Washington DC - House Speaker Mike Johnson recently defended his decision to back influencer Brandon Herrera for a congressional seat, despite his documented history of controversial rhetoric.
In an interview on the CNN show State of the Union aired on Sunday, anchor Jake Tapper pressed Johnson about his critique of "extreme" Democratic candidates going into the November midterms while also supporting Republican candidates that are arguably just as troublesome.
Tapper pointed to his support of Herrera, a YouTuber who has built a reputation for sharing edgy and controversial content, which some critics have deemed bigoted and misogynistic.
The anchor then played a 2022 clip of Herrera discussing a female gun rights advocate.
In it, Herrera uses vulgar sexual terms to say that being promiscuous "doesn't mean I have to give a s**t about your political opinions."
"The fact that you have your c*m trophy doesn't make you any less wrong about the dumb s**t you say," he added.
Tapper also notes that other past videos have shown Herrera "testing a Nazi-era machine gun" that he described as the "original ghetto blaster," and calling for the abolition of elderly people.
Nonetheless, Johnson defends Herrera, arguing that while Herrera's past comments were "detestable," he is now running an "effective" campaign in which he has "apologized for all that" rhetoric of his "online persona."
"He was a podcaster and a provocateur, and he tried to get attention... Now he's running as a very serious candidate for Congress, and a very thoughtful guy."
Mike Johnson claims Brandon Herrera will always be better than a Democrat
The speaker's remarks come as the Republican Party has been desperately fighting to hold on to its slim majority in the House and Senate going into the midterm elections in November.
President Donald Trump also endorsed Herrera back in March, describing him as someone who is "strongly supported" by "Highly Respected MAGA Warriors in Texas," and will "work tirelessly to advance our MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN Agenda."
In his interview, Johnson went on to argue that no matter what, Herrera is far better than his Democratic challenger Katy Padilla Stout, adding, "I'm telling you, this is a contrast election between common sense and crazy."