U.S. President Donald Trump and U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson react during an Invest America Roundtable in the State Dining room, at the White House, in Washington, U.S., June 9, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
Voting rights advocate Marc Elias went off on Republicans during a Wednesday afternoon appearance on MSNBC, in which he slammed House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) for echoing President Donald Trump's violent rhetoric and the party in general over its complicity in enabling such language.
Elias appeared on "Deadline: White House" with host Nicolle Wallace, who noted that Elias recently warned that President Donald Trump is "increasingly using the Justice Department against his political enemies." That includes arresting a liberal state judge, a Democratic member of Congress, and a prominent pro-Democratic labor leader. Earlier this week, Trump also suggested that Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) should be arrested.
Wallace noted Trump has a "track record of weaponizing the Department of Justice" and is "known to incite violence among his supporters, including violence aimed at his political opponents."
"Why, then, is there a lack of outrage over Trump’s abuse of power and his increasingly dangerous threats?" she asked.
"I think that Donald Trump has successfully moved the Overton window in a way that is as dangerous for the future of democracy in this country as anything else," Elias replied.
Elias said he wanted to use his appearance to "sound a really loud alarm" that Trump turned the Department of Justice into his "personal legal task force to go after his political opponents."
"This is the playbook by which authoritarians are able to subdue their opposition, by investigating them, indicting them. And even if they get acquitted, you know, the damage is done," he said. "Why are people staying silent? I think they are afraid. I think that they have normalized this. But Nicolle, it’s got to end. People need to take a stand and say: we are not going to allow the misuse of the criminal justice system, the indictment process, by Donald Trump in this way."
Wallace showed Elias a clip of Johnson saying Newsom ought to be "tarred and feathered," asserting that Newsom is "standing in the way of the administration."
Elias expressed astonishment at the remarks and took GOP leadership to task.
"I want people to recognize: he is second in line to the president of the United States. This is not some backbench Republican saying something irresponsible," he began. "This is the person, after the vice president, who would become president if there was a vacancy. Okay? He is also a professed Christian. He is also a professed constitutional law expert."
Elias demanded to know, "Is there any outrage?"
"Is there any place in the Republican Party that is saying this is completely out of bounds? Are there any Republicans with the decency to stand up and say, 'No, we don’t do that to Democratic elected officials.' 'No, Mr. President, we don’t prosecute our political opponents.' 'No, Speaker Johnson, we don’t want violence.' Violence against democratically elected politicians in this country? No. They all act like they don’t know. They all act like they haven’t heard. They all act like they, you know, misunderstood or that we’re overreacting."
Elias insisted those worried about the rhetoric are not overreacting.
"This is only five months in. This is going to get much, much worse," he warned.
Watch the clip below or at this link.