CNN chief national correspondent John King stopped by his old show, Inside Politics, on Friday to discuss his insight on the state of the midterms. As King tells it, Republicans warning about “misery, poverty, and death” should Democrats win is proof of “desperation.” The fact that Democrats are running on the same premise about Republicans was not something he was interested in.
King began by painting a bleak picture for the GOP, “The Speaker of the House was in Texas, desperate to try to solve the Republican enthusiasm gap. Remember months ago, the Texas Republicans redid the map at the president's request. That was supposed to be plus five Republican seats locked in. So why is the speaker there in the final days, begging Republicans to get energy and turnout? And the rhetoric—you showed the JD Vance rhetoric. I just want to read you something. This is the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, trying to get Texas Republicans to get energized. You go to a Democratic county headquarters, there are dozens of people there working the phones.”
As if Democrats aren't campaigning on fears of misery, poverty, and death, John King says "I mean, I've been doing this for 40 years. Normally, the Republicans say the Democrats are going to raise your taxes, or lately, maybe they're going to defund the police. Misery, poverty… pic.twitter.com/H9lrWbhl2N
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) October 16, 2026
He then repeated himself before getting to Johnson’s quote, “Republicans are having trouble getting volunteers and canvassers. Elon Musk is paying canvassers in the districts I was in down in Texas. But this is the Speaker warning about Marxism and socialism. He says, ‘They take away private production. There will be no more private property. It begins with the premise there is no God. And because of that, it ends in misery, suffering, and poverty and famine and death.’”
King was shocked to see Johnson warn about Marxist outcomes, “I mean, I've been doing this for 40 years. Normally, the Republicans say the Democrats are going to raise your taxes, or lately, maybe they're going to defund the police. Misery, poverty, and death. It just tells you the desperation.”
If that makes Republicans desperate then what are Democrats? Liberals and Democrats have spent the last couple of years claiming that pro-lifers are getting women killed, that Republicans are killing people because they refused to renew Biden-era Obamacare subsidies that were supposed to be temporary COVID relief measures, and that ICE is going around murdering people willy-nilly.
Just about every politician says that if their opponent wins, then life will be miserable, but apparently, when Republicans do it, it is “desperation,” but when Democrats do it, it is evidence of voter “enthusiasm.”
Here is a transcript for the October 16 show:
CNN Inside Politics with Dana Bash
10/15/2026
12:08 PM ET
JOHN KING: The Speaker of the House was in Texas, desperate to try to solve the Republican enthusiasm gap. Remember months ago, the Texas Republicans redid the map at the president's request. That was supposed to be plus five Republican seats locked in. So why is the speaker there in the final days, begging Republicans to get energy and turnout? And the rhetoric—you showed the JD Vance rhetoric. I just want to read you something. This is the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, trying to get Texas Republicans to get energized. You go to a Democratic county headquarters, there are dozens of people there working the phones.
Republicans are having trouble getting volunteers and canvassers. Elon Musk is paying canvassers in the districts I was in down in Texas. But this is the Speaker warning about Marxism and socialism. He says, “They take away private production. There will be no more private property. It begins with the premise there is no God. And because of that, it ends in misery, suffering, and poverty and famine and death.”
I mean, I've been doing this for 40 years. Normally, the Republicans say the Democrats are going to raise your taxes, or lately, maybe they're going to defund the police. Misery, poverty, and death. It just tells you the desperation.
