Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) was dealt two blows this week when Democrats rallied enough votes to stop the impeachment of U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, and GOP leaders failed to pass a stand-alone Israel foreign aid bill.
After the two defeats, Johnson said: “Well, look, it was a mess what happened here, but we’re cleaning it up.” He added: “I don’t think that this is a reflection on the leader. It’s a reflection on the body itself, and the place where we’ve come in this country.”
Johnson’s fellow far-right Republican from Louisiana, Representative Clay Higgins, defended the Speaker and wrote: “Mike Johnson is enduring withering attacks from every faction. Iron sharpeneth iron. He’s getting stronger.”
[Note: ‘Iron sharpeneth iron’ is part of a Bible verse from Proverbs 27:17. The complete quote is “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.”]
MSNBC talk host Chris Hayes (All In With Chris Hayes) reacted to Higgins’ Bible quote and circle-the-wagons cry for solidarity by writing: “Why do they all sound like this?”
Why do they all sound like this? https://t.co/z3LxEJiXZf
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) February 8, 2024
Political commentator Elie Mystal of The Nation replied to Hayes: “Because they can’t understand Latin or Shakespeare and this is the pidgin English that mega church pastors use that they thinketh begets strengtheness.”
[Related: U.S. Senator Accused of Faking Southern Accent, “Cornponed”]
When Johnson, an Evangelical Southern Baptist, was sworn in as Speaker of the House, he suggested that his position was ordained by God, saying: “I believe that Scripture, the Bible, is very clear: that God is the one who raises up those in authority. He raised up each of you. All of us.”
Well, the swamp won this round.
— Rep. Clay Higgins (@RepClayHiggins) October 20, 2023
I’m feeling very Old Testament. pic.twitter.com/q5Fv0SfJUT
The First Amendment to the US Constitution states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Johnson has asserted that “the separation of church and state is a misnomer,” and that the “founders wanted to protect the church from an encroaching state, not the other way around.”
