In the wake of Kevin McCarthy’s removal as Speaker, Mike Johnson has emerged as the nominee victorious, succeeding where Kevin McCarthy, Steve Scalise, Jim Jordan, and Tom Emmer had failed so miserably. Despite this, Johnson is by no means a competent nor good candidate; rather he is woefully inexperienced, having only served in the House for a mere six years, and is a veritable extremist – making him the worst Speaker since the literal sex-offender Dennis Hastert held the office.

But who is Mike Johnson, what are his views, and what kind of positions can we expect him to push during his stint as Speaker, especially if Republicans win a governmental trifecta in 2024?

The 2020 Election

Perhaps Johnson’s most concerning views relate to that of the 2020 election. Johnson is a fierce election denier, arguing that Trump won because states like Arizona and Pennsylvania breached the Constitution by relaxing mail-in ballot and early voting laws without properly consulting their respective state legislatures. He was also one of the 139 representatives who objected to certifying the election.

Johnson and his ilk attempted various legal shenanigans which the courts of course threw out immediately, yet he has still continued to deny the legitimacy of President Biden, which is a dangerous precedent for the most powerful man in Congress to set.

His continued persistence on this issue shows Johnson to be either a liar or an idiot, but at the very least one of Trump’s fawning sycophants. My concern is that should he be the Speaker by the 2024 election (which is far from certain given the recent chaos within the Republican caucus), he might again attempt to overturn a Biden victory (assuming Biden wins), but this time he’d have the power and influence in government to do so.

Abortion

Johnson is fervently anti-abortion, believing that it reduces the labour force and so damages the economy. I personally find this reductionist view of humanity repugnant; people aren’t just resources designed to fuel the economy, they are individuals with free will who morally require the liberty to live their lives as they see fit, including choosing whether or not to go ahead with having a child.

Johnson supports a federal law mandating state-enforced pregnancy, something that is a direct contravention of women’s freedoms. You wouldn’t force someone to give a kidney transplant, even if it saves the other person’s life, so why should women be forced to carry a baby to term, even though it gives the baby life?

I have no doubt that Johnson will attempt to introduce some legislation on this matter, though thankfully the likelihood of it passing – even if the Republicans win a trifecta in 2024 – is slim, but not impossible.

LGBT Rights

Johnson, being a member of the party of ‘small government’, also fetishises the idea of the government dictating what can and can’t be done between consenting individuals in their own homes. He opposed the rulings ‘Lawrence v Texas’ and ‘Obergefell v Hodges’ which ruled that laws banning consensual sexual activity between adults were unconstitutional, and legalised same sex marriage at a federal level respectively.

He holds these beliefs on an explicitly religious basis, arguing that the Establishment Clause of the Constitution doesn’t bar the implementation of religious beliefs as statute law, despite the Establishment Clause clearly stating, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion”.

What does Johnson’s election as Speaker mean?

It’s evident that Johnson has no regard for liberty or freedom, at least when it comes to people who don’t conform to his narrow and dogmatic view of society. Needless to say, I’ve only touched on some of his more egregious views; he holds a plethora of others, each more dystopian and heartless than the last.

The ones I have touched on though provide an insightful glimpse into the future of the Republican Party and the U.S House more generally. It shows yet another lurch to the far right in American politics; though when I say far right I don’t refer to the opportunistic conservativism of Donald Trump, but rather a more honest form of right-wing extremism that has a distinct ideological drive, something that Trump certainly helped incubate.

 Thankfully, there is some silver lining to my doomsaying. Despite the GOP’s insistence on going further and further right, the U.S public is still generally liberal on issues like abortion and LGBT rights (other than trans rights) and so the more the GOP makes abortion and LGBT rights the focus of their campaigns, the more the American public will punish them at the ballot box.

The first indication of this was seen during the 2022 midterms, where predictions of a red wave failed to materialise. Mehmet Oz, Lauren Boebert, and other Trump grandees underperformed especially, with Oz unexpectedly losing the Pennsylvania Senate race by a significant margin and Boebert only narrowly winning the Republican stronghold of Colorado’s 3^rd District.

Ultimately, things are still uncertain and the Democrats will still need to run a strong economy and give voters a positive reason to vote for them, they can’t only rely on the Republicans making fools of themselves, even if it does help.

The image used in this article is by the Office of the U.S Speaker, and comes under public domain.