Johnson urges Jeffries to focus on shutdown, ignore Trump's sombrero memes

House Speaker Mike Johnson on Thursday urged House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to focus on resolving the government shutdown instead of complaining about President Donald Trump's sombrero memes.

The government formally entered a shutdown on Wednesday morning after the Senate failed to approve a continuing resolution to fund the government. President Donald Trump and Republicans have accused the Democrats of seeking to fund illegal alien health care. Trump, for his part, has taken to posting edited videos of Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer that portray Jeffries with a mustache and sombrero.

“These are games. These are sideshows. People are getting caught up in — in battles over social media memes,” Johnson said, according to The Hill. “This is not a game. We’ve got to keep the government open for the people. I don’t know why this is so complicated.”

“And to my friend Hakeem, who I was asked about: Man, just ignore it,” he added.

Trump drew attention for two videos. The first video showed an edited Schumer asserting that the Democrats needed to bribe illegal aliens with health care in order to replace the voters they had lost due to their LGBT policies. In that video, Jeffries appeared with a mustache and sombrero.

In a second video, Trump posted an edited clip of Jeffries complaining about the first video, before donning a mustache and sombrero. AI versions of Trump then appeared in the background as a mariachi band and played the "Mexican Hat Dance."

Ben Whedon is the Chief Political Correspondent at Just the News. Follow him on X.