Unknown Guy Becomes Speaker of the House
Why this may be good news
One of the most amazing and sometimes amusing qualities of American politics is for a totally unknown person to suddenly emerge from out of nowhere and assume a high office. That happened recently with Barack Obama. And now it’s happened again—one hopes with better results—with Mike Johnson.
Two weeks ago no one had even heard of Johnson, likely not even the people in his native Louisiana. He has only been in the House of Representatives since 2016 and the press is saying “he kept a low profile,” which is like saying Adam Schiff lies or Hillary Clinton is unlikeable. Johnson has been all but invisible. But just because he’s not a member of the Drama Club, aka the Squad, does not mean he isn’t powerful.
This Southern man with the common name just eclipsed veteran Drama Queen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in terms of power. Rashida Tlaib can wrap herself in the Palestinian flag all she wants, this guy has more power. Jamaal Bowman can pull all the fire alarms in the Capitol he wants, this guy is more powerful. This guy is even more powerful than Nancy Pelosi, who won’t be tearing up any more State of the Union addresses this term. Drama may make the news, but quiet man Mike Johnson got the gavel.
Mike Johnson is third in line to the Oval Office. Here is what we know about him so far.
Johnson has only been in the House of Representatives for seven years. Unlike the taxidermy specimens we have in Congress who have served since the days of Bunker Hill, Johnson has not had the time to build up the treasure trove of special interests, obligations, and lobbyists he’s beholden to. We likely have somebody—like Trump—who is unfettered by swamp cash.
He is a lawyer by profession and he had his own podcast for a while called, “Truth be Told” which talked about politics from a Christian perspective.
He opposes both abortion and same-sex marriage. That makes him a social conservative. In 2005, before he was Representative, he wrote an article opposing gay marriage. Good for him. For all those who are outraged by that, Barack Obama likewise opposed gay marriage in 2005. Unlike Obama, Johnson has not backtracked on this view.
Mike Johnson thinks the 2020 election was not run fairly, and he is not afraid to say so. That’s also good. Whether or not you think the election was rigged or not is immaterial—the man is willing to say things he thinks are true even if it won’t get him rounds of mainstream media applause.
He supports Trump. Despite the efforts of many kangaroo courts in this nation, that is still not illegal.
He is an evangelical Christian, which Newsweek has already used to smear him as a “supporter of Christian nationalism.” MSNBC said he is the “most unabashedly Christian nationalist Speaker.” He’s been called other names by Democrats and mainstream media (but I repeat myself): “the social conservative’s social conservative” and “anti-democracy election denier,” “authoritarian,” and “extremist.” Johnson once said that America is a Constitutional republic rather than a democracy. That’s correct, but one magazine (not mentioning any names but it rhymes with Booze-Week) attacked him for being against democracy. This makes me like Johnson—the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
He is the 56th Speaker of the House in U.S. history. Speakers have two main jobs: they act as spokespeople for the majority party and they make sure the House runs efficiently. Of course, they have hired help for the latter—in 2021, there were over 9,000 people working full time as some sort of aid or assistant in the House.
Mike Johnson was born in Shreveport, Louisiana and is 51 years old, which makes him 29 years younger than the President and 2 years younger than the President’s son Hunter. Another way to look at it—Biden got elected to the Senate the same year Johnson was born.
Mike Johnson has gone on record opposing medical marijuana and reparations payments for slavery. His argument against marijuana is medical; his argument against reparations is that it would be unconstitutional.
He and his wife Kelly have a “covenant marriage” which disallows no-fault divorce. This is a legal but optional type of marriage in Louisiana. It makes divorce harder (but not impossible) to get and promotes long-term marriage.
Like a lot of people in Congress, he has his own website. Unlike a lot of the other Congressional websites, his is quite appealing with some photography from rural Louisiana. Here’s the link.
Every single Republican in the House voted for Mike Johnson, and the left is already freaking out—all the late night scolds are trying their best to come up with jokes about him. For instance, one of those alleged comedians (I forget who, they all look alike to me) said that Mike Johnson was a common name. Yeah, that’s a real zinger. In the words of the late great Gilda Radner’s character Lisa Loopner to her sometimes-boyfriend Todd DiLaMuca, “That was so funny I forgot to laugh.”
Mike Johnson is the American paradigm of the guy who rides into town to the rescue from out of nowhere. Ricochet Café is cautiously optimistic. I mean, it’s not like we have a lot of other good options in Congress.
I had not known very much about him. However I am glad to see unison finally in the Republican Party. A breath of fresh air and new blood was sorely needed. I did research myself after his surprise appointment. I like what I read. Maybe we can finally get some things accomplished as well as putting an end to the seemingly endless spending bills flying out of Washington. I say hooray. I am cautiously optimistic.