Frost Torches Johnson’s ‘Copium’ Spin on Blue Wave: ‘He’s Brushing Aside Voters Who Backed Trump’

By Elena Vasquez, Political Affairs Editor November 8, 2025

WASHINGTON — Fresh off a string of stinging off-year defeats, House Republicans are scrambling to rewrite the narrative on Tuesday’s “blue wave,” with Speaker Mike Johnson dismissing the losses as predictable blue-state quirks. But on CNN’s The Lead Thursday, Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) wasn’t buying it, branding Johnson’s take “copium”—internet slang for desperate denial—and warning that the results signal deep voter discontent with the GOP’s agenda, including the grinding government shutdown now in its 39th day.

Frost, the 28-year-old Gen Z firebrand who flipped Florida’s 10th District blue in 2022, didn’t hold back during his exchange with anchor Jake Tapper. “This was a major week for Democrats winning multiple key races across the country, from California to New Jersey to Manhattan,” Tapper noted, recapping the sweep that saw Democrats claim Virginia’s governorship, hold New Jersey’s, and install democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani as New York City’s mayor. He played a clip of Johnson, speaking at a Capitol presser amid the shutdown stalemate, insisting the outcomes were “no surprise” because “blue states elected blue leaders.”

“What do you make of that?” Tapper pressed.

“That’s what we call copium,” Frost shot back with a smirk, invoking the meme-worthy term blending “cope” and “opium” for self-deluding rationalization. “That’s him trying to cope with the results that he’s very scared of and that he doesn’t like.”

The Florida Democrat, whose district includes the shutdown-battered Kennedy Space Center, laid into the GOP spin with surgical precision. “Number one, it’s not just blue states,” he said. “Across this entire country, especially in places in the South, we saw Republican supermajorities completely crushed.” He spotlighted Virginia, a perennial swing state under Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, where former Rep. Abigail Spanberger surged to victory by 15 points—flipping the governorship and netting Democrats a trifecta in Richmond. In New Jersey, Rep. Mikie Sherrill cruised to a 13-point win over Trump-endorsed Jack Ciattarelli, securing a third straight Democratic term in a state that leaned red in 2024. And in Manhattan, Mamdani’s upset over ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo drew record turnout—147,000 votes, up 20% from 2021—fueled by affordability pledges that resonated with working-class Latinos and young voters.

Frost didn’t stop at geography. He zeroed in on demographics: “We saw key demographics that in many cases went to Donald Trump, Latino men and folks like that, who actually voted for Democrats this time.” Exit polls bore him out—Sherrill won Latino men by 12 points, a 25-point swing from 2024, while Spanberger dominated suburban women (58%) hit hard by federal furloughs. California’s Proposition 50, redrawing congressional maps to counter GOP gerrymanders, passed 58-42%, potentially flipping five House seats blue in 2026.

The shutdown loomed large in Frost’s takedown. “They’re seeing the extreme agenda of this administration… the shutdown and the fact that Congress has been essentially on vacation for over a month,” he said, slamming Johnson’s leadership for leaving 800,000 feds unpaid and SNAP benefits in limbo for 42 million. Trump himself blamed the impasse for the losses in a Mar-a-Lago gaggle, admitting it “hurt Republicans” without his name on the ballot. Johnson, however, doubled down Wednesday: “Off-year elections are not indicative of what’s to come… We have an extraordinary record to run on.” VP JD Vance echoed the minimization on X: “Our coalition is ‘lower propensity’ and… off-years favor the other side.”

Frost framed the wins as a course correction. “I’m not here to shame people for decisions you made a year ago,” he told Tapper. “I’m more concerned about the decisions you make next year… Democrats have a vision for this country.” That vision—affordability, decency, opportunity—resonated in a cycle with 65% turnout, up 12 points from 2021, driven by suburban backlash to DOGE cuts and tariff hikes.

The “copium” clip went viral, amplified by Occupy Democrats’ X post that racked up 7,000 views and 194 likes by Friday. #CopiumWave trended with 180,000 posts, blending Dem glee—”Frost nailed it!”—and MAGA defensiveness: “Off-years mean nothing—wait for ’26!” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries hailed the results as a “mandate,” with his PAC memo eyeing House flips via Prop 50. Republicans, stung but steadfast, point to history: No off-year wave has presaged midterms since 2010.