Return of the Ventriloquist Dummy, Starring GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson

Some Americans may have forgotten, but there was once a Republican Speaker of the House named Kevin McCarthy who a pair of political cartoonists likened to a ventriloquist dummy operated by a MAGA extremist drinking Kool-Aid.

If you forgot McCarthy opened a Biden impeachment inquiry, I amassed that cartoon history in a September post. Though House Republicans have since changed the name of their Speaker, little else has changed, including visual metaphors. Since Mike Johnson took the gavel, the presence of ventriloquist dummies in political cartoons has tripled:

While I’m not impressed by political cartoonists recycling even their best jokes, I’m significantly less impressed by politicians recycling their worst positions — many of which Speaker Johnson champions.

A few things to know about Johnson:

He is a 2020 election denier who argued in court to overthrow results in four key states. He’s a climate-change denier financed by oil and gas companies. Though he’s not a member of the House Freedom Caucus, members Matt Gaetz and Andy Biggs nominated him. And he’s most vocal about abortion and LGBTQ issues.

On abortion, Johnson:

supports a national ban criminalizing all abortionsco-sponsored a bill establishing that “the right to life guaranteed by the Constitution” is present from the moment of fertilizationthreatened “hard labor” for doctors who perform abortionsblamed abortion rights, the sexual revolution, and radical feminism for school shootingsis a former attorney and spokesman for Alliance Defending Freedom, the legal group behind states’ strict anti-abortion legislationearned an “A+” rating from Pro-Life America

On LGBTQ rights, Johnson:

called homosexuality an “inherently unnatural” and “dangerous lifestyle” that would lead to legalized pedophilia and people marrying their pets.wrote amicus briefs backing the right of individual states to criminalize gay sexsaid that “homosexual marriage is the dark harbinger of chaos and sexual anarchy that could doom even the strongest republic.”proposed the Marriage and Conscience Act to protect people who discriminate against same-sex couplesdefended Louisiana’s same-sex marriage ban before the Supreme Court in 2004 and 2014led a hearing on limiting gender-affirming care, arguing that “homosexuality and cross-dressing are things you do… we don’t give special protections for every person’s bizarre choices.”believes LGBTQ teens are victims of coercion: “Today, nearly one in four high school students identifies as LGBTQ. Whether it’s by scalpel or by social coercion from teachers, professors, administrators and left-wing media, it’s an attempt to transition the young people of our country.”

This is the dummy the GOP unanimously perched on their highest seat.

Johnson is also overwhelmingly likely to oversee a government shutdown at the end of this week — another recycled political joke from the cartoon world of MAGA extremism.