Mike Johnson, the smooth-talking Congressman from Louisiana, is our nation’s 56th Speaker of the House. He entered Congress on January 3, 2017. Before then, he served in the Louisiana legislature and worked for a conservative Christian group called the Alliance Defending Freedom.
The four most vulnerable states due to the Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill Act, the upcoming tariff tax on low- and middle-income Americans, and their dependence on the federal government are: Alaska, Mississippi, Kansas, and Louisiana.
Despite Johnson’s faithful devotion to President Trump and his attack on many “enemy” groups in America, Louisiana is extremely vulnerable since it has crushing poverty (the highest of any state), high violent crime (the highest of any state), high obesity rates (fourth behind West Virginia, Mississippi, and Arkansas), and disastrous weather (the “beautiful” bill made massive cuts to FEMA.)
It is abundantly clear that Mike Johnson is solidly in the Trump/MAGA/Christian Nationalist club. He checks all the boxes for his role in the radical takeover of the Republican Party. Speaker Johnson is not only willing to push through any cockeyed legislation for President Trump, but he also called an early summer recess to delay the investigation into the Jeffrey Epstein affair. He was undoubtedly ordered to give the FBI and Justice Department enough time to scrub or redact all the smoking guns involving Trump. I suspect we will see a fully sanitized version of the Epstein files soon. I suspect that history will repeat itself. Like AG Barr in 2018, when his memo nullified the Mueller investigation, AG Bondi will tell the world that there is no connection between the pedophile Epstein and Trump. I look forward to her dramatic performance.
The Trump Big Beautiful Bill, shepherded through the House by Louisiana’s Mike Johnson, will hurt MAGA states more than most others. To add injury to insult, Johnson’s own state is likely to suffer more than almost any other state. Cuts to medical care, lower-income households, FEMA, and rural areas will affect a state like Louisiana far more than a Democratic state like California.
So, is it ironic or simply tragic? What is the difference between these two words?
Tragic is about unavoidable downfalls or misfortunes suffered by someone who has a fatal flaw or makes poor decisions. Ironic refers to the difference between the expected and the actual outcome. In situational irony, there is usually an event or action that is the opposite of what is expected, like a firehouse burning down.
So, the down-and-out MAGA voters in states like Louisiana will suffer a tragedy. They cling to their MAGA and Christian Nationalistic identities, and, like a tragic Greek hero with a tragic flaw, they will suffer unavoidably.
A leader like Mike Johnson must surely understand what his legislation will do. He seems very intelligent in his public appearances. Johnson must know that reducing funding for medical care and other vital areas will hurt his rural constituency. If there is no gap between his expectations and the inevitable results, then he reveals himself to be a cynical bastard. However, his behavior might qualify as ironic or even tragic if he is trapped in a cycle of circular reasoning, similar to the analogy of the Napkin Religion or to reasoning like: a) We must reduce the federal deficit, b) Some people must suffer, c) We can increase the federal deficit to improve the economy and make some people richer….repeat a, b, and c.
Another irony (or maybe the greatest irony) is that some of the most evil people in the world are very religious, whether sincere, or just taking advantage of their position as a “good person, doing god’s work” they get by with truly dastardly behaviors. You referred to our little bastard from Shreveport as seriously harming his own constituents by ramming through tRUMP’S one big beautiful Bill through the House, the sycophant, and good Southern Baptist. He is a perfect example of a religious person (supposedly anyway) crapping on those people who need help the most while enriching himself. It is pathetic but somehow not recognized by most of the naive people of his state.