GOP Representative and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson of Louisiana wasn’t the first choice to succeed Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the House. After the position was vacant for three weeks, he was the fourth nominee to be put forward, winning on a vote along party lines.
Johnson replaced a failed speaker who broke promises to his party and the public and appeared more willing to bow to Democrats than support the GOP, even when the Republicans were right.
After Johnson was elected, the media wasted no time casting him as the villain. They called him a far-right extremist and attempted to tie him to former President Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential vote challenge, along with other issues.
While extremely skewed and inaccurate, it is what we have expected from the far-left-leaning mainstream media. Integrity and honesty don’t show up high on their list of critical values.
These unfounded attacks indicate that we should give Speaker Johnson a chance as a speaker and see how he does. If Democrat politicians and the media hate him, it likely means they are frightened he will do something right in a system that has been designed to reward evil. We only need to see through the rhetoric.
The country is facing massive issues that prior speakers and the Biden administration have either mishandled or ignored. A paralyzing debt. Continuing inflation. Illegal immigration. War in Ukraine. War in Israel. The politicized DHS, DOJ, and FBI — punishing political enemies of the ruling party through abuse of indictments and unequal law enforcement.
Speaker Johnson has stuck to his stances and begun to get things done.
It isn’t to say that he is free from missteps. He has made some. Johnson helped pass a defense bill that maintained the abortion travel policy of the Pentagon and continued to allow electronic spying on American citizens.
Additionally, he has released the entire January 6 footage, which might help free those wrongly charged by the government. Johnson has opened an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden’s questionable financial connections to his family members, foreign entities, and companies.
Speaker Johnson is negotiating Ukraine aid to get additional U.S. border enforcement. These things wouldn’t have happened and didn’t happen with a morally corrupt or weak speaker.
Johnson has not even been a speaker for two months, and it can be argued he has already had more done than McCarthy. He hasn’t been as harmful to the country as former Democrat Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, who worked to divide the country further than it already is and gained financial benefits so many in Congress enjoy.
If Johnson turns into McCarthy, he can be removed
If Johnson turns out to be a Dem in disguise like McCarthy, he can be removed from his position. With the 2024 presidential election looming large and the possibility of a power shift back to the Democrats in the House, he may be forced to turn over the gavel to Democrat from New York Hakeem Jeffries in a year anyway.
In the meantime, he should be given another chance and GOP support when he does something we approve of. If he makes a wrong call, his voters will let him know. Johnson deserves his opportunity. Others have given much longer and done much less for the country.
Suppose he doesn’t work out for some reason. In that case, the House should consider nominating someone from the outside — a non-elected person who has a track record of holding agencies and government officials accountable, a track record of integrity, and someone who understands that the government’s role is not to protect itself but the people it serves.
