The now Republican Speaker Mike Johnson only began serving in 2017. The Louisiana Republican has never held a leadership post. And so it is no surprise that he struggles to lead the U.S. House of Representatives on his first full day, which is also the day after a mass shooting in Maine.
“This is a dark time in America. …Prayer is appropriate in a time like this, that the evil can end and this senseless violence can stop,” Johnson told reporters, leaving out any actions he might lead Congress in taking and, as is his wont, not taking questions.
CNN’s Manu Raju reported:
Mike Johnson, the new speaker, makes statement on Maine shooting.
“This is a dark time in America. …Prayer is appropriate in a time like this, that the evil can end and this senseless violence can stop.“
Doesn’t take questions or say what actions Congress may take pic.twitter.com/lhhvbzMEn1
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) October 26, 2023
Prayer is appropriate, if one is inclined. But this is the response of a pastor, not of a legislator for a decidedly non-Christian nation. There’s the Establishment clause of First Amendment, which has long been interpreted to support a separation of church and state. But also…
Legislative solutions are Johnson’s duty. His duty is not to tell people to pray. He has the power to bring forth gun control legislation, waiting periods, bans of assault weapons, and more. This “dark time” is sadly hardly new, but what it is is sanctioned by every single NRA member of Congress, who take blood money to make sure Americans are slaughtered regularly just going through their daily lives. None of their NRA “solutions” – including “good guys” arming themselves – have prevailed over the “evil” they themselves are actively encouraging.
Perhaps you’re thinking, Gee this guy seems like he was tossed into the adult section from the kiddie pool. Sure. But not to worry. You see, he’s been chosen by God.
Back when he was running for office in September of 2016, he told the Baptist Message that he was called to “legal ministry” (yes, he’s a Baptist, my only memory from the Baptist church was being told the only gift I was capable of was giving a husband a boy child, but as we can see from Mike Johnson, men are not always gifts):
“Some people are called to pastoral ministry and others to music ministry, etc. I was called to legal ministry and I’ve been out on the front lines of the ‘culture war’ defending religious freedom, the sanctity of human life, and biblical values, including the defense of traditional marriage, and other ideals like these when they’ve been under assault.
Oh, he’s been out on the front lines defending the sanctity of life? Great, he should get right on that and do his “legal ministry” in the form of gun control legislation to defend the “sanctity of life.”
Crickets. All he’s giving us is “prayers” and now he’s off for a long weekend.
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