Mike Johnson spars with CNNs Jake Tapper over Trumps rhetoric about Arnold Palmer, enemy from within warning

House Speaker Mike Johnson got into a testy exchange with CNN’s Jake Tapper over recent rhetoric from former President Donald Trump about the “enemy from within” as well as X-rated insinuations about golfer Arnold Palmer.Reacting to Trump’s tale about Palmer’s manhood while speaking at a rally in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, Johnson (R-La.) countered that what matters to voters is their economic situation.

“Everywhere I go, Jake, everybody has the same concerns,” Johnson, speaking from a campaign stop in Michigan ,told CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday.“They’re fed up and they’re fired up about the cost of living that’s unaffordable now and the rising crime rates everywhere.”Tapper was not satisfied with that answer and tried to direct attention to Trump’s comment Saturday in which he claimed that when Palmer “took showers with the other pros they came out of there and they said ‘oh my God,’ unbelievable.”“I’m sure that you think that a policy debate would be better than a personality debate.

But if President Biden had gone on stage and spoke about the size of a pro golfer’s penis, I think you would be on this show right now saying you were shocked and appalled,” he hit back.Johnson shrugged off the Palmer anecdote, saying, “Jake, you seem to like that line a lot.” Tapper contended that he didn’t like the quote and implied that Trump was “unstable.”After a flurry of cross-talk and interruptions, the GOP speaker chided that President Biden couldn’t handle rallies like Trump and underscored the jovial nature of the former president’s campaign style.“He has fun at the rallies.

He says things that are off the cuff.But I’m telling you, I have been in those events.

I have been in those arenas and people have a great time at those arenas.So you can cherry-pick a few words or lines out of a two-hour event,” Johnson argued.

The CNN host then pivoted to Trump’s comments that aired last week in which he omino...