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On Tuesday evening, October 24, Republican Representative Mike Johnson of Louisiana's 4th congressional district was elected as the GOP's fourth nominee for the Speaker of the House of Representatives after securing 128 votes from the GOP conference. The decision came after the third speaker nominee and Majority Whip Tom Emmer, dropped out of the race after failing to rally support.
Mike Johnson's nomination was met with mixed reactions online. While he did receive some opposition from individuals who were vehemently against Donald Trump, most conservative social media users were happy with the news. Liberal and progressive netizens on the other hand voiced their abject disdain at Johnson's nomination.
Mike Johnson is an outspoken Trump supporter
Mike Johnson's official website describes him as a dedicated husband, father of four, and constitutional law attorney. His wife, Kelly is a Licensed Pastoral Counselor, who used to be a teacher. Johnson was also called the "leading defender" of religious liberty, free speech, the right to life, free market principles, and the Second Amendment. According to the website, Mike has:
"Devoted his life and career to defending our fundamental freedoms and traditional values in the courts and the court of public opinion."
Since 2017, James Michael Johnson, popularly known as Mike Johnson has been serving as the U.S. representative for Louisiana's fourth congressional district. In 2021, he became the vice chair of the House Republican Conference, a position he currently holds.
In 2015, he proposed the Louisiana Marriage and Conscience Act, which essentially aimed at banning the state from denying benefits, tax deductions, or business licenses to people who acted according to their moral convictions or religious beliefs about marriage.
The bill met with staunch opposition and failed to pass the House Civil Law and Procedure Committee vote. More recently he introduced the Stop the S*xualization of Children Act in 2022, which aimed to prohibit federal funding and federal property for s*x education curriculums for kids under the age of 10.
Johnson also voted in support of a 2017 bill, which eventually became legislation, aimed at outlawing late-term abortions with the argument that 20-week fetuses can feel pain. He was quoted, in a KALB report as saying:
"Late-term abortions are responsible for the deaths of thousands of babies each year. It is our moral responsibility to defend the defenseless, and I will continue this fight while in Congress."
In 2019, Mike Johnson showed strong opposition towards Amazon banning "gay conversion therapy" books, agreeing with a group of GOP House representatives, who labeled the platform's move as free speech censorship.
Mike Johnson has always been an outspoken Donald Trump supporter. He has previously showcased his support for Trump's 2017 executive order that prohibited immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries.
During Trump's Senate impeachment trials in 2019 and the following year, Johnson served as a member of his legal defense team. He also stood beside 147 members of Congress and voted in favor of overturning the 2020 presidential election results in Pennsylvania.
Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik announced that Mike Johnson had been chosen as the GOP's fourth nominee for House speaker on Tuesday evening after three rounds of voting. Johnson's nomination came only hours after House Majority Whip and Minnesota Rep. Tom Emmer was initially chosen as the third nominee, with a narrow victory over Johnson.
However, Tom Emmer was forced to withdraw his candidacy due to strict opposition from his conference's right flank. According to Axios, a Republican roll call vote revealed that "more than two dozen" individuals did not plant to support Emmer on the House floor.
Emmer's nomination was also met with staunch disdain from Donald Trump, who called him a "Globalist RINO," as per Fox News.
"Not bad" - Netizens have mixed reactions to Mike Johnson being nominated
Most Republican and conservative netizens were satisfied with Mike Johnson's nomination and saw him as a better candidate than Tom Emmer. However, those against Trump were not in favor of his nomination. Popular X account @RpsAgainstTrump even said that he must never be allowed to become a speaker.
Johnson's extremely conservative stance on issues like same-s*x marriage and abortion rights did not sit with many Twitter users. His association with and support of Trump also drew disdain from a lot of individuals, who took to the comments sections of posts by @JoeyMannarinoUS, @leslibless, and @NoLieWithBTC to react to the news.
Since the ousting of Speaker Kevin McCarthy on October 3, which was the first time a House speaker was ousted by the House of Representatives in the history of the United States, the House has been operating for over 21 days without a speaker.
