“Faith and Family” vs Democracy

The result is a portrait of Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House, as someone well within the bounds of the regular, the respectable. Here is a normalization machine that perpetuates itself: Once it has successfully transformed Johnson into someone who is legible as “normal,” he will get the “normal” treatment: Rising political stars can expect a certain sympathetic fascination, even deference, and they get a home story that makes them look good. Mike Johnson just got his. All about family and faith.