In response to bombshell reporting of Speaker Mike Johnson’s extreme long record of plotting to rip away freedoms from the American people, DNC National Press Secretary Sarafina Chitika released the following statement: 

“MAGA Mike Johnson’s vision for America would mean ripping away freedoms from millions of Americans – Johnson wants to go back in time to an era when women were restricted from using contraception, doctors could be imprisoned for providing abortions, and same-sex marriage was illegal. It’s clear MAGA Mike is taking his marching orders from Donald Trump: The two far-right extremists met last night to discuss their shared agenda. Voters have rejected Johnson and Trump’s extreme vision for the country at the ballot box, and it will cost Republicans up and down the ballot in 2024.” 

New reporting today exposed MAGA Mike for his extreme record and outlandish hopes of taking his out-of-touch agenda of banning abortion, contraception, same-sex marriage, and more even further.

CNN: “Mike Johnson’s America: Revisit landmark SCOTUS decisions and use government to ‘restrain evil’”

“Mike Johnson, the new speaker of the House, voiced support for revisiting Supreme Court decisions that struck down restrictions on the use of contraception, barred bans on gay sex and legalized same sex marriages. … CNN’s review of more than 100 of Johnson’s interviews, speeches and public commentary spanning his decades-long career as a lawmaker and attorney paints a picture of his governing ideals: Imprisoning doctors who perform abortions after six weeks; the Ten Commandments prominently displayed in public buildings; an elimination of anti-hate-crime laws; Bible study in public schools.”

Johnson’s horrifying plans were uncovered after he met with MAGA kingmaker Donald Trump last night.

The Hill: “Trump, Mike Johnson meet at Mar-a-Lago”

CNN: “The meeting at the former president’s Florida resort comes nearly a week after the newly minted speaker publicly endorsed Trump’s 2024 bid for the White House, becoming the highest-ranking Republican so far to do so.”

Johnson wants the Supreme Court to “clean up” decisions as part of his MAGA tirade to rip away freedoms for women and the LGBTQ+ community.

CNN: “On a conservative talk radio show the day the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in June 2022, Johnson underscored Justice Clarence Thomas’s concurring opinion that the high court should reconsider those other landmark rulings. Johnson, citing his years as an attorney against ‘activist courts,’ defended Thomas’ view, insisting that what Thomas was calling for was, ‘not radical. In fact, it’s the opposite of that.’

“‘There’s been some really bad law made,’ he said. ‘They’ve made a mess of our jurisprudence in this country for the last several decades. And maybe some of that needs to be cleaned up.’”

Johnson has an extreme yearslong record of trying to ban same-sex marriage and take away freedoms from LGBTQ+ Americans, including removing legal protections, supporting a law that would outlaw same-sex couples from adopting children, and voting against an LGBTQ+ appointee.

CNN: “Johnson argued anti-discrimination laws did not recognize a ‘behavior’ like homosexuality. ‘There are laws on the books that prohibit discrimination against people for their immutable characteristics, their race and creed and that kind of thing,’ Johnson said in a 2009 radio interview. ‘There’s a difference – and the law has recognized a difference – between that and homosexual behavior. As something that you do, not an immutable characteristic of what you are.’”

CNN: “Homosexuality was a frequent topic for Johnson, which he has called ‘inherently unnatural’ and a ‘dangerous lifestyle.’ In addition to suggesting he hopes the Supreme Court will reverse its decision allowing same-sex marriage, he also wrote in support of Texas’ anti-sodomy laws, which said gay men caught having sex could be fined.”

CNN: “Johnson supported an Arkansas law against same-sex couples adopting children, citing it as ‘good public policy’ in 2008. In 2013, he opposed President Barack Obama’s appointment of an ‘openly homosexual’ ambassador, Wally Brewster, to the Dominican Republic, calling it a provocative move against the Catholic country.”

Johnson’s extreme MAGA agenda includes an extreme national abortion ban and ending Social Security and Medicare as we know them.

CNN: “In Congress, Johnson signed on to some of the toughest anti-abortion bills, such as a 2021 so-called ‘heartbeat bill,’ which would essentially outlaw abortion after six weeks. He has repeatedly called states that allow abortion ‘pro-death’ states. ‘It is truly an American holocaust,’ Johnson said in May 2022 on local DC radio.

“Johnson also supported plans to change Medicare and Social Security benefits while increasing the retirement age, emphasizing urgency in addressing escalating entitlement. He has blamed booming entitlements costs in part on abortion.

“‘And you don’t have 40 or 50 million able-bodied workers in the economy,’ Johnson said on a podcast he co-hosts with his wife. ‘That would be paying taxes into the system to be able to support their elderly, you know, neighbors and friends.’

“On numerous occasions, Johnson also voiced approval for a Louisiana state trigger law – passed in 2006 – which banned abortion without exceptions for rape and incest the day Roe v. Wade was overturned.”

Johnson is also a threat to our democratic institutions, as he “played a pivotal role” in trying to help Trump overturn the 2020 election results.

CNN: “Following Trump’s 2020 reelection defeat, Johnson played a pivotal role in efforts to overturn the election – urging his colleagues to sign onto the Texas Attorney General’s longshot lawsuit aiming to throw out the results in key swing states. … Johnson also endorsed some fringe conspiracies, including the unsubstantiated belief that voting software machines were manipulated. On January 6, 2021, Johnson voted to object the election results, later saying he was doing his ‘duty to uphold the Constitution.’”