(Really? This delusional religious fanatic is the best republicans could come up with for House Speaker?)

Mike Johnson is, somehow, two heartbeats away from the presidency

We already know Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is a Christian Nationalist who believes he’s on a theological mission to merge God and government. In case there was any doubt, though, he cleared it up on Tuesday during an event for the National Association of Christian Lawmakers, the Jason Rapert-founded group that pretends Christians are persecuted across the country.

During the event, held at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., Johnson said that God spoke to him in the weeks before he became Speaker. Johnson believed he would be a supporting player in the Republican Party, acting like the character of Aaron in the Bible when it comes to supporting Moses. But later, he explained, God urged him to be Moses and take charge and lead the country through “a Red Sea moment.”

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Johnson said that once Rep. Kevin McCarthy was removed as Speaker of the House, God began to wake him up in the middle of the night “to speak to me, [telling me] to write things down; plans, procedures, and ideas on how we could pull the [Republican] conference together.”

“At the time, I assumed the Lord was going to choose a new Moses and thank you, Lord, you’re going to allow me to be Aaron to Moses,” Johnson declared.

As one candidate after another stepped forward to run for Speaker but failed, Johnson said that “the Lord kept telling me to wait” but “then at the end, when it toward the end, the Lord said, ‘Now, step forward.”

“Me? I’m supposed to be Aaron,” Johnson said. “No. The Lord said, ‘Step forward.'”

That’s a hell of a way to put a Christian spin on your own party’s inability to pick a leader over the course of three weeks after one extremist used his power to boot out the extremist already in charge, and three other extremists failed to rally enough support within the party to take the previous extremist’s place, and you were so obscure despite your own extremism that your extremist party finally settled on you as the choice of last resort.

It’s also a bizarre comparison given that one of the things Moses is most famous for is wandering aimlessly through the desert for 40 years before seeing any kind of payoff. We’d all be better off if he left Congress to go on that journey for the next few decades. Instead, we’ll have to suffer through a series of plagues first all because the guy two heartbeats away from the presidency hears voices in his head.

God apparently chose Mike Johnson to lead the charge against refugees and LGBTQ people.

We’ve seen this sort of rhetoric before, though, with white evangelical zealots comparing themselves or their leaders to biblical characters. Long before Johnson saw himself as Moses, conservative Christian leaders claimed Donald Trump was a lot like the biblical king Cyrus, a non-Christian whom God put in place to help the faithful. Or King David, a sinner who was nevertheless anointed. Or Queen Esther, who saved the Jews. (GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has also leaned into the King David comparisons.)

We know why they do this, too. If they can position themselves as modern versions of God’s favorite people, that makes it much harder for Christian voters to criticize their actions and policies. It’s easy to ignore Trump’s crimes and ignorance and cruelty if you believe God simply appointed an imperfect person to fulfill His goals. And if Mike Johnson says God told him to be like Moses, then his rash and irresponsible decisions can be overlooked by the GOP base because God works in mysterious ways.

Anything to stop Republican voters from taking a critical look at what Johnson is actually doing.

It worked, too. As soon as Johnson finished his remarks, Rapert responded, “It’s very obvious to see, you’re one of us.”

(via Right Wing Watch)