The rise of MAGA Mike

Democrats are helping a Republican — again

Politico reported, “National Democrats land on a nickname for the new House speaker: MAGA Mike.”

How much is he paying them?

Democrats keep doing clever things like creating a mugshot of President Donald Trump that backfire like an Acme cannon.

While Democrats laughed at Republicans and their 22-day soap opera to elect a Speaker, Democrats failed to get Biden’s name on the ballot in the New Hampshire primary. The Hill reported, “Biden supporters launch write-in campaign in New Hampshire.”

Meh, what are the odds of the New Hampshire primary costing an incumbent Democrat president his job? Too bad LBJ is no longer around to tell us.

Mike Johnson’s election as Speaker of the House has Democrats scrambling to find a way to turn a meek, mild quiet man into the Devil Incarnate. Attacking his religion seems to be the agreed approach to turn Johnson’s decency into a liability. Inside the Beltway, religion is viewed as a character flaw — unless of course that religion is Islam. No one wants to be Islamophobic because hate has no place here.

But there’s always room for Jell-O and anti-Semitism.

The New York Times triple bylined its response in a piece titled, “For Mike Johnson, Religion Is at the Forefront of Politics and Policy.

“The new House Speaker has put his faith at the center of his political career, and aligned himself with a newer cohort of conservative Christianity that some describe as Christian nationalism.”

The story began, “In the moments before he was to face a vote on becoming Speaker of the House this week, Representative Mike Johnson posted a photograph on social media of the inscription carved into marble atop the chamber’s rostrum: ‘In God We Trust.’”

Oh the horror — the theocratic horror — of a speaker sending a picture of himself standing at the podium underneath the national motto.

Here’s Nancy Pelosi doing the same thing. She attached to her tweet of the photo, “Scripture teaches us that, for everything, there is a season — and a time for every purpose under heaven.

“As Speaker, it has been my privilege to play a part in forging extraordinary progress for the American people.”

In his opening address to Congress as speaker, Johnson said, “I don’t believe there are any coincidences. I believe that Scripture, the Bible, is very clear that God is the one that raises up those in authority, he raised up each of you, all of us. And I believe that God has ordained and allowed us to be brought here to this specific moment and time.”

So both said they are guided by Scripture. Of course the difference is everyone knows she was lying through her clenched false teeth. The Times pushed the Democrat line that Johnson is a Christian Nazi — “Christianity that aligns more closely with former President Donald J. Trump and that some describe as Christian nationalism.”

The some turned out to be one (squints) “sociologist at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.” Not to knock anyone with a degree from IUPUI, but NYT really was stretching it to find a some for its story.

Speaker Johnson did what Trump should try doing and ignored the Times.

NYT reported, “Mr. Johnson declined an interview request and did not respond to a request for comment about whether he considers himself a Christian nationalist. But the little-known speaker of the House has made clear that his faith is the most important thing to know about him, and in previous interviews, he has said he believes ‘the founders wanted to protect the church from an encroaching state, not the other way around.’”

I hadn’t thought of it that way but yes, that is true. The Constitution is a document of restraints on the government, not the people.

The IUPUI professor’s definition of Christian nationalism is shockingly Christian: “Christian nationalism strongly favors traditionalist social relationships and hierarchies. This ideal society revolves around patriarchy, heterosexual marriage, and pronatalism.”

By pronatalism he means women birthing babies.

Professor IUPUI just described the 1950s. We have devolved into a nation populated by purple haired people, people with tattooed faces, bearded ladies, and 500-pound men. Face it. America is a circus now where you dare not slut-shame the neighborhood whore.

If we must go through this, at least bring back some calliope music.

The clowns in the House DO represent us. But now they are led by Mort Meek and the press is going bonkers. It is not that he has faith but who he has faith in. His religion is a problem to Democrats because of Christianity’s track record of ending tyrannical regimes, beginning with the Romans.

Not so Islam. NPR showed chivalry in defending Ihlan Omar when Minnesotans elected her to Congress.

NPR said, “Her prominent presence in Washington is being met with violent death threats, many incited by a video in a tweet by Trump that accused her of minimizing the Sept. 11 attacks. It interspersed footage of Omar speaking with the flaming towers.

“Her critics accuse her of anti-Semitism. She apologized over an offensive tweet, saying she was grateful to be educated on the painful history of anti-Semitism and anti-Semitic tropes. But she refuses to back down from questioning lobbyists' influence in policymaking, specifically the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

“Most recently, when she spoke at the Council on American-Islamic Relations, her words were taken out of context and she was accused of downplaying the Sept. 11 attacks, even though she is the co-sponsor of a bill that seeks to renew the victims' compensation fund.”

She said of 9/11, some people did something.

Her full quote is “CAIR was founded after 9/11 because they recognized that some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties. So you can’t just say that today someone is looking at me strange, that I am going to try to make myself look pleasant. You have to say this person is looking at me strange, I am not comfortable with it. I am going to talk to them and ask them why. Because that is a right you have.”

Muslims created CAIR six years before 9/11.

While Democrats and their Muppet Media vehemently despise Johnson and his belief in Christ, by electing him Speaker, Republicans have made it equally clear that they will stand for the Christian values that founded our nation. Those values include opposition to establishing a state religion — including atheism and Satanism.

Politico reported, “Much of the media has regarded Mike Johnson’s two-day-old speakership as something of an accident of history.

“But the record shows Johnson’s ascent was no accident. It was the culmination of a deliberate series of moves aimed at positioning himself for greater power.”

The internal politics of Washington seldom intrigue me but Politico homered this time, reporting, “Throughout his House career, Johnson walked a careful line — interacting closely with the hard-liners and embracing their strategic objectives without engaging in their divisive tactics. He has backed drastic federal spending cuts and strict abortion restrictions but never opposed a GOP rule or threatened to vacate the speakership.

“Meanwhile, he was building his credibility as a Trump loyalist, culminating in his late-2020 effort to rally Republicans behind a court brief arguing for the Supreme Court to intervene in presidential vote-counting.”

That’s leadership. That’s bring the sides together, which explains why all the people I consider enemies just hate the man.

Jamelle Bouie of NYT whined, “The far-right extremism and open contempt for democracy that mark much of modern Republicanism are not aberrations. It’s not a spell that might fade with time. It is the Republican Party of 2023, and it will be the Republican Party of 2024. And while Trump may, for either legal or political reasons, eventually leave the scene, there’s no reason to think the Republican Party will revert to a state in which the Mike Johnsons are back on the sidelines.”

I thank Bouie for the good news. Always bear in mind that the first song Republicans embraced in the 1860s was the Battle Hymn of the Republic.

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free
While God is marching on

MAGA Mike unveiled the first piece of legislation promoted by his regime.

CBS reported, “House Republicans want to pay for emergency aid to Israel by cutting funding to the IRS, teeing up a collision with the White House and Democrat-controlled Senate over how to support a key U.S. ally.

“The House GOP released a $14.3 billion standalone measure on Monday that would pay for aid to Israel by cutting the same amount in funding that was allocated to the IRS under the Inflation Reduction Act, one of President Biden's signature pieces of legislation.”

That is what conservatives have wanted for 31 years now, going back to the Reform Party, the Gingrich Revolution, the Tea Party and Trump. $30 trillion later, we may actually get cutting-before-spending legislation.

Republican Mike Garcia of California said of Johnson to Politico, “He’s the right man for the job, and I have faith in him. He’s a good man, he’s a good Christian, and he’s going to do an excellent job at this.”

I pray that Garcia is right.