Mike Johnson’s meteoric elevation from an under-the-radar congressman from Louisiana to second-in-line to the U.S. presidency sent journalists, Democrats and Republicans alike to uncover information about the personal and professional history of the most right-wing and least experienced House Speaker in history, who took the top job on Wednesday.
On the day Johnson was voted in, several major right-wing social media accounts on X, formerly known as Twitter, began circulating clips of an interview Johnson gave to PBS in 2020, in which he told journalist Walter Isaacson that the police killing of George Floyd was “an act of murder” and called for “systemic change.” Notably, Johnson said in the interview that he had learned about racism in America through the experience of raising a Black son, Michael.
This is such a daft take - I know plenty of local politicians - and indeed a couple of MPs local to me in the UK who have precious little “power” and work stupid hours looking after their constituents. They aren’t trying to get cabinet positions or a cushy jobs. The kind of people who think ‘there are some problems here I think I can solve’ and sign up for what can be pretty grim work.
Good point. There are some “Mr. Smith”s out there, and yes, local level politics do have genuine helpful people. I should amend my statement to “politicians at such a high level”.