American politics has long been pervaded by the kind of Bible Belt morality personified by Speaker of the House Mike Johnson.
Johnson, a lawyer and congressman hailing from western Louisiana, is a deeply evangelical Christian. Last February, he brought his team on a retreat to Miami that took on a surprisingly religious tone. According to Politico, two people who were in the room said that Johnson “attempted to rally the group by discussing moral decline in America — focusing on declining church membership and the nation’s shrinking religious identity.” According to them, Johnson “contended that when one doesn’t have God in their life, the government or ‘state’ will become their guide, referring back to Bible verses.”
Christian nationalism is a political rather than a religious concept. Most Republicans favor declaring the United States a “Christian nation,” with the implication that it is unfriendly to Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and atheists.
So it was strange that Johnson has allied himself with the manifestly immoral Donald Trump. Wearing the uniform of the day, a blue suit festooned with a red tie, Johnson — who has supported outlawing pornography, penned op-eds opposing marriage equality and advocated against everything from abortion to LGBTQ rights — traveled to a dingy courthouse in downtown New York City to voice his support for Donald Trump on trial for committing 34 felonies related to hush money payments to a porn actress.
Flanked by other MAGA Republican leaders, Johnson........