What is Going On With this Weirdo the GOP Elected as House Speaker?

Louisiana's Mike Johnson was a back-benching nobody until he was suddenly elected speaker of the House. Because of his low profile, you’d expect Republicans to have vetted him more. But day by day, new information keeps bubbling up about his long history of bigotry and deep involvement with a conversion therapy-backing “ex-gay” group that launched a campaign to bully LGBTQ+ kids.

If that weren’t enough, Johnson’s personal finances are now under scrutiny. In financial disclosures, the Johnsons have reported for years that they have no savings accounts, no checking accounts, and no retirement accounts. Needless to say, red flags abound.   That's right--according to a report from The Daily Beast, newly elected Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (a guy who makes over $170K a year and has a mortgage) has no assets. Or at least, no assets that he notes on his required annual financial disclosures. That means he has no savings account. No checking account. No retirement account. And neither does his wife.

As the director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington told The Daily Beast, “It’s strange to see Speaker Johnson disclose no assets. He made over $200,000 last year, and his wife took home salary from two employers as well, so why isn’t there a bank account or any form of savings listed?”  The simplest explanation is that Johnson is hiding his assets.

In the last few days, Johnson’s wife, Kelly, has taken down the website of her “counseling” business that compared being gay to bestiality and incest. Both husband and wife appear to have spent time scrubbing their past social media posts. And the new speaker appears unable to remember his many scathing editorials and past attempts at anti-LGBTQ+ legislation. And there’s the ongoing mystery over the whereabouts of the man Johnson insists is his adopted Black son.