It would be interesting to have a discussion here, but not much of that going on, but I still feel compelled to share this sort of developing news story and political reality we are being confronted with.
So, are we ready to be blindsided by this nice mild mannered Mike Johnson. I have my opinion about him, but you’d be better served with the following intro:
President Biden faces down new GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson. MSNBC’s Ari Melber reports on Johnson’s first full week as Speaker and breaks down how the GOP’s “Wolf of Wall Street” problem is on display.
Not sure how that would happen. He has no leadership experience. Unless he is hiding some mad skills, I don’t feel threatened. If anything, he is proving the rule of populism, that a populist has to actually be popular. If they are a politician, someone who makes deals and compromises, then the people won’t support them.
It’s not the people in the news we need to worry about. It’s that Koch brother, and a few other billionaires that we don’t know about.
Back in 2020, Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, had argued Biden’s win was bogus because some states officials had changed voting procedures during the coronavirus pandemic without legislatures’ approval.
He appeared to pressure 125 House Republicans to join him in filing a brief to the Supreme Court supporting a Texas lawsuit to overturn Biden’s wins in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
He told them Donald Trump was watching.
Mike Johnson is neither a moderate nor an institutionalist. Just the opposite. A protégé of Jordan’s, he comes, as you have doubtless heard, from the far-right, anti-institutionalist wing of the congressional Republican Party. And while he was not a member of the Freedom Caucus, he did lead the Republican Study Committee, a group devoted to the proposition that any dollar spent on social insurance is a dollar too much. …
… And what does Johnson believe? He is staunchly against the bodily autonomy of women and transgender people and supports a nationwide ban on abortion and gender-affirming care for trans youth. He is also virulently anti-gay. (screams closet ¶u**r to me) In a 2003 essay, Johnson defended laws that criminalized homosexual activity between consenting adults. In 2004, he warned that same-sex marriage was a “dark harbinger of chaos and sexual anarchy that could doom even the strongest republic.” Last year, Johnson introduced legislation that has been compared to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law, and he continues to push to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide in 2015. …
… If Johnson is known for anything, however, it is for his tireless advocacy on behalf of Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Johnson wrote one of the briefs purporting to give a legal justification for throwing out the voting results in several swing states. He advanced …
That’s what we were told about Mr.trump - we saw how well that worked out.
Not that Koch bros should have been ignored for all these years - as I’ve also been trying to point out for years:
In “The Many Faces of Christian Nationalism,” John D. Wilsey, an associate professor of church history at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, has sought to identify strains of Christian nationalism that have been most prominent in U.S. history. Although he recognizes that some versions of Christian nationalism can become perverted, he also believes that, in a nation that values the free exercise of religion, it is important not to exclude Christian nationalism from the public square.
Professor points to six major strains of Christian nationalism …
How Americans can address Christian nationalism in their congregations and communities
On Jan. 6, a virulent form of Christian nationalism burst into the public view. What can religious leaders and others do to bring these people — and the country — back from the brink?
Feb 8, 2021
… Although common, experts warn that such beliefs can slide into something more dangerous: an extreme form of Christian nationalism that leads to an exclusionary attitude and threatens pluralism, democracy and — religious leaders say — Christianity itself.
On the surface, believing that America is a Christian nation is fairly innocuous. But when the ideology is taken to an extreme, it quickly becomes exclusionary and dangerous, religion scholars and pastors said.
I think it’s a fake threat. The money that got Johnson that seat, doesn’t care about his God, or trans kids, or what books are in libraries. They care about keeping their money, and their houses, ans their yachts, and not much else. They are the threat, not Linda Boebert.
A new survey asked respondents who have heard at least “a little” about Christian nationalism: “In your own words, what does the phrase ‘Christian nationalism’ mean to you?” These responses capture the range of different views expressed.
These people look at Islam and like the power the clergy wields, just like the Dark Ages.
Instead of secular law enforcement, we go back to the Inquisition meeting out “Christian justice” a la OT.
The survey says half the country has never heard of Christian Nationalism, and of those who do, only 5% are favorable of it. Exactly my point. The money has figured out how to get that 5% of the vote to leverage a strong minority in congress and disrupt democracy. “Those people” have been around forever and aren’t going away soon but they aren’t the ones who really have the power, the money does.
OK, now we are getting to what’s wrong with government currently. The Dominionists, and I’m not talking DS9, but real life, want to be in power no matter what it takes and to turn this country into a Xian nation.
The Seven Mountains are the worst. Don’t kid yourself about how much power they may have. Write4u and CC aren’t wrong about this. This country is in a lot of trouble.
The leader of the US House of Representative, the holder of the nation’s bank account, third in line for the Presidency, and he’s such a shapely, or is it simply anti-government, character that he either has no bank accounts or he keeps his funds in off shore tax shelters, or . . .
Newly elected Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) does not have a bank account.
At least, that’s what Johnson reports on years of personal financial disclosures, which date back to 2016 and reveal a financial life that, in the context of his role as a congressman and now speaker, appears extraordinarily precarious.
Over the course of seven years, Johnson has never reported a checking or savings account in his name, nor in the name of his wife or any of his children, disclosures show. In fact, he doesn’t appear to have money stashed in any investments, with his latest filing—covering 2022—showing no assets whatsoever.
But Johnson does owe a lot of money. Every year, he has listed a mortgage on which he owes hundreds of thousands of dollars and a personal loan on which he owes tens of thousands. In 2019, he opened up a home equity line of credit, also worth tens of thousands of dollars. …
