announced or planned before he was sworn in as president last year.

All of this was part of many embellishments and half-truths in the longest State of the Union address in presidential history. Trump used the address to claim how great he was doing despite most Americans disagreeing, and Democrats let him know during the speech. One claim by Trump was even too much for Republicans to applaud: his boasting about tariffs, which were struck down by the Supreme Court. That’s because most of them agree with the court’s ruling. Too bad most GOP lawmakers are fine with every other destructive decision from the president.