Well, We Have a Speaker. He’s an Election Denier and an Extreme Christian Fundamentalist. | Meet Mike Johnson, Republicans’ new House speaker.

by Streona

47 comments

  2. I mean, of course the freedom caucus supported his speakership. His reactionary politics are practically anachronistic and his ideology is shamelessly fundamentalist.

    Mike Johnson is…

    – Part of the Regressive Religious Right with close ties to fundamentalist religious groups.
    – Early on in his career he was a senior attorney and spokesman for the Alliance Defending Freedom, a Conservative christian legal advocacy group that wants to outlaw abortion and suppress the LGBTQ community. Alliance Defending Freedom is designated a hate group.
    – Supports nation wide abortion ban, and an end to legal same sex marriage through the overturning of Obergefell v. Hodges
    – Supports restrictions to medical marijuana and refers to it as a “gateway drug”
    – Like Emmer, he supported and signed on to Texas v Pennsylvania in an effort to challenge the election results
    – He voted to overturn those results in Pennsylvania.
    – Supports an end to military aid to Ukraine.
    – Johnson has remarked that his career is dedicated to *”defending religious freedom, the sanctity of human life, and biblical values, including the defense of traditional marriage, and other ideals like these when they’ve been under assault.”*
    – As a State Rep he sought to put forth legislation that protected people who discriminated against same sex marriage partners.
    – He voted to repeal the ACA
    – Proposed cuts to medicaid and social security
    – Voted for Trump’s tax cut legislation that disproportionately benefitted the wealthy.
    – He was 1 out of 147 Republicans to vote to overturn the election results.
    – Voted against a January 6 commission
    – He reportedly does not even believe in climate change
    – One of his committees wrote a statement in support of books on conversion therapy that were recently taken down from Amazon. (So basically a supporter of conversion therapy)
    – He has opposed expanding medical marijuana access in his state and in his defense argued specifically that Marijuana can worsen some health conditions like epilepsy. (The context is important, his views on weed are outdated, he refers to weed as a “gateway drug”. He went fishing for whatever he could find and take out of context to support his rigid stance. A study did find some adverse effects with epileptics, however, CBD/medical marijuana is also used in treatments for epilepsy)
    – He voted in favor of Trump’s Muslim ban.
    – Has campaigned against LGBTQ rights and anti bullying legislation.
    – He has supported similar legislation to Florida’s “don’t say gay” bill.
    – Has referred to homosexuality as “unnatural” and a “dangerous lifestyle”. He even argued in an editorial in his local Louisiana Newspaper that homosexuality would eventually lead to the destruction of “the entire Democratic system”, and the legalization of pedophilia of course.
    – While working for the ADF, he supported criminalizing homosexuality.
    – He has argued in favor of including prayer and religious expression in public schools.

    This dude is a walking anachronism, I mean fuck, I’m getting Scopes Trial vibes from him, *Inherit The Wind* and all that. He’s about as fundamentalist and regressive as they come these days, not to mention far right in his indiscriminate support of Trump’s election fraud lies.

    It’s no wonder he got the vote, the freedom caucus wouldn’t have settled for anyone any less extreme.

  3. Young Earth Creationist.

    Did anyone ask about his views on Flat Earth?

  4. >After the 2020 presidential election, Johnson led the amicus brief signed by more than 100 Republicans that sought to overturn election results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. And he publicly bragged that he did it because Donald Trump called him up.

    >On January 6, 2021, as hordes of rioters stormed the Capitol, 139 Republican representatives—two-third of the entire party—voted to dispute the Electoral College results. The New York Times described Johnson as key to this effort, calling him the “most important architect of the Electoral College objections.” …

    >Johnson is also an evangelical Christian, who has said “my faith informs everything I do.” **He has voted for a national abortion ban and co-sponsored at least three bills** that would restrict abortion on a nationwide level. The anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America has given him an A+ rating.

    >He has also opposed LGBTQ rights at every turn. He voted against bipartisan legislation to codify same-sex marriage, which President Biden signed into law earlier this year. **In 2022, he introduced what advocates called a federal “Don’t Say Gay” bill.** The legislation would have banned classroom instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation through the third grade. Johnson called the bill “common sense.”

    –

    >[New House Speaker Once Blamed Abortions for Social Security, Medicare Cuts](https://newrepublic.com/post/176437/new-house-speaker-johnson-blamed-abortions-social-security-medicare-cuts)

    >The new House speaker Mike Johnson has touted some extremely controversial opinions as a member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus—but few as unsavory as his apparent hatred for a woman’s right to choose, sizing a woman’s worth up to her ability to create more workers for American businesses.

    >In a clip that surfaced Tuesday, Johnson put the onus of Republican cuts to essential programs on unborn children, claiming that if American women were producing more bodies to churn the economy then Republicans wouldn’t have to cut essential social programs like Medicare and Medicaid.

    >“*Roe v. Wade* gave constitutional cover to the elective killing of unborn children in America,” Johnson said during a House Judiciary Committee hearing.

    >“You think about the implications of that on the economy, we’re all struggling here to cover the bases of social security and medicare and medicaid and all the rest. If we had all those able-bodied workers in the economy we wouldn’t be going upside down and toppling over like this,” he added.

  5. Johnson: I will work with Jeffries to find common ground

    Magas: WHAT? WORK WITH DEMOCRATS? GET THIS FUCKING TRAITOR OUT OF HERE JOHNSON IS AN ENEMY TO AMERICA

  6. The worst of the worst. Exactly what the “Moderates” were hoping for.

  8. Sounds like an awful choice for moderate leadership: Johnson opposes abortion from the point of fertilization. He’s a caricature of conservatism.

  9. I’m in twitter jail because I said a Lying un-Democratic un-American MAGA domestic terrorist recruiting traitor should in fact not be the House Speaker.

  10. A hard core theocratic seditionist. Perfect. Way better than McCarthy. /s

  11. Meet the 3rd in line of succession for the office of President.

    Think hard about that, and put nothing past evil people.

  12. Remember the think pieces about how we had to thank the Republicans who rejected Jordan? LOL

    Centrism is a mental illness.

  13. I mean, why not just select Gym Jordan. This is exactly the same. Republicans truly have no shame

  15. Living in the US is a constant exercise in being disappointed. Half of our politicians actively hate our country and are vocal about their efforts to destroy our democracy and they somehow still get nearly half of the votes.

  16. “He’s a republican”

    Don’t be fooled by headlines like this. They all voted for him, they are all election deniers and fundamentalists. They are all the same.

  18. He tried to overhaul the Endangered Species Act in 2018

  19. So this pretty much guarantees a shut down as this bastard will make sure nothing passes the house that isn’t batshit insane.

  20. A Christian Ayatollah two heartbeats away from the presidency. And Biden is an octogenarian. Not good.

  21. The GOP seemed so proud of themselves too, as if it was some amazing achievement instead of the end of a complete failure.

  23. As opposed to all those other Republicans who supposedly aren’t those things?

  24. I mean, did anyone expect the Republicans to rally around someone with qualities other than his? It was always going to be a whack job. But someone who played a key role in trying to undermine an election? That’s icing on the cake.

  25. Remember next time someone tries to talk about “moderate Republicans” that ALL of them voted for this guy.

  26. The Republican party is getting more and more extreme/crazy/insane/harmful/void of reason/short-sighted/based on nonsense and fear.

    It’s still amazing to witness… and sad.

  29. He’s just another turd in the septic tank that is the Republican side of the House. There were no decent choices. Any move on his part to show any willingness to work with Democrats on anything (not likely) will just trigger another motion to vacate by Gaetz and the process will start all over. Republicans aren’t interested in getting anything done aside from holding a sham impeachment hearing and waving around a photo of Hunter Biden’s dick. Shutdown here we come.

  30. Leave it to the GOP to elect a MAGA terrorist and insurrectionist as the next speaker. Par for the course at this point.

    I fully expect them to vote to impeach Biden within the next few weeks and waste time and resources on a complete sham while one of our closest allies continues to commit a genocide with weapons and money we provided.

    It’s the American way.

  31. We are gonna have guns at our temples held by goddamn Christian fundamentalists. They’ll be complaining about how oppressed they are as they pull the trigger.

    These mother fuckers are destroying the actual values of this country under the guise of being oppressed righteous actors. I’d call them all big losers if it weren’t so frightening.

  33. Again it’s almost like these reporters are surprised the house elected a denier and extremist. What did you expect??

  35. He’s already going on and on about GOD since he was elected. So I guess when the country is really in trouble congress will just “pray over it” and things will be all better.

    Also, the fact that they are all laughing and high fiving each other over electing a speaker is infuriating. They should be ashamed of themselves for the leadership crisis they caused to begin with. They are all patting each other on the back for something that should have never happened.

  37. anti abortion , anti elderly people, anti democracy. I guess we never had a chance to elect anyone not an extremist.

  38. I have met brilliant people that were religious, but I have never met a fundie that was all that bright. So maybe this guy will be fun and easily undermined.

  39. “Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the [Republican] party, and they’re sure trying to do so, it’s going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can’t and won’t compromise. I know, I’ve tried to deal with them.”

    – Barry Goldwater

  40. Let’s work on ending this and making progress as a nation. There are elections near you on November 7th and early voting may be underway in many places so vote.

    ​

    [https://ballotpedia.org/Elections_calendar](https://ballotpedia.org/Elections_calendar)

    ​

    Vote out as many republicans as we can to pave the way for victory in 2024 and beyond. Every election matters from the school board to the white house, VOTE.

  42. I’m not necessarily worried about his extreme views getting anything past the Senate, but I am pretty much sure that the next twelve months is going to just be the House and the Senate prevent each other from accomplishing a single thing.

    I wouldn’t be surprised if they just guaranteed the longest government shutdown in US history.

  43. Ladies and gentlemen, from this point forward the only thing that matters, the ONLY thing, is to elect Democrats to every possible congressional seat in the next election. Do whatever you have to do, knock on doors, talk to every friend and neighbor you can, and donate… Donate donate donate, every dollar you can spare, to the Democrat running in your congressional district and if you can to Democrats in other winnable districts). Especially encourage every woman and young person you know to register and then to vote (since the GOP has targeted them inordinately).

  44. So, is the rule that a single rep can call for the vote to vacate the Speaker position still in effect? Or did it die with McCarthy?

  45. This whole party is a dumpster fire.

    We are so screwed.

    The Republican party’s new slogan. “The government doesn’t work! … Because we stonewall everything!!!”

  46. All that talk about infighting and how this was the end of Republican unity and how the moderates were standing up for themselves, and all that amounted to was fuck-all.

    Republicans have nowhere near as much integrity as people think. “Oh, it’s just a handful of Reds holding us back. Stop saying that. It’s bullshit. Idc if it’s 4 Republican fascists, when it’s time to vote ALL Republicans will eventually back them and 80M more will vote for them. The Reds sold their souls a long time ago.

  47. How long before the stories about this republican molesting children come out?

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