Things are rough in the House Republican caucus.
With a razor-thin 221-214 majority (if we allocate the three current vacancies to the party likely to win each seat), Democrats need to flip just four seats to regain the majority. And Republicans have lost their most prodigious fundraiser. Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy had raised nearly twice as much as the overall second-best fundraiser, Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, by the time McCarthy was ousted from leadership. Their legislative performance has been historically atrocious, with their own members publicly frustrated at the lack of achievements to campaign on.
So you might forgive House Republicans for being flabbergasted that House Speaker Mike Johnson’s recent presentation on keeping the House majority degenerated into little more than a church sermon.
“Johnson, a devout Christian, attempted to rally the group by discussing moral decline in America—focusing on declining church membership and the nation’s shrinking religious identity, according to both people in the room,” reported Politico, about the retreat hosted this past weekend in which Johnson attempted to buck up caucus morale by invoking God and the Bible.
It is a sign of Johnson’s myopic fundamentalism that he thought a Biblical sermon would rally a group of politicians sweating their endangered majority. While Republicans mostly profess their Christian fealty when prompted, their typical behaviors betray the cynicism of their religiosity. No one doubts Johnson’s creepy faith, but he’s not the norm, and this wasn’t church. Religion and faith aren’t a plan to hold on to power, which House Republicans could’ve considered before selecting an unknown backbencher to speaker.
It is true that church attendance is in serious decline. According to Gallup data, 44% of Americans in March 2000 said they attended services in the past week, but that figure fell to 31% by May 2023. The percentage of people who “never” attend service rose from 13% in 2000 to 31% in 2022. And in 2021, Gallup noted that for the first time in their data, less than a majority of Americans (47%) were a member of a religious church, synagogue, or mosque. It was 70% in 1999. And since many people no doubt inflate their attendance when Gallup inquires, the share of regular attendees is most likely lower.
This is an existential matter to Republicans. In 2020 exit polls, 60% of non-Catholic Christians voted for Donald Trump. And while Joe Biden won Catholics 52-47, that has proven to be a swing constituency in recent cycles. Those with no religious affiliation? According to 2020 exit polls, they voted for Biden 65-31.
So yes, falling church attendance and affiliation is a valid electoral concern for Republicans. And there’s no doubt that Johnson personally cares for more than electoral reasons. But none of that has any bearing on Republicans getting reelected this November and holding their majority.
In fact, if Johnson were so concerned about society’s diminishing religiosity and its effect on conservatism, what exactly has he done as speaker to arrest that decline? In fact, his merry band of cruel nihilists might be a major reason that evangelicals are abandoning their faith! One researcher methodically tracked the increasing dissatisfaction that younger, more liberal evangelicals feel toward rigid bigotry of their faith’s orthodoxy. The plain hypocrisy of self-identified Christians like Reps. Matt Gaetz and Lauren Boebert (as well as former Rep. George Santos) makes further mockery of their supposed faith. Their eagerness to use falsified information in their witch hunt against Hunter Biden is beyond absurd. And their crass worship of Trump, perhaps the most morally bankrupt human in the country, is the final nail in that coffin.
“The speaker contended that when one doesn’t have God in their life, the government or ‘state’ will become their guide, referring back to Bible verses, both [sources] said,” Politico reported regarding the Republican retreat. “They added that the approach fell flat among some in the room. ‘I’m not at church,’ one of the people said, describing Johnson’s presentation as ‘horrible.’”
Johnson is weird and creepy, and that’s what Republicans get for failing to do any due diligence on their speaker vote. They traded in a prolific fundraiser who at least knew how to work his chamber’s levers of power, for a religious demagogue who thinks his job is to save America from the heathens while letting his caucus run wild. And then they wonder why they’re in such bad shape heading to November.
Republicans want to know how they can keep power this November? What makes them think they’re worthy of keeping power?
Nothing, of course. And Johnson will soon find out that even his all-powerful God can’t save his gavel.
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