'What we call copium': Dem lawmaker swats aside Mike Johnson's excuse for election loss

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has a narrative ready-made about why Republicans losing the elections this week wasn't such a big deal — but Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL) had a reality check for him on CNN Thursday evening.

"This was a major week for Democrats winning multiple key races across the country, from California to New Jersey to Manhattan," said anchor Jake Tapper. "Trump is blaming the GOP's poor showing on him not being on the ticket, as well as the government shutdown. Speaker Johnson justified the losses this way. Take a listen." He played a clip.

"I've spoken with the president about it," said Johnson. "I reminded him, as I, as I said this morning, this is — this is not a surprise to us. I mean, blue states elected blue leaders. I mean, that — yeah, so what."

"What do you make of that?" said Tapper.

"That's what we call copium," said Frost. "That's him trying to cope with the results that he's very scared of and that he doesn't like."

"Number one, it's not just blue states across this entire country, especially in places in the South," he continued. "We saw Republican supermajorities completely crushed. We saw in Virginia, a state that isn't really a solid blue state or solid red state, it's a swing state and has a Republican governor right now — Abigail Spanberger won that race with flying colors. We saw the same thing in New Jersey. We saw key demographics that in many cases went to Donald Trump, Latino men and folks like that, who actually voted for Democrats this time. We saw record turnout in the New York mayoral race as well."

"So, I mean, you know, for him to just brush it aside, he's brushing aside voters," Frost said. "He's brushing aside many voters who voted for Donald Trump less than a year ago or about a year ago now. And now they are saying we're going to vote for the Democrats because they're seeing the extreme agenda. This administration, I think they're also seeing the shutdown and the fact that Congress has been essentially on vacation for over a month, and they're disappointed and they feel lied to."

"And we're here to tell them, look, I'm not here to shame people for decision you made a year ago. I'm more concerned about the decision you make next year and the one you make in next elections," he added. "And Democrats have a vision for this country. And so, I just — I think he's just trying to put it aside because at the end of the day, it's Donald Trump, but it's also his leadership. Which is the reason why Republicans lost this election."

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