House Speaker Mike Johnson pushed back Sunday on the widespread “no kings” protests that took place across the United States a day earlier, saying that President Donald Trump was far from the authoritarian “king” Democrats were claiming that he was.

Johnson joined host Jonathan Karl on ABC’s “This Week” to discuss a wide range of topics, from the ongoing government shutdown to the protests — some of which were attended by high-profile elected Democrats — and he argued that if Trump were behaving like a king, the government shutdown would not still be in effect.

WATCH:

“If President Trump was a king, the government would be open right now. If President Trump was a king, they would not have been able to engage in that free speech exercise,” Speaker Johnson tells @JonKarl following the nationwide “No Kings” protests. https://t.co/wiTLxsYRmW pic.twitter.com/AIDORW7u64

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) October 19, 2025

“Let’s start with the ‘no kings’ rallies,” Karl jumped right in after introducing Johnson. “You called these ‘Hate America rallies,’ what do you mean by that?”

“Well, that collection of folks that I listed were certainly part of it. We congratulate them on an apparently violent free speech exercise. I was a First Amendment lawyer for 20 years, we defend that right — but the irony of the message is pretty clear for everyone. If President Trump was a king, the government would be open right now. If President Trump was a king, they would not have been able to engage in that free speech exercise out on the mall, by the way, which was open because President Trump hasn’t closed it,” Johnson replied, taking aim at former President Barack Obama, who did close outdoor monuments when the government shut down under his leadership.

“In the last shutdown, 2013-era, President Obama closed the National Mall,” he said. “He closed all the national parks, didn’t allow people to engage in all this.”

“So it’s — they needed a stunt, they needed a show. Chuck Schumer has — needs cover right now, he’s closed the government down because he needs political cover and this was part of it,” Johnson concluded,

Schumer faced backlash from within his own party during the last shutdown battle, largely because he voted with Republicans and said that it was more important to keep the government open than to score a few political points.

President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the Democrats were behaving like “kamikaze pilots,” driving their party into certain destruction as they persist in gravitating toward leaders like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and New York City’s Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani.

Trump joined anchor Maria Bartiromo on “Sunday Morning Futures,” and the president argued that in his mind, the Democratic Party did not have much of a future at all if that trend continued.

WATCH:

.@POTUS: “The Democrats are kamikazes right now. They’re kamikaze pilots right now. They have nothing going. They have no future. They have incompetent candidates.” pic.twitter.com/6ogVaJPsPc

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 19, 2025

“The Democrats are kamikazes right now. They’re kamikaze pilots right now. They have nothing going. They have no future. They have incompetent candidates,” he began, immediately referencing Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) as part of the problem.

“I mean, I look at Jasmine Crockett,” Trump said, shaking his head and laughing a bit as he continued, “She’s a very low-IQ person. She’s polling okay in the Democrat Party, I can’t even believe it. AOC is — I watched her the other day, it’s like … you gotta be kidding. This is not going to make our country great.”

Trump then pivoted to address Mamdani, who debated his opponents in the New York City Mayoral race on Thursday — Republican Curtis Sliwa and former Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-NY), who is running as an independent — and argued he was also part of the problem.

“And for us to have a communist mayor, looks like we’re going to in New York — he’s not a socialist, he’s a communist,” Trump said, referencing Mamdani’s claim to “democratic socialism” and saying that he was definitely a communist. “It’ll be very interesting.”

Trump also pushed back on the weekend’s “No Kings” protests, saying, “They’re referring to me as a king. I’m not a king.”

WATCH:

“They’re referring to me as a king. I’m not a king,” says @POTUS.

“They made one mistake. They didn’t realize that [the Democrat Shutdown] gives me the right to cut programs… giveaways, welfare programs, etc., and we’re doing that. We’re cutting them permanently.” pic.twitter.com/teTquv1d5d

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 19, 2025

Trump went on to explain that in cutting programs while the government was shut down, he was simply using his legal authority to do so.