Chris Hayes Cackles at Mike Johnson’s Damage Control After Trump Official Says, ‘We Have Failed You’

MSNBC’s Chris Hayes and Rep Ro Khanna (D-CA) had a good laugh after Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) tried to do some damage control earlier in the day.

Johnson held a press conference with Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins on Friday, where they addressed the potential lapse of funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program on Saturday amid the ongoing government shutdown.

“Poverty is not red or blue, it is not a Republican or Democrat issue,” Rollins said. “It doesn’t matter who you voted for or even if you voted. If you are in a position where you can’t feed your family, and you’re relying on that $187 a month for an average family in the SNAP program, we have failed you.”

After Rollins spoke, Johnson jumped in to say that “when she says, ‘We have failed you,’ she means we, the Democrats, ok?”

Hours later on All In, Hayes played the clip for Khanna. Afterward, the two had a chuckle.

“That was a nice save by the speaker there,” Hayes said sarcastically. “‘We have failed you, meaning we, the Democrats.’ But you know, at some level, she’s right. Like, there is some enormous failure here, both that so many Americans are in a position where they depend on this to make ends meet, and the idea that this shutdown could imperil those funds.”

“Absolutely, Chris,” Khanna replied. “Well, one, there’s a failure because we don’t have a living wage in this country, and we’re subsidizing corporations to pay starvation wages while taxpayers are providing these benefits. That’s the real failure. But, you know, I’ve seen Mike Johnson everywhere other than in Congress.”

The government partially shut down on Oct. 1 after the Senate failed to pass a Republican-sponsored funding bill. Even though Republicans control the chamber 53-47, 60 votes are needed to overcome a procedural hurdle to move the bill forward. Democrats said they won’t support any funding bill unless it contains an extension of healthcare premium subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, which are slated to expire on Dec. 31.

As Nov. 1 has neared, recipients of SNAP benefits – often called food stamps – have taken center stage in national media coverage.  According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, SNAP served 41.7 million Americans across 22 million households per month in 2024. On Friday, two federal judges ordered the Trump administration to use contingency funds to keep SNAP afloat. Trump responded on Truth Social, suggesting that he would do so, as long as the judges instructed his administration on how to proceed.