CNN’s not-so-subtle partisan innuendo is displayed in the title: “He’s second in line to the presidency. Financially, he’s just getting by.” Obviously, Speaker Mike Johnson must be incompetent or profligate, or have a drug or gambling problem, or something. After all, as CNN vaguely tells us, his Democratic predecessor as Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, has “done very well.” I’ll say: her wealth is estimated at about 180 million dollars. CNN doesn’t try to explain how she has done so well, but it is widely believed that it involves insider trading.
Since becoming Speaker, Mike Johnson has been attacked by Democrats for his vile habit of believing in the Bible and its teachings. Add to that the fact that he apparently isn’t smart enough to turn what is supposed to be selfless public service into a personal fortune like his colleagues have, and it’s easy to see why the Axis of Unethical Conduct is telling the pubic that he can’t be trusted.
I have a clarification for them: a member of Congress who isn’t getting rich from the job is more trustworthy, not less.
Ethics Alarms 
Thank you for this.
It remains to be seen if Johnson is the right man for this job, but I’m tired of seeing speculative hit pieces on him.
So far, I’ve seen two this week. One quoting a tech expert who claims that the third party monitoring software Johnson uses to be accountable when it comes to avoiding porn is a security risk should Johnson use it on his work computer. All while providing no evidence it actually is installed on the Speaker’s work computer.
The second referred to the Revolutionary War-era Appeal to Heaven flag (seen in the opening credits of HBO’s excellent John Adams miniseries) that Johnson flies as being a Christian Nationalist flag used by a fringe group I’ve never heard of (yep, folks, if a small group of weirdos uses a historical flag or symbol, it forever means that anyone else who uses it even within the parameters of its historical context is also a said weirdo. Note: Weirdos and their wacko cousins don’t get to appropriate historical or commonly-used phrases, gestures and symbols).
The article grudgingly admitted its use during the Revolution, but its intent was to again engage in What If speculation with no evidence.
“The secret of a great fortune for which you are at a loss to account is a crime that has never been found out, because it was properly executed.” -Honore’ de Balzac
How many years have you been waiting to pull that little tidbit out?
Very well done.
-Jut
Ha! Thanks! Actually, I couldn’t remember it verbatim and had to look it up. I think I originally heard it in the aftermath of the 2008 bailouts.
And I think Balzac is paraphrased as “behind every great fortune, there’s a great crime.”
My torts professor remarked to us in passing (not sure what the context was, but Frank rambled) that no one goes into Congress and doesn’t come back as a multi-millionaire. And this was in the late ’70s.
You know, the more the left freaks out about this guy, the more I am curious to see what he’ll actually do. Not quite enough yet to have much hope he won’t be incompetent-but more and more curious and even eager to see what happens as a result of his assuming the position.
Quick: name a competent GOP House Speaker in the last, oh, century other than Newt.
Tricky, because the GOP has been playing whiffle ball since Newt, determined to lose or draw every game when they could have won. And before Newt, other than Martin briefly in the 50’s, you HAVE to go back a whole century. I had forgotten that before Newt, the Dems ran the house for 40 years uninterrupted. I give Boehner a little credit for being able to skillfully run out the clock during Obama’s terms, but not much else. Actual leadership, particularly of BOTH parties in the house? Nope. It’s been nearly completely dysfunctional for as long as I can remember.
Now I see why they are terrified of this guy.
(1) He’s a Christian. Now, maybe he isn’t that good a Christian and they are just smearing him because he is a Republican.
(2) He doesn’t have an obvious fortune he gained through graft. That is one less thing that can be used to blackmail him into doing the bidding of others.
Next. they will be complaining that he DIDN’T take the Lolita Express to Epstein’s island. I wouldn’t doubt that they would complain that the man isn’t a rapist of pedophile privately, but I just would be surprised if they did it publicly. Cue RJK, Jr revelation and the Beau Biden/DuPont child rape issue.
Nancy Pelosi is in the Hillary Clinton grifter class. Her greed is only exceeded by her self-righteousness.
Typical leftist mentality. Anyone elected to congress who doesn’t game the system for personal enrichment must be incompetent.
it is far worse to leave public service a millionaire than to enter it so.
The real irony of all the media harping on how they think Trump has used his office to enrich himself is that he is likely someone who left office with less than he entered it with financialy.
Not that Trump is headed for the poor house. The Big House perhaps, though.
So, he has a home loan similar in size to what most Americans have. He has taken two loans recently, probably for vehicles (if he is a normal American). They said his bank account was exempt because it doesn’t earn interest. His retirement fund can be exempt if it is a government retirement fund. It seems he disclosed one years ago, but it is gone. Perhaps he converted it to the government one. He could have a bunch of gold bars in a safe. If I remember correctly, Menendez avoided a lot of charges by taking his bribes as gold bars (wire fraud charges, perhaps).