Mike Johnson

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      Mike Johnson’s speaker win reveals the iron grip Trump still has on Republicans

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      After engineering this month’s unceremonious defenestration of the hapless Kevin McCarthy, some far-right Republicans openly dreamed of installing their hero Donald Trump to replace him as speaker of the House of Representatives.Trump himself, meanwhile, suggested that only Jesus Christ was certain to be elected to the role – apparently overlooking practical concerns of presumed unavailability.But in new speaker Mike Johnson, a previously little-known rightwinger from Louisiana, members of the Trump-loving Republican House Freedom Caucus have seen the speaker’s gavel go to a man who shows all the hallmarks of being their master’s voice – and reveals the iron grip Trump still has on the Republican party.For the former US president’s part, he now has in a key congressional leadership role a figure who, if the past is any guide, willingly dances to his tune.Time alone will tell if this continues to be the case. But having served in the House legal defence team against Trump’s first impeachment, Johnson, 51 – a vocal and extreme social conservative – then played a key role in trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election won by Joe Biden, his bona fides as a member of the Make America Great Movement’s seem unchallengeable.Matt Gaetz, the hardline Florida congressman who was the vanquished McCarthy’s arch-nemesis, had little doubts, tweeting on Wednesday: “If you don’t think that moving from Kevin McCarthy to Maga Mike Johnson shows the ascendance of this movement and where the power in the Republican Party truly lies, then you’re not paying attention.”But it is the endorsement of Trump himself that has paved the way for the previously unheralded Johnson’s ascendancy – and gives a clue to his future conduct.Trump opened the door to a Johnson speakership on Tuesday by viciously turning against the previous hopeful, Tom Emmer, a Republican whip and Minnesota congressman, who he tarred with the Republican in name only (Rino) appellation while warning darkly that voting him would be a “tragic mistake”.“I have many wonderful friends wanting to be Speaker of the House, and some are truly great Warriors,” he wrote on his Truth Social network. “RINO Tom Emmer, who I do not know well, is not one of them. He never respected the Power of a Trump Endorsement, or the breadth and scope of MAGA–MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”Having seen his previous favored nominee, Jim Jordan, fail after three attempts at winning the endorsement of the house Republican conference, Trump realised that he may have finally found his man.With the fatally smeared Emmer safely out of the running, Trump finally put his thumb on the scale.“I am not going to make an Endorsement in this race, because I COULD NEVER GO AGAINST ANY OF THESE FINE AND VERY TALENTED MEN, all of whom have supported me, in both mind and spirit, from the very beginning of our GREAT 2016 Victory,” he posted on Wednesday.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionBut he added: “My strong SUGGESTION is to go with the leading candidate, Mike Johnson, & GET IT DONE, FAST!”With the deed done, the indicted former president was in celebratory mood, telling journalists outside a New York court on Wednesday where he is on trial over alleged business fraud that Johnson would be “a fantastic speaker”, adding that he had not heard “one negative comment about him. Everybody likes him.”Whether this applies to outside the narrow confines of modern Republican politics is another question entirely.Johnson is already on record as staunchly opposing further aid to Ukraine, a highly divisive faultline in the Republican party and a key priority of the Biden administration.And with Congress facing a 17 November deadline to pass funding legislation that would avoid a damaging government shutdown – all amid calls for spending cutbacks by his far-right Republican allies – the hitherto obscure congressman from Louisiana might be about to become much better known, and more disliked. More

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      in US Politics

      Mike Johnson helped Trump on January 6 – now he’s a threat to democracy

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      The Louisiana congressman Mike Johnson, whom Republicans in Congress elected as their speaker after more than three weeks of leaderless chaos, played a key role in Donald Trump’s attempts to subvert the results of the 2020 election.Johnson amassed enough support to win the speakership because of his allegiance to Trumpian ideals, earning him the nickname on the far right of “Maga Mike”. A litmus test of sorts for the speakership was alignment with rightwing views, including believing in a stolen election, though the firebrand approach of failed speaker candidate Jim Jordan soured moderate members, despite his election-denying bonafides.Johnson’s victory brought swift alarm from groups defending US democracy, which pointed to the prominent role Johnson will take in US politics before a crucial 2024 presidential election, and how election denialism is clearly no longer a fringe view in the Republican party.Johnson was more involved than his predecessor Kevin McCarthy in efforts to overturn the 2020 election; McCarthy tolerated and often condoned election denialism and voted against certifying the 2020 vote, but didn’t go as far as the right-most flank.Johnson, a lesser-known lawmaker, is perhaps most notable for his role in attempting to overturn Democratic president Joe Biden’s victory. His arguments against the votes, noting how states changed voting rules because of the pandemic, became a “narrow and lawyerly” way for members of Congress to object to the vote count on January 6, with Johnson as “the most important architect of the Electoral College objections”, the New York Times reported.Johnson, who is a constitutional lawyer, also circulated an amicus brief – signed by more than 100 Republican lawmakers, including McCarthy – and filed it in a Texas court case to contest the results in four swing states.A few days after the 2020 election, Johnson wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “I have just called President Trump to say this: ‘Stay strong and keep fighting, sir! The nation is depending upon your resolve. We must exhaust every available legal remedy to restore Americans’ trust in the fairness of our election system.’”Johnson’s ascension shows the state of the mainstream Republican party today – their firm denial of the 2020 election and allegiance to Trump, said Gunner Ramer, the political director for the Republican Accountability Project. A more moderate Republican speaker nominee, the congressman Tom Emmer, failed to win over Trump and the far right, who saw him as a Republican in Name Only, or Rino.Johnson’s win “speaks to the total disregard that the Republican party has had and still has for democratic institutions and the rule of law”, Ramer said. “Propping up someone like Mike Johnson should expose that fact within the Republican party.”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionStand Up America, a progressive advocacy group, called it a “dark day for American democracy”.“Mike Johnson’s record of election denial and his attempts to overturn the will of the people make him totally unfit to be second in line to the presidency,” the group’s founder and president, Sean Eldridge, said. “Those who have spent years trying to undermine our democracy cannot be trusted to lead it.”Already, Johnson and his supporters have made clear they don’t want to answer questions about the 2020 election. In a press conference Tuesday, when a reporter noted Johnson’s role and attempted to ask a question, she was met with boos and derision from Johnson and his allies. More