{"id":1028428,"date":"2023-12-04T22:35:45","date_gmt":"2023-12-04T22:35:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/?p=1028428"},"modified":"2023-12-04T22:35:45","modified_gmt":"2023-12-04T22:35:45","slug":"maga-mike-monday-johnsons-history-of-bigotry-and-conspiracy-theories-exposed-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/maga-mike-monday-johnsons-history-of-bigotry-and-conspiracy-theories-exposed-again\/","title":{"rendered":"MAGA Mike Monday: Johnson\u2019s History of Bigotry and Conspiracy Theories Exposed (Again)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/New-War-Room-Release-Logo-3.png?w=1024\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1028429\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Happy Monday and welcome to another week of MAGA Mike Johnson marching in lockstep with Donald Trump by using the People\u2019s House as a personal stage for Trump\u2019s campaign sequel. New reporting uncovered that Johnson wrote the foreword for a 2022 book that promoted several debunked conspiracy theories, including Pizzagate, and used homophobic slurs. Johnson has since doubled down on his support for the book, saying he wouldn\u2019t have written the foreword if he didn\u2019t endorse the claims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s what MAGA Mike has gotten up to as of this Monday, but let\u2019s be clear: If it\u2019s a day ending in \u201cy,\u201d Johnson is hard at work turning the People\u2019s House into an arm of Trump\u2019s presidential campaign instead of delivering on the issues Americans care about.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>DNC National Press Secretary Sarafina Chitika released the following statement:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMAGA Mike Johnson can\u2019t hide from his past, including his endorsement of outlandish conspiracy theories and slurs. Not only did he endorse a book that includes racist and homophobic passages while giving credence to one of the most inflammatory, dangerous, and ludicrous conspiracy theories peddled under the banner of QAnon \u2013 he\u2019s even called the author his \u201cdear friend.\u201d A quick tip for Mike: The normal reaction to these revelations would be embarrassment and condemnation. The more we learn about MAGA Mike, the more the American people realize that the House Republican majority chose an extreme, out-of-touch speaker to lead their chaos conference \u2013 a decision that will backfire in 2024.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>New reporting uncovered that Johnson wrote the foreword for a conspiracy-ridden and homophobic book last year \u2013 and he has also endorsed the baseless theories on his podcast and social media platforms.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2023\/12\/01\/politics\/kfile-mike-johnson-conspiracy-theories-homophobic-slurs\/index.html\">CNN:<\/a> Speaker of the House Mike Johnson wrote the foreword and publicly promoted a 2022 book that spread baseless and discredited conspiracy theories and used derogatory homophobic insults.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Written by Scott McKay, a local Louisiana politics blogger, the book, \u201cThe Revivalist Manifesto,\u201d gives credence to unfounded conspiracy theories often embraced by the far-right \u2013 <strong>including the \u201cPizzagate\u201d hoax,<\/strong> which falsely claimed top Democratic officials were involved in a pedophile ring, among other conspiracies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The book also propagates baseless and inaccurate claims, implying that Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts was subjected to blackmail and connected to the disgraced underage sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Other sections of the book <strong>defend podcaster Joe Rogan from racism charges after it was revealed he used the N-word,<\/strong> which Rogan later apologized for. The book also <strong>disparages poor voters as \u201cunsophisticated and susceptible to government dependency\u201d<\/strong> and easy to manipulate with \u201cBlack Lives Matter \u2018defund the police\u2019 pandering.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Johnson\u2019s endorsement of the book extends beyond the foreword: In 2022, he actively promoted the book on his public social media platforms and even dedicated an episode of his podcast he co-hosts with his wife to hosting McKay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During the podcast episode, Johnson expressed his belief in the book, stating, \u201c<strong>I obviously believe in the product<\/strong>, or I wouldn\u2019t have written the foreword. So<strong> I endorse the work.\u201d<br><br><\/strong>In his book, McKay insinuates that hacked emails from Hillary Clinton\u2019s 2016 campaign chairman John Podesta contained coded references hinting involvement in \u201cchild sex trafficking\u201d because of \u201cunexplained references\u201d to \u201chot dogs and pizza,\u201d resembling alleged code words used by pedophiles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The book repeatedly disparages Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, calling the former mayor a \u201cqueer choice\u201d for the Cabinet position and saying he had \u201cqueer sanctimony\u201d and was \u201copenly, and obnoxiously, gay.\u201d At one point, the book labels him \u201cGay Mayor Pete Buttigieg.\u201d<br><br>McKay\u2019s book also shares other unfounded conspiracy theories, including the debunked claim that the Democratic National Committee\u2019s emails in 2016 were not hacked but leaked by a staffer named Seth Rich. In 2020, Rich\u2019s parents settled a lawsuit with Fox News, stemming from the network\u2019s publication of a retracted story connecting their son\u2019s murder to right-wing conspiracy theories. The book <strong>denies that carbon dioxide is linked to climate change and frequently mocks the climate crisis as \u201chysteria.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The book also spreads a conspiracy theory that the Biden administration deliberately allowed undocumented immigrants into the country to turn them into voters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The book targets and taunts prominent Democratic officials, including <strong>calling Interior Secretary Deb Haaland \u201chalf oppressed\u201d<\/strong> because her mother is Native American and father is of Norwegian descent and <strong>writes that former President Barack Obama\u2019s \u201cchief selling point was that he was black.<\/strong>\u201d<br>McKay also adds that the late Arizona <strong>Sen. John McCain, a frequent foe of Donald Trump, used his time as a prisoner of war in Vietnam \u201cas a political get-out-of-jail-free card.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Happy Monday and welcome to another week of MAGA Mike Johnson marching in lockstep with Donald Trump by using the People\u2019s House as a personal stage for Trump\u2019s campaign sequel. New reporting uncovered that Johnson wrote the foreword for a 2022 book that promoted several debunked conspiracy theories, including Pizzagate, and used homophobic slurs. Johnson [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":263,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1028428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>MAGA Mike Monday: Johnson\u2019s History of Bigotry and Conspiracy Theories Exposed (Again) - Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/maga-mike-monday-johnsons-history-of-bigotry-and-conspiracy-theories-exposed-again\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-12-04T22:35:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/New-War-Room-Release-Logo-3.png?w=1024\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Claire DePree\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Claire DePree\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/maga-mike-monday-johnsons-history-of-bigotry-and-conspiracy-theories-exposed-again\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/maga-mike-monday-johnsons-history-of-bigotry-and-conspiracy-theories-exposed-again\/\",\"name\":\"MAGA Mike Monday: Johnson\u2019s History of Bigotry and Conspiracy Theories Exposed (Again) - 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