Mike Johnson, Fundamentalist, Patriarch, NAR, Dominionism

[Howl]

Mike Johnson,  now Speaker of the House, MAGA patriarchal fundamentalist,  and a heartbeat away from the presidency,  is so dangerous that he deserves his own thread. 

All my years on fj, reading about patriarchy, purity culture, and on and on has prepared me on how to read Mike Johnson. 

Twitter is having a melt down over Johnson and his teenage son being accountability partners on Covenant Eyes and don't really understand how either of those work in Christian purity culture.  While they are busy ridiculing Johnson, he's busy doing damage. 

We know how accountability partners work and how Covenant Eyes does (and doesn't work).  The Duggars were huge on accountability partners and Covenant Eyes.  Josh Duggar partitioned his hard drive so Covenant Eyes couldn't see him watching CSA.  

Anyway, Mike Johnson is bog standard patriarchal fundamentalist and all that implies, meaning he's all about dismantling democracy so we can all live in his dystopian theocracy. 

What's also scary about Johnson is he's becoming allied with NAR  (New Apostolic Reformation), which is in turn allied with Roger Stone and Mike Flynn and THEIR associates.  Remember that NAR,  7 Mountains Dominionism, believes Christians are divinely ordained to  "take control of government, business and culture in order for Jesus to return to earth."  This is not a fringe movement.  

He's also Federalist Society.  There are numerous Christian and corporate power centers and billions (!) of dollars  lining up behind Mike Johnson, who superficially seems pleasant,  wholesome and noncontroversial and is happy to dismantle the safety net of MediCare, MediCaid and Social Security.  

Jenny Cohn (@JennyCohn1 on twitter) and others have covered this at length. 

Xitter no longer allows ThreadReaderApp to unroll this thread, but here's a link to Jenny Cohn's article in the Bucks County Beacon. 

From August, 2022

Underreported And Massive Theocratic Movement Joins Forces With Michael Flynn And Roger Stone  A tour featuring “Seven Mountains” Christian dominionists, Flynn, and Stone is coming to Pennsylvania.

 

[Howl]

 Twitter is also on fire (legitimately) because an app like Covenant Eyes, that has access to and scans ALL of Johnson's digital files, is a massive national security risk. 

I'll start the countdown until Covenant Eyes is hacked and the porn habits of a LOT of people are exposed. 

Johnson's minders are busy scrubbing past social media of things and comments that normal people discover and have a "WTAF is this?" reaction. 

 

Edited November 7, 2023 by Howl

[Giraffe]

Thanks for starting this thread. The info on him gets worse and worse. 

[hoipolloi]

Yes, thank you for starting this thread.

The bad news is that a vile human being like him is now 2nd in line to the presidency. The good news is that olʻ Mikey and his enablers were NOT prepared for the absolute flood of sunshine on his life and doings: the "adopted" Black son? No bank accounts reported with an income of $100s of thousands a year? A "Christian counselor" wife who promotes conversion therapy? His "deanship" at a failed Christian law school that never even opened? More rot pours out at every turn. Bring.It.On.

The Straight White American Jesus podcast recently did a good overview on Johnson and the NAR:

Quote

Brad speaks with Dr. Matt Taylor, a foremost scholar on the New Apostolic Reformation. Matt takes Brad through all of the connections new Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has to the New Apostolic Reformation – an independent charismatic movement that is growing rapidly in the United States. One of the key points Matt makes is that the NAR teachers/pastors that Mike Johnson is connected to advocate for a colonizer theology – they want to colonize the United States as Christians bent on dominating government, media, education, and every other sector of society.

 

[47of74]

For some strange reason, every time I hear of Johnson I think of this old commercial...

 

[Howl]

Meanwhile, a lot of exvangelicals are sitting on the couch with a big bowl of popcorn, getting a kick out of people being exposed to crazy fundy stuff for the first time. 

[noseybutt]

I knew the Louisiana College story and, based on that, surmised the rest.

Being "accountability partners" with his son is hecka weird and poor boundaries, IMO, but not illegal. I hope the focus stays more on the possible security breaches with Covenant Eyes. It's so easy to get caught up in the weirdness and that can detract from the more serious issues.

The "black son" is super interesting. If I have done the math right, Mike and his wife would have been only 10-11 years older than the son. Meaning, they were 24 and 25 when they took in the 14 year old. I am hecka curious as to what sort of legal arrangement there was as it would have been shocking for the arrangement to have been entirely informal. I mean, how do you enroll a 14 year old in school or take him to the doctor without some sort of guardianship? And who granted the guardianship?

Also, conservative religious communities in the US are disproportionately involved in foster care and this bleeds over into many informal type arrangements. As in, kids may live with other families within the community without the involvement of CPS or oversight of dependency court. Loose arrangement are not always problematic--until something goes awry and the kids end up living with the predatory youth minister or sent into the troubled youth industry. 

 

[Howl]

13 hours ago, noseybutt said:

I hope the focus stays more on the possible security breaches with Covenant Eyes. It's so easy to get caught up in the weirdness and that can detract from the more serious issues.

This 100%!  I get so tired of people on twitter mocking this and  that, going on about how stupid various Republicans are, when the terrifying part is that those stupid people have managed to achieve national office and then get re-elected.  Instead of mocking them, figure out how there were elected in the first place and shut that shit down. 

13 hours ago, noseybutt said:

The "black son" is super interesting.

Oh, way interesting.  The kid apparently has turned into a troubled adult; lots of arrests, restraining orders, jail, but no prison time. He lives in LA now, and finally spoke up, saying he appreciates what the Johnson's did for him at that time in his life. 

There's a huge amount of scrubbing and impression management going on trying to transform the "WTAF" aspects and make Mike Johnson seem normal and palatable to non fundy folks, Christian or not.  

 

[noseybutt]

4 hours ago, Howl said:

This 100%!  I get so tired of people on twitter mocking this and  that, going on about how stupid various Republicans are, when the terrifying part is that those stupid people have managed to achieve national office and then get re-elected.  Instead of mocking them, figure out how there were elected in the first place and shut that shit down. 

Oh, way interesting.  The kid apparently has turned into a troubled adult; lots of arrests, restraining orders, jail, but no prison time. He lives in LA now, and finally spoke up, saying he appreciates what the Johnson's did for him at that time in his life. 

There's a huge amount of scrubbing and impression management going on trying to transform the "WTAF" aspects and make Mike Johnson seem normal and palatable to non fundy folks, Christian or not.  

 

It fascinates me that conservative evangelical and fundamentalist Christians are very precise in their use of language when it comes to husband/wife but are far more informal with use of brother and sister (used in a spiritual sense of other members of the community) and, in this instance, the use of the term son.

News outlets are saying there was a guardianship put in place in 1999. Michael James would have been around 16. The Johnson family moved away when he was around 19.  After that, Micheal doesn't appears in family photos or various biographies presumably written by the parents themselves. They seem to have maintained sporadic contact, at most.

It's more like---homeless kid who found a place to crash for a few years and young married couple served as his guardians until they moved locations and sort of kinda didn't maintain too much contact after that and former homeless kid has, not surprisingly, struggled to fully enter adulthood.

I can't find any references of Michael James referring to the Johnsons as mom or dad. That's the tell, right there. He is appreciative of the Johnsons but doesn't consider it kinship.

ETA As someone who works with legally involved adults, his rap sheep does not look as horrible as some news outlets are saying. Mostly it looks like someone with significant drug addiction.

Edited November 8, 2023 by noseybutt

[Howl]

David Barton, wing-nut faux Xtian "historian" and opponent of separation of church and state, enters the chat stage right.  

Barton has been hugely influential for Johnson.  

Texas activist David Barton wants to end separation of church and state. He has the ear of the new U.S. House speaker.   Barton has been a staple of Texas’ Christian conservative movement, offering crucial support to politicians and frequently being cited or called on to testify in favor of bills that critics say would erode church-state separations.

<snip>

One day after little-known Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana was elected as the new House speaker last week, Barton said on a podcast that he was already discussing staffing with Johnson, his longtime ally in deeply conservative, Christian causes.

"We have some tools at our disposal now (that) we haven't had in a long time," Barton added.

Johnson recently spoke at an event hosted by Barton’s nonprofit, WallBuilders; he’s praised Barton and his “profound influence on me, and my work, and my life and everything I do”; and, before his career as a lawmaker, Johnson worked for Alliance Defending Freedom — a legal advocacy group that has helped infuse more Christianity into public schools and government, a key goal of Barton’s movement...

...Johnson’s election — and his proximity to Barton — is a massive victory for a growing Christian nationalist movement that claims the United States’ foundation was ordained by God, and therefore its laws and institutions should favor their brand of Christianity.

“Johnson's rise means that Barton and his fellow Christian nationalists now have unprecedented access to the levers of power on the national stage, paralleling the access they already have here in Texas and some other states,” said David Brockman, a non-resident scholar in religion and public policy at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy.

Yup, Barton has a big influence on home schooling and (not surprising) Doug Phillips was (is?) a fan. 

[Howl]

Gotta be a story here on Preacher of the House Mike Johnson.  

 

[GreyhoundFan]

You couldn’t make this up. 

I like George’s response;

 

[GreyhoundFan]

[CTRLZero]

I am trying to figure out why, after so long in public circulation, now faces of the J6 rioters are to be blurred.  Haven’t the majority already been identified and some sentenced by this time?  I’m supposing there may be more footage of additional rioters out there, but footage has been circulating and analyzed for some time now.  Am I missing something?  

[apple1]

Just now, CTRLZero said:

I am trying to figure out why, after so long in public circulation, now faces of the J6 rioters are to be blurred.  Haven’t the majority already been identified and some sentenced by this time?  I’m supposing there may be more footage of additional rioters out there, but footage has been circulating and analyzed for some time now.  Am I missing something?  

Nope. I also have been trying to figure out why this did not make sense.

That would be because there is no sense to it. 

[Xan]

All I can figure is that Johnson is worried that some neighbors or family members will pay more attention to the footage and be willing to turn folks in who haven't already been identified.  I think the chance is slim but he doesn't want to risk it.  Also, they've been telling people that these were liberals dressed up as Trump supporters and the video isn't going to help them prove that if everyone is wearing Trump hats and jackets and yelling "Hang Mike Pence!"

[Becky]

11 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

You couldn’t make this up. 

I like George’s response;

 

I.....  am simply gobsmacked that he actually said, out loud, that he doesn't want any of the insurrectionists identifiable so the DOJ cannot charge them for rioting at the Capitol, threatening members of Congress and the Vice President of the United States, breaking down doors and windows, beating law enforcement officers, stealing from Congressional offices - - you know - BREAKING THE LAW.  Attempting to take over the duly elected government.  Does he HEAR himself?  There is apparently no reason to hide it anymore, they don't want justice or democracy, they just want power, by any means necessary.  

[Xan]

To me, it's like their idea about re-labeling denial of abortions.  They've thought for years that they could slip by and just pretend to be interested in the welfare of American citizens.  The Republicans could say control of women was concern about babies and that being against immigration was about protecting the nation.  Nobody is buying it anymore so they might as well just be upfront about all of it.  They know that Trump and the rightwing were trying to overthrow democracy.  They just don't care.  "Sure, we are protecting traitors!  But we're mostly white and want you to be able to keep your guns and to hate immigrants, gays, Jewish people, and anyone with more education that you have.  Vote for us!"

[GreyhoundFan]

He is disgusting.

 

[Becky]

9 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

He is disgusting.

 

Astonishing how many people hear God tell them precisely what they want to hear.  In any other context, a man admitting he was "told" something by a supernatural being whom no one can see, we would call that mental illness.

[GreyhoundFan]

Portrait of a speakership:

[onekidanddone]

2 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

Portrait of a speakership:

So with the expulsion, the retirement and the three who quit, how slim is their majority?

[47of74]

5 hours ago, onekidanddone said:

So with the expulsion, the retirement and the three who quit, how slim is their majority?

Pretty thin. And there’s rumblings too that the forehead might get expelled as well. 

[onekidanddone]

1 hour ago, 47of74 said:

Pretty thin. And there’s rumblings too that the forehead might get expelled as well. 

Oh now that would be fun to watch. I’d like to see all the Rs turned on each other like the basket of vipers that they are. Fight until no one is left

[GreyhoundFan]

6 hours ago, onekidanddone said:

So with the expulsion, the retirement and the three who quit, how slim is their majority?

I believe they will be down to a two seat majority.