Who is Mike Johnson, the new Speaker of the House? Who is this man, who sits two heartbeats away from the Oval Office?
What we do know about him: He is an anti-choice, anti-LGBTQ, anti-POC, anti-contraception, anti-vax, anti-woman, pro-theocracy bugnut who believes that the perfectly fair 2020 election was rigged and wants to give Big Business even more tax breaks. He was an aggressive architect of the effort to overturn the most recent Presidential election results – he signed onto an ultimately unsuccessful lawsuit that was an effort to invalidate votes from some battleground states where Biden won. He regards Social Security as a Ponzi scheme, and wants to undermine that program, as well as Medicare and Medicaid. He blames the “human heart” on all the gun violence in the USA. He voted against sending assistance to the Ukrainians – twice.
Maybe the GQP selected him because of his mild-mannered nerdy appearance. Even his name sounds generic. Also, he doesn’t have the name-recognition baggage that many of the other candidates for Speaker did. However, as the ancient saw goes, looks can be deceiving. Peek beneath sheep’s clothing and you may find a ravening wolf. He has been described as “Jim Jordan with a jacket and a smile.” The main reason he was picked, no doubt, is because his lips are firmly attached to tRump’s fat rear end.
He says that his faith “informs everything I do.” James Madison quoted, way back in the 18th century, “There is not a shadow of right in the general government to intermeddle with religion. Its least interference with it would be a most flagrant usurpation.” We have seen what happens when government and religion intermingle, and the results are never pretty. It has led to pogroms and literal witch hunts, oppression of women and racial/ethnic minorities, persecution of non-binary people and those who follow the “wrong” religion.
In an interview on Real America’s Voice, Matt Gaetz asserted that the MAGA movement is ascendent, and making Johnson Speaker of the House shows “where the power in the Republican Party truly lies.” Mike Johnson is just another puppet of tRump, who will maintain TFG’s power in our government and over Republicans. Currently there are no moderate Republicans – they are all MAGA extremists and wack jobs. A while ago I wrote an essay titled “R.I.P. GOP” about how the Republicans have degenerated into a cult of personality, shamelessly worshipping the Golden Calf – or, rather, the Orange Ogre.
Then there is the often-replayed incident when a reporter asks Johnson about the attempt to overturn the 2020 election, and a horde of Republicans boo and one yells “Shut up!” like a spoiled infant. The same reporter gets a similar negative response when asking about aid for Israel and Ukraine.
Johnson believes that gay marriage is “the dark harbinger of chaos and sexual anarchy that could doom even the strongest republic,” and that SCOTUS’ rulings upholding separation of church from state go against Scripture. He wants to institute national bans on abortion and gay sex. In an interview with Fox News, he said “I am a Bible-believing Christian. Someone asked me today in the media, they said, ‘It’s curious, people are curious. What does Mike Johnson think about any issue under the sun?’ I said, ‘Well, go pick up a Bible off your shelf and read it – that’s my worldview.’ That’s what I believe and so I make no apologies for it.”
If that doesn’t scare the pants off you, what will?
And it gets better – or worse. He claims that mass shootings are the result of no-fault divorce laws, teaching evolution in schools, and the counterculture of the 1960s. He blames Roe v Wade for removing “able-bodied workers” from the economy to provide for Social Security. Really? How are those “able-bodied” workers supposed to support social programs when they have a hard time finding work since so many jobs have gone overseas or been automated – or when they’re in prison, earning laughable excuses for wages doing what amounts to slave labor? You want kids to grow up to support you, then you better make sure they can support you when they grow up.
By ousting Kevin McCarthy but getting Mike Johnson, this country may have gone from the frying pan into the fire. Fortunately, US registered voters have a little over 12 months to get organized and give the House a blue majority again.
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