Why You Should Be Worried About Him

 For this post, I am going to invoke my Howard Cosell Rule.  That means this post won’t be about bicycles or bicycling, at least not directly.

As you’ve probably heard by now, Mike Johnson has been elected as Speaker of the US House of Representatives.  That means he is, after Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, next in line to become the President.

Kevin McCarthy, the ousted House Speaker embodied a particular kind of venality that happens when mediocrity and ambition comes within reach of power. He wanted to be Speaker because he wanted to be President, but he had to know, deep down, the Speakership was as close as he’d come to it.

But his lust for power isn’t the reason why his fellow Republicans, who make up the majority of the House ousted him. They weren’t happy that he was willing to make a deal with Democrats in order to pass a  budget and prevent a government shutdown.  And some felt that he wasn’t sufficiently loyal to Trump/MAGA supporters who are no longer a “wing” of the Republican Party: They, along with white Evangelical Christians and conservative Catholics, are the Republican Party.

Which is why they chose Mike Johnson.  He—who played an important role in the attempt to overturn the 2020 Presidential election—is  an Evangelical Christian Nationalist who wants to turn this country into Gilead. He wants to not only outlaw abortions but also to arrest, prosecute and imprison women who have them.  And, not surprisingly, he wants to rescind any laws that enshrine LGBT equality.

Johnson and his ilk have developed a symbiotic relationship with the Trump/MAGA folks:  Their support of Israel will hasten the coming of the Kingdom of God they want—or so they believe.

One thing both groups have in common is their support of the fossil fuels industries—which, not surprisingly, donate generously to their campaigns—and antipathy to anything “green” or “sustainable.”  That is why their attitudes toward cycling range from indifferent to hostile.

Even if their anti-cycling, anti-LGBT, anti-woman policies weren’t bad enough, the fact that Johnson is, as the saying goes, only two heartbeats away from the Presidency is almost as terrifying as the prospect of a convicted felon returning to the Presidency.