If it seems like House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) just got off the campaign trail, that’s because he did. But a few months removed from his grueling nationwide tour, the GOP leader is hitting the road again. And why not? With the Democratic brand in complete chaos, now is as good a time as ever to remind voters about the promises Republicans are keeping. And maybe, just maybe, he’ll pull off something that’s virtually impossible: pick up seats for a sitting president in his first midterm election.

It’s only been done twice in the last 90 years, but if anyone’s familiar with long odds, it’s this speaker. Besides, what better time to lay the groundwork for 2026 than when the opposition is dealing with record unpopularity? They’re imploding, Johnson agreed on Saturday’s “This Week on Capitol Hill.” “It’s really something to see. They’re a party without a leader, without vision, without a plan.” Not to mention, he pointed out, they have no platform they can run on because it was repudiated in the last election. And so, you see them flailing about.”

“They’re resorting to profanity,” the speaker shook his head, “which you see now constantly from all their members, House and Senate.” Then there were the “antics as they had on the floor during the president’s joint address,” he told Family Research Council President Tony Perkins. And to top it all off, “99% of the Democrats in Congress voted … to shut the government down — [and then pretended] they care about the American people.” How could that possibly be true, he wondered, when “they voted against the largest pay increase for enlisted troops in history[?] They voted against funding border patrol agents, TSA agents at the airport, all the federal employees and every agency of the country. … They’re making themselves look rather ridiculous.” He smiled. “And it makes for a very good environment for us to go out and campaign, which is what we’re doing this week.”

Making matters worse for Democrats, everywhere Johnson goes “there’s euphoria,” he explains. “People are excited. And I mean, from your average voter to moms and dads who are now seeing [and] feeling freedom again, seeing that we’re turning the tide. You’ve got business owners at every level, large and small, who are making decisions to expand business,” the speaker noticed. “And they know that help is on the way — and it’s already begun, and they feel good about it. There’s a real sense of excitement, patriotism. People just have this sense of relief, and it’s a fun thing to go out and talk about and share on the campaign trail.”

Of course, the Left is doing everything it can to stop that enthusiasm by blocking the president’s agenda at every turn. From deportations to transgenders in the military to cutting government waste, activist judges are doing everything in their power — beyond it — to put the brakes on the changes Donald Trump is demanding.

To put it in perspective, John Fund pointed out in National Review, “Last month alone, district court judges issued 15 temporary restraining orders halting actions of the Trump administration. That’s more restraining orders than were issued during the first three years of the Biden administration.” Facing an all-out assault against his executive authority, President Trump’s acting solicitor general, Sarah Harris, fired back that the administration “cannot properly perform its functions if any judge anywhere can enjoin every presidential action everywhere,” Harris wrote in just one of her emergency appeals to the Supreme Court.

Of course, as Fund notes, “The effort to throw a judicial monkey wrench into every one of Trump’s administrative efforts has become a well-thought-out strategy on the [L]eft.” Especially now, as they struggle to find traction on any issue in the minority and face historic disapproval ratings.

Johnson, who practiced law before politics, warned that America is witnessing “very breathtaking examples of judicial overreach.” “And as you well know, I used to litigate constitutional law cases. I did it for almost two decades, and we routinely would go into the courts, we would make our arguments under the Constitution, and we would be met with activist judges.” He thought back to those years, explaining that he “was in the courts in the era [when] we had Clinton appointees in the court and some of the early Obama judges who were on the courts. And they would look at the Constitution, they would acknowledge what it says, and they would do the opposite. I think that’s what we’re seeing here.”

One of the most egregious aspects, the speaker stressed, is the underhanded way leftist groups are going about it. “You see activists in the courts venue shopping and choosing activist judges. So you have two organizations who are trying to unwind and stop the Trump reforms. They have willing accomplices on the bench, but we have got to get those cases appealed as quickly as possible — all the way to the Supreme Court … because that’s what will be necessary to set it right.”

At some point, Johnson argued, “We’ve got to send a message that that’s not acceptable. … I mean, some of these decisions are as dangerous as they are unconstitutional. And these are very high stakes.” He pointed to the Constitution’s Article II, which defines the scope of executive authority. “And it is broad. There are checks and balances, obviously, separation of powers in our system. But the courts were never intended to be able to step in and act as though they are the commander in chief themselves. No individual federal judge should be able to enjoin what a president is doing in the way that is being done.”

When Judge Ana Reyes of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia stopped the president from implementing his ban on trans-identifying soldiers, even the speaker was astonished. “You’re talking about the president serving as the commander in chief of the Armed Forces. That’s the president’s prerogative. It is the president’s policies that [we should enforce] — not some judge that’s not involved in the military at all. That’s not how this works.”

If this trend continues, “I think that we’re going to have to send a message,” the speaker insisted. “Congress is going to have hearings very soon, probably as early as maybe the end of next week, as soon as we can schedule them, to look at this issue, to look at the judicial abuses and to highlight some of the most egregious examples. I think we’ve got to bring about a change.”

And speaking of the powers under the Constitution, Johnson reminded people, “Article I is the legislative branch. That’s Congress. And in our branch, we can limit the jurisdiction of courts. We can eliminate the existence of entire courts. So if they push us to take extreme measures, we will. And I think you’re going to see a lot of discussion about that in the days ahead.”