POLITICS
Who is Mike Johnson, the new House Speaker backed by Trump? Political views, career, family, net worth...
At the fourth try Republicans have finally got a new speaker who has written about the need to discriminate against LGBT people in the past.
As Master Yoda one said, “do or do not, there is no try.” Republican party politicians seem to have taken this advice onboard at the fourth hurdle, finally agreeing to wholeheartedly support a candidate for the position of speaker of the House of Representatives.
Since the removal of Kevin McCarthy as speaker at the beginning of this month, Republicans had tried and failed again and again to coalesce around a single person. One name put forward lasted four hours. Mike Johnson has taken the seemingly cursed role.
“The challenge before us is great, but the time for action is now, and I will not let you down,” Johnson said. “We know that there’s a lot going on in our country, domestically and abroad, and we are ready to get to work again to solve those problems.”
Who is Mike Johnson?
He is a Republican Representative from the state of Louisiana, representing the 4th congressional district. He has been serving in the House of Representatives since 3 January, 2017. Before becoming a politician he was a lawyer.
As a member of the Christian right faction, Johnson supports ‘traditional’ values. In practice, this means he supports a nation-wide abortion ban and is an opponent of LGBT rights. He has argued that same-sex marriage would lead to bestiality and described himself as supportive of “discrimination” against gay people.
In a 2003 article he attacked the ending of sodomy laws in the US.
Like many Republicans, Johnson supports fiscally conservative policies, including reducing government spending, controlling the national debt, and advocating for a balanced budget. Budget resolutions chaired by Johnson have pushed for $2 trillion in welfare cuts. Other funding plans would include the ending of money for Ukraine in its war against Russia.
Johnson has been a big supporter of former president Donald Trump. He represented Trump as part of a legal team in both impeachment trials. In November 2020 Johnson discussed his beliefs about voter fraud, which he has voted in support of.
“You know the allegations about these voting machines, some of them being rigged with this software by Dominion, there’s a lot of merit to that. And when the President says the election was rigged, that’s what he’s talking about.”
A lawsuit was settled between Fox News and Dominion, a voting sytem company, in which Fox News had to pay $1.6 billion in defamation damages.