The GOP has been trying to elect a Speaker for over three weeks now, while our side has been unified in rejecting their extreme candidates. Their party has considered and rejected 3 nominees so far, including Rep. Steve Scalise, Rep. Jim Jordan, and Rep. Tom Emmer. The next person to try and win this poisoned chalice of a job is a more obscure candidate — which is why he might be able to win the whole shebang.
Rep. Mike Johnson of the 4th district of Louisiana isn’t a household name, and even I had to look up his history and his record on the issues. Let’s just say succinctly that he is Jim Jordan all over again, but without the baggage. *IF* (and that is a big IF) he is elected Speaker, the nation will be in for a world of hurt. He combines the social conservatism, fiscal insanity, Donald Trump election fealty, and isolationism currently ascendant in the GOP. He ticks all of the boxes, which is why he has been a dark horse for the Speaker race from the beginning. Rep. Mike Johnson is a true piece of work. Read why below the fold...
Who is Rep. Mike Johnson?
Rep. Mike Johnson is from Shreveport, Louisiana. He is 51 years old, and has been in Congress since 2017. Even though he may be obscure to many, he’s actually shot up into leadership roles while in the House of Representatives. He chaired the large and very conservative Republican Study Committee from 2019 to 2021, which was only his 2nd term in office. He’s also been in a minor leadership role since 2021 (the Vice Chair of the House Republican Conference). Finally, he is a Freedom Caucus nihilist.
Before entering politics, he was a senior attorney and the spokesman for the Alliance Defending Freedom. What is this organization, and why is it a major red flag? They’re the group responsible for Dobbs, as well as the rise in anti-LGBTQ+ legislation since Donald Trump was elected President.
The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), formerly the Alliance Defense Fund, is an American conservative Christian legal advocacy group[6] that works to expand Christian practices within public schools and in government,[7][8] outlaw abortion,[9][10] and curtail the rights of LGBTQ people.[11] ADF is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, with branch offices in Washington, D.C., and New York, among other locations.[12] Its international subsidiary, Alliance Defending Freedom International, which is headquartered in Vienna, Austria,[13] operates in over 100 countries.[14]
ADF is one of the most organized and influential Christian legal interest groups in the United States[15] based on its budget, caseload, network of allied attorneys, and connections to significant members of the political right.[16][17][18] Individuals associated with ADF have included U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett,[16][19] former vice president Mike Pence,[20] former attorneys general William Barr[21] and Jeff Sessions,[17][22] and Senator Josh Hawley.[23][24]
ADF attorneys have argued a number of cases before the Supreme Court, taking positions such as support for religious activity in public school and Christian prayer at town meetings; narrowing coverage of contraceptives under the ACA; prohibiting same-sex marriage, and supporting businesses in the wedding industry who refuse to service gay marriages.[25] ADF lawyers also wrote the model for Mississippi's anti-abortion legislation involved in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the decision that overruled the 49 year-old precedent case Roe v. Wade establishing the right to abortion.[26]
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) designates ADF as an anti-LGBT hate group, saying in 2017 that, since the election of President Donald Trump, ADF had become "one of the most influential groups informing the [Trump] administration's attack on LGBTQ rights."[11] The ADF has taken many anti-LGBT positions: it opposes same-sex marriage, decriminalization of same-sex sexual activity, and anti-discrimination laws, as well as taking an active role in writing model anti-transgender bills for state legislators.[11][27][28]
Before being elected to the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson did a stint in the Louisiana State House from 2015-2017. While there, he was known for authoring the Marriage and Conscience Act, which purportedly prevented discrimination against people regrading their views on marriage. Basically, the law was made so that anti-LGBTQ+ bigots would continue to be coddled. The bill was tabled in the state House, but the governor at the time, Bobby Jindal, signed an executive action basically mimicking the law shortly thereafter.
One final word about Mike Johnson — he is a true believer in the social conservatism espoused above. He held a leadership position within the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Baptist denomination in the world, from 2004 to 2012. The Southern Baptist Convention is one of the most virulently conservative Christian sects in the United States. It was founded to protect slavery and eventually to support racial segregation way back in the 1800s. While it stepped away from that mission, it now holds some of the most anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ+ zealots in the nation.
Johnson: a Terrible Record
Since joining Congress, if there’s been a bad bill, you can bet that Rep. Mike Johnson has voted for it. In over six years in office, here’s what he has done and chosen to vote for:
- 2017: Johnson voted for the American Health Care Act of 2017. This bill would’ve repealed most of the Affordable Care Act if passed. Luckily, now deceased Sen. John McCain torpedoed the bill surprisingly at the last minute with a NO vote.
- 2017: Johnson supported Donald Trump’s Muslim ban, saying "This is not an effort to ban any religion, but rather an effort to adequately protect our homeland. We live in a dangerous world, and this important measure will help us balance freedom and security.".
- 2017: Johnson voted for the budget busting Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The Trump tax cuts blew a hole in our budget, and no doubt Johnson would love to starve the government of more funds by supporting more tax cuts.
- 2019, 2021: Johnson was a defense attorney in both impeachment trials of Donald Trump. He is an extreme Trump loyalist and has travelled with the President on many occasions.
- 2020-21: He was the key architect of the legal chicanery attempting to overturn the 2020 election. He, along with 147 other Republicans in Congress, voted to overturn the 2020 election results. He signed onto Texas v. Pennsylvania, which was rejected by the Supreme Court.
- 2023: He voted to shut down the government by rejecting the 45 day continuing resolution at the end of September. While he did vote for the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 (the debt ceiling deal), he did NOT vote to fund the government after that.
His record is awful, but it is his positions on the issues that he could promote or reject as Speaker that really could cause consternation.
Johnson: Even Worse on Many Issues
Rep. Mike Johnson would be as terrible on the issues as Rep. Jim Jordan or most other Republicans. In addition to the issues above where he is on the record, expect Johnson to champion or to spurn legislation on the following issues:
- A “Don’t Say Gay” Law. Johnson is the author of the misnamed “Stop the Sexualization of Children Act”, which is more about prohibiting any federally funded institution from promoting or discussing gender identity.
- An attack on Obergefell. Johnson is a true social conservative, and opposed the ruling from the outset. He claims that "states should decide the matter", but anyone with a brain can see where that went with abortion. A national gay marriage ban would be in the works if they gain complete power.
- Christian prayer, everywhere. Johnson has supported cases that would allow prayers and religious expression in public schools, and it isn’t a stretch to see him supporting his warped view of Christianity as being allowed anywhere without government interference.
- A total nationwide ban on abortion. Johnson hasn’t met an anti-abortion measure he doesn’t support. He has proposed legislation this year “protecting minors and their unborn children” from being transported across state lines without “parental involvement”.
- Hostility to the Department of Justice. Johnson is a true believer in the “Weaponization of Government”, as evidenced by him serving on that sham committee. He would likely give it a much more prominent role if he becomes the Speaker.
- Biden Impeachment. Johnson has already attacked AG Garland regarding the Hunter Biden investigation. He fully supports the sham impeachment inquiry into President Biden, saying: “Based upon the overwhelming facts uncovered by our House Committees through our Congressional oversight responsibility, I fully support the impeachment inquiry into President Biden. This inquiry will allow us to unearth documents and records that the Administration has previously shielded and offer us a larger platform to deliver those facts directly to the American people. Barring declarations of war, impeachment is the most awesome power Congress holds, and we will undertake this great responsibility with a strict fidelity to the truth. It is time to get to work.”
- Funding for Ukraine. Despite boilerplate on his House Website about standing for the Orwellian “Peace through Strength”, Rep. Mike Johnson is a skeptic on funding Ukraine. He will likely seek a funding bill for Israel solely, and eliminate any funding for Ukraine that Biden called for.
I am sure that I am forgetting issues (feel free to chime in with more in the comments!), but this small sampling I think proves that Rep. Mike Johnson is every bit the true believer in the goal of drowning the government in a bathtub as part of the most extreme flank of his political party.
So far, there is no notable opposition to a Rep. Mike Johnson Speaker bid. In the roll call of the GOP conference last night, there were none in opposition to it, but there were a few voting present and 20 odd members missing. IF he is elected Speaker, there is not much we can do outside of him being subject to a motion to vacate. We would purely be on defense and counting on President Biden and the Senate to do damage limitation.
You can expect a prolonged government shutdown on his watch, and an acceleration of the impeachment proceedings against Biden. Any other stance on those issues risks alienating the fringe far right that he has been a part of so far. There’s little hope for him being moderate in his stances, so we have to be ready to assume the worst.
Finally, if we do NOT win the House of Representatives in 2024, there is a good chance that if Biden legitimately wins re-election, that a Speaker Mike Johnson would lead an effort in the House to overturn those results once again. He was already a leader of the legal case doing so in 2020, so it is not a stretch of the imagination that he would act the very same for 2024. Such a path would shred what’s left of our Constitution and install Trump as a dictator.
WE MUST WIN BACK THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES IN 2024!
Otherwise, a hypothetical Speaker Mike Johnson could spell the death knell of our nation.