Mike Johnson Reveals Advice He Gave ‘Friend’ Hakeem Jeffries Over Trump’s Meme Trolling

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has revealed that he warned his “friend” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) to “ignore” President Donald Trump’s AI meme trolling because protesting would only “make it worse.”

Trump twice posted AI videos of Jeffries wearing a sombrero and sporting a moustache last week, one of them with mariachi music playing in the background.

In response, the House Minority Leader blasted the president’s actions as “racist.”

In an interview that aired on MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Monday, host Ali Vitali challenged Johnson about Trump’s social media antics since the government shutdown was announced, taunting Democrats with threats of cuts using “grim reaper” memes and posts of Democratic leaders wearing “sombreros.”

Johnson began cautiously: “I think the president’s team is using social media and all of the tools, memes and all the rest – ”

“But does that help?” the host interjected.

“You know, I think what they’re doing is pointing out the absurdity of Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries’ political position,” Johnson replied.

He continued: “But in the middle of this, real people are harmed. And I can tell you, because I talked daily, almost hourly, with the president. I’ve spoken with Russ Vought in the last 48 hours. They take no pleasure in this. They don’t want to do this. They’re put in this position by the Democrats in the Senate. They’re the ones that chose to shut the government down and to put this responsibility on the Office of Management and Budget.”

Vitali pressed: “But do you see how some Americans might feel like when they see those AI videos, however they’re leveraging social media, that memes don’t designate a seriousness about the gravity of this moment. Does it help you to have them doing that?”

Ducking the question, Johnson referred the host to his own social media pages: “Well, you can follow my social media. I don’t do memes and jokes against my colleagues.”

“No offense, but his following his bigger than yours,” Vitali contested.

“Yes, a little bigger than mine. That’s right,” Johnson laughed. “But I mean, look, I’m working on the policy. There’s politics to this as well. Right? And those are both components now, we live in a social media age and people use it. I think President Trump uses it as effectively as anybody ever has.”

He continued, revealing what he told Jeffries when Trump began trolling him: “And I told my friend Hakeem, who is my friend, I said, man, don’t pay attention to it. Don’t respond to it because it makes it worse. I learned that the hard way a long time ago.”

He added: “I mean, 48 hours ago, Gavin Newsom was trolling me. He painted me as a little yellow minion with big glasses and overalls. I laughed at it. I don’t respond to it.”

“He’s not the president,” the host jibed.

“Well, he’s the governor of California. He wants to be the president,” Johnson clapped back. “The key is for all of us. Everybody on both sides, don’t play into it. Just do your job and we’ll get through and we’ll get the policy negotiated.”

Watch above via MSNBC.