Washington Post associate editor and New York Times columnist freaked out on Friday’s PBS NewsHour at the news that Republicans selected Mike Johnson to be the new Speaker of the House by portraying him as a “far-right” religious extremist out to impose “Christian nationalism” on the country.
Noting Johnson’s relative obscurity, Capehart predicted, “And the more information we find out about him and the more information the American people find out about him, the more I think they're going to be uncomfortable, from his pushing for a national abortion ban, to introducing legislation for a federal so-called Don't Say Gay Bill, his comments on homosexuality and same-sex marriage.”
In other words, a Republican. Capehart was not done, however, as he read from an article Johnson wrote in 2004, “he said way back that legalizing same-sex marriage was a ‘dark harbinger of chaos that could doom even the strongest republic.’ I had no idea Nick and I were that powerful. And now here's this man who is now the Speaker of the House, two heartbeats away from the presidency, and he has far-right views, far-right views that make former Speaker Kevin McCarthy look like a moderate.”
If Capehart truly believes that, perhaps he should have implored Democrats to consider that before they helping kick McCarthy out.
Host Amna Nawaz then turned to Brooks and declared, “this is a man who's only been in Congress for six years, right? He's never chaired a committee. He's not nearly as prolific a fundraiser as Speaker McCarthy was before him.”
Brooks, again declining to live up to his billing as Brooks and Capehart’s conservative half, agreed with his liberal colleague, “You know, for me, the bad news about Johnson is the wing of the evangelical world he emerges from.”
Elaborating, Brooks explained, “And so, for example, one of the people he's praised is a pseudo-historian named David Barton. And Barton has been — has a powerful bloc in a subculture of the evangelical world that has been arguing, falsely, that our founders never believed in separation of church and state, that Thomas Jefferson was an ardent Christian who wanted to make this a Christian nation.”
One doesn’t have to defend the anti-historical view that Jefferson, who cut portions out of the Bible he didn’t like, was an ardent Christian to defend the larger point. As for Johnson, Brooks proclaimed, “he is coming from a world where Christian nationalism is very much in the air. And so that's got to be concerning if he's coming from this world.”
Nobody who freaks out about “Christian nationalism” ever seeks to define it. Is it just being pro-life or forbidding elementary school teachers to talk about sexual orientation and gender ideology as Capehart mentioned earlier? Mostly, it is just a phrase people like Brooks throw out to scare voters.
Here is a transcript for the October 27 show:
PBS NewsHour
10/27/2023
7:38 PM ET
JONATHAN CAPEHART: What's so unsettling about the fact that Congressman Mike Richards now is speaker — the speaker — is — Mike Johnson — Speaker Johnson is the person who's gotten the gavel, is, one, we don't know — really know who he is. Democratic members of Congress have said to me on air that they had to go to Google to look him up to find out more information about him.
And the more information we find out about him and the more information the American people find out about him, the more I think they're going to be uncomfortable, from his pushing for a national abortion ban, to introducing legislation for a federal so-called Don't Say Gay Bill, his comments on homosexuality and same-sex marriage.
Amna, he said way back that legalizing same-sex marriage was a “dark harbinger of chaos that could doom even the strongest republic.” I had no idea Nick and I were that powerful. And now here's this man who is now the Speaker of the House, two heartbeats away from the presidency, and he has far-right views, far-right views that make former Speaker Kevin McCarthy look like a moderate.
AMNA NAWAZ: Jonathan, you know your husband loves it whenever you mention him on air too, right? I'm sure he loves that.
But, look, David, more seriously, this is a man who's only been in Congress for six years, right? He's never chaired a committee. He's not nearly as prolific a fundraiser as Speaker McCarthy was before him.
It's fair to say there's a real learning curve ahead, right?
DAVID BROOKS: Yeah, it's a lesson. We can all rise to great power by being innocuous and unseen, apparently.
You know, for me, the bad news about Johnson is the wing of the evangelical world he emerges from. And so, for example, one of the people he's praised is a pseudo-historian named David Barton. And Barton has been — has a powerful bloc in a subculture of the evangelical world that has been arguing, falsely, that our founders never believed in separation of church and state, that Thomas Jefferson was an ardent Christian who wanted to make this a Christian nation.
And so he is coming from a world where Christian nationalism is very much in the air. And so that's got to be concerning if he's coming from this world.
