Mike Johnson: Losing Faith in the Government You Control

Recently, Speaker Mike Johnson lamented that “people’s faith in government is at an all-time low.”
On the surface, that sounds like a moment of rare self-awareness from a Republican leader. But let’s not give too much credit too soon. Because here’s the fun fact: Republicans currently control all three branches of the federal government.

If Americans’ trust in their government has evaporated, who exactly does Johnson think they’re losing faith in? The Tooth Fairy?

When You Are the Government, You Don’t Get to Blame It

For decades, conservatives have run a brilliant rhetorical con. They’ve made “government” the enemy — the faceless, bureaucratic beast that stands in the way of freedom, faith, and prosperity. And then, once elected, they take power over that same government and make sure it doesn’t work. They sabotage it, starve it, fill it with cronies and extremists, and then point to the wreckage as proof that government can’t be trusted.

It’s political arson disguised as moral outrage.

Mike Johnson is simply the latest face of that long-running con. He stands at the head of a Republican Party that has spent decades eroding trust in every public institution — from schools to science to journalism to the judiciary — all while stacking those very institutions with loyalists and ideologues. The result isn’t just a “loss of faith” in government; it’s a system that’s been intentionally hollowed out from within.

Faith Lost by Design

Let’s be clear: public faith in government didn’t just “happen” to decline. It was engineered.

When courts become partisan battlegrounds instead of guardians of justice, when Congress treats governing like a cable news performance, when the executive branch becomes a revolving door of corruption — that’s not an accident. That’s the outcome of a deliberate philosophy that treats government not as a tool of the common good, but as an obstacle to be dismantled.

And yet, here comes Mike Johnson, clutching his Bible, shaking his head in disappointment, and asking why the public no longer believes in the very system his party has spent decades destroying.

The irony would be funny if it weren’t so corrosive.

The GOP’s Hollow “Faith” in Government

Johnson loves to talk about faith — in God, in family, in America. But his version of “faith” in government looks a lot like control. It’s faith in a government that bans books but not assault rifles. Faith in a government that polices women’s bodies while ignoring corporate greed. Faith in a government that quotes Scripture when it’s politically convenient, but forgets every verse about compassion, poverty, and justice.

This isn’t faith in government — it’s theocratic cosplay dressed up as leadership.

So yes, Speaker Johnson is right: people’s faith in government is at an all-time low. But maybe that’s not because Americans have lost their moral compass. Maybe it’s because they see through the hypocrisy of leaders who cry “corruption” while holding the matches.

The Real Crisis of Faith

The real crisis isn’t that Americans no longer trust government. It’s that we no longer believe our leaders are acting in good faith. We see the culture wars, the manufactured outrage, the endless deflection — and we recognize the pattern. When things go wrong, it’s always someone else’s fault: the media, the left, immigrants, teachers, “the deep state.”

Never the ones in charge.

But as it stands, Republicans are the ones in charge — of the courts, of the House, of the White House. So if trust in government is at historic lows, that’s not a mystery to solve. It’s a mirror to look into.

Because if you burn the house down, you don’t get to act surprised that people stop believing in fire safety.

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