The willingness to destroy the American Republic has become a litmus test for Republican leadership. Sinclair Lewis was spot-on when he said, "When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross" I have seen few politicians so boldly demanding their sense of Christian privilege be written into law. If there is an upside here, it is knowing Johnson is absurdly out of step with where the American public is on just about every issue. Like a lot of religious nut cases, he appears convinced a top-down, authoritarian approach to the culture wars they lost a long time ago, will carry the day. Johnson comes across as a fast-talking televangelist intent on picking the pockets of his flock.
How did Mike Johnson escape scrutiny? First of all, he is Donald Trump's fair-haired boy (even with black hair!). He's an election denier and a wall-to-wall born-again evangelical, which speaks directly to Trump's base. Insofar as House Republicans are concerned, he hardly needed to be vetted, because he is essentially Jim Jordan, without the baggage.
Johnson has a problem, though. Almost from the moment his name was put forward, he was being examined by practically every news organization in the US, particularly MSNBC, which had his number before the vote was taken. His attitudes will be under scrutiny by them, by the FFRF, and by any person or organization which values State / Church separation.
Yeah, he's in the driver's seat ... but he would do well to check his rear view mirror.
After the first two candidates for speaker were rejected, them being such outrageous options, Mike Johnson seems like a reasonable choice. The fact that he’s just as outrageous as the others, minus the circus-like attention seeking, will fly under the radar for the average Joe Murican. The base knows him, they love him.
His worldview and policy positions are completely par for the Louisiana course, though. I doubt anyone is surprised by any of the listed shit he’s done.
Do not get me started on his misogyny. Like, he’s the Dean of a college that refused to allow birth control in their insurance plans, that never even opened its doors. What is that? School shootings are because women can now leave abusive husbands, oh sorry “no-fault divorce”. And no abortions or birth control. I’d guarantee that he’d vote for repealing the 19th amendment in a heartbeat. Fuck him.
Rather than call people like Johnson "Christian Nationalists" I find it more convenient to call them "Nationalist Christians" because that word order abbreviates to "Nat-Cs".
All this optimism. 'The Senate Will Stop anything awful' Democrats don't really control the Senate. Manchin and Sinema (an Independent now, BTW) do. King and Sanders are Independents though Sanders usually sides with the Democrats. With 3 Independents, there are actually more Republicans than Democrats in the Senate.
The Senate may stop the most egregious items, but that doesn't mean a lot of awful isn't going to get through. I consider an anti-trans bill a not an unlikely win for Johnson. Not enough support to be a 'hill to die on'.
And that doesn't even address what they're doing at the state level, which a state's rights court is almost certainly going to uphold. Many of them have a blind spot when it comes to the 9th Amendment.
Look what Texas did this week:
Makes driving an undocumented family member to the doctor, to church, or to school a “human smuggling” offense carrying a 10-year mandatory prison sentence;
Allows Texas authorities to separate children from their parents at the border — just as Trump did in 2018;
Encourages police to unconstitutionally imprison and deport migrants, even those with valid asylum claims;
Subjects Latino Texans to racial profiling by law enforcement; and
Spends $1.5 billion to continue Trump’s ineffective border wall
I'm scared and I think so many people are walking around saying 'It can't happen' that it is and will.
One has to wonder where did he and all other creationists like him ever get such an idiotic unfounded idea about people evolving from slime, besides the fact that they made the whole thing up out of thin air?
Come to think of it, I think I've just answered my own question.
There are times I honestly wish I could make some of these people live under the kinds of laws they want to create. Seems like they've enjoyed the benefits of being at the top too much for entirely too long and now they think nobody else deserves the same considerations they do. The smug superiority is nauseating.
I listened to some of Johnson's speech when he got elected. It didn't take five minutes to understand why he'd been selected and what was likely to happen so long as he was in office. The guy is still a religious extremist, he's just figured out how to be quiet and charismatic enough about it most people don't really notice. Expect more of the same from him as Speaker of the House, because it's not going to get any better with this guy in power.
Johnson. Another word for dick. How appropriate in his case.
I've pretty much made my feelings known about this cross-swinger (see previous FA article). Fortunately, he faces the same challenges as the guy that got ousted. Here's hoping we can all soon quote Yoda:
"At an end your rule is, and not short enough it was."
That shows the importance of up and coming elections. It is only vaguely Dems or Republicans. It is a choice of sanity, true morality and democratic values which as a former Evangelical they have little or none of these.
It is high time to write off the entirety of the GQP as beyond any hope of redemption. Any Democrat who reaches across the aisle after this should expect to get back a bloody stump; no compromise with these people will ever be repaid in kind. They caved to the extremists, and became them.
There is no saving any of them, anymore. They've made their choice.
There are no moderate Republicans. Their views have always been abhorrent. There are only quiet and loud Republicans, and the degrees to which they are willing to vocally commit to one of their abhorrent views. Some know to lie, and some prefer to say it boldly. But, they all share the same agenda.
Johnson is a true believer, and that certainly makes it more efficient for Republicans to push their agenda without squabbling over nuances. But, for now, the Senate will block everything they have the authority to.
I hope the anti-right coalition of moderates, religious liberals, non-Christian religious minorities, religious nones, progressives, etc. can hold together enough to take down the GOP majority, but I worry. I worry especially about the fissures from the Gaza conflict.
How so many American progressives can be so attuned to the religious extremism of the American Christian right and the Israeli religious right, but so blind to the murderous religious extremism of Hamas, Hezbollah, and Islamic Jihad, is a complete mystery to me.
The willingness to destroy the American Republic has become a litmus test for Republican leadership. Sinclair Lewis was spot-on when he said, "When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross" I have seen few politicians so boldly demanding their sense of Christian privilege be written into law. If there is an upside here, it is knowing Johnson is absurdly out of step with where the American public is on just about every issue. Like a lot of religious nut cases, he appears convinced a top-down, authoritarian approach to the culture wars they lost a long time ago, will carry the day. Johnson comes across as a fast-talking televangelist intent on picking the pockets of his flock.
How did Mike Johnson escape scrutiny? First of all, he is Donald Trump's fair-haired boy (even with black hair!). He's an election denier and a wall-to-wall born-again evangelical, which speaks directly to Trump's base. Insofar as House Republicans are concerned, he hardly needed to be vetted, because he is essentially Jim Jordan, without the baggage.
Johnson has a problem, though. Almost from the moment his name was put forward, he was being examined by practically every news organization in the US, particularly MSNBC, which had his number before the vote was taken. His attitudes will be under scrutiny by them, by the FFRF, and by any person or organization which values State / Church separation.
Yeah, he's in the driver's seat ... but he would do well to check his rear view mirror.
“We need to unshackle the voice of the church again.”
As if white Evangelicals have ever shut up in the last 400 years.
With a little luck and a high voter turnout next year, he won't hold the position long enough to do major damage.
After the first two candidates for speaker were rejected, them being such outrageous options, Mike Johnson seems like a reasonable choice. The fact that he’s just as outrageous as the others, minus the circus-like attention seeking, will fly under the radar for the average Joe Murican. The base knows him, they love him.
His worldview and policy positions are completely par for the Louisiana course, though. I doubt anyone is surprised by any of the listed shit he’s done.
Do not get me started on his misogyny. Like, he’s the Dean of a college that refused to allow birth control in their insurance plans, that never even opened its doors. What is that? School shootings are because women can now leave abusive husbands, oh sorry “no-fault divorce”. And no abortions or birth control. I’d guarantee that he’d vote for repealing the 19th amendment in a heartbeat. Fuck him.
Rather than call people like Johnson "Christian Nationalists" I find it more convenient to call them "Nationalist Christians" because that word order abbreviates to "Nat-Cs".
All this optimism. 'The Senate Will Stop anything awful' Democrats don't really control the Senate. Manchin and Sinema (an Independent now, BTW) do. King and Sanders are Independents though Sanders usually sides with the Democrats. With 3 Independents, there are actually more Republicans than Democrats in the Senate.
The Senate may stop the most egregious items, but that doesn't mean a lot of awful isn't going to get through. I consider an anti-trans bill a not an unlikely win for Johnson. Not enough support to be a 'hill to die on'.
And that doesn't even address what they're doing at the state level, which a state's rights court is almost certainly going to uphold. Many of them have a blind spot when it comes to the 9th Amendment.
Look what Texas did this week:
Makes driving an undocumented family member to the doctor, to church, or to school a “human smuggling” offense carrying a 10-year mandatory prison sentence;
Allows Texas authorities to separate children from their parents at the border — just as Trump did in 2018;
Encourages police to unconstitutionally imprison and deport migrants, even those with valid asylum claims;
Subjects Latino Texans to racial profiling by law enforcement; and
Spends $1.5 billion to continue Trump’s ineffective border wall
I'm scared and I think so many people are walking around saying 'It can't happen' that it is and will.
One has to wonder where did he and all other creationists like him ever get such an idiotic unfounded idea about people evolving from slime, besides the fact that they made the whole thing up out of thin air?
Come to think of it, I think I've just answered my own question.
There are times I honestly wish I could make some of these people live under the kinds of laws they want to create. Seems like they've enjoyed the benefits of being at the top too much for entirely too long and now they think nobody else deserves the same considerations they do. The smug superiority is nauseating.
I listened to some of Johnson's speech when he got elected. It didn't take five minutes to understand why he'd been selected and what was likely to happen so long as he was in office. The guy is still a religious extremist, he's just figured out how to be quiet and charismatic enough about it most people don't really notice. Expect more of the same from him as Speaker of the House, because it's not going to get any better with this guy in power.
Johnson. Another word for dick. How appropriate in his case.
I've pretty much made my feelings known about this cross-swinger (see previous FA article). Fortunately, he faces the same challenges as the guy that got ousted. Here's hoping we can all soon quote Yoda:
"At an end your rule is, and not short enough it was."
Remember, it's the flavor of theocracy...
Since it's not a main ingredient, it can be overlooked.
That shows the importance of up and coming elections. It is only vaguely Dems or Republicans. It is a choice of sanity, true morality and democratic values which as a former Evangelical they have little or none of these.
It is high time to write off the entirety of the GQP as beyond any hope of redemption. Any Democrat who reaches across the aisle after this should expect to get back a bloody stump; no compromise with these people will ever be repaid in kind. They caved to the extremists, and became them.
There is no saving any of them, anymore. They've made their choice.
There are no moderate Republicans. Their views have always been abhorrent. There are only quiet and loud Republicans, and the degrees to which they are willing to vocally commit to one of their abhorrent views. Some know to lie, and some prefer to say it boldly. But, they all share the same agenda.
Johnson is a true believer, and that certainly makes it more efficient for Republicans to push their agenda without squabbling over nuances. But, for now, the Senate will block everything they have the authority to.
I hope the anti-right coalition of moderates, religious liberals, non-Christian religious minorities, religious nones, progressives, etc. can hold together enough to take down the GOP majority, but I worry. I worry especially about the fissures from the Gaza conflict.
How so many American progressives can be so attuned to the religious extremism of the American Christian right and the Israeli religious right, but so blind to the murderous religious extremism of Hamas, Hezbollah, and Islamic Jihad, is a complete mystery to me.
How did he escape scrutiny? Before he was elected speaker, if you Googled him you wouldn't see him until page three. His parents must be so proud.