A wolf in disguise
The Republicans managed to elect a new Speaker of the House today after 3 weeks of chaos and turmoil. He is Mike Johnson of Louisiana, first elected to Congress in 2016. A far-right Trumpist conservative, and now 2nd in line to the presidential succession after Vice President Kamala Harris, his elevation to the speakership should send shivers up the spine of everyone who supports democracy. In the British Parliament, he would be described as a back-bencher. He sits on two important House committees, Judiciary and Armed Services. He is also a member of the Republican Study Committee, a group of about 150 Republican House members who push conservative legislation. He is cozy with the House Freedom Caucus, a group of anarchists that include Jim Jordan, Matt Gaetz, Scott Perry and other assorted bomb-throwers who were responsible for the nonsense of the past three-plus weeks and whose seeming raison d’etre is the obstruct and destroy the United States government. They favor the right-wi