House GOP Finally Get Hold of Their Johnson
Mike Johnson, come on down!
The Republicans finally elected a Speaker, though for a while there after doing so I thought it might be more a case of selecting a new House Chaplain. That’s because, in his first speech before his minions, Johnson explained that he was ordained by God for this position "I believe that scripture, the Bible, is very clear that God is the one that raises up those in authority," he evangelized. "He raised up each of you. All of us. And I believe that God has allowed and ordained each and every one of us to be here at this specific moment. This is my belief."
It should be noted that he did this without even genuflecting, or without a responsive “Hallelujah, brother!” in response from the GOP adherents.
I should at least mention that I suspect the room was filled with people who were not raised under the same Bible that Johnson was referencing. Though if it happens that his God did raise him up for this specific moment, it’s because the Lord wants the House to pass the budget bill in three weeks, because otherwise He would have just let the Speaker seat remain unfilled.
With all this in mind, while I understand the GOP elation at finally being able to selecti a House leader for their party on the fourth try (or fifth if you count Kevin McCarthy before his own party evicted him), Johnson and Republicans have a daunting task facing them. The first of which is something that's rushing up like a tsunami to hit them when the current Continuing Budget Resolution runs out on November 18, just 23 days from now.
To deal with this imminent issue, there are two options for Speaker Johnson. Work with Democrats and pass a bill that can also pass the Senate and be signed by President Biden – or don’t pass a bill. In the latter case, the government will shut down, which the public always hates, and (most especially after the debacle the country watched aghast for three weeks of GOP Dysfunction) Republicans will get blamed for it. The problem for Johnson – and Republicans – is that, in the former case, if he does work with Democrats to pass a workable bill, that’s exactly what the previous GOP Speaker Kevin McCarthy did that got him kicked out of his job by the Chaos Caucus.
But that problem, massive as it is, is just the tip of the iceberg peeking above the waterline.
Underneath the surface is the classic conundrum of the dog chasing a car and then catching it. This is also known as the adage: “Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.”
Washington Post journalist Greg Sargent said that while Jim Jordan is “Vulgar MAGA,” Mike Johnson is more of a “Refined MAGA” who might not be “as alienating in the suburbs and thus poses less of a threat to their reelection hopes.”
Of course, the reality is that few people could be as alienating as Jim Jordan, so that’s a high standard few others should be expected to meet. But even if one doesn’t reach Jordan-level, a person can still be incredibly alienating. And Mike Johnson carries around with him a mass of baggage that is indeed incredibly alienating. As Rep. Jamie Raskin said, “You can’t get to the right of Mike Johnson,” adding that he has “good manners” and is a “nice guy.” But Raskin also made clear, “No one should be fooled by it.”
And it’s hard to think many people not on the extreme right will be fooled by it. After all -- as is the case with Mike Johnson -- wanting a national abortion ban with absolutely no exceptions, wanting to criminalize women traveling across state lines for health care, blaming Social Security and Medicare problems on abortion by saying that because of abortion there weren’t enough “able-bodied workers” in the economy (yes, really, he said that, on video), wanting to ban women’s existing contraceptive rights, wanting to end gay marriage, being virulently against LGBTQ rights (claiming in an op-ed written before being elected to Congress that homosexuals don’t deserve equal protections because they are capable of “altering their abnormal lifestyle” and therefore can be criminalized), supporting Russia over Ukraine, wanting to increase the age to receive Medicare and Social Security, and being the lead architect of the MAGA effort to block electoral vote certification in the House is – for starters -- pretty darn alienating. No matter how good your manners are. Even if it’s not at Jim Jordan alienating level. It’s certainly a whole lot more alienating than even Kevin McCarthy was.
Including, lest it be overlooked, that in the same afore-mentioned op-ed, Johnson supported the position that U.S. states maintain “the right to discourage the evils of sexual conduct outside of marriage.”
So, with all due respect to Greg Sargent, an excellent, thoughtful journalist, Republican Speaker Mike Johnson has a mountain of things about him that are incredibly alienating.
(In fairness to Greg Sargent, and to show his insight, he subsequently also wrote a tweet that said -- "Johnson called homosexuality a 'inherently unnatural' and 'dangerous lifestyle' that would lead to legalized pedophilia and possibly even destroy 'the entire democratic system.'" Perils of a rushed Speaker vote; lots more will come out.")
Indeed, which brings us back to that dog rushing after a car and then having to figure out what to do after catching it.
But the Republican problems with Mike Johnson as their Speaker are even more than all this. Those issues center on him being out of his depths for the job of Speaker. Putting aside that he’s only been in the House for 5-1/2 years and that he’s now second in line to the presidency, he has no experience dealing with Republican leadership, no experience in having prepared for the job of Speaker, and no experience for one of the more critical, practical jobs as Speaker – fundraising for the party members. The extreme, fascist right might love him, but Trump has that covered, so it's unnecessary. Dealing with his Congressional members in their districts that aren't "safe Red" is another matter entirely. Particularly when there's no one to the right of Mike Johnson. And you believe in total ban on abortion. And that, y'know, sex outside of marriage is evil and probably illegal.
And he is now the face of the Republican Party going into a national election next year, full-extremist MAGA. And this comes when history from 2020 shows GOP extremism caused the party’s expected Red Wave to instead become a trickle. A mere five-seat majority which turns out to be what allowed him to become Speaker – after four others, who the party initially preferred to Mike Johnson, floundered before him.
Mike Johnson -- who believes he was ordained by God to be Speaker, thinks all abortion should be banned, believes sex outside of marriage could be criminalized and lead the push in the House to overthrow the government -- is now the House general who will lead the Republican Party marching into the 2024 election.
But at least he has good manners. Even though he thinks you are abnormal, deviant and are destroying the American economy by having an abortion.
It’s pretty hard to be fooled by that. Unless you want to be.
For everyone else, there aren’t enough smiles to cover a face when it’s bashing you with a bludgeon.
Meet the Republicans’ choice for Speaker, fifth try, Mike Johnson. “We don’t live in a democracy,” he says. A democracy, to Mike Johnson, is bad. Majority rules, to Mike Johnson, is bad, even deadly. To Mike Johnson, democracy is like two wolves and a lamb deciding on what is for dinner.
Analogies are always cute, except that the problem here is that in a democracy the government doesn't get to decide what you eat for dinner. That's an autocratic state.
Majority rules decide the protection and welfare of the state -- and eating your opponent does not fit into that. Unless you're Mike Johnson.
Keep in mind, too, that while new Republican Speaker (fifth try) Mike Johnson wants Americans to believe that the United States isn't a democracy, but rather just a Constitutional Republic -- he doesn't even believe in the Constitution, which is why he lead the effort to not certify Electoral Votes in the House as mandated in the Constitution, in order for his MAGA fascist wing to overthrow the government.
That is the face of the House GOP.
Be careful what you wish for. And rush to push through just because your three preferred options didn't pan out, and you quickly need something. Because you just might get it.
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