Louisiana Republican Mike Johnson came out of nowhere this week to become the next Speaker of the House. And he certainly carries plenty of Conservative bonafides. He was an election denier in 2020 helping to promote Donald Trump's big lie. He is also against LGBTQ rights and is in favor of a nationwide abortion ban.
There is one issue, however, where Johnson draws anger from the far-right. The Speaker has an adopted African-American son. And following the George Floyd murder, he spoke out against systemic racism.
Johnson told Walter Isaacson of seeing the Floyd video for the first time:
"I was outraged. I don’t think anyone can view the video and objectively come to any other conclusion but that it was an act of murder. And I felt that initially, as everyone did and it’s so disturbing. And, you know, the underlying issues beneath that are something that the country is now struggling with. And I think it’s something we have to look at very soberly and with a lot of empathy. And I’m glad to see that’s happening around the country."
The congressman further explained, "but the reality is and no one can tell me otherwise, my son Michael had a harder time than my son Jack is going to have simply because of the color of his skin. And that’s a reality. It’s an uncomfortable, painful one to acknowledge, but people have to recognize that’s a fact."
These comments drew anger from Conservative pundits like Matt Walsh and Laura Loomer shared the video online. Walsh wrote, "Full clip of the new GOP speaker saying that George Floyd was murdered and we need systemic changes to fix the racism in our country."