MAGA Mike” won. Which means, unfortunately, so did Rep. Matt Gaetz.

For Gaetz, the smarmy Trump Mini-Me from Florida, and his fellow Republican nihilists, those who rep. Kevin McCarthy called the Crazy 8s after firing him as Speaker of the House of Representatives three weeks ago and leaving Congress in chaos, the Houses surprised by electing right-wing Rep. Mike Johnson, a previously obscure Louisianan (despite his major role in overturning Donald Trump’s defeat), amounted to sweet, sweet vindication.

Here was Gaetz, chuckling on like-minded Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast Tuesday morning, in anticipation of Johnson’s election: If you don’t think Kevin McCarthy’s switch to MAGA Mike Johnson shows the rise of this movement and where the power lies in power The Republican Party is really lying, then you’re not paying attention.

Gaetz is not wrong about that.

During his nine-month rule, McCarthy mainly gave in to the idiots, culture warriors and election deniers in his Republican majority in the House of Representatives, always afraid of the coup that eventually came after he twice strayed from the extremist path to actually govern, in compromises with the Senate and the White House. first to prevent a debt default and then a government shutdown. But to the right, the shape-shifting McCarthy was always a poser. (Again, they weren’t wrong.)

Over the past 22 days, as Republicans proved too torn to elect a new leader, Gaetz and his far-right cohorts had reason to worry that their coup would lead to little change at best, and at worst case would have an adverse effect. .

The House rejected the rights favorite to replace McCarthy, Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan. Two other Republican nominees, Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Representative Tom Emmer of Minnesota, were in McCarthy’s lead; their candidacies failed due to lack of support (and, in Emmers’ case, due to the drive-by shooting of former President Trump). The humiliating standoff sparked talk of a bipartisan settlement to manage the House MAGA’s worst nightmare.

Gaetz could probably hear what his Republican enemies, of which there are many, would say: Are you happy now?

He is, of course, very happy now that an exhausted and utterly embarrassed Republican faction has united to elect Johnson, in only his fourth term in the House of Representatives, as speaker and second in line to the presidency. Gaetz and Johnson differ greatly in style: Gaetz is in-your-face, Johnson so amiable and non-confrontational that he is a friend to many and an enemy to none, as Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York told the House of Representatives when he nominated Johnson. Hence his unlikely elevation.

But substantively Johnson differs little from Gaetz and his ilk. Johnson has described his relationship with far-right mentor Jordan as Batman and Robin. But Johnson’s politics are more steeped in the conservative religiosity he demonstrated in his remarks accepting the speakership. He told the House of his absent wife: She has spent the last few weeks on her knees in prayer to the Lord. And, uh, she’s a little exhausted.

Johnson’s opposition to abortion, which he favors a national ban, and to gay marriage and LGBTQ+ rights and protections, is well documented in his pre-congressional work as an attorney for the socially conservative Alliance Defending Freedom. After the Dobbs decision overturned the right to abortion, Johnson suggested that women would now produce more healthy workers, whose payroll tax contributions would help save Medicare and Social Security.

CNN reported on editorials Johnson wrote in his hometown of Shreveport, La., in which he called homosexuality inherently unnatural and a dangerous lifestyle that could ultimately end the entire democratic system. He claimed in 2004 that gay marriage is the dark harbinger. of chaos and sexual anarchy that could bring down even the strongest republic.

Then there’s his behind-the-scenes legal work after the 2020 presidential election to challenge electoral votes in pro-Biden states. The New York Times, after an investigation into Republicans’ post-election machinations, called Johnson the chief architect of the Electoral College objections. He enlisted most of his fellow Republicans in the House of Representatives in support of a petition to the Supreme Court, but the justices declined to hear the underlying case.

Late Monday evening after his confirmation as chairman, Johnson joined the other Republicans surrounding him laughing at a reporter who had the audacity to ask about his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. By his side,

the not so grandmotherly octogenarian

Representative Virginia Foxx of North Carolina shouted: Shut up! Quiet! Johnson, always smiling, turned to another reporter for a question.

He is indeed the “smiling rabble-rouser,” as longtime Republican strategist Mike Murphy posted on X . But he has plenty of company in the House he now leads. Ahead of the House vote on Johnson, Democratic Rep. Pete Aguilar of California pointed to his role in overturning free and fair elections. One Republican shouted: Damn good!

So yes, Gaetz is celebrating; his dethronement of McCarthy led to the installation of a fellow MAGAt. But Democrats are also feeling festive.

In the 2022 midterm elections, two issues, abortion rights and democracy protections, mobilized many voters to elect more Democrats and far fewer Republicans than either party expected. Democrats are counting on the same issues to work for them in 2024.

And with Johnson on the wrong side of both, as far as most Americans are concerned, look for Democrats to make MAGA Mike an albatross around House Republicans in swing districts. As someone shouted at a vulnerable Republican after voting for Johnson: Bye!

@jackiekcalmes