Well, We Have a Speaker. He’s an Election Denier and an Extreme Christian Fundamentalist.
Well, We Have a Speaker. He’s an Election Denier and an Extreme Christian Fundamentalist.
Meet Mike Johnson, Republicans’ new House speaker.
Republicans have at long last elected a House speaker: Representative Mike Johnson, a fundamentalist Christian who was also once called a key “architect” in Congress’s efforts to overthrow the 2020 election.
Johnson finally secured the speaker’s gavel after Republican infighting left the House without a speaker for 22 days. He secured 220 votes.
Johnson is a four-term congressman representing Louisiana. His win also represents the rise of the MAGA front in the Republican Party. Earlier Wednesday morning, Donald Trump endorsed Johnson as House speaker—after quickly killing Mike Emmer’s nomination the day before.
This next election is going to be an absolute shitshow. I guarantee they'll refuse to certify the election, and they'll try to hijack the electoral college (again).
The 119th Congress will be seated on January 3rd 2025 and the presidential election certification will be January 6th. So if the Dems win the majority in 2024, they won't have the power to deny certificatation outright. Though, I'm sure a minority will still object to every swing state like they did in 2020, just to draw it out.
And even if the 119th Congress was exactly the same as this one, the House Republicans can only do so much.
First, they would need to object to Electoral Votes with a Senator. (Unfortunately, this wouldn't be hard for them to do.) Next, the House and Senate would separate to vote on each objection. Only if both chambers voted to set the Electoral Votes aside would they be set aside.
With a Democratic Senate, this won't happen.
So the House Republicans can slow things down, but they won't be able to overturn elections. This isn't to say that there aren't threats on the state and local level. There are. And if the Republicans gain control of the House and Senate, I could see them sustaining objections because "it must be fraud if Biden won," thus giving the election to Trump. That just shows why it's more important than ever to vote blue.
They are very unlikely to win the majority.
I'm betting on this guy not lasting until November 2024 (not sure what the over/under is on November 17, 2023).
How do you think he'll get removed? It took them this long to agree on someone to elect, it seems unlikely enough of them would agree to remove him. They could maybe get the Democrats along with a small subset of Republicans to vote him out like the last time, but I'm not sure the Democrats would be up for that. Maybe if they wait until right before the election, but I can't imagine the GOP being dumb enough to oust the speaker right before elections happen (although that does raise the question of who certifies the election if there's no speaker. I'm assuming the speaker pro tem?).
Bold of you to assume that they'll hang on to their majority. I don't see how they do.
Trump won't even be on the ballot in most states.
Hopefully, but I also doubt that will stop them trying to elect him anyway. Or if not him I'm sure they'll find someone worse. I doubt we're going to see another Democrat elected in the next few elections that doesn't result in them trying to refuse to certify the election and just in general whine and complain while throwing around baseless accusations. If we're lucky that's as far as it goes, but considering how many parallels to 1920s Germany we're seeing lately I'm very worried the MAGAts recent fascist dabblings are just a taste of things to come.
a fundamentalist Christian
Yeah... we just call them christofascists these days.
Nazi and/or traitor work as well
Much shorter, too
This mf is third in line for the US presidency?
Please tell me I'm wrong. I hope I'm fucking wrong. Wtf America
Please tell me I’m wrong. I hope I’m fucking wrong. Wtf America
Do you want the good news or the bad news first?
I'll start with the good news first
You're wrong. He's not third in line for the US presidency.
The bad news is
He's second. VP -> Speaker
Hey it could be worse. You could be living in China or India.
What do we call 200 people who sit together with 20 Fascists?
- Nazis
- Republicans
They're the same.
- United Russia
220 fascists
They need 220 Volts and 220 Amperes
Is this a surprise to anyone? It’s not like the pool of candidates had anyone worth a damn anyway.
Right? It was ALWAYS going to be someone like this because it was always going to be a Republican. This is what voting for Republican's means. You get whacko assholes in charge.
Pretty much. Author could have wrote this two weeks ago, and then tweaked a few details before sending it to the editor.
and the pool of potential candidates is even more shallow when considering that the insurrection caucus has enough votes to make a would-be speaker sink or swim
The "insurrection caucus" represents the majority of the GOP. This is what they are.
I'm pretty sure the problem with the others was that they weren't extreme enough.
For those who are concerned, no, he's not going to be able to run a far-right agenda (but he might try! 🍿) Anything that he could get through the house is likely to die in the Senate, and even then Biden wouldn't sign it.
That said, there is some scary bi-partisan shit that might get passed. There are at least two keep internet porn from kids laws that are really about don't say "gay" on the internet But both parties really don't like the public being able to freely deliberate and opine about how our government officials conduct themselves.
What we can expect is more of the Greatest Show on Earth. Republican infighting and stupid shenanigans should continue unabated. Republican representatives will provide plenty of campaigning content for their Democratic rivals running against them in 2024.
that are really about don't say "gay" on the internet
I've seen claims that banning saying gay is what makes lgbt people happy.
Like Putin.Putin on a show!
I don't think the problem lies in the ability to push far right agendas. They are not smart enough anyway to have ideas. The problem is that tea party religious zealots are really good at breaking down the government from doing what's supposed to do. They will probably freeze any meaningful change till the next election, so that they can later cry that the public sector is inefficient and useless. And their base will drink it like coolaid
"Hey its not a good idea to let children have unfettered access to pornography on the internet" "YOU JUST DONT WANT KIDS TO BE GAY!"
The Secret Service needs to keep President Biden and VP Harris far apart from each other. We can't afford to have this man become President.
Alternatively, if they must be together, bring the Speaker as well.
That is actually routine, especially when they're traveling or making public appearances.
But when McCarthy had the gavel, it was just as nightmarish imagining he could be POTUS.
I wonder if there's be conversations around that topic during the whole fiasco. Like, sure McCarthy wouldn't have been good either, but this is much more dangerous.
His opening statement as Speaker explicitly denigrates atheists.
Edit: So glad to see that the Speaker of the "People's House" as he so much likes to call it decided it would be a good idea to use his first speech as that Speaker to shit on some of those People.
Fucking fascists.
What did he say? I can't find it.
~9:00 in he starts talking about the national motto, in opposition to Marxism and Communism, "which begins with the premise that there is no god."
I caught that too, but I can't recall if it was before or after he talked about his absent wife on her knees (you know, because she was praying for her husband to receive a mandate from God so he could ascend to the speakership).
I heard him talking about his wife on her knees, "Really? You're going there, dude?"
He's a fundamentalist is he? I'm sure there are no tenets of Christianity, not a one, that he violates.
Not remotely surprising the Republicans compromised on the lowest common denominator.
Makes you wonder what their problem with Gym Jorden was. Must be behind on his cock sucking duties.
Seriously. This is like how when Donald Trump was able to turn a war criminal into a kitty painting artiste that the country now has nostalgia for. It's absolutely insane that now Gym looks good on oaper.
Petition to stop using "cocksucking" as a pejorative. Is sucking cock bad?
I mean, it's just like kissing ass but more pointed.
He said "Guns don't shoot people; teaching evolution shoots people."
While Hakeem Jeffries would refute that by saying "Teaching evolution doesn't shoot people, guns shoot people" and have you seeing that is much more accurate while wishing it was him who had gotten the 220 votes to become Speaker of the House.
Evangelicals are sleeping with the devil to do the lords work
Didn't Jesus specifically teach against the concept of being an evangelical?
Edited to make more sense
Yes. But I was coming from the angle of Judaism
Disregard my last comment, I thought you were replying to a different comment
It is a Republican majority, it was never NOT going to be that. This is the person that that they are, even marginally reasonable humans are VASTLY in the minority of the GOP.
Let’s get this gummit shutdown underway.
Except it's threatening to delay my union vote at work. Our hospital corporation is deliberately stalling in hopes the government will shut down and the NLRB won't be available to oversee our vote. Our union is busy pushing NLRB to get it done already.
Yup. Dude is a crackpot that wants to defund everything.
When McCarthy was removed, I thought it was a mistake for Democrats not to support him. Now this new guy does seem worse. I guess we'll know soon enough, when it's time to avert a shutdown again.
Why would the Democrats support someone who went back on almost everything he told them he'd stand for? "But the new guy will be worse" when someone shows you who they are, Believe them.
The guy who was elected has shown us he's a dedicated election denier tho! It was never going to be someone more trustworthy in that shit show of a caucus.
Democrats have every reason to let Republicans boil in their own vomit. They do need to do something about the coming government shut down and get Ukraine funding back. And let's face it, they want to fund Israel's military operations, too.
They could afford to wait a bit, though. They got a few weeks of news cycles that were nothing but Republican dysfunction. All they had to do was vote out McCarthy and pop open a beer.
Old boss is always a dick until you meet the new one.
Eh, fuck him.
Let the "moderate" Republicans eat cake.
The fact that McCarthy went back on promises to Democrats because of demands from the far right fringe made him too untrustworthy to Democrats, I don't see how they could vote for him.
I’d expect no less from those that represent the coward half of our country.
"Half" makes it sound like 50% of the US population are cowards. I'm European, so I'll make fun all day for shits and giggles, but even I know there's not that many cowards in the US.
The worst of the worst, exactly what the GOP were holding out for.
Republicans will always elect the worst possible candidate
I give him 26 Emmers before he drops out.
I'm pessimistic on this. Johnson isn't going to be removed from the Speakership, when Johnson is sucking on Trump's dick.
I hope that the Democrats hit every swing district saying that their Republican member voted for this shit bag and they lacked "patriotism" to stand up to Trump.
How much is that in mooches?
There's sadly no dropping out, the deal is sealed and this guy is the next speaker. He can resign the post, but I don't think he intends to.
Yeah, he'll get trounced by someone in his own party though, like the last one did.
To butcher Trump quote - "When Louisiana sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”
May his faith in his abilities be soundly broken by Senate Dems sinking every piece of bullshit legislation he helps pass in the House.
The last several GOP speakers have been ripped to shreds by their own party. It very well could happen again.
We can hope… but if he’s smarter than Kevin McCarthy (which, granted, doesn’t take much) he likely didn’t agree to the same provisions that allowed Gaetz to call for a vote. So unfortunately he’s probably there until the next election unless a majority decides to motion for his removal, but I could be wrong.
He has just over 12 months to do anything with the demonstrably fractured house and he's not going to get anything big through the senate.
What were you expecting?
This is like finding out that the new pope is a Catholic.
*NATional - Christian party has a new speaker.
American Fascist Party
Well then, that’s a very bad person. He has no business in congress at all
Well, here's the problem: God is literally speaking to me, and he says this guy is evil as fuck and tepublicans are the problem with the U.S. There you go, I must be right. Prove me wrong. You can't, so I must be right.
Democrats have some veto power don't they?
Dems can pretty much dismiss anything he/the House does in the Senate. Very little he does will make it to Biden's desk where Biden could veto if need be.
Not in the house really, but the President and Senate will be a check on his power.
Via the Senate, they do.
Correction: he's a republican
F
How many Johnson’s are there
In the House? 4.
But zero balls.
We're gonna need more FBI guys.
Dude looks like Hitler
the United States needs firebrand atheism
The fortunate thing is that the Senate is DEM controlled so the amount of damage he can do is limited.
It is a very slim majority but the House can still do a lot of shit. Also they can bring the government to a halt if they refuse to make their bills something the Senate can pass.
