On Monday, Oct. 23, Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) was elected as the new speaker of the House following Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) ousting on Thursday, Oct. 3.
This was a move that shocked many people; when I wrote my coverage of McCarthy’s ousting, Johnson’s name was nowhere on the ballot. In fact, he was essentially a political nobody. His meager social clout is what led him to be elected speaker in the first place. He is a political unknown with no history and no enemies, so there was no one who opposed his quick ascension up the political ladder.
What was even more shocking to many people were Johnson’s extremely conservative and staunch Christian views. He maintains a very hard-line conservative stance on issues like abortion, LGBTQ+ rights, funding for Ukraine and more. But that’s mostly par for the course for an average Republican.
Mike Johnson is not your average Republican, however. He is a young Earth creationist, a Christian nationalist and an ardent 2020 election denier. Not to mention his wife also holds intense anti-LGBTQ+ views.
His contention that the separation of church and state is a “misnomer” is a very scary statement. It goes against what the founding fathers built this country on and, if he had his way, would violate the First Amendment.
These views are deeply concerning for the Speaker to hold. The speaker is supposed to be someone who brings unity to the house. A leader who is able to walk on both sides of the aisle and bring representatives together to legislate.
Johnson will not do this. He is a hard-right Republican who will bend over backward for Trump supporters and try to ignore everyone else. This is especially a problem given that the stopgap to keep the government open ended Nov. 17 and it remains to be seen how Johnson will address it. His solution will probably include massive cuts to Ukraine and those cuts will likely be allocated to Israel.
Johnson is also one of the most under qualified speakers ever. Only one other Speaker had less political experience than him and that was over 140 years ago. This just adds to his inability to develop the bipartisanship necessary to run the House effectively.
Johnson’s tenure as Speaker may prove to be a challenging time for America at large. Having someone with such niche and harmful views leading the House may instead further drive a divide between the government and its citizens.
