Speaker Stooge
Power is apparently very important.
So, here we have Johnson avoiding the question and never saying, for example, what “point” that Trump was supposedly making with his “satire” of showing him in a plane literally dumping shit on a crowd of peaceful protestors.
The only points that came across to me were that he has contempt for anyone who opposes him and that he is happy to shit on constititional rights.
Johnson’s outrage over images of Trump hanging in effigy (which I presume are the worst ones they could find from Saturday) are rich considering that he was in the US Capitol when the pro-Trump mob, which Trump later pardoned/commuted their sentences, were shouting “hang Mike Pence!” as they attempted to disrupt a constitutional process that was part of electing the president.
Johnson constantly reveals himself to be a nice face and a calm voice in support of growing authoritartianism and creeping facsism. He, like so many of his co-partisans, are more than willing to sell their souls, piece by piece, for power.
If anyone thinks I am engaging in hyperbole, please tell me which of the previous presidents would have posted a video like this and how many Speakers would then have to defend it (and do so willingly)?
It is certianly normal politics for the party in power to downplay opposition demonstrations, but this is a wholly different level of rhetoric.
Not to mention, stuff like this:
Heaven knows that Jesus was known for shitting on his opponents.
It’s impressive to see Mike Johnson hand all forms of decision-making over to Trump, never offer a check on his power, and then declare that “he isn’t a king.”
Nobody asked the natural follow-ups to this pathetic worm’s comments:
(1) If this is some sort of cogent point, what was the point? What does “I wear a crown and fly a jet and drop shit on protestors” satirize? And what, specifically, does it say to the individual that he drops his payload on? (Who is, by the way, a regular old American citizen whose likeness was used for this amazeballs commentary.)
(2) If Trump decided to shut down the Mall to prevent a protest, would Johnson et al do anything about it? Would he say, “that’s king behavior, I’m opposed to that”? Or, more generally, what Trump actions would he consider “king behavior” that he’s opposed to? (And here I will note an additional “irony”, which is that the protest wasn’t on the Mall, it was all along Pennsylvania Ave.)
Johnson is the gentle mouthpiece who’s totally fine with advancing authoritarianism, and the press needs to treat him like that.
@ptfe:
Bingo.
Heather Cox-Richardson’s post from yesterday is really good. She points out that the Republicans have abandoned politics entirely
https://open.substack.com/pub/heathercoxrichardson/p/october-19-2025
Trump could post a meme with his D*** in Speaker Johnson’s mouth and Johnson would not only defend it, he would re-tweet it. I am not joking, that is what is sad. That could actually happen. Seriously.
“You could argue that [Trump is] the most effective user of social media we have ever seen”
I actually agree with this statement. It’s core to Trump’s success.
Just to be clear, saying that Trump is effective doesn’t mean I endorse any of it.
I have to suspect that Chip Roy like so many other supposed Christians is just a performative or cultural Christian. If he had ever read the Bible or attended church, at least in the era before Trump was president, he would know that Jesus repeatedly rejected temporal power and kingship here on earth. Read John 18, John 6 or Romans 22, Matthew 4. It’s clear that Trump wants to be king on earth. The kingdom of Jesus is not on this earth.
As an aside I attended a nice talk by a Pew poller and they were looking at Christian nationalism in the US. To do that they had to decide on a definition and one of the identify factors of a Christian nationalist is that the words of the Bible should outweigh those of law made by men. That means that for the Christina nationalist separation of church and state doesn’t exist. Combine that with the fact that many of them never read the Bible or make efforts to adhere to its teachings its only natural I think that they end up with he idea that Christians should create a kingdom ruled by their own king and ignore stuff like the constitution.
Steve
Is the Bible really Speaker Johnson’s “worldview”?
@Gregory Lawrence Brown:
I think for Republican “Christians” they tend to just assume what they want to be in the Bible, is there. Kind of like the Constitution.
Is it too early or too late to talk about false flag operations meant to destroy the first amendment rights to freedom of speech and of the press?
Is it power, or just the trappings of power? I don’t see much power in just letting Trump do whatever he wants and clearing his path.
@Gustopher:
I take your point, of course.
But, still.
He’s in Congress and is Speaker of the House. At least on paper, that’s power. People treat him like he is important. That’s enough for some people (a lot of people, it would seem).
He can keep Congress our of session. He can stop Adelita Grijalva from being sworn in. He can say he is on the “winning” side and tell his friends and family he is fighting the good fight.
It would hardly shock me if he has been able to find ways to monetize all of this for himselft. his family, and his friends.
I have seen people behave like utter jackassess for less.
@Pete S:
As far as I know the Onionhasn’t, but certainly could, run a headline, “Area Man Passionate Believer In What He Imagines Bible Says”.
@Pete S:
@gVOR10:
I think it’s been illegal since 2017 to sell a Bible without a supply of black sharpies.
@Jay L. Gischer:
Sadly, predictably, this says more about our society and its undiscerning members than Trump.
@Kathy: Its rumored that a MAGA “Black Line” bible with a thick black line covering all the “red letter” text had been circulating on the down low among the Trump faithful for some time.
This has become MAGA SOP: excuse immature or idiotic or corrupt behaviour by the President of the United States by comparing it to what some random left-adjacent person said or did. It’s the same kind of twisted whaddaboutism as led them to laud their own restraint in not staging nation-wide riots after Kirk’s murder by a lone wolf kid, unlike what those radical leftists did after a series of Black deaths in custody culminating in George Floyd being killed by four police officers.
@Rob1: For the kind of person who would follow the White House Twitter feed, Trump is delivering exactly what they wanted.