KEEPING AN EYE ON MAGA MIKE JOHNSON

America's Most Anti-Democratic MAGA-Conservative Politician

“Let Us Now Prey To Make America Great Again” 2020, by Jeff Gates, www.chamomileteaparty.com, is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

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Shortly after MAGA Mike Johnson became the Speaker of the House of Congress I began to investigate his background and prepared to write about him and his Biblical Worldview, recognizing as I did the seriousness of his paternalistic white Christian nationalist extremist agenda, and the all-too-real-dangerous-threat it poses for all Americans who hold fast first and foremost, to their constitutionally granted civil rights, and secondly to their 248-236-years¹ long historic agreement with, reliance upon, and trust in its model of instructed rulings of how our Federal Government should operate and work, as a Republic, for its people as individual-citizens-first, and people-as-a-whole in a union of smaller states that make up a single Supreme State, a political entity known most broadly, as a clearly defined, country, whose nationality has been best described as a “melting pot” composed of a most remarkable and splendorous diversity of human beings, such as the international global order of countries has not witnessed since the diversities of the Roman empire.

Now from my perspective there are many pathways that I could choose by which to describe and explain the problem of Christian nationalism. This for me poses a most vexing puzzle, the reason being that I do not want to waste precious time, either mine or yours, trying to cover all the bases in an attempt to direct my readers’ many different focuses and attention to the core root of Christian nationalists’ self-delusions.²

“A delusion is a fixed false belief based on an inaccurate interpretation of an external reality despite evidence to the contrary.”³

According to authoritative, official documentation located at the National Library of Medicine’s National Center for Biotechnology Information webpage (An official website of the United States Government) that provides detailed information about “Delusional Disorder”

Some of the most frequently encountered types of delusions are:

2. Bizarre - A delusion involving a phenomenon that is impossible, not understandable, and unrelated to normal life. [Angels, Noah’s Ark, walking on water, miracles, etcetera, are all commonly held to assertions of religious Christians]

4. Grandiose - A conviction of great talent, discovery, inflated self-worth, power, knowledge, or relationship with someone famous or deity. [Apparently MAGA Mike and innumerable other Christians have a very special relationship with a deity]

5. Persecutory - The central theme is being conspired against, attacked, harassed, obstructed in the pursuit of long-term goals. [A significant motivator for many Christian nationalists is their perceptions of being persecuted for their lunacies, such as MAGA Mike discusses in his speech broadcasted in the YouTube video below.]

8. Thought broadcasting - Delusion that one's thought is projected and perceived by others. [Correct me if I am wrong but this one sounds to me like “prayer”, or as MAGA Mike puts it, “And the Lord very specifically told me in my prayers to prepare…Be ready for what? I don’t know. We’re coming to a Red Sea moment. What does that mean, Lord?"]

9. Thought insertion - A delusion that one's thought is not one's own but inserted into their mind by an external source or entity. [Once again to quote MAGA Mike, “He had been speaking to me about this, and the Lord told me very clearly to prepare and be ready.”]⁴

"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored." -A. Huxley

[The following starts at the :22-second mark]

"The Lord impressed upon my heart a few weeks before this happened that something was going to occur. And the Lord very specifically told me in my prayers to prepare, but to wait… I had this sense that we were going to come to a Red Sea moment in our Republican conference and in the county at large."

"Look, I’m a Southern Baptist. I don’t wanna get too spooky on you. But you know, the Lord speaks to your heart. He had been speaking to me about this, and the Lord told me very clearly to prepare and be ready."

"Be ready for what? I don’t know. We’re coming to a Red Sea moment. What does that mean, Lord?"

"When the speaker’s race happened and Kevin McCarthy, who’s a dear friend of mine, was deposed and vacated from the chair. Oh, wow! Well this is what the Lord may have been preparing us for."

"I started praying more. Lord began to wake me up through this three-week process we’re in, in the middle of the night, and to speak to me and write things down. Plans, procedures and ideas of how to bring this conference together."

“At the time, I assumed the Lord is going to choose a new Moses, and thank you Lord, you’re going to allow me to be Aaron to Moses. Ultimately 13 people ran for the post. And the Lord kept telling me to, ‘Wait, wait, wait.'"

“So I waited, I waited. And then at the end … the Lord said, ‘Now step forward.’ ... [expressing surprise] ... Me? I’m supposed to be Aaron.' No,’ the Lord said, ‘Step forward.’”

As can be observed MAGA Mike clearly and obviously has delusions of grandeur. As concerning as that should be with his currently being second in the line of presidential succession, it seems to me that he is ultimately better viewed as being symptomatic of a far greater problem for our liberal constitutional democracy.

Namely and most notably in the light of the setting, wherein he made his controversial remarks, and its confluence with numerous other areas and factors that are, have been, and will continue to be detrimental to our freedoms, liberties, rights, and unity as a country composed of perhaps the greatest diversity of human beings ever gathered together into one single overarching political union in the history of the entire world.

First the setting:

As reported by Rolling Stone just six days before the National Association of Christian Lawmakers (NACL) “2023 Annual Meeting & Awards Gala!”

The NACL is an overt Christian nationalist organization that seeks to give its “biblical worldview” the binding force of law. The gala website touts NACL’s agenda of “abolishing abortion,” promoting “marriage between one man and one woman,” and “exposing the ungodly effort to undermine our culture by Leftists.”⁵

Further information about the NACL, a new organization that was first started in August 2020 according to reporting by Alex Thomas of Arkansas Democrat-Gazette published one week prior to the event, brings to light some salient facts as seen in the following excerpts:

The National Association of Christian Lawmakers is a Conway-based organization founded by former state Sen. Jason Rapert. On its website, the association advocates for uniting politicians at all levels of government in support of "clear Biblical principles," noting a belief that "America would be better off if more Christians would run for elected office at the local, state, and federal levels."

"Since the NACL started in August of 2020, we have members and supporters now in all 50 states and Puerto Rico, and we would love for you to come and be part of this wonderful celebration of all of the things that we have accomplished, and talk about all of the things that we intend to do," Rapert said in an Oct. 28 video concerning the upcoming event.

"The presidential election is coming up in 2024, and it is important for Christians to be united all across the United States of America."

"The MAGA House majority has selected the most anti-equality Speaker in U.S. history by elevating Mike Johnson -- this is a choice that will be a stain on the record of everyone who voted for him," Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson said in the wake of the House electing Johnson.⁶

“U.S. House speaker to address meeting of Arkansas-based National Association of Christian Lawmakers”⁷

More information about the NACL and its members has been reported this past October by The Alaska Current, which demonstrates the long reach of the organization from Arkansas to Alaska as follows:

State Rep. Sarah Vance’s new staffer, Bob Ballinger, is known for helping to pass one of the strictest abortion bans in the country, with no exceptions for rape, incest, or the health of the mother, and attempted to strip discrimination protections from LGBTQ+ people. Ballinger is a former member of the Arkansas house and senate, and lost reelection in 2022.⁸

Both “Ballinger and Vance are members of the National Association of Christian Lawmakers… Vance is listed as the NACL chair for Alaska and Ballinger is its director of law and policy.” Who as “Members of the group sign a pledge committing to support some of the most extreme positions of the religious right, including strict abortion bans, making same-sex marriage illegal and biblically run government. Signatories to the pledge also affirm the belief that the “lost” will suffer an “everlasting conscious punishment.” Further on in the same report the founder of the group is quoted as follows:

The NACL was founded in 2019 by Arkansas State Sen. Jason Rapert, who spoke on “Save the Nation” about being a “proud” Christian nationalist and said he intends to “restore the Judeo-Christian foundations of our government that were intended from the very beginning.”⁹

Former Arkansas State Senator Jason Rapert is without question one of the most despicable and vile examples of Christian nationalist proponents currently and most unfortunately still wasting oxygen as described in other reporting by the Arkansas Times, this past October-

a dominionist outfit formed by another former Arkansas state senator, Jason Rapert. Dominionists aim to put Christians in charge and have them govern based on their interpretation of the Bible.

Remember when Rapert installed a Ten Commandments monument on the Arkansas Capitol grounds? Or when Ballinger helped pass what’s arguably the worst abortion ban in the country, allowing no exceptions except to save the mother’s life? These infusions of Christian evangelical moralism into state government are examples of dominionism.¹⁰

Now having presented a bare bones snapshot of the NACL, the organization that awarded MAGA Moses Mike Johnson with what is arguably its highest award of honor the “American Patriot Award for Christian Honor and Courage” for which

It was bestowed to recognize what the group’s leader, former Arkansas state Rep. Jason Rappert, described as Johnson’s “statesmanship, bold Christian leadership, and faithful service to our Lord Jesus Christ.”¹¹

It is important to bring the fullest of attention and focus upon what was probably one of the most discussed topics at the meeting wherein Johnson received his award. This topic is something that I have only just recently been learning about and I will argue is probably one of the single greatest and most threatening actions being developed by the proponents of Project 2025, the America First Policy Institute, the NACL, and the larger Christian nationalist sub-society, etcetera; the Convention of the States Action.

Yesterday Exposed by CMD reported on an event that took place this past July that was hosted by one of the most influential organizations that supplies direct material support to movement-conservatism’s efforts to supplant liberal democracy with an oligarchical-ruled illiberal conservative dystopia, ALEC; this report focused exclusively on a “policy summit” event that was focused on “model policies and resolutions related to an Article V constitutional convention, so-called “woke” capitalism, school curricula, the environment, gutting regulations, and more.”¹² MAGA Mike Johnson was one of the speakers at the ALEC “policy summit"

Among the slate of Republican politicians and other right-wing speakers were former Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (via video), former U.S. Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, Arizona State Supreme Court Justice Clint Bolick, and many others.

Major Push for a Constitutional Convention

ALEC prioritized its push for an Article V constitutional convention early in the opening session with multiple speakers who advocated for the radical move to rewrite our nation’s founding document. [Emphasis added]

In his address, the new House speaker (and ALEC alumnus) called the size of the federal debt “the greatest present threat to our national security” and announced “plans for a bipartisan debt commission to study and propose solutions to begin reducing our debt and putting America back on a path to fiscal responsibility.”

Johnson has long supported the Convention of States, one of the right-wing groups lobbying for state resolutions to hold a constitutional convention. The group relies on ALEC as a tool to reach state legislators to back its extreme plan to rewrite the U.S. Constitution in order to drastically curtail federal powers and lock in minority rule.¹³

I think at this point it is accurate and fair of me to say that I have not even begun to present but even an iota of a Higgs boson particle worth of a look into all these things that are truly and legitimately threats to our common concerns for the keeping and saving of our liberal constitutional democratic republic.

The American voting public consists of over 150-million voters. As could be seen in both of the past two national presidential elections nearly one-third of those voters elected individuals who, as shown above and in any number of my writings or comments along with numerous other Substack writers, as well as any number of other sources of intelligent rational-minded persons and organizations in the media and democracy in general, are clearly and obviously afflicted with some seriously skewed, distorted, and wholly self-centered thought processes, that are avowedly dismissive and detrimental towards the other two-thirds of voters. Reasoning with these narrow-minded, thoughtless citizens is by and largely a futile effort, as such all efforts by those of us who are determined to keep these delusional lunatics out of government and away from any measure of control of our country need to be focused on mobilizing all who are not tainted by the poisons of conservatism and fundamentalist religiosity into being galvanized together in preparation for each new day that is to come as we barrel forward into what will probably be the most acrimonious election cycle to date in American history.

Discuss, share, and talk about all these things with everyone you know, as uncomfortable as it might make you feel to do so, try imagining what it will be like when your right to speak freely is taken away if MAGA Mike Johnson and his accomplices succeed in rewriting the constitution to give themselves the absolute right to dictate who can say what, provided that is if it is something that can be based upon the Bible. If that does actually come to pass I am fully confident that many a person will wish that they had not remained silent or otherwise complacent about these things.

Now is the time to act and speak out.

Robert J. Rei, December 9, 2023, Fall River, Massachusetts

Saint Anne’s Shrine Fall River, Massachusetts, Spring 2018.

“Words can be like X-rays if you use them properly—they’ll go through anything. You read and you’re pierced.” -Aldous Huxley

1. Corrected to reflect the correct length of time from the signing of the Constitution of the USA, as opposed to the erroneous 248-years since the Declaration of Independence.

2. “Delusional Disorder” Shawn M. Joseph; Waquar Siddiqui, March 27, 2023, National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine (An official website of the United States Government), https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK539855/

3. Ibidem

4. Ibidem

5. "Mike Johnson to Keynote Far-Right Christian Nationalist Gala” Tim Dickinson, November 29, 2023, Rolling Stone, https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/mike-johnson-keynote-far-right-christian-nationalist-gala-1234905433/

6. “As Extreme as It Gets: Supposed ‘Moderates’ in GOP Conference Choose as Speaker an Election Denier Who Called LGBTQ+ People a ‘Deviant Group’” Press Release, Delphine Luneau, October 25, 2023, Human Rights Campaign, https://www.hrc.org/press-releases/as-extreme-as-it-gets-supposed-moderates-in-gop-conference-choose-as-speaker-an-election-denier-who-called-lgbtq-people-a-deviant-group

7. "U.S. House speaker to address meeting of Arkansas-based National Association of Christian Lawmakers” Alex thomas, November 28, 2023, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2023/nov/28/us-house-speaker-to-address-national-meeting-of/

8. “Vance hires Arkansas hardliner against abortion, LGBTQ+ rights as staffer” Yarrow Silvers, October 9, 2023, The Alaska Current, https://thealaskacurrent.com/2023/10/09/sarah-vance-hires-bob-ballinger-former-arkansas-representative/

9. Ibidem

10. "Former state Sen. Ballinger peddles Christian nationalism from AR to AK” Austin Bailey, October 16, 2023, Arkansas Times, https://arktimes.com/arkansas-blog/2023/10/16/former-state-sen-ballinger-peddles-christian-nationalism-from-ar-to-ak

11. See note 5

12. "ALEC Policy Summit Features Push to Legally Force a Constitutional Convention” David Armiak, December 8, 2023, Exposed by CMD, https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2023/12/08/alec-policy-summit-features-push-to-legally-force-a-constitutional-convention

13. Ibidem