"Speaker Johnson here. You may have noticed that I've been taking a step back from the news cycle lately. Not in the sense that I'm not in it, every day-appearing on television, praising Donald Trump, and taking questions from the media. I am. But you've probably noticed that I know nothing about anything that's happening. This is deliberate. It is a form of self-care. I have started tuning out for my own mental health."
"This is a PSA: If you ask me, Have you seen this news story? Have you seen that news story?, the answer is no. I have not seen it. And that's just what I need to do right now, and it's okay. I am also shutting down the House to lower the stress in my personal life. What about the impact this has on others? What a stressful question! I am putting myself first."
"It's been so freeing to step back from the constant, 24/7 cycle of downers. Whenever I hear about the news, which I do almost daily when taking questions from the media, it sounds pretty bad. The president asking for $230 million from the Department of Justice? Reports of ICE detaining U.S. citizens, including children? Threats on Hakeem Jeffries's life by one of the pardoned January 6 insurrectionists? A jet, for the president, from Qatar? President Trump's alarming, rambling speech to the generals at Quantico? A bailout for Argentina?"
Johnson says he is purposely tuning out the news cycle as a form of self-care while still appearing publicly and praising Donald Trump. He claims deliberate ignorance of current events and frames stepping back as necessary for his mental health. He asserts that the Trump presidency showed officials can act without consequence and uses that rationale to close the House to reduce personal stress. He encourages others who can to abandon duties, urges federal employees to keep working without pay, and tells SNAP recipients to rely on deep breathing instead of benefits, while listing several alarming recent developments.
Read at The Atlantic
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