After the GOP’s long, messy, exhausting and humiliating struggle to replace Kevin McCarthy, Mike Johnson is now Speaker of the House and second in line to the Presidency. In their haste to choose someone- anyone- to lead their fractious and fragile majority, Republicans bet on a little-known rep from Louisiana with deeply right-wing views but a mild enough demeanor to convince moderates that he would keep things balanced. That the norms have changed in GOP politics, to the point where someone like Mike Johnson could be seen as a reasonable leadership choice calls to mind nothing so much as this foreboding quote from Margaret Atwood’s 1985 masterpiece The Handmaid’s Tale:
“Ordinary is what you are used to. This may not seem ordinary to you now, but after a time it will. It will become ordinary.”
In spite of Johnson’s early gesture at bipartisanship by passing legislation to temporarily fund the government, his voting record and loudly-stated beliefs on reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and democracy in general strongly resemble the positions held by the authoritarian Republic of Gilead in Atwood's book.
The Republic of Gilead is a theocratic military dictatorship centered around extreme Christian conservatism. The ruling class of men (known as “Commanders”) strip women of all rights and autonomy and take complete control of their reproductive systems. Fertile women who are given to Commanders and forced to bear their children are called “Handmaids”, and the entire Handmaid concept rests on the notion that men know best, that women can’t be trusted to make their own decisions about whether or not to reproduce, and that women who identify as queer aren’t functional members of society.
An extra level of urgency comes courtesy of the environmental conditions surrounding Atwood’s apocalyptic story setting. Fertility among women takes a big hit in this version of the future because of pollution, radiation poisoning, and resulting changes to the climate, air quality, and water quality. But instead of pursuing stronger legislation to curb human interference in the ecosystem, the new rulers of Gilead instead focus on subjugating women, forcing those of proven fertility to carry an unequal burden, and doing nothing to combat the core causes of the health crisis.
Sound familiar?
Atwood’s book may have seemed like a dystopian piece of science fiction at the time….but the elevation of people like Mike Johnson into positions of power makes Gilead feel more real than ever before.
Atwood’s book may have seemed like a dystopian piece of science fiction at the time….but the elevation of people like Mike Johnson into positions of power makes Gilead feel more real than ever before. Johnson has a history of advocating for highly theocratic policies; in his home state of Louisiana, he spoke in favor of a policy promoted by the far-right Louisiana Family Forum calling for public schools to teach the Bible as “an accurate record of history.” He also believes in repealing the 1954 amendment that prohibits churches from engaging in political campaign activity, with violations punishable by the revocation of their tax-exempt status. Johnson makes no secret of his disregard for the separation of church & state.
Which brings us to Johnson’s terrifying commitment to stripping women of their reproductive rights. Even by Republican standards, Johnson’s anti-abortion views are considered extreme. Not only has Johnson co-sponsored a bill calling for a nationwide abortion ban with no exceptions for rape, incest, or the health of the mother, but he has gone so far as to liken abortion access to the Holocaust, to demand criminal prosecution for doctors who perform and assist with abortions, and to vote against a bill that would expand birth control and contraception nationwide. The autonomy of pregnant people has no place in Commander Johnson’s vision of America.
Even by Republican standards, Johnson’s anti-abortion views are considered extreme.
Because Gilead relies on forced reproduction, LGBTQ+ rights have been obliterated. Johnson would take no issue with a similar fate befalling the United States; as an attorney, he represented the Alliance Defending Freedom, a legal group focused on the Christian Right that has been designated as an LGBTQ+ hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. His voting record also indicates that he consistently opposed the legalization of same-sex marriage and supports the idea that the states should be able to outlaw sex acts between same-sex partners.
In The Handmaid’s Tale, we learn of the extent of LGBTQ+ persecution in Gilead through the story of Moira, a close friend of protagonist (and Handmaid) Offred. Moira identifies as a lesbian, and after she’s forced into training for Handmaid servitude, she makes numerous attempts to escape the clutches of Gilead. However, the last time that we as readers see Moira, she’s been recaptured by Gilead law enforcement and required to work in one of Gilead’s government-sponsored brothels. A totalitarian regime that uses Christian doctrine to erode the will of its citizens, to mandate women to fit into subservient and heteronormative roles, and to aggressively pursue and punish anyone who dares to push back is consistent with Johnson’s beliefs, and now that he’s in a position of power, he’s not hesitant to say the quiet parts out loud.
And let’s not forget that Johnson, like the leaders of Gilead, has no respect for democracy as an institution. In 2020, MAGA Mike helped Donald Trump build a faux-legal argument giving state legislators full authority to determine the outcome of elections. He wasn’t a bystander. He wasn’t a reluctant collaborator. He was the architect of the scheme to decertify the election results in Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Should Trump return to the White House after the 2024 election–and should Republicans hold the House majority, keeping Johnson in the Speaker’s chair–the early stages of the United States’ transformation into a Gilead-like autocracy could very well be on the horizon.
2023 election results in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia all prove that reproductive rights are a winning issue for Democrats and that the majority of Americans, regardless of party affiliation, oppose Johnson’s draconian views.
But this fate is far from a foregone conclusion. 2023 election results in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia all prove that reproductive rights are a winning issue for Democrats and that the majority of Americans, regardless of party affiliation, oppose Johnson’s draconian views. Democrats living in districts that Biden won in 2020 but that are now represented by Republican congresspeople must head to the polls en masse to help strip House Republicans of their very narrow majority and install a Speaker who respects the Constitution, who values the tradition of democracy, who will protect the rights of women and members of the LGBTQ+ community, and who will make sure that The Handmaid’s Tale never becomes a prophetic text.
After the GOP’s long, messy, exhausting and humiliating struggle to replace Kevin McCarthy, Mike Johnson is now Speaker of the House and second in line to the Presidency. In their haste to choose someone- anyone- to lead their fractious and fragile majority, Republicans bet on a little-known rep from Louisiana with deeply right-wing views but a mild enough demeanor to convince moderates that he would keep things balanced. That the norms have changed in GOP politics, to the point where someone like Mike Johnson could be seen as a reasonable leadership choice calls to mind nothing so much as this foreboding quote from Margaret Atwood’s 1985 masterpiece The Handmaid’s Tale:
“Ordinary is what you are used to. This may not seem ordinary to you now, but after a time it will. It will become ordinary.”
In spite of Johnson’s early gesture at bipartisanship by passing legislation to temporarily fund the government, his voting record and loudly-stated beliefs on reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and democracy in general strongly resemble the positions held by the authoritarian Republic of Gilead in Atwood's book.
The Republic of Gilead is a theocratic military dictatorship centered around extreme Christian conservatism. The ruling class of men (known as “Commanders”) strip women of all rights and autonomy and take complete control of their reproductive systems. Fertile women who are given to Commanders and forced to bear their children are called “Handmaids”, and the entire Handmaid concept rests on the notion that men know best, that women can’t be trusted to make their own decisions about whether or not to reproduce, and that women who identify as queer aren’t functional members of society.
An extra level of urgency comes courtesy of the environmental conditions surrounding Atwood’s apocalyptic story setting. Fertility among women takes a big hit in this version of the future because of pollution, radiation poisoning, and resulting changes to the climate, air quality, and water quality. But instead of pursuing stronger legislation to curb human interference in the ecosystem, the new rulers of Gilead instead focus on subjugating women, forcing those of proven fertility to carry an unequal burden, and doing nothing to combat the core causes of the health crisis.
Sound familiar?
Atwood’s book may have seemed like a dystopian piece of science fiction at the time….but the elevation of people like Mike Johnson into positions of power makes Gilead feel more real than ever before.
Atwood’s book may have seemed like a dystopian piece of science fiction at the time….but the elevation of people like Mike Johnson into positions of power makes Gilead feel more real than ever before. Johnson has a history of advocating for highly theocratic policies; in his home state of Louisiana, he spoke in favor of a policy promoted by the far-right Louisiana Family Forum calling for public schools to teach the Bible as “an accurate record of history.” He also believes in repealing the 1954 amendment that prohibits churches from engaging in political campaign activity, with violations punishable by the revocation of their tax-exempt status. Johnson makes no secret of his disregard for the separation of church & state.
Which brings us to Johnson’s terrifying commitment to stripping women of their reproductive rights. Even by Republican standards, Johnson’s anti-abortion views are considered extreme. Not only has Johnson co-sponsored a bill calling for a nationwide abortion ban with no exceptions for rape, incest, or the health of the mother, but he has gone so far as to liken abortion access to the Holocaust, to demand criminal prosecution for doctors who perform and assist with abortions, and to vote against a bill that would expand birth control and contraception nationwide. The autonomy of pregnant people has no place in Commander Johnson’s vision of America.
Even by Republican standards, Johnson’s anti-abortion views are considered extreme.
Because Gilead relies on forced reproduction, LGBTQ+ rights have been obliterated. Johnson would take no issue with a similar fate befalling the United States; as an attorney, he represented the Alliance Defending Freedom, a legal group focused on the Christian Right that has been designated as an LGBTQ+ hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. His voting record also indicates that he consistently opposed the legalization of same-sex marriage and supports the idea that the states should be able to outlaw sex acts between same-sex partners.
In The Handmaid’s Tale, we learn of the extent of LGBTQ+ persecution in Gilead through the story of Moira, a close friend of protagonist (and Handmaid) Offred. Moira identifies as a lesbian, and after she’s forced into training for Handmaid servitude, she makes numerous attempts to escape the clutches of Gilead. However, the last time that we as readers see Moira, she’s been recaptured by Gilead law enforcement and required to work in one of Gilead’s government-sponsored brothels. A totalitarian regime that uses Christian doctrine to erode the will of its citizens, to mandate women to fit into subservient and heteronormative roles, and to aggressively pursue and punish anyone who dares to push back is consistent with Johnson’s beliefs, and now that he’s in a position of power, he’s not hesitant to say the quiet parts out loud.
And let’s not forget that Johnson, like the leaders of Gilead, has no respect for democracy as an institution. In 2020, MAGA Mike helped Donald Trump build a faux-legal argument giving state legislators full authority to determine the outcome of elections. He wasn’t a bystander. He wasn’t a reluctant collaborator. He was the architect of the scheme to decertify the election results in Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Should Trump return to the White House after the 2024 election–and should Republicans hold the House majority, keeping Johnson in the Speaker’s chair–the early stages of the United States’ transformation into a Gilead-like autocracy could very well be on the horizon.
2023 election results in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia all prove that reproductive rights are a winning issue for Democrats and that the majority of Americans, regardless of party affiliation, oppose Johnson’s draconian views.
But this fate is far from a foregone conclusion. 2023 election results in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia all prove that reproductive rights are a winning issue for Democrats and that the majority of Americans, regardless of party affiliation, oppose Johnson’s draconian views. Democrats living in districts that Biden won in 2020 but that are now represented by Republican congresspeople must head to the polls en masse to help strip House Republicans of their very narrow majority and install a Speaker who respects the Constitution, who values the tradition of democracy, who will protect the rights of women and members of the LGBTQ+ community, and who will make sure that The Handmaid’s Tale never becomes a prophetic text.