We were all distracted by the bright and shiny objects in the House Speakership circus: Matt Gaetz and his disrespect for the customs of the House by bringing down a Speaker, the right-wing awfulness of Steve Scalise, ratcheting up to the narcissism of Jim Jordan, and ending with the sad clown performance of Tom Emmer. The Republicans ultimately and UNANAMOUSLY chose the little-known, under-the-radar Mike Johnson, whose initial chief positive attribute appeared to be that he hadn’t had a personality clash with anyone in the conference.
As scrutiny has been focused on Johnson’s views, he turns out to be, in fact, the House member most aligned with the election deniers, Operation REDMAP gerrymanderers, Federalist Society judicial stackers, and Project 2025 government decimators. He rounds all 4 bases on the list for those who seek to end our democratic form of government and turn us into autocracy.
As a bonus, he also has extreme views on every social issue in the culture wars, and on economic policy and foreign policy. I’ve listed some resources on Johnson’s positions below. The first one from Politico has highlights from an interview with Hannity on Thursday night after his ascension to the Speakership. The full Hannity interview is also there. You should contrast those statements with his earlier ones in the other references.
Mike Johnson is a wolf in sheep’s clothing: intelligent, soft-spoken, humble, bespectacled, and with a certain bit of self-depreciation. He has an anti-Trump personality, with intelligence, vigor, and real “family values .” But he is far more amenable to grooming and understanding doctrinaire positions and crafting legislation, which makes him a huge potential asset for the oligarchs behind the former Republican party (FRP). He was primarily responsible for the Republican budget proposals in 2022, which aimed at dismantling the social safety net.
Make no mistake, Mike Johnson is on the fringe of the right-wing fringe. The question that arises in my mind is what was said in that last conference meeting that led to his election with NO dissent in the ranks and that would make EVERY member of the conference fall in line behind this extremist.
There is no question that Democrats will be using Johnson as the face of the Republican Party in every Congressional campaign in 2024 because of his extremist views. That would jeopardize the election prospects of many Republicans currently in the House. But if he glides so smoothly into his sheep’s clothing, as he did in the Hannity interview, that will be far far harder than it would have been with a Scalise or Jordan.
Perhaps that’s the reason why the 112 who opposed Jordan reversed their positions and collapsed so suddenly. Judge for yourself.
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/26/in-his-own-words-here-are-10-things-you-should-know-about-mike-johnson-00123925
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/26/opinion/mike-johnson-republican-party.html
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4278796-speaker-johnson-on-same-sex-marriage-i-am-a-rule-of-law-guy/
https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/watch/full-remarks-mike-johnson-speaks-after-being-elected-house-speaker-196392005884
I too read Jay Kuo’s excellent review of Johnson’s record and the Politico article; but with that cherub choir boy face and smile he must be such a nice person. What could go work? I know people that voted for John Edwards (D’s) and Mitt Romney (D’s and R’s) on looks alone. Call it the JFK good looks factor.