Issue w Johnson isn’t that he’s from Louisiana. It’s more that he’s from the far less cosmopolitan part of LA, the part of Arkansas located south of the LA border, & he appears to have seldom left there except to litigate cases to allow prayer during school or gov’t proceedings
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) October 30, 2023
"People really do look at the funding we’re sending to Israel and Ukraine and say, 'I can’t afford to go to Kroger.'"
Of course. Because the debate was "should we employ Americans to make stuff to send overseas, or send a check to the guy in a diner."https://t.co/T7bP3WHYKY
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) October 30, 2023
I don’t think the reporters are as naive as the headline here… The Washington Post visits a modern Peaksville — “House Speaker Mike Johnson’s Louisiana hometown guided by faith and family”:
SHREVEPORT, La. — In this small town masquerading as a city, a mention of newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson during the lunchtime rush at Strawn’s Eat Shop Too (“home of the ice box pie”) drew an interruption.
“Are you talking about Mike Johnson?” said a woman in a flowered blouse, gold-cross necklace and gray ponytail. “I’m his mom.”
Jeanne “Jee Jee” Johnson, 69, had been sharing a “celebration lunch” Thursday with her cousin here in the central Broadmoor neighborhood, pausing to greet fellow diners as her cellphone exploded with well wishes.
Johnson saw her son’s selection in spiritual terms. “God did this,” she said. “ … It’s so good for America.”…
The Ark-La-Tex region in northwest Louisiana that includes Johnson’s hometown is full of historic Black and White churches, more like neighboring Arkansas, Texas and the rest of the Bible Belt than the rest of the state. It’s often overshadowed by flashier cities to the south: New Orleans and the state capital, Baton Rouge. The idea that one of its sons is now second in line to the presidency has been met with joyous surprise in many quarters. But views are mixed about whether his ascension will benefit all residents, who remain divided, like much of the country, along ideological and racial lines.
Residents call the metro area of about 760,000 Shreveport-Bossier, encompassing Shreveport — population 180,000, where Johnson was raised on the west bank of the Red River — and growing suburbs to the east in Bossier Parish, where the speaker now lives.
But there are vast distinctions between the two sides, the residue of disinvestment and white flight by families like Johnson’s.
The city proper is about 57 percent Black, 37 percent White and 3 percent Latino, according to the most recent census. Bossier Parish, home to about 130,000 people, is about 70 percent White, 24 percent Black and 7 percent Latino. Overall, Johnson’s district has a median household income of about $48,600, below the national median of nearly $75,000. About 22 percent live below the poverty level…
Like many cities in Louisiana, Shreveport is governed by Democrats and Bossier Parish is largely Republican; Republicans will control all three branches of state government once conservative Attorney General Jeff Landry, elected governor earlier this month, takes office in January…
“He was a part of that exodus from Shreveport; he didn’t stay and make the community better and as a congressman, he has done little to make the community better,” said the Rev. Theron Jackson, the Black pastor of 94-year-old Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church.
A former Shreveport city council member, Jackson, 54, was once a Democrat but said he now considers himself an independent. He’s working to counter homelessness and what he calls “trans-generational poverty” that dates to segregation.
Earlier this year, Jackson traveled to Baton Rouge to lobby for changes to Louisiana’s congressional districts — only one of six is a majority Black district despite a state population that is more than 30 percent Black. Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a request to speed up redrawing the districts after a federal judge found the latest map still dilutes the strength of Black voters.
“When you become speaker of the house, that’s supposed to mean a lot more for your district and your state. The question is, what is that going to mean for us?” Jackson said. “It may mean more for those who have already benefited from his presence, but certainly not all of us.”…
America’s proudly ‘independent’ voters:
This person seems to have a well thought out and coherent political perspective pic.twitter.com/li9FCsUG7v
— Tomb Hellton (@TVHilton) October 30, 2023
Then again, one could always check out FTFNYTimes, if you prefer a cozier take:
You can tell this is a fair and balanced look at Mike Johnson’s hometown and how it shaped him by the way it starts off quoting his mother and then waits until paragraph 36 to quote a Black person despite Shreveport being 57 percent Black.https://t.co/V5CzlHj36m
— Jamison Foser (@jamisonfoser) October 30, 2023
"We need to stop asking people in diners about foreign aid … Instead, put our national leaders on the spot to explain what they think foreign aid is … and then call them out, every time, when they spin fantasies about it," @RadioFreeTom writes: https://t.co/PspKru2o2H
— Not a former naval aviator (@jonruttenberg) October 30, 2023
… “Politics here is personal,” according to Celeste Gauthier, 45. (The Post, for some reason, notes that Gauthier attended Middlebury College for a time—perhaps as a clumsy way of trying to tell us she’s not merely some rough local, and that she returned from Vermont to help run her family’s three restaurants.) She is concerned:
“People really do look at the funding we’re sending to Israel and Ukraine and say, ‘I can’t afford to go to Kroger,’” Gauthier said as she sat amid the lunchtime crowd, some of whom she said had stopped buying beverages because of the cost. “A lot of these customers know Mike Johnson and think we often get overlooked and maybe we won’t anymore,” she said.
I’m not sure what it means to be “overlooked” in a cherry-red district in a state where, as the Post notes, Republicans will control all three branches of state government once the conservative governor-elect is sworn in, but the comment about foreign aid is a classic expression of how little people understand about the subject.
Perhaps Gauthier or others believe that the new speaker—who has been opposed to sending aid to Ukraine—would redirect the money back to “overlooked” Louisianans, maybe as increased aid to the poor. He wouldn’t, of course, as he has already proposed huge cuts in social spending. As for Israel, evangelical Christians such as Johnson have a special interest in Israel for their own eschatological reasons, and Johnson has already decided to decouple aid to Israel from aid to Ukraine. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell—whose understanding of foreign policy is practically Churchillian compared with Johnson’s—is none too happy about that…
We need to stop asking people in diners about foreign aid. (Populists who demand that we rely on guidance from The People should remember that most Americans think foreign aid should be about 10 percent of the budget—a percentage those voters think would be a reduction but would actually be a massive increase.) Instead, put our national leaders on the spot to explain what they think foreign aid is, where it goes, and what it does, and then call them out, every time, when they spin fantasies about it. Otherwise, legislators such as Johnson will be able to sit back and let the folks at the pie counter believe that he’s going to round up $75 billion and send it back home.
That’s an old and dumb trope, but it works. If you’re a Republican in Congress, and if you can stay in Washington by convincing people at the diner that you’re going to take cash from Ukrainians (wherever they are) and give it back to the hardworking waitress pouring your coffee, then you do it—because in this new GOP, your continued presence in Washington is more important than anything, including the security of the United States.
As ever, to the self-professed ‘Christians’:
Hey Speaker Johnson and the House Republicans… pic.twitter.com/otqPmN0MMd
— Michael F Ozaki MD (@brontyman) October 26, 2023
Mousebumples
Yes, what President Carter said.
Also, am I the only one who hears Shreveport and thinks of Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood? 🧛
tobie
Johnson apparently scrubbed his record of the podcast he did with this wife called “Truth be told” in which he talked at length about his religious view and social ills. There are 69 episodes, which, as some have noted, is an interesting number for an evangelical a tad too concerned about what private citizens do in their bedrooms. I haven’t listened to them yet, and I don’t think I could stomach it, but here’s a link to all episodes for those curious.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/truth-be-told-with-mike-kelly-johnson/id1613637836
Eolirin
@tobie: He tried to scrub it anyway. I think doing so likely will bring greater attention to it from at least certain segments of the press. It was already archived by a group that does that kind of thing in anticipation he’d do exactly that. This is one of the things Twitter is actually good for.
piratedan
perhaps I am taking liberties with this take, but he strikes me as one of those ‘I was raised this way and have decided that this is the way things should be”… not an ounce of self-reflection or curiosity or an iota of how other people exist, much less live.
caphilldcne
I lived in Bossier City back when I was a kid. I liked it and remember some good stuff like the Red River Revel and eating catfish. Of course I also struggled with the fear of being a gay kid and knowing it was wrong and I could be found out and pulverized at any minute. I’m more scared of these Christian fascists than I ever was of the little school bullies. I hate that my fellow lgbtq+ and people of non-white races or ethnicities and many women all have reason to fear these people.
Ajabu
Jimmy Carter may not have been the best President (with the circumstances and the Reagan bullshit that wrote the narrative) but he’s unquestionably the greatest former President of all time.
Live another hundred years, Jimmy!!!
Redshift
The “Kroger” line is one in a long series of wingnut propaganda lines about “why are we sending money to Ukraine instead of <urgent thing here at home>?” (The first I heard was about the freight train derailment in Ohio.)
And the people spouting either know it’s BS or are too stupid not to, because it’s always, always something Republicans would never in a million years vote to send federal money to, because there’s nothing stopping them from doing so (certainly not Ukraine funding.) Any money “saved” would only ever go to more tax cuts for the rich, and it would cost just as much for their salt of the earth supporters to shop at Kroger.
I can handle policy debates and differences of opinion. It’s the relentless bad-faith arguments and BS that piss me off.
piratedan
@Redshift: it’s always a bullshit take, as soon as you follow up that take and ask when is the last time a Republican President and a GOP Congress gave you ANY DAMN THING?
COVID relief – Biden
Modify the tax code – Democrats
Infrastructure – Democrats
please tell me how shutting down the government helps you, oh waitress of the patrons?
how come NO ONE in the media outlines that military aid packages are not just guns, its’s ammo, equipment, tools, logistical supplies (food, medical supplies, infrastructure stuff to repair roads, power plants, farm equipment)
tobie
@Eolirin: I got the link in a thread on Mastodon about the podcast and the folks archiving it. It could have been a mirror post from someone on Twitter. I’m sure some campaign team staff somewhere is listening to every episode. I pity the folks who have to sit through all this dreck. May they be paid well for their labors!
like a metaphor
@caphilldcne: just remember friend, there are more of us than there are of them
tobie
@Redshift: Just to add…any saved money would go to more tax cuts for the rich and to cutting regulations **so the price for groceries would go through the roof benefitting the big chains’ owners and shareholders.
West of the Rockies
I love that Carter quote… I wish there was a way to elevate it and make so-called Christians choke on it.
Ohio Mom
@Ajabu: Oh dear, I understand the love and admiration for Carter but it’s cruel to wish someone who is so frail and in such steep decline another 100 years. Let him go in peace.
Back to Johnson, yes of course I find his values, outlook, goals and politics abhorrent. That goes without saying. But I also find him creepy.
That makes him different from the rest to me. The others are a grab bag of jerks, conmen, snakes, liars, thieves and worst, but he’s a creep.
caphilldcne
@like a metaphor: of course but sadly their backlash and willingness to abandon democracy is white (edit – I meant quite but the autocorrect is too good to change) unfortunate. Also I’m pretty sure they’re going to lose the House in 2024. Just wish I trusted our side to turn out enough to ensure we win back the presidency and retain the senate (very uphill sledding on the latter). And I’m sad for everyone who has to deal with all this hate they’ve unleashed.
West of the Rockies
@Ohio Mom:
Johnson is creepy. He is a sanctimonious prig.
Leto
If I have to continue to hear about how some peckerwood, redneck, christofascist’s faith drives them, and the accompanying diner gossip, I might just scream. It’s not faith, it’s hate. Hate fuels it all. Yes, I’m attacking his “faith”. I’m attacking all their “faith”. There’s no difference between them and John C Calhoun.
caphilldcne
@Ajabu: Agreed. He was elected president when we lived in Bossier City. I strongly supported Ford. Big mistake on my part in retrospect. It took Iran Contra and a few years in college for me to get it. Lots of the local Bossier kids liked Carter because he was southern and evangelical. I’m sure they vote Trump now. Ironic. But Carter’s a great human being by all standards.
Dan B
@caphilldcne: Im feeling the same although the people of Ukraine are probably feeling even greater dread. Mike Johnson will probably try to end Pepfar and any program that helps LGBTQ+, women, racial minorities, and immigrants.
Ohio Mom
@West of the Rockies: it’s not just that he’s a sanctimonious prig, there is something sinister about him.
TS
@Ohio Mom:
To me it sometimes relates to those of us left behind, we would love to have some folks for another 100 years. I just lost my beloved cousin, I will miss her for the rest of my days – she was ready to go, I was not ready to say goodbye.
We understand their needs, but sometimes need to express our own.
Mike in NC
To be a Republican Congressman from Louisiana requires: (1) White Supremacy, (2) Homophobia, (3) Anti-Abortion Fanaticism, and (4) MAGA Worshipper of the Fat Orange Bastard. Johnson checks all those boxes.
Anoniminous
The reason you can’t go to Kroger’s you ignorant fucking hicks
caphilldcne
@Dan B: I agree about Ukraine. At some point the Senate (and likely with the agreement if McConnell) will have to jam the House on Ukraine. PEPFAR will maybe get added to any end of year bill they can pass or more likely a lame duck bill in 2024. I’m not too worried about anti-LGBTQ+ bills moving yet but they sure are trying to make life miserable, especially for trans people. I can only hope we get to a point where we can extend federal protections because the attacks are vicious. I just find the hypocrisy of these vicious people to proclaim themselves Christians too much to take.
like a metaphor
@caphilldcne: I was 9 or 10 when Carter was running against Ford. One day in school, we had to make our own political posters for one or other of the two candidates. I chose to do Ford, because Carter was southern and evangelical. That southern accent just jeebed me right out, even though I was in the deep south. Or maybe *because* I was in the south. Reagan got elected when I was 14, and by that time, Carter was already my favorite living former President.
Frankensteinbeck
Given those population numbers, the reporter knew his mother was there and was specifically fishing for that reaction. The possibility of just randomly meeting her is about zero.
RandomMonster
Can someone explain the Tom Nichols quote to me? I just don’t get it.
Brent Wilson
@RandomMonster: he’s saying that a lot of foreign aid is money given to American businesses and contractors to produce and send products overseas. And he is saying that even if we didn’t do that, it’s not as if the gop is going to send these buffoons in the diner a check for the difference.
Redshift
@RandomMonster:
Part if it, I think, is that the current administration sales pitch to Congress on Ukraine funding is reminding them that what we’re sending to Ukraine is made in their districts, so it’s good for these people who are saying “how does it help me?” The other half, I think, is similar to what I was saying upthread — it’s not we’re choosing between helping Ukraine and helping them. That’s just a dishonest argument.
Chetan Murthy
@Redshift: oh ha, i thought he was being a little more acerbic than that: i thought he was saying but if they didn’t make all those weapons, employing Americans to do so, then they could Cut a check to send to that loudmouth crybaby in the diner that these reporters interviewed.
That is to say, with these loudmouths in Johnson’s district want is somebody to stuff their mouths with gold.
ETA: I should add that I thought he was saying that sarcastically. Of course.
SFAW
I, for one, am glad that we will have yet another round of “In this diner (y’all) in deep-red East Bumfuck, the patrons are wholeheartedly supporting yet another racist, Christo-fascist, misogynistic prick who will fuck them over and then pretend it was the Dems — but Sleepy Joe Brandon is OLD!!!” stories.
Because there weren’t enough the last time.
wjca
This.
BSChief
The Jimmy Carter quote may not be accurate: https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-jimmy-carter-tax-quote/fact-check-false-jimmy-carter-quote-on-taxes-helping-the-poor-and-christian-values-idUSKBN25V221 , but I suspect he might agree with it.
Marcopolo
@RandomMonster: To reiterate simply, a huge amount of the stuff we are sending Ukraine is being produced by defense contractors in the US which means those dollars are actually paying workers salaries in the US. Rs always want it to sound like we are sending planes full of pallets of cash like we did in Iraq. Furthermore, the vast majority of equipment we are giving Ukraine is surplus—tanks, IFVs, etc… which has been retired from service and replaced by newer models. In a lot of cases if we weren’t sending it to Ukraine at some point we’d have to demobilize it (break it apart/disassemble/destroy it). Which we’d have to pay for. All those 155 mm cluster munition shells we are sending—we don’t use them anymore. They’ve actually been slowly destroying them for several years which ain’t cheap (just takes a while to destroy several million shells).
I wish more effort had been put into explaining that this is how much of our aid to Ukraine works but for some reason our government has totally dropped the ball in this area.
Odie Hugh Manatee
I ran across an article about yet another Republican kiddie diddler with his nuts in a legal vise. What is it with these sick conservative fucks and children?!
Yet another fucking disgusting conservative politician who can’t keep their mitts off of kids.
Gvg
@Marcopolo: it could be tricky to explain to our citizens that we are handing over our old castoffs to Ukraine without coming across as patronizing to Ukraine. We don’t want to be insulting by spelling out things like why we don’t want to give them our top line stuff because if it gets captured Russia and China can reverse engineer it and Ukraine may still lose so that is more of a concern than with a fully armed NATO ally. If we had had more time and agreements and training…well Russia might not even have attacked. Ukraine is going to know what the administration is telling its citizens though so it’s not a private domestic chat, but a multiple party international one with competing purposes.
Splitting Image
@Mousebumples:
I remember the city having a franchise in the Canadian Football League during its successful expansion into the U.S.
gene108
@piratedan:
I doubt the waitress in the diner would care what the aid is for.
If wasn’t aid to Ukraine being held up but aid to any other country, with maybe the exception of Israel, her answer would probably be the same.
gene108
@Ohio Mom:
I was trying to figure out why his demeanor creeps me out and it’s because he has dead eyes. There’s just no emotion in them. Like he’s sizing you up like a Terminator unit to see if you belong on his “kill / don’t kill” list.
gene108
@Marcopolo:
Maybe you could start a business that gives people facts about important topics of the day? //
gene108
@gene108:
Another way to look it is are you within his circle of good Christians, who he supports or are you with devil worshipping gays, secular humanists, etc., who will either become good Christians or suffer for not being one.
eclare
@gene108:
That is a very good way to put it.
Ksmiami
Maybe the goddamn NYT can write an article about how he’s an inappropriate speaker for a polyglot, diverse and secular nation. Man fuck Mike Johnson and fuck the MSM for not covering how dangerous he actually is.
Matt McIrvin
@Redshift: There’s always the homeless veterans, who can suffer forever as the go-to reason we shouldn’t spend any money on anything else, because what about them.
currawong
The mention of a Broadmoor district raised an eyebrow here.
Very apt.
Rusty
The tell on Johnson is that aid for Israel is tied to gutting the IRS, not about returning money to his district. It’s about making it easier for rich people to cheat on their taxes and shift the tax burden to waitresses and truck drivers.
lowtechcyclist
@Matt McIrvin:
Obama’s administration had an initiative that made a major dent in homelessness among veterans. Needless to say, the people who occasionally harp about homeless veterans have never given Obama any credit for it. Better that they sleep in cardboard boxes than be helped by a DemonRat.
And Mike Johnson and his kind are big about the “crisis at the border.” Maybe he should read his Bible on this? And we don’t even have to read the words of that hippie Jesus when it comes to this topic. No, we can go straight to the Old Testament law, from back when Yahweh was a tough, manly, righteous God, and not a liberal squish like His Son turned out to be. Today’s reading is from the tenth chapter of Deuteronomy:
So now you must circumcise the foreskin of your hearts and not be stubborn any more, for the Lord your God…loves the alien who lives among you, giving him food and clothing. You too must love the alien, for you once lived as aliens in Egypt.
But they’re just as capable of ignoring passages like that as they are when it comes to the words of Jesus. They’ve constructed a God in their image who is a real asshole to all the people they want to be assholes to, and they love and worship that God. Better that they had worshipped a golden calf.
jefft452
nothing says “salt of the earth working stiff” then OWNING three businesses
Kay
@Ksmiami:
Agree. It would be refreshing (and different) to read a really robust defense of secular government. I tire of attacking these religious zealots based on their hypocrisy as to whether or not they practice their religion. I don’t care if they’re hypocrites. I don’t want a better variety of Christian nationalists. I want the secular government I was guaranteed, that was intended and that is reflected in the founding documents. Where’s that story or op ed?
Kay
I want tax dollars to help the poor but I reject that I based that on “Christian values”. I think there are many ways to get to supporting “tax dollars to help the poor” that do not come out of “Christian values”.
I don’t really want to fight this within the incredibly narrow range of “who is a better Christian?”
I think that misses the point. I don’t want a Christian nationalist as a national political leader in the United States because we don’t have a mandatory national religion.
Another Scott
@Kay: They’re apparently fans of religious wars.
Most of us aren’t, and we need to speak up, vote, and not let them bully us. They are unAmerican.
Cheers,
Scott.
Ocotillo
Who leaves Vermont to live in Louisiana?
Ksmiami
@Kay: I want to change the terms of this discussion as well because it’s a very slippery slope if we lose the Founder’s intent to be a secular nation. Religious governments lead to persecution, wars, ignorance and death.
Warblewarble
All theocracies end up being run by hangmen.
Geminid
@Warblewarble: Iranian President Raisi is called “the Hangman” because of the thousands of executions he ordered during the 1980s.
Warblewarble
Raisi is but one example, it is in the breed.
me
My congressmen was speaker for a time. Didn’t mean shit for us other than a large empty piece of land where a huge factory was never built.
Paul in KY
@Frankensteinbeck: Definitely. Had been told she would be there at so & so time, etc.
Paul in KY
@Gvg: I don’t think Ukraine would care a wit if we explained it that way. They want that stuff & can use it. Also understand about no country wanting their most sophisticated & uptodate stuff being captured by an enemy.
Paul in KY
@Ocotillo: Someone who’s a bit nutty about Mardi Gras?
Subsole
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
I am going to go out on a limb and guess that he was probably not a drag queen…
Mo MacArbie
@lowtechcyclist: “…circumcise the foreskin of your heart…”
Why do I hear an ’80s power ballad when I read that?
Geminid
@Warblewarble: Considering that he is President of a nation of 85 million people, I’d say Raisi is a fairly important example.
Kay
@Ksmiami:
No one gives a shit if they’re hypocrites. What do we think is going to happen? We call them out with Bible verses and win the debate? What debate? Who is a better Christian?
Have they ever, ever responded in any way to complaints that they’re hypocrites? They increased the debt by 7.8 TRILLION and yet they are now claiming to be budget hawks. Does it matter at all to them that we’re sputtering about their hypocrisy?
Mike Johnson thinks he’s better than all of you. No citing of Bible verses is going to change that.
Kay
@Ksmiami:
Here’s what I learned as a kid from fundamentalist Christians: that the only reasons they are “charitable” is to 1. promote themselves and how great they are 2. control the people they donate to.
I would literally rather live in a cardboard box under an overpass than take a dime from any of them.
BillD
The mention of this part of the country reminds me that there are no cotton fields back home in Louisiana just about a mile from Texarkana. In fact there is no part of Louisiana just about a mile from Texarkana.
Ksmiami
@Kay: they aren’t even effective at charity- it almost always is a grifting opportunity and a chance to beat up on those they consider lesser. That’s why the Feds had to step in in the first place. Charity never was enough.
Ksmiami
@Mo MacArbie: it sounds like a Motley Crue lyric
Ksmiami
@Warblewarble: don’t forget Torquemada Rt Al.
dnfree
@Ohio Mom: Creepiness is hard to describe. I had a male boss in the 1980s who would come up behind me when I was sitting at my desk, put his hands on my shoulders and knead gently while asking me how I was doing. He was a creep and it was all I could do to keep from jabbing him in the stomach with my elbow.
I had another male boss twenty years later who used to come up behind me and put his hands on my shoulders and say “How’s it going?” and it wasn’t at all offensive. He wasn’t a creepy guy, just friendly. Can I explain the difference? No. You know it when you see it.