Consider This from NPR - Who is Mike Johnson, new Speaker of the House?

Episode Date: October 26, 2023

After three weeks of congressional paralysis, House Republicans have elected a new Speaker of the House: Mike Johnson of Louisiana. There's a pretty good chance you've never heard of him. He's kept a low profile since he was first elected in 2016.Here's what you should know: He's a conservative lawyer who opposes abortion and same sex marriage — and played a major role in attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Johnson is one of Trump's biggest supporters in Congress. Now he's House speaker. What does that tell us about how he'll lead the house — and work with the current president, whose election he tried to overturn?Email us at [e-mail] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

After three weeks of congressional paralysis, House Republicans have elected a new Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson of Louisiana. Therefore, the Honorable Mike Johnson of the state of Louisiana, having received a majority of the votes cast, is duly elected Speaker of the House of Representatives for the 118th Congress. There's a pretty good chance you've never heard of Mike Johnson. He's kept a low profile since he was first elected in 2016. Here's what you should know. He's a conservative lawyer who opposes abortion and same-sex marriage, and he also played a major role in House Republicans' attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

But Republicans don't really want to talk about that. Mr. Johnson, you helped lead the efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, please. You might also remember him as one of then-President Donald Trump's impeachment managers from the first time Trump was impeached. This is not due process. This is not the rule of law. And this is not how to impeach an American president. And this is not how we're supposed to run a country. It can't be. And the people can see clearly that this is a sham. Johnson was Republicans' fourth choice to take the place of Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted from his job at the beginning of the month. First, conservatives in the caucus tanked the candidacy of Steve Scalise.

Then moderates blocked Jim Jordan from the job. Tom Emmer didn't make it a day before conservatives undercut his candidacy after Trump framed the Minnesota lawmakers' bid as a, quote, tragic mistake. The caucus finally united around Johnson. So consider this. Mike Johnson is one of Trump's biggest supporters in Congress, and now he's House Speaker. What does that tell us about how he'll lead the House and work with the current president, Joe Biden, whose election he tried to overturn? I'm Scott Detrow. For Wednesday, October 25th, it's Consider This from NPR.

It's Consider This from NPR News. I'm Scott Detrow. Mike Johnson was the first of four Republican nominees in the last few weeks who could finally secure enough support from within his party to win a majority on the House floor. He needed 217 votes to become House Speaker. He ended up with a total of 220. The House has been without a Speaker since Republicans ousted Kevin McCarthy on October 3rd. Over the past three weeks, legislative work ground to a halt. That meant no votes on aid to Israel, aid to Ukraine, or anything else. We need to get a Speaker to advance our national security and get on with the business of the country. That was Andy Barr from Kentucky. So with a new speaker, it seems that congressional work can begin again. But how will Johnson get along with the White House when he worked so hard to deny

Biden's electoral win in 2020? My co-host, Juana Summers, spoke about all of this and more with NPR political correspondent Susan Davis. So, Sue, Johnson was elected speaker with unanimous Republican support, and that is something that three previous Republican nominees could not do. How do you make it happen? You know, I don't think you can overstate how much exhaustion played a role here. Could Mike Johnson have been elected speaker 20 days ago? Probably not. I don't think anyone would make that case. But Republicans were increasingly desperate to find a candidate they could unite behind. And while Johnson doesn't have a very high national profile within the House Republican Conference, he has a lot of connections among key factions. He already had a seat at the leadership table. He has establishment trust. He sits on the Armed Services Committee. He's got trust of the military hawks. He's got strong ties to the evangelical community. So he's got trust among the social conservatives and a warm relationship with Donald Trump. So he has the Trump allies. And I'd say personality, also a factor here. He has a lot of collegial relationships and no known enemies, which is something none of the three previous nominees could say that they also enjoyed.

Right. I understand that Johnson addressed the House after he won today. What did he have to say? He tried to bring some levity to the moment. As you noted, he joked about why his wife couldn't make it there. He also was contrite. He said Republicans have to work to prove that they deserve their majority, that action has to start immediately. He acknowledged Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries and said he'd try to find common ground with him. It was also notable to me that he talked about America's role in the world, saying a strong America is good for the entire world, especially considering at this moment where the U.S. is engaged in these conflicts in Ukraine and Israel. He also said his first order of business would be to bring a resolution to the floor affirming U.S. support for Israel, which received applause in the room and is being voted on as we speak. And Sue, I have a lot of questions about the agenda, but there is a big thing that we've got to unpack first. I mean, I used to cover Capitol Hill, and I think I have this question a lot of our listeners probably do. Just who is Mike Johnson? Tell is someone Americans do know, because like Pence, he's a former conservative broadcaster and his Christian faith has been central to his story and his rise in politics.

He also has a similar calm temperament. Pence used to always make this joke, I'm a conservative, but I'm not mad about it. That's sort of Mike Johnson's vibe as well. He's been a longtime friend of conservative Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett. He's known her for over 35 years. Prior to Congress, he was a constitutional lawyer. He worked on behalf of socially conservative Christian causes to oppose abortion rights and gay rights. The Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America Group, which is one of the most influential anti-abortion groups in the country, praised his selection today and

said he would be a leader in the pro-life movement in this new era. In Congress, he formerly chaired a faction of fiscally conservative members. As I said, he already had a seat at the leadership table in a lower-ranking role as vice chair. And I'd also note he's only 51. So by congressional standards, he's also pretty young. Okay. You mentioned that when he addressed the House, he name-checked Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries. But do you have a sense, really, can he work with Democrats? What are his relationships like across the aisle? You know, Democrats don't actually seem all that interested in working with him.

They've already been attacking him as MAGA Mike. A lot of Democrats look at that very same record on abortion and gay rights as outside of the mainstream and something they can use against Republicans running in competitive districts next year. Johnson was also one of the 147 Republicans who voted against certifying Joe Biden's 2020 victory. And that was after the Capitol was attacked on January 6th. So there's a baseline level of skepticism and mistrust coming from across the aisle. And big picture here. Does anything fundamentally change under a Speaker Johnson compared to former Speaker Kevin McCarthy? No.

And, you know, he has all the same headaches and no easy solutions. The motion to vacate that allows one member to force a referendum on the speaker vote, that vote still exists, could still be used against Johnson at some point. And he gets no honeymoon period. And there's also a lot of hard feelings among Republicans about how all this played out. So sort of smoothing relations within the party is going to be a priority. And immediately he's going to have to start negotiating on spending bills, how to avoid a government shutdown, passing aid packages to Israel and Ukraine. And all of these things, Juana, all of them are likely to require some measure of Democratic support to get them signed into law. So how he gets Democrats on board and keeps Republicans united behind him, especially as one of the least experienced speakers in modern times,

is going to be the challenge that we're all watching. Thank you, Sue. You're welcome. That was political correspondent Susan Davis speaking with co-host Juana Summers. It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Scott Detrow.