“Speaker Mike Johnson delivered a presentation at a weekend GOP retreat that – although it was billed as a map to keeping the House majority – took on a surprisingly religious tone, according to two people in the room,” says the lede to a Wednesday Politico report on the Republican shindig at the Oriental Hotel in Miami. And wow, Mike Johnson took a religious tone? Get the fuck out of here.
That silly intro aside, the story includes some comical quotes from “alarmed” attendees, like one attendee saying “I’m not at church,” and that Johnson’s presentation was “horrible.” Another said “I think what he was trying to do, but failed on the execution of it, was try to bring us together. The sermon was so long he couldn’t bring it back to make the point.” Sources described Johnson as whining about declining church attendance in the United States in a speech that was supposed to be about policy and strategy for the House of Representatives’ Republican conference.
For as much as we mocked Kevin McCarthy for the “Sonny Bono speech” that came just weeks before he was removed, at least his stupid metaphor had something to do with legislating. Sort of.