The week the Republican Party caved to MAGA and surrendered America's middle to extremism

If you care about democracy, or about abortion rights or about the lives, freedoms and well-being of LGBTQ+ friends and loved ones, this past week was important.

If you believe the 2020 presidential election was free and fair, as has been proven time and time and time again, this past week was important.

If you see former president and current criminal defendant Donald Trump and his MAGA movement as a dishonest, disingenuous threat to America, if you believe religion and politics shouldn’t mix, that we are not a theocracy, this past week was important.

It marked the end to the myth of the moderate House Republican and the party’s embrace of both Trump and a form of right-wing extremism voters have made clear they find unpalatable.

I implore you – young voters, older voters and everyone in between – to pay attention.

New House Speaker Mike Johnson is merely a calmer MAGA zealot

Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives ended their weekslong leadership debacle by unanimously voting to elevate Louisiana Rep. Mike Johnson to House speaker.

His name recognition was low, his demeanor and bespectacled countenance far calmer than your traditional Trump-enthralled MAGA lawmaker. But his ascendance to second in line to the presidency represented a jaw-dropping GOP capitulation to right-wing extremism and showed every American that the party is Trump’s, and Trump’s alone.

Putting a figure like Johnson – an election denialist and a key legal strategist in the effort to overturn President Joe Biden’s clear victory, a staunch abortion-rights opponent, a vocally anti-LGTBQ+ lawmaker – in power made a clear statement: There are no moderate Republicans in the House with power.

This is an extremist political party with no intention of untethering itself from its often-courtroom-bound leading presidential primary candidate, Trump. This is a political party willing to lie and dissemble and win at any cost to push an agenda wholly out of line with the views of most American voters, as evidenced by the GOP’s struggles in the last three national elections and in smaller special elections across the country.

Who would vote for this mess? Trump is slamming Israel and babbling about Barack Obama. What?

Johnson makes clear his dislike of the separation of church and state

As soon as he won the gavel Wednesday, Johnson stood in front of the speaker’s chair and said: “I believe that Scripture, the Bible is very clear that God is the one that raises up those in authority, he raised up each of you, all of us. And I believe that God has ordained and allowed each one of us to be brought here for this specific moment and this time.”

A day later, he told Fox News’ Sean Hannity, “Go pick up a Bible off your shelf and read it. That’s my worldview.”

In an April social media post, he dismissively referenced “the so-called” separation of church and state, something he clearly doesn’t agree with.

Lest you say, “So he believes in God, what of it?”, consider the response if a non-Christian House speaker spoke similarly about their faith intertwining with their work as a political leader. Hannity and most Republicans would spontaneously combust, and rightfully so.

All Speaker Johnson has are prayers: A mass shooting in Maine, and all Republicans can offer are prayers to the church of guns

Mike Johnson is as big a MAGA election denier as there is, and he never backed down

Beyond Johnson’s desire to hoist his faith upon the masses, he was and, as best I can tell, still is an election denier. He fought tooth and nail to build a ludicrous legal case seeking to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in key states, and he voted against certifying Biden’s win.

He has never apologized for that undemocratic sham. After being named House speaker, Johnson was again asked whether he still believes that the election was stolen. He wouldn’t directly comment, saying only: “My position on that is very well known.”

If Trump is the GOP’s presidential nominee, as seems likely, there’s little doubt Johnson will do all he can to override voters’ decisions and again try to help Trump cheat.

Comparing Roe v. Wade to Hitler's 'judicial philosophy'

This all sounds bad, but we’ve barely dipped a toe into Johnson’s extremism.

He once suggested Roe v. Wade was negatively impacting the economy: “If we had all those able-bodied workers in the economy, we wouldn’t be going upside down and toppling over like this.”

In a 2005 opinion column, he called abortion “a holocaust” and said: “The prevailing judicial philosophy is no different than Hitler’s.”

When Roe v. Wade was overturned, he said it was “a great, joyous occasion.”

A House speaker hugging the conspiratorial 'great replacement theory'?

He has parroted views that align with the white supremacist “great replacement theory,” a conspiracy theory that liberals are trying to replace white citizens with nonwhite immigrants.

In a 2022 congressional hearing, Johnson referred to Democrats and said: “This is the plan of our friends on this side – to turn all the illegals into voters.”

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In an April 2022 news release about immigration at the border he wrote: “President Biden’s continued intentional destruction of our country at the expense of our own people must stop.”

Johnson's bigoted anti-LGBTQ rhetoric that he doesn't even remember

Johnson has similarly used despicable rhetoric in his yearslong fight against LGBTQ+ rights, tossing around terms like “dangerous lifestyle“ and “inherently unnatural.”

He once wrote in an editorial: “Your race, creed, and sex are what you are, while homosexuality and cross-dressing are things you do. This is a free country, but we don’t give special protections for every person’s bizarre choices.”

In a July statement regarding a congressional hearing he took part in, Johnson wrote: “Today, nearly one in four high school students identifies as LGBTQ. Whether it’s by scalpel or by social coercion from teachers, professors, administrators, and left-wing media, it’s an attempt to transition the young people of our country.”

He has introduced the federal equivalent of Florida’s notorious “Don’t Say Gay” bill, saying: “The Democrat Party and their cultural allies are on a misguided crusade to immerse young children in sexual imagery and radical gender ideology.”

Asked last week about his past anti-LGBTQ+ statements, Johnson told Hannity: “I don’t even remember some of them.” That's neither a denial nor a suggestion that any of his hateful words or policies are wrong.

Johnson shows the GOP's full embrace of Trump and the MAGA movement

I’ll put it simply and in a way that will undoubtedly ruffle some feathers: House Republicans unanimously chose a pro-Trump, anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ+, anti-immigrant religious zealot as their leader. He’s not noisy and buffoonish like other MAGA figures – think Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia or Matt Gaetz of Florida.

He’s worse. He’s a true believer, and while I respect his devotion to his faith and in no way question his right to those beliefs, they have no business in politics. That he’s able to bend those beliefs to fit around a decidedly un-Christian figure like Trump only makes it clear Johnson, and by association the entire party that supports him, will do whatever it takes to make the rest of us live under beliefs that, in most cases, are not our own.

Pay attention and do not underestimate the seriousness of Johnson's rise

If you take nothing else from Johnson as an avatar of the GOP, take this: He doesn’t care what you think. He is, as he has said, driven by a biblical worldview, and he will seek to implement that worldview by any means necessary.

If you care about women’s reproductive rights, if Trump disgusts you, if you believe your vote should count, if you believe an LGBTQ+ person’s humanity and fundamental right to exist is important, please pay attention. Watching a political party excitedly put a figure like Johnson into a position of great power should shake a majority of Americans to their core.

Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on X, formerly Twitter, @RexHuppke and Facebook facebook.com/RexIsAJerk

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: House Speaker Johnson is a MAGA extremist. Voters should worry