Satire Isn’t Sewage: Why Mike Johnson’s Excuse for Trump’s AI Video Is Dangerous

When Speaker Mike Johnson brushed aside Donald Trump’s grotesque AI video as “satire” and praised Trump as “arguably the best at using social media to get a point across,” he revealed something chilling. Johnson was not simply defending a tasteless stunt. He was normalizing authoritarian behavior, mocking millions of Americans who protested peacefully, and helping to desensitize the public to contempt for dissent.

This is not satire. This is sewage politics, pumped straight from Trump’s imagination and defended by a congressional leader too cowardly to call it what it is.

Satire Punches Up. This Punches Down.

Real satire is supposed to expose corruption, hypocrisy, and the arrogance of those who rule. It ridicules kings and emperors, not citizens demanding accountability. Trump’s AI fantasy video flips that on its head. He crowned himself “King Trump,” strapped himself into a jet, and dumped digital excrement onto protesters. The people who filled the streets for the “No Kings” rallies were standing up for the very principle that this country has no monarchs. Trump’s video spat on that tradition and Johnson applauded. To call that satire is to empty the word of meaning. It was not comedy. It was cruelty with a laugh track.

Authoritarianism Disguised as Humor

There is nothing accidental about this. Psychologists who study authoritarianism describe how leaders use humor as a weapon. Disparagement humor works by degrading an out-group, making cruelty seem harmless and making followers complicit in the laughter. That is what Trump did. He presented dissenters as garbage beneath him, unworthy of respect, while cloaking the message in cartoonish AI spectacle. He conditioned his audience to sneer at fellow citizens instead of respecting their right to protest.

This is the psychology of authoritarianism: turn dissent into a punchline, reduce opponents to objects of ridicule, and train your followers to equate domination with entertainment.

Mike Johnson’s Cowardice

Which brings us to Mike Johnson. The Speaker of the House is not some detached pundit weighing in from the sidelines. He is second in line to the presidency. When he calls this “satire,” he is giving the full weight of congressional leadership to the project of trivializing authoritarian fantasies. Johnson did not just defend Trump. He validated him. He told Americans that their outrage was misplaced, that the President humiliating them is just good fun, and that anyone who objects should lighten up.

This is cowardice dressed up as commentary. Johnson knows the imagery is grotesque. He knows it strikes at the heart of democratic norms. Yet he would rather curry favor with Trump than protect the dignity of the people he supposedly represents.

The Danger of Normalizing the Crown

The symbolism could not be starker. Millions marched under the banner “No Kings.” Trump answered with a crown on his head and a digital bombardment of his own people. And the Speaker of the House smiled. Johnson’s dismissal is not harmless. It is an endorsement of the fantasy that one man can rise above the people and treat them as filth. That is monarchy, not democracy.

Simply Put

We are living in an age where AI can manufacture convincing imagery and flood social platforms with weaponized propaganda in seconds. A responsible leader would warn about those dangers. Trump exploits them. Johnson excuses them. Together they are normalizing a politics where dissenters are dehumanized and leaders are exalted as kings.

Make no mistake. Trump’s sludge video was not satire. It was contempt. It was authoritarian psychology rendered in pixels. Johnson’s applause was complicity. It was cowardice wrapped in flattery.

And if Americans laugh along, if they accept the idea that citizens exercising their rights deserve to be digitally bombed with sewage, then the joke is on us. The lesson of history is clear: once you normalize contempt for dissent, you pave the road to tyranny.

This is not a laughing matter. It is a warning flare. Ignore it, and the next time the crown appears, it may not be made of pixels.