It seems unshakeable, the Beltway press's faith that Christian conservatives mean all that jibber-jabber about sexual morality. On Sunday, CNN's Jake Tapper laid into Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., for supporting the recently resigned Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., despite allegations that Gaetz paid an underage girl to have sex with him at a drug-fueled orgy. "You’re a man of faith, you’re a man of God, you’re a man of family. With some of these nominees, Gaetz, Pete Hegseth, RFK Jr., I wonder — does it matter anymore for Republicans to think of leaders as people who are moral in their personal lives?" Tapper asked Johnson, who smirked before dodging the question.

Not that Johnson needed to answer the question, as anyone can see the answer is a big, fat no. Johnson obviously doesn't have a problem with men paying teenage girls for sex. By suppressing the House Ethics Committee investigation that reportedly has evidence of Gaetz doing such a thing, Johnson has shown that he's far more outraged at the possibility that a man might face consequences for this behavior. To be fair to Tapper, it's doubtful he's genuinely surprised at Johnson's priorities. Instead, the issue here is that Johnson loves to tell other people, especially women and LGBTQ people, that they are sinful for having far more ordinary sex lives. Worse, he built his career on using the law to force his rules for sexual "morality" on others, even arguing that laws against homosexuality, abortion, and divorce are necessary to prevent "sexual anarchy."

On the surface, that sounds like hypocrisy. But what's going on is far darker. Covering for a man accused of sexual abuse of a minor is not just normal for the Christian right, but so........

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