'MAGA over governing': Conservative paper shreds California GOPers for speaker vote

The conservative editorial board of the Orange County Register tore into California Reps. Young Kim and Michelle Steel for backing the speakership of Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) — a far-right fundamentalist Trump supporter who was involved in the 2020 plot to overturn the presidential election.

"After a series of failed candidates, the GOP selected – and the House voted – to make Mike Johnson of Louisiana the new speaker," wrote the board. "Johnson is little known, but was neck-deep in efforts to overturn the 2020 election. He even sent an email to House Republicans urging them to sign onto an amicus brief in a Texas lawsuit to invalidate electoral-college votes from several states."

None of this is new, the board noted, as Kim and Steele also both backed the failed candidacy of firebrand Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) for speaker. Time and again, wrote the board, they chose "MAGA over governing."

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"Kim represents the 40th district, which includes Brea, Chino Hills, Corona and Mission Viejo. That district is more solidly Republican, although Joe Biden eked out a victory there. We would have expected both members to hold out for a speaker candidate who was less of an ideological rabble-rouser," wrote the board. "We endorsed Steel in 2020. We appreciated her practical, conservative record. She told us Biden legitimately won the election and pointed to court decisions that refused to overturn the results."

And yet, these lawmakers have consistently backed speaker candidates who pushed conspiracy theories about the election, and signed onto controversial lawsuits to try to throw out the will of voters, the board wrote.

Both Kim and Steel, the board concluded, "gave in to the most extreme form of Trumpism. We look forward to hearing their justifications as the congressional races get underway."