FOG BLOG U.S. POLITICS LOG: NEW HOUSE SPEAKER ELECTED TO THE CAPITOL, MIKE JOHNSON!

Critics warn new House Speaker Mike Johnson is a danger to vulnerable communities “If the American public thought we couldn’t get worse than Kevin McCarthy, think again…this choice has the potential to erode justice and democracy,” said Preston Mitchum, LGBTQ+ rights activist and CEO of PDM Consulting LLC.

After weeks of instability in the United States House of Representatives, Republicans elected Mike Johnson, R-La., as House speaker.

However, Democrats who are not on board say the House’s new leader poses a threat to democracy, and that his legislative record casts doubt on his ability to work with the opposing party to get things done in Washington. In particular, critics are calling out the new conservative speaker wanting to criminalize abortion, cut funding to social programs such as Social Security and Medicare, and roll back rights for members of the LGBTQ+ community.

“It’s great that House Republicans finally got their act together,” said Rep.Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y. She told theGrio, “The only question is whether the newly elected speaker can work in a bipartisan manner.”

Congresswoman Clarke added, “We need to get back to work for the American people, and there’s no more time for the extreme partisan nonsense that got us into this situation in the first place.”

Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Chairman Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., and other CBC members issued a statement that condemned House Republicans’ selection of Johnson as speaker.

“It is unfortunate and unsurprising that the candidate House Republicans chose…is a MAGA extremist who plotted with former President Trump to overturn the 2020 election,” said Horsford.

“This alone should disqualify anyone from becoming House speaker and sitting second in line to the presidency, and yet for the Republicans, it was not.”

In a statement obtained by theGrio, Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., said, “The dysfunctional Republican Caucus has unanimously settled with an anti-democracy, anti-LGBTQ+, and anti-abortion extremist as their leader.”

Bush continued, “Today is the first time that many people have even heard of Congressman Mike Johnson, but as people across our country will soon come to find out, he is dangerous.”

She added, “He has dedicated his political career by pushing an extreme MAGA insurrectionist agenda.”

Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Calif., said in a statement provided to theGrio that Johnson’s promotion to speaker “was a defeat for democracy and the American people.”

“We needed a speaker who could have stood up for all people, not a speaker who voted to shut down the government last month, makes it a priority to criminalize abortion, and tries to turn the clock back on LGBTQ+ rights,” said Kamlager-Dove.