Did you know these concerning facts about House Speaker Mike Johnson?

Mike Johnson was an unknown Member of Congress before throwing his name into the race for Speaker of the House back in October 2023 but he quickly became a household after winning the speakership. However, not much was known about his political past at the time.

Since becoming Speaker of the House, a lot of concerning facts about the Louisiana Congressmen have been revealed, the most worrying of which might be his connection to several Russian billionaires who helped fund Johnson's bid to win his seat in Louisiana.

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According to Newsweek, Russians were able to donate to Mike Johnson's campaign to win his seat in Louisiana through money that was passed on to Johnson through an American oil company based in Texas known as American Ethane.

"While American Ethane was co-founded by American John Houghtaling, at the time it was 88 percent owned by three Russian nationals—Konstantin Nikolaev, Mikhail Yuriev, and Andrey Kunatbaev. Nikolaev is known to be a top ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin," wrote Newsweeks Ewen Palmer.

The news that Johnson had received money from Russians known to be close allies of Vladimir Putin brought the House Speakers' blocking of aid to Ukraine into focus in the media.

However, this concerning fact regarding Johnson's Russian money is just one of many worrying facts that you may not have known about the House Speaker. Let's take a look at fifteen other worrying facts about Johnson.

It might surprise you to learn that the seemingly harmless Johnson has quite a troubling background. Much of this stems from his staunch social conservative views, which have seen Johnson involved in some awkward policy pursuits. 

For example, before Johnson was elected to represent Louisiana's 4th District he spent eight years as a lawyer and national spokesperson for the Alliance Defending Freedom, (AFD) which spent a lot of time trying to curtail LGBTQ+ rights. 

No action speaks louder to Johnson’s thoughts on the matter of LGBTQ+ rights in America than his vote against a bi-partisan bill that aimed to codify same-sex marriage in the United States, but his time with the AFD comes close. 

The New Yorker reported on the activities of the Alliance Defending Freedom in its own exposé on Johnson and noted the conservative legal organization was behind the case that helped to end Roe vs. Wade in the United States. 

Johnson himself has made it clear that he wants a nationwide ban on abortion and the New Yorker reported that the Louisiana Representative has co-sponsored three bills at the nationwide level that have tried to limit abortions. 

Johnson doesn’t believe sex is assigned at birth and stated as much during an opening statement while leading a hearing on gender-affirming care, Politico reported. “You can't surgically free yourself, or someone else, from this fact of life,” he said. 

Politico actually provided a wealth of concerning information on Johnson and noted that he supported Trump’s Muslim Ban executive order, is a climate change skeptic, and is a constitutional textualist according to his own statements. 

However, more concerning than some of his policy views is the fact Johnson was one of the chief supporters of Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election according to NBC News, which reported that he played a key role. 

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What was this key role? Johnson led the amicus brief that was signed by more than 100 House Republicans that supported a lawsuit in Texas aimed at invalidating the results of the election in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

Johnson’s role in the former president’s efforts to overturn the election should not be too surprising since he was the GOP Caucus Vice Chair at the time. However, Johnson has always had a bit of a soft soft for Donald Trump. 

This next fact might not surprise you if you’ve never heard of Mike Johnson but the man was terribly unqualified for the position of House Speaker. Politico noted Johnson was the least experienced Speaker of the House in 140 years. 

NBC News noted Johnson is a ”fierce opponent of the separation of church and state,” which is slightly concerning since the nation was founded on the principle that politics should be kept separate from the church. 

“If anybody tries to convince you that your biblical beliefs or your religious viewpoint needs to be separated from public affairs, you should politely remind them to review their history and you should not back down,” Johnson said during an episode of his podcast.

Johnson is a pretty standard right-wing conservative on a lot of key issues and he has not only endorsed cuts to Social Security and Medicare according to NBC News, but he is also to the right on national gun reform laws.

It should be obvious by now that Johnson voted against certifying the 2020 election and Trump himself has said that Johnson will be a “fantastic speaker.” How could the future of the nation be bleak with such a glowing endorsement?