Bigot, Homophobe, Climate Denier – New Speaker Checks all the Boxes

Bigot, Homophobe – check.
January 6 insurrection was “legitimate protest” – check.
Lead election denial efforts in House – check.
Supports nationwide abortion ban – check.
Believes man-made climate change is a hoax – check.

Attention Young Republicans, is this your guy?

The Hill:

Newly minted House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who won the gavel Wednesday after three prior Republican nominees failed to reach a majority, is a longtime ally of the oil industry and will be perhaps the most vocal skeptic of the scientific consensus on climate change ever to hold the speakership. 

Johnson, whose district includes the onetime oil industry hub of Shreveport, received a 100 percent rating from the pro-fossil fuel American Energy Alliance in 2022, along with every other Republican in Louisiana’s House delegation.
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Individuals and PACs associated with the oil and gas industry have donated $23,800 to Johnson in the 2023-2024 campaign cycle, the largest amount he received from any group save retired donors, according to data from OpenSecrets.org. In the 2021-2022 cycle, the sector donated $84,350.

In 2017, Johnson denied human-caused climate change at a town hall, telling attendees, “The climate is changing, but the question is, is it being caused by natural cycles over the span of the Earth’s history? Or is it changing because we drive SUVs? I don’t believe in the latter. I don’t think that’s the primary driver.” 

Johnson has a lifetime score of 2 percent on climate and environmental issues from the League of Conservation Voters (LCV), which excoriated him in a statement following his election.

E&E Daily:

Johnson’s ascent could mark a major shift in rhetoric around energy, environmental and climate issues from the highest rungs of the leadership ladder: He has a record of downplaying the climate crisis and questioning the science linking human activity to global warming.

“The climate is changing, but the question is, is it being caused by natural cycles over the span of the Earth’s history? Or is it changing because we drive SUVs? I don’t believe in the latter,” he said at a town hall in 2017. “I don’t think that’s the primary driver.”

That assessment is a striking departure from the way McCarthy sought to appeal to a new generation of Republican voters by encouraging the development of a GOP energy policy plank while moving the party further away from its history of straight-up climate denialism.

Rep. John Curtis (R-Utah), the chair of the Conservative Climate Caucus, has also been working to grow the ranks of Republicans who acknowledge human contributions to the warming planet and support reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The group is now up to 81 members.

Asked whether he was concerned about Johnson’s past comments, Curtis, in a text message, said Johnson told him, “He would be very supportive of my efforts and the caucus.”

A spokesperson for Johnson did not respond to a request for comment about the congressman’s current views on climate change.

CNN:

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has a history of harsh anti-gay language from his time as an attorney for a socially conservative legal group in the mid-2000s.

In editorials that ran in his local Shreveport, Louisiana, paper, The Times, Johnson called homosexuality a “inherently unnatural” and “dangerous lifestyle” that would lead to legalized pedophilia and possibly even destroy “the entire democratic system.”

And, in another editorial, he wrote, “Your race, creed, and sex are what you are, while homosexuality and cross-dressing are things you do,” he wrote. “This is a free country, but we don’t give special protections for every person’s bizarre choices.”