New House speaker: A Christian nationalist who spurns gay people, secular government—and democracy

Mike Johnson, the new Republican speaker of the House, has made it clear he doesn’t believe in democracy. Which is easy enough for Johnson, because he’s never experienced it. Johnson ran unopposed in his first election to the Louisiana state Legislature in 2015. Under Louisiana law, he didn’t even have to bother with an election. He just moved into his new office and started writing laws until the next election—where he was also unopposed.

Johnson did have to face the voters when he moved up to the big House barely a year later, but in a solid red district where Republicans outnumber Democrats 2-to-1, that wasn’t really an issue. For Johnson, winning an election has always been as simple as writing his name on a form. And after many other speaker candidates fell by the wayside, Johnson was given the unanimous support of Republicans on his first try. It’s little wonder he believes his every advance has been ordained by God: It’s all fallen on him like manna.

Those gifts to Johnson are certainly no gift to the nation. Johnson isn’t just an election denier—he’s a democracy denier. His history in the House may be incredibly brief, but his history in extremist Christian nationalism goes way back. Even before he was improbably slotted in as the third in line to the presidency, Johnson was a go-to resource for his fellow Republicans when it came to one thing: finding ways to advance the cause of theocracy—and winning.