I want to tell all my colleagues here what I told the Republicans in that room last night. I don't believe there are any coincidences in a matter like this. I believe that scripture, the Bible, is very clear that that God is the one that raises up those in authority. [00:00:15] He raised up each of you, all of us. And I believe that God has ordained and allowed each one of us to be brought here for this specific moment in this time. >> Speaker 2: He is a religious nut. There he was ascending to a very high role. [00:00:32] Third in line for the President, talking about his religion, thumping his Bible in our supposedly secular government. I mean, we invade countries for being a theocracy. We go into other countries and topple their governments because of them being based on religion. [00:00:50] But here we have again, third in line for President of the United States, talking about how he was brought here by religion. And we know that he loves to introduce legislation on the basis of his religion. [00:01:07] So let's go to this reporting from 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 aughts. Johnson called homosexuality a inherently unnatural and [00:01:24] dangerous lifestyle that would lead to legalized pedophilia and possibly even destroy, quote, the entire democratic system. Ironic thing here is if homosexuality, as he called it, [00:01:39] would actually destroy the entire democratic system, he would support it. He would be leading the pride parade, waving the rainbow flag, because this is a man who has done everything in his power to destroy democracy in our country. [00:01:55] And I'm not making this up, I'm not aggrandizing the situation. It's just facts. This is an election denier, from Axios. In December 2020, Johnson led an amicus brief signed by more than 100 House Republicans in support of a failed Texas lawsuit that sought [00:02:14] to invalidate Biden's election victory in four swing states. Johnson also trafficked in a baseless conspiracy theory in November 2020 about, quote, rigged dominion voting machines allegedly having ties to deceased Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez. [00:02:32] And as you probably assumed, based on his putting religion at the front of his politics, he is one of the worst in the House of Representatives on the issue of abortion. Take a look. >> Speaker 1: Roe v Wade gave constitutional cover to the elective [00:02:50] killing of unborn children in America. Period. You think about the implications of that on the economy. We're all struggling here to cover the bases of Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid and all the rest. If we had all those able bodied workers in the economy, we wouldn't be going upside down and toppling over like this. [00:03:06] Listen. >> The gentleman. >> I will not yield. I will not. Roe was a terrible corruption of America's constitutional jurisprudence. >> Speaker 2: There is something ironic about him talking about Social Security and Medicare there because he supports ending those programs. [00:03:24] He has, in no uncertain terms, said that he supports privatizing those programs. And there he was using his supposed support of those systems as justification for why we need to get rid of legal abortion in this country, which, [00:03:41] mind you, when abortion is restricted, more abortions happen. They're just happening in unsafe ways, in unsafe conditions, putting the lives of more pregnant people at risk. But they don't care about that. They're not pro life. [00:03:57] They're pro forced birth. And he's gonna have to work pretty hard with this impending government shutdown, as well as military aid for Israel and Ukraine, which I'll just say this Gaza won't see another dollar with Johnson in charge, I'm sure, and he's also very vehemently opposed aid to Ukraine as well. [00:04:16] So it'll be interesting to see how these things play out. I've got a little bit more on the Republican reaction and celebration of this man. But first, Sharon, I wanna bring you in and get your thoughts on this person who is he's not hiding the fact that his religious values is how he's going to lead [00:04:33] what is supposed to be our secular government. >> Speaker 3: He calls it religion. I call it occult. Okay? He's diabolical in his dysfunction. He is far worse than speaker 55, 56 is far worse. [00:04:51] Radical. Have you ever heard his podcast? I tried to listen for a few minutes. He and his wife have this podcast where they go over everything that's in the headlines. Cultural wars, the war on women, which he loves, they love. And she co signs on that, and it was very difficult to even stomach it. [00:05:09] I'm a journalist. I'm trying to gather information here. I couldn't even stomach it. I think God is very angry, if you believe God. Wait, what's that? God is very angry. Okay, I just heard from God, stop invoking the Lord's name, [00:05:25] in this destructive thing that you're pushing against gay people, women, children, everyone, who do you love? Who do you love? That would be a great question to ask, but the reporter would probably just get shouted down like the other day. >> Speaker 2: They were already scared to have to answer for [00:05:42] his leading the charge to overturn democracy in our country. The entire party was yelling, shut up, shut up. To this reporter who asked. >> Political genius. >> And she asked a salient question, a reasonable question, to ask this person, who has, in no uncertain terms, been very public about his support for [00:06:01] overturning democracy, for overturning the election. I mean, he was the very vocal leader of that movement in the House, despite his lack of seniority within the party. But when you ask him about it, then you're going to be met with shut up. [00:06:16] Now is not the time to talk about policy, which I thought was interesting. Maybe I can get your thoughts on that. And what we've seen throughout this debacle with the speakership is it's not an issue of policy right this is a party that agrees on a lot of these issues. [00:06:31] They agree on not certifying the election results. They agree on severely restricting or completely ending a woman's right to choose, demonizing and legislating away protections for gay people. [00:06:47] So him saying now is not the time for policy, I mean, it hasn't been the time for policy. This has been a naked power grab by very Trump aligned members of the Republican Party. >> Speaker 3: Yeah, they're not getting anything done. Thank goodness. [00:07:03] Okay? They've wreaked havoc. They've created divide, hate. I know we're going to cover another mass shooting. Listen there's, they haven't even caught the guy yet, but I believe it's all connected to the society we live in today. America, look at your life. [00:07:20] Anybody who thinks the Republican Party is distancing itself from that thing and that insurrection thing, okay, they're not. They're more on board than ever. This thing where you heard pundits saying over and over again that I think there's a crack. [00:07:35] They've had enough. No, the guy with the plastic hair. What kind of gel is that? Now, that does fascinate me. He wanted to get rid of the other guy because neither one of them could trust the other, and they just don't like each other. And now he's running all over town and doing interviews. [00:07:53] If that's your biggest cheerleader, that's all we need to know. The Republican Party is still gonna be up to these shenanigans, and they won't stop unless they're forced to stop, or we all suffer to the end. [MUSIC]