‘We All Know How This Ends!’ Maddow Reacts to House Passing Spending Bill With Bipartisan Support on Colbert

The House of Representatives passed a stopgap spending bill with bipartisan support on Tuesday with the spotlight on new Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and whether or not he would be open to working with Democrats. Turns out he was, and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow found out about it while promoting her new book on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

At the end of the segment, host Stephen Colbert turned to Maddow to tell her that just before she came onstage, the news of the spending bill passing broke. Maddow reacted to the news in real time, first with surprise at the huge amount of Democratic support — 336 to 95, with 93 Republicans and two Democrats against it — and then shaking her head, removing her glasses, and rubbing between her eyes when Colbert asked about possible consequences faced by Johnson:

Colbert: Do you think he’s going to pay a price from this? What do you, what do you know about his position as opposed to [former Speaker] Kevin McCarthy’s? Because this is the kind of bill that sank Kevin McCarthy… What did I do to you?

Maddow: I… I… I’m sure Mr. Johnson is very smart and capable and knows exactly what he’s doing. But he got this job because the previous guy was driven out with pitchforks and torches for having had the temerity to speak to political opponents rather than just wishing them dead. And now he needs his political opponents in order to keep his job. I just, we all know how this ends! This is not a party that is trying to govern.

Maddow further explained the state of dysfunction in the House:

[W]e’re faced with this larger project right now in our politics, which is that one side under the Republican Party’s leader is trying to say, you know, “My political opponents don’t deserve to live. I shouldn’t be subject to elections. I should just have power and rule and use the government to crush my enemies and get revenge.” And the Democrats are like, “We’d like to talk about light rail! And get some foreign balanced foreign policy perspectives on attacking…” You know, like, Democrats are still treating this like it is a governing project. And it is really the two parties are doing two very different things.

Watch the full video via The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on YouTube.