The speaker of the United States House of Representatives has no bank accounts of any kind, and believes people and dinosaurs lived together 6,000 years ago. He is second in line to the American presidency. He is a dangerous man because he is a fanatic, a true believer. The abysmal state of American journalism has kept the American people chained to a very specific type of congressional miscreant.
Why do we only hear about this guy's extremism, his absolute unfitness for the job, on more liberal websites and MSNBC, but not in the more mainstream media? The average person has no idea that the new Speaker of the House of Representatives,, who is third in line to the President, is such a dangerous and ignorant person who is in way over his head. I think most of them would be scared as hell if they were to be properly informed.
margowendorf, the answer to your question is in the question itself! The main stream media (MSM) is part of the problem. They are part of MSM/Politician "hysteria" complex. The journalism schools where these "professionals" went to school should be ashamed. But, it's not all (or even most) of the schools' faults. It's the current MSM employers who value clicks (ad money) over quality reporting. We're in a downward spiral on this matter I'm afraid. :-(
I'm 80 years old and a lifelong Democrat. I moved back to Louisiana after 34 years in California. It's embarrassing and depressing! We'll never know the accurate number of people like him because few would admit to disagreeing with him. I know the reactions I get when I speak out. I don't see anything changing here for a long time, unfortunately.
I have in-laws in Louisiana transplanted from upstate NY. They hate the politics but love the life. I have lovely neighbors who I'm told are quite conservative politically and yet talking to them in terms very general I find it hard to believe. I think many people just really haven't bothered to consider what is actually going on in DC.
Martha, the supply of misinformation is overwhelming. What boggles my mind is why people actively seek out false information to confirm their worst fears about our very own government. I also have neighbors to the right of me and to the left of me, both geographically and politically. I get along with all of them, and I'm selective in subject matter up for discussion. What I have found is that those to the right do in fact seek out from a multitude of "alternative" media to confirm what they want to believe, and to be presented with even more imaginary horrors to generate ever deeper-seeded fear. It's like a collective form of insanity. It's both sad and dangerous.
I absolutely agree. It is impossible to discuss anything political with people drawn to "apocalyptic" media on both sides of issues. One of the things I can't stand on the right and left is when a talking head is asked a question and begins their response with "I think." As soon as that starts I turn the channel.
Johnson is a wolf in sheep's clothing. His deeply-held Christian nationalist views are contrary to democratic principles. His distrust of democratic institutions is palpable and he is willing to forgo truth and any semblance of integrity believing that the ends justify the means. But, unlike the Trump circus, he hides all this behind a facade of kindness and innocence. I don't believe that the majority of Republicans are in sync with him. They were worn down by the 22 days of speaker-less dysfunction and would have chosen anyone that wasn't as visibly offensive as Jim Jordan.
In this serious time we are surrounded and even overwhelmed with performative players with no sense of the consequences of their actions. Why should they? There is no accountability? The Senate would not hold Trump accountable. Look at Fulton County. Fanni Willis is all show. 4 defendants plead guilty. Anyone going to serve time? The next day Sidney Powell is back claiming election fraud. Obviously she learned he lesson. Why is Steve Bannon not serving time for his conviction?
We have a whole party that places their job security over the security of this country. And these are our leaders? Where is the pushback from the Democrats? It’s 2016 all over again. Democrats will nominate the only person equal to Trump that is disfavored by the voters. Hillary couldn’t lose, just like Biden can’t .
Why isn’t Washington DC and Puerto Rico not states? Why do we still use the electoral college system? Why is this country still minority ruled? That’s why human misfits like Johnson are speaker of the house.
I totally agree but what can be done about it? Why didn't the Democrats fight to get rid of the electoral college after 2000? After 2004? After 2016? Good grief! We keep winning the popular vote but losing in the goddamn electoral college.
Ann I share your frustrations. Democrats mean well but they have no stomach to get their hands bloodied and fight for the things they believe in. They rather whine how the Republicans are so mean to them. They are righteous without a spine.
False prophets and false teachers - Jesus and the apostles warned us about them in the New Testament. Jesus taught love. Read the Beatitudes. It is the opposite of the current GOP. Feed the poor. Heal the sick. The first will be the last. The current GOP is advocating the opposite. They are the false prophets we were warned about by the Christ of the Bible 2000 years ago.
My warning bells have been ringing so loudly since 2016, it is a wonder I’m not deaf by now. I am reading Rachel Maddow’s book “Prequel: An American Fight Against Fazcism.” It is a well researched book and deals with something we don’t hear much about: fascism and Nazi propaganda in 1930’s America. Just a few quotes from the prologue: “Propaganda helped us to power, propaganda kept us in power, propaganda will help us conquer the world” (Joseph Goebbels, 1936)
“Our strategy is to destroy the enemy from within, to conquer him through himself.” (Hitler)
“The fight here at home in the 1930s and 1940s is a story of American politics at the edge: a violent, ultra-right authoritarian movement, weirdly infatuated with foreign dictatorships, with detailed plans to overthrow the US government, and even with former American military officers who stood ready to lead. “ (Rachel Maddow)
Scary stuff but we can’t bury our heads in the sand and watch history repeat itself. We need leaders to fight against domestic authoritarians, fascists and heavily armed right wing militias. The future of our country is at stake
It is not a coincidence that Trump chose "AMERICA FIRST" as his slogan. If you know anything at all about that same late 30s early 40s movement and Charles Lindbergh leadership in it, then you know that the current rightwing Republicans are cut from the same fascists cloth. Trump's father marched in a Nazi parade in the 20s. I am waiting for Rachel's book to show up on the used book market. Hold on to your hats, it is going to be a bumpy ride until we get our country back on track.
A very succinct article about Johnson. I wrote about him the other day, quoting Eric Hoffer’s book “The True Believer”. Hoffer wrote: “The impression somehow prevails that the true believer, particularly the religious individual, is a humble person. The truth is the surrendering and humbling of the self breed pride and arrogance. The true believer is apt to see himself as one of the chosen, the salt of the earth, the light of the world, a prince disguised in meekness, who is destined to inherit the earth and the kingdom of heaven too. He who is not of his faith is evil; he who will not listen will perish.”
Likewise, Hoffer wrote this in the same book: “A doctrine insulates the devout not only against the realities around them but also against their own selves. The fanatical believer is not conscious of his envy, malice, pettiness and dishonesty. There is a wall of words between his consciousness and his real self.” These words perfectly describes Mike Johnson and the theocratic true believers of the GOP.
Finally, I think of Joseph Heller’s words in Catch-22. “The chaplain had mastered, in a moment of divine intuition, the handy technique of protective rationalization, and he was exhilarated by his discovery. It was miraculous. It was almost no trick at all, he saw, to turn vice into virtue and slander into truth, impotence into abstinence, arrogance into humility, plunder into philanthropy, thievery into honor, blasphemy into wisdom, brutality into patriotism, and sadism into justice. Anybody could do it; it required no brains at all. It merely required no character.”
My dad would have said about people like Johnson, "We serve a master that can not be fooled. " That is what you can say to a true believer that is full of you know what.
Wait a minute. It’s easy to incessantly blame “American journalism”, some undefined malignant presence. I have read many informed and informative articles on not only Speaker Johnson, but his wife, and the third member of their marriage, Jesus, too. You can find them in the New Yorker, the Atlantic, the New Republic, the NY Times, and Washington Post. MSNBC is reporting the hell out of it. And there are more. Maybe instead of constantly condemning mainstream media, a list of or link to reliable and relevant sources and articles would be helpful. Joyce Vance, Heather Cox Richardson and others’ newsletters are full of them.
You are so very right Tom, I read them all and I record many hosts on MSNBC also.
By the way, it doesn't sound like Dean Phillips hit the right notes at his town hall in N.H. That is no surprise to me.
It doesn't looks like Steve learn his lesson from the crazy Sarah Palin decision. But like the Urantia Book say "we are the free will children, of the God of free will."
Ofmichael is the scariest Speaker of the House ever selected, - and to think that he received the UNANIMOUS support of the Republicans is quite telling. I hope that the Dems are able to use this to their advantage and paint the House BLUE come 2024! Watching the GOP run our House during this term so far, has been tantamount to watching the Ringling Brothers Circus...at best...a total clown show of incompetence. Of course, there’s much to be said about the people who elect these nutcases term after term....but that’s another story.
I’m no theologian, but I have read the Bible completely 2-3 times. I’ve studied and led several deep inductive studies of studies of several books of the Bible, including all of those in the New Testament. I learned how to use several Bible study tools including commentaries and concordances (English to Hebrew and Greek). Certainly the Bible has and can be interpreted many different ways by various Biblical scholars. And, I know there is always more I can and should learn about the Bible. However, I find someone like Mike Johnson and his statements about the Bible, especially the Gospels of Christ, to be repugnant and offensive. In my view, there is not anyway that Johnson’s statements comport to the Gospel of Christ. I don’t know what version of the Bible he reads, but I know what Johnson spouts as his world view is not matched by Jesus’ words. His Christian nationalism is not even Christian, it is the antithesis of Christianity, i.e., heretical.
Aloha Thomas, Perhaps it is time for the smart person that you are to upgrade to The Urantia Book. At least check it out with an open mind. Part 4 of this 2,000 page tome is the complete life and teachings of Jesus. If we lowly mortals can record things, then surely the higher being in our universe have that ability. They have just been waiting for our scientific knowledge to catch up so they can reveal the facts and more truths. The Spirit Of Truth will let you know if it is right for you. It does require changing from the religion about Jesus to the religion OF Jesus, which is the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man. From what you are saying, my guess is that you are already there. The Urantia book is a synthesis of science, philosophy, history and spirituality. As we say, you have to read it to believe it!
Marion, ty for this comment. I have currently been reading the Bible after a profound fatigue of enduring "expert interpretations" from shallow people. The Apocrypha in next on my list. And, now, The Urantia Book is added. I have no great theological training, I am barely tied to a religion (being a disheartened Catholic), yet I know what is well with my soul. I follow many newsletters written by folks I greatly respect, but it is the reader's comments where I often find the greatest inspiration. Ty for taking the time to provide this recommendation. Suzanne
“The abysmal state of American journalism” is only partially responsible for the presence of today’s congressional miscreants. Primary responsibility rests with decades of Republicans, whether active or passive, who encouraged or allowed the creation of a home for politicians who would destroy our democracy. Given that and an MSM in the hands of people for whom return on equity is paramount, people who have successfully eliminated all manner of safeguards, the current state of affairs was inevitable.
Johnson personifies the religious right and their delusional orthodoxy. If every mother, aunt, grandmother, friend of a female child isn’t energized by this meatloaf brained cup of circus wine to make sure they vote him and other birdbrains out of office I just the fk give up.
What concerns me the most about the rise of Johnson (aside from the Democrats willfully falling into Gaetz's trap) is that it is evidence the Christian nationalist movement is truly gaining power. Evangelicals were at the zenith of their power under Trump, and they're not about cede power after Trump falls. This movement exists beyond the MAGA movement, but it has co-opted the MAGA movement. It's sometimes hard to know who is who and who is using whom. But I believe the Christian nationalist movement is the real driving force behind all that has transpired since 2016.
Why do we only hear about this guy's extremism, his absolute unfitness for the job, on more liberal websites and MSNBC, but not in the more mainstream media? The average person has no idea that the new Speaker of the House of Representatives,, who is third in line to the President, is such a dangerous and ignorant person who is in way over his head. I think most of them would be scared as hell if they were to be properly informed.
margowendorf, the answer to your question is in the question itself! The main stream media (MSM) is part of the problem. They are part of MSM/Politician "hysteria" complex. The journalism schools where these "professionals" went to school should be ashamed. But, it's not all (or even most) of the schools' faults. It's the current MSM employers who value clicks (ad money) over quality reporting. We're in a downward spiral on this matter I'm afraid. :-(
I agree Kent, but sorry to say Steve is now in the "hysteria " group as well.
Doesn’t sell in our soap opera world mentality. Simple. Sad.
Great. I guess the people of the great state of Louisiana missed the part about him thinking The Flintstones was a documentary.
I'm 80 years old and a lifelong Democrat. I moved back to Louisiana after 34 years in California. It's embarrassing and depressing! We'll never know the accurate number of people like him because few would admit to disagreeing with him. I know the reactions I get when I speak out. I don't see anything changing here for a long time, unfortunately.
I have in-laws in Louisiana transplanted from upstate NY. They hate the politics but love the life. I have lovely neighbors who I'm told are quite conservative politically and yet talking to them in terms very general I find it hard to believe. I think many people just really haven't bothered to consider what is actually going on in DC.
Martha, the supply of misinformation is overwhelming. What boggles my mind is why people actively seek out false information to confirm their worst fears about our very own government. I also have neighbors to the right of me and to the left of me, both geographically and politically. I get along with all of them, and I'm selective in subject matter up for discussion. What I have found is that those to the right do in fact seek out from a multitude of "alternative" media to confirm what they want to believe, and to be presented with even more imaginary horrors to generate ever deeper-seeded fear. It's like a collective form of insanity. It's both sad and dangerous.
I absolutely agree. It is impossible to discuss anything political with people drawn to "apocalyptic" media on both sides of issues. One of the things I can't stand on the right and left is when a talking head is asked a question and begins their response with "I think." As soon as that starts I turn the channel.
Sad but true. My relatives in Louisiana are proud of their willful ignorance and display it often. 😞
So sorry, sad Cathy.
Johnson is a wolf in sheep's clothing. His deeply-held Christian nationalist views are contrary to democratic principles. His distrust of democratic institutions is palpable and he is willing to forgo truth and any semblance of integrity believing that the ends justify the means. But, unlike the Trump circus, he hides all this behind a facade of kindness and innocence. I don't believe that the majority of Republicans are in sync with him. They were worn down by the 22 days of speaker-less dysfunction and would have chosen anyone that wasn't as visibly offensive as Jim Jordan.
“His [Johnson’s] deeply-held Christian nationalist views are contrary to democratic principles. “
Also contrary to what Jesus did and what He teaches (note present tense.)
Well, Barbara, Jesus said "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's" and that dang Johnson is disobeying that right off by trying to cut IRS funding.
In this serious time we are surrounded and even overwhelmed with performative players with no sense of the consequences of their actions. Why should they? There is no accountability? The Senate would not hold Trump accountable. Look at Fulton County. Fanni Willis is all show. 4 defendants plead guilty. Anyone going to serve time? The next day Sidney Powell is back claiming election fraud. Obviously she learned he lesson. Why is Steve Bannon not serving time for his conviction?
We have a whole party that places their job security over the security of this country. And these are our leaders? Where is the pushback from the Democrats? It’s 2016 all over again. Democrats will nominate the only person equal to Trump that is disfavored by the voters. Hillary couldn’t lose, just like Biden can’t .
Why isn’t Washington DC and Puerto Rico not states? Why do we still use the electoral college system? Why is this country still minority ruled? That’s why human misfits like Johnson are speaker of the house.
I totally agree but what can be done about it? Why didn't the Democrats fight to get rid of the electoral college after 2000? After 2004? After 2016? Good grief! We keep winning the popular vote but losing in the goddamn electoral college.
Ann I share your frustrations. Democrats mean well but they have no stomach to get their hands bloodied and fight for the things they believe in. They rather whine how the Republicans are so mean to them. They are righteous without a spine.
It would take a Constitutional amendment to get rid of the Electoral College. Amendments must be ratified by at least 38 states.
But you have to try…nothing gets done worrying whether it will be successful or not.
False prophets and false teachers - Jesus and the apostles warned us about them in the New Testament. Jesus taught love. Read the Beatitudes. It is the opposite of the current GOP. Feed the poor. Heal the sick. The first will be the last. The current GOP is advocating the opposite. They are the false prophets we were warned about by the Christ of the Bible 2000 years ago.
Doing the work of the lord.. yeah, that’s it ..
My warning bells have been ringing so loudly since 2016, it is a wonder I’m not deaf by now. I am reading Rachel Maddow’s book “Prequel: An American Fight Against Fazcism.” It is a well researched book and deals with something we don’t hear much about: fascism and Nazi propaganda in 1930’s America. Just a few quotes from the prologue: “Propaganda helped us to power, propaganda kept us in power, propaganda will help us conquer the world” (Joseph Goebbels, 1936)
“Our strategy is to destroy the enemy from within, to conquer him through himself.” (Hitler)
“The fight here at home in the 1930s and 1940s is a story of American politics at the edge: a violent, ultra-right authoritarian movement, weirdly infatuated with foreign dictatorships, with detailed plans to overthrow the US government, and even with former American military officers who stood ready to lead. “ (Rachel Maddow)
Scary stuff but we can’t bury our heads in the sand and watch history repeat itself. We need leaders to fight against domestic authoritarians, fascists and heavily armed right wing militias. The future of our country is at stake
It is not a coincidence that Trump chose "AMERICA FIRST" as his slogan. If you know anything at all about that same late 30s early 40s movement and Charles Lindbergh leadership in it, then you know that the current rightwing Republicans are cut from the same fascists cloth. Trump's father marched in a Nazi parade in the 20s. I am waiting for Rachel's book to show up on the used book market. Hold on to your hats, it is going to be a bumpy ride until we get our country back on track.
Did you listen to her podcast "Ultra"? It was great.
Yes, and highly recommend her podcast.
I’ll do whatever I can to turn the House BLUE
This applies to the quiet ones like Speaker Johnson and Governor Youngkin, "If you dress a fascist up like a nerd, they're still a fascist."
On behalf of nerds I resemble that remark!
Steve,
A very succinct article about Johnson. I wrote about him the other day, quoting Eric Hoffer’s book “The True Believer”. Hoffer wrote: “The impression somehow prevails that the true believer, particularly the religious individual, is a humble person. The truth is the surrendering and humbling of the self breed pride and arrogance. The true believer is apt to see himself as one of the chosen, the salt of the earth, the light of the world, a prince disguised in meekness, who is destined to inherit the earth and the kingdom of heaven too. He who is not of his faith is evil; he who will not listen will perish.”
Likewise, Hoffer wrote this in the same book: “A doctrine insulates the devout not only against the realities around them but also against their own selves. The fanatical believer is not conscious of his envy, malice, pettiness and dishonesty. There is a wall of words between his consciousness and his real self.” These words perfectly describes Mike Johnson and the theocratic true believers of the GOP.
Finally, I think of Joseph Heller’s words in Catch-22. “The chaplain had mastered, in a moment of divine intuition, the handy technique of protective rationalization, and he was exhilarated by his discovery. It was miraculous. It was almost no trick at all, he saw, to turn vice into virtue and slander into truth, impotence into abstinence, arrogance into humility, plunder into philanthropy, thievery into honor, blasphemy into wisdom, brutality into patriotism, and sadism into justice. Anybody could do it; it required no brains at all. It merely required no character.”
Peace and stay safe,
Steve Dundas
My dad would have said about people like Johnson, "We serve a master that can not be fooled. " That is what you can say to a true believer that is full of you know what.
Wait a minute. It’s easy to incessantly blame “American journalism”, some undefined malignant presence. I have read many informed and informative articles on not only Speaker Johnson, but his wife, and the third member of their marriage, Jesus, too. You can find them in the New Yorker, the Atlantic, the New Republic, the NY Times, and Washington Post. MSNBC is reporting the hell out of it. And there are more. Maybe instead of constantly condemning mainstream media, a list of or link to reliable and relevant sources and articles would be helpful. Joyce Vance, Heather Cox Richardson and others’ newsletters are full of them.
You are so very right Tom, I read them all and I record many hosts on MSNBC also.
By the way, it doesn't sound like Dean Phillips hit the right notes at his town hall in N.H. That is no surprise to me.
It doesn't looks like Steve learn his lesson from the crazy Sarah Palin decision. But like the Urantia Book say "we are the free will children, of the God of free will."
Thank you and I read all of the above sources. And I have begun to curate my News intake through Podcasts and the New York Times, etc.
Ofmichael is the scariest Speaker of the House ever selected, - and to think that he received the UNANIMOUS support of the Republicans is quite telling. I hope that the Dems are able to use this to their advantage and paint the House BLUE come 2024! Watching the GOP run our House during this term so far, has been tantamount to watching the Ringling Brothers Circus...at best...a total clown show of incompetence. Of course, there’s much to be said about the people who elect these nutcases term after term....but that’s another story.
I’m no theologian, but I have read the Bible completely 2-3 times. I’ve studied and led several deep inductive studies of studies of several books of the Bible, including all of those in the New Testament. I learned how to use several Bible study tools including commentaries and concordances (English to Hebrew and Greek). Certainly the Bible has and can be interpreted many different ways by various Biblical scholars. And, I know there is always more I can and should learn about the Bible. However, I find someone like Mike Johnson and his statements about the Bible, especially the Gospels of Christ, to be repugnant and offensive. In my view, there is not anyway that Johnson’s statements comport to the Gospel of Christ. I don’t know what version of the Bible he reads, but I know what Johnson spouts as his world view is not matched by Jesus’ words. His Christian nationalism is not even Christian, it is the antithesis of Christianity, i.e., heretical.
www.tomthedemocratist.com
I think you qualify as a theologian, you are probably more highly qualified than many who claim to be:)
Aloha Thomas, Perhaps it is time for the smart person that you are to upgrade to The Urantia Book. At least check it out with an open mind. Part 4 of this 2,000 page tome is the complete life and teachings of Jesus. If we lowly mortals can record things, then surely the higher being in our universe have that ability. They have just been waiting for our scientific knowledge to catch up so they can reveal the facts and more truths. The Spirit Of Truth will let you know if it is right for you. It does require changing from the religion about Jesus to the religion OF Jesus, which is the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man. From what you are saying, my guess is that you are already there. The Urantia book is a synthesis of science, philosophy, history and spirituality. As we say, you have to read it to believe it!
www.urantia.org
Marion, ty for this comment. I have currently been reading the Bible after a profound fatigue of enduring "expert interpretations" from shallow people. The Apocrypha in next on my list. And, now, The Urantia Book is added. I have no great theological training, I am barely tied to a religion (being a disheartened Catholic), yet I know what is well with my soul. I follow many newsletters written by folks I greatly respect, but it is the reader's comments where I often find the greatest inspiration. Ty for taking the time to provide this recommendation. Suzanne
Thank you. I will check it out.
Call the Exorcist
“The abysmal state of American journalism” is only partially responsible for the presence of today’s congressional miscreants. Primary responsibility rests with decades of Republicans, whether active or passive, who encouraged or allowed the creation of a home for politicians who would destroy our democracy. Given that and an MSM in the hands of people for whom return on equity is paramount, people who have successfully eliminated all manner of safeguards, the current state of affairs was inevitable.
why didn't the dinosaurs eat Mike Johnson's ancestors?
🤣🤣🤣
Johnson personifies the religious right and their delusional orthodoxy. If every mother, aunt, grandmother, friend of a female child isn’t energized by this meatloaf brained cup of circus wine to make sure they vote him and other birdbrains out of office I just the fk give up.
Right On! Thanks.
What concerns me the most about the rise of Johnson (aside from the Democrats willfully falling into Gaetz's trap) is that it is evidence the Christian nationalist movement is truly gaining power. Evangelicals were at the zenith of their power under Trump, and they're not about cede power after Trump falls. This movement exists beyond the MAGA movement, but it has co-opted the MAGA movement. It's sometimes hard to know who is who and who is using whom. But I believe the Christian nationalist movement is the real driving force behind all that has transpired since 2016.
I see it this way too, that the movement is gaining power and the Qanon movement has merged into it’s fold as well. Scary is an understatement!