MAGA Mike Monday: The Latest from Trump’s Top Minion in Congress

Happy Monday and welcome to another week of MAGA Mike marching in lockstep with Donald Trump by using the People’s House as their personal stage for Trump’s campaign sequel. Together, they’re tag-teaming to push an extreme, out-of-touch agenda that could strip away Americans’ freedoms, undermine our democracy, and slash Social Security and Medicare.

Here’s what MAGA Mike has gotten up to as of this Monday, but let’s be clear: If it’s a day ending in “y,” Johnson is hard at work turning the People’s House into an arm of Trump’s presidential campaign instead of delivering on the issues Americans care about.  

DNC National Press Secretary Sarafina Chitika released the following statement:

“MAGA Mike Johnson’s speakership has proven that the MAGA House majority dominates the People’s House with Donald Trump calling the shots from the sidelines on how best to use Americans’ hard-earned taxpayer money for his own political gain. Over the past week, Johnson endorsed Trump’s presidential campaign, asked his fellow MAGA minions to push their failed, baseless impeachment inquiry even further, and was called out for his affiliation with an anti-LGBTQ+ organization. Make no mistake: Johnson is Trump’s top MAGA minion in Congress and his actions continue to prove that he’s doing everything in his power to keep that accolade.”

On the heels of endorsing Donald Trump, Johnson backed House Republicans’ baseless impeachment inquiry against President Biden, reminding everyone this is all a sham designed to appease the MAGA Republicans in the House.

The Hill: “Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) stressed his support for an impeachment inquiry into President Biden and his family’s business dealings Wednesday, calling for more interviews with witnesses under oath as the probe reaches ‘an inflection point.’

“The signal of support for the inquiry, started by his ousted predecessor Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), follows a report from the Washington Post last week that said the new Speaker had privately signaled there was not yet enough evidence to initiate formal impeachment proceedings — sparking criticism from the right.”

Reporting from last week exposed MAGA Mike’s association with a group that has pushed egregious anti-LGBTQ+ and Islamophobic comments.

Politico: “Mike Johnson’s resume includes being a board member of a Christian publishing house that called ‘monkeypox’ a penalty for being gay”

“House Speaker Mike Johnson sits on the board of a Christian publishing house that suggested getting ‘monkeypox’ was ‘an inevitable and appropriate penalty’ for being gay and that former President Barack Obama was rumored to be the Antichrist because of his ‘leanings toward Islam.’

“For the last decade, Johnson has been a member of the board of Living Waters Publications, a Christian ministry and publishing house. The speaker has interviewed founder and CEO Ray Comfort on his and his wife’s now-deleted podcast.

“Last year, Comfort narrated a Living Waters video, titled ‘Monkeypox and God: Is It a ‘Gay Disease’?’ in which he quoted Biblical scripture saying that those who engaged in homosexual acts would get “in their own bodies the inevitable and appropriate penalty for their wrongdoing.” (The virus was previously known as monkeypox, but last year the World Health Organization changed the name to mpox, saying the term monkeypox could be seen as stigmatizing and racist.)

“In a Living Waters article published in March, Comfort also bemoaned the fact that Christians could no longer call homosexuality ‘morally wrong.’ ‘There was a time in America when we could say these things without any real repercussions,’ he noted.”

This is far from the only time Johnson has been exposed for his shameful anti-LGBTQ+ past – he has a long history of supporting and introducing legislation that would rip away LGBTQ+ rights.

ABC News: “An ABC News examination of public records, news reports and documents shows the extent to which Johnson dedicated earlier phases of his career to limiting gay rights, including same-sex marriage and health care access, and through anti-gay activism on college campuses.”

“In 2005, the Family Research Council, an influential right-wing lobbying group, honored Johnson for his work defending Louisiana’s constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.”

CNN: “Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has a history of harsh anti-gay language from his time as an attorney for a socially conservative legal group in the mid-2000s. In editorials that ran in his local Shreveport, Louisiana, paper, The Times, Johnson called homosexuality a ‘inherently unnatural’ and ‘dangerous lifestyle’ that would lead to legalized pedophilia and possibly even destroy ‘the entire democratic system.’

“And, in another editorial, ‘Your race, creed, and sex are what you are, while homosexuality and cross-dressing are things you do,’ he wrote. ‘This is a free country, but we don’t give special protections for every person’s bizarre choices.’”

Insider: “Last October, Johnson led over two dozen of his colleagues in introducing the “Stop the Sexualization of Children Act of 2022.

“The bill is essentially the national version of Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Law — dubbed ‘Don’t Say Gay’ by critics.”

“That’s led the Human Rights Campaign to condemn the bill as the ‘latest cruel attempt to stigmatize and marginalize the community.’”

FLIP-FLOP: Years after criticizing him, MAGA Mike is all-in on Donald Trump’s extreme and dangerous vision for America. 

USA Today: “After Trump’s ‘vermin’ rhetoric draws comparisons to Hitler, Speaker Johnson endorses him?”

Mike Johnson: “I’m all in for President Trump. I expect he’ll be our nominee … we have to make Biden a one-term president.”

New York Times: “Johnson Said in 2015 Trump Was Unfit and Could Be ‘Dangerous’ as President”

Mike Johnson: “The thing about Donald Trump is that he lacks the character and the moral center we desperately need again in the White House. … I am afraid he would break more things than he fixes. He is a hot head by nature, and that is a dangerous trait to have in a Commander in Chief. … I just don’t think he has the demeanor to be President.” 

As long as MAGA Mike Johnson continues to be Trump’s top minion in Congress, here’s your reminder that he’s in lockstep with Trump about pushing an extreme, anti-freedom agenda.

New York Times: “In Congress, Mr. Johnson has voted for a national abortion ban and co-sponsored a 20-week abortion ban, earning him an A-plus rating from the anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America. After the Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe v. Wade in June last year, he celebrated.”

Common Dreams: “During his tenure as chair of the Republican Study Committee (RSC) between 2019 and 2021, Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) helped craft budget resolutions that called for roughly $2 trillion in Medicare cuts, $3 trillion in Medicaid and Affordable Care Act cuts, and $750 billion in Social Security Cuts, noted Bobby Kogan of the Center for American Progress.”

CNN: “‘The new speaker has made it clear he’s not a friend to seniors, Social Security or Medicare,’ said Max Richtman, CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. ‘His answer to Social Security’s long-range solvency is cutting benefits.’”

NPR: “For his part, Johnson’s effort to help overturn the election is well documented. A constitutional lawyer by trade, Johnson wrote the supporting brief on behalf of House Republicans asking the Supreme Court to block the Electoral College certification in certain key states Joe Biden won. The court rejected the case. Johnson also voted against certifying the 2020 election in the House.”