House Speaker Mike Johnson Responds to New Round of Scrutiny About Black Son

MicroWave@lemmy.world to News@lemmy.world – 229 points – House Speaker Mike Johnson Responds to New Round of Scrutiny About Black Son
vanityfair.com

Mike Johnson’s meteoric elevation from an under-the-radar congressman from Louisiana to second-in-line to the U.S. presidency sent journalists, Democrats and Republicans alike to uncover information about the personal and professional history of the most right-wing and least experienced House Speaker in history, who took the top job on Wednesday.

On the day Johnson was voted in, several major right-wing social media accounts on X, formerly known as Twitter, began circulating clips of an interview Johnson gave to PBS in 2020, in which he told journalist Walter Isaacson that the police killing of George Floyd was “an act of murder” and called for “systemic change.” Notably, Johnson said in the interview that he had learned about racism in America through the experience of raising a Black son, Michael.

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Wait, what? This isn't something to be criticized for. Having a black adopted son and learning the realities of racism in America and learning from it is a good thing. He should be criticized for all the other shit, but not this.

They aren't complaining that he had a black son, but that he's an "undercover Democrat" because he's stated that he learned about racism from the kid, saying things like, “Michael being a Black American, and Jack being white Caucasian. They have different challenges,” he said. “My son Jack has an easier path. He just does.”

Further, there was a question as to if the kid was real since there are no photos. That led to the new clarification:

Speculation about whether Michael was a real person prompted Johnson’s office to clarify. “When Speaker Johnson first ran for Congress in 2016, he and his wife, Kelly, spoke to their son Michael—who they took in as newlyweds when Michael was 14 years old,” said Corinne Day, Johnson’s communications director, in a statement first reported by Newsweek. “At the time of the Speaker’s election to Congress, Michael was an adult with a family of his own. He asked not to be involved in their new public life.” Day added that Johnson “maintains a close relationship with Michael to this day.”

So if we are to believe him, there are no photos because that is the way the now-adult kid wants it.

I'm not going to believe a dang thing any Conservative says without concrete evidence and peer review.

If the black kid adoption story is real, there will be photos, and someone will be able to produce them. If there are no photos, it's all a lie.

You should apply that practice to all politicians. They never tell the truth if a lie will serve.

So if we are to believe him, there are no photos because that is the way the now-adult kid wants it.

Let's start a new conspiracy theory that he doesn't actually have a Black son. It'll go viral in a day. Space lasers!

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I'm not saying you're wrong. But the right has a habit of only showing empathy only when it directly affects them.

Black people deserve protection from the law, yes. But let's not pretend that he'd change his tune about LGBT people in a split second if his son turned out to be gay or trans.

Black people don’t deserve protection from the law. Black people deserve equal treatment under the law.

It’s not at all something to criticize, it’s noble to adopt a child. It’s his party base that will pillory him.

I think he's being criticized because, as per the article 'there are no pictures of his “adopted" child in public family photos.'

So either he lied altogether or he didn't want to be seen publicly with him. Since he spoke about it publicly, that might not be the actual reason

Let's see the long-form birth certificate family photos first!

Having a black adopted son and learning the realities of racism in America and learning from it is a good thing

Has he learned from it, though? I don't know enough to know about if he has or not.

Also, what were the motives in raising that kid? A lot of evangelical christians view adoption as a way to proselytize and they tend to treat those kids like shit- and usually white washing the kid. (see, for example, most adoption campaigns run by christian organizations... especially those that specialize in placing foreign kids- or indigenous kids.)

I can't speak to their motives, either, but the nobility of an act depends entirely on the motives behind the act. if somebody, for example, offs putin only to gain power themselves and continue on... that is quite different than offing putin to end the war in ukraine, yes?

I find it really odd they were able to get an adopted child immediately after getting married. I have some friends who've been trying to adopt unsuccessfully for years and they're fairly straight-edge professionals.

from NYT

In his public remarks over the years, Mr. Johnson describes Michael as his son and did not correct an interviewer who described Michael as “adopted.” Ms. Day said in an interview that the Johnsons did not formally adopt Michael because of the “lengthy adoption process.” Ms. Day declined to say whether Michael was using “Johnson” as his surname.

So, I'm not sure who Day is, that's the only time they mention her. but apparently Ms Day is saying that, it wasn't a "real" adoption. whatever that means. non legal, but the kid lived with them? they abducted him? he really is his son, but didn't want to admit that?

So we have another Gaetz on our hand with this mystery boy who previously lived with him but is of no relation or guardianship?

Are they trying to adopt a teenager?

From another reply, it seems they never actually filled out any paperwork to adopt the guy so apparently he just lived with them for a little bit if he actually exists at all.

Adopted in this sense of the word that I had a friend stay by me for a few days when he was in town. Gotcha

Not how it should work necessarily, but if they're trying to adopt a white baby it's a very different wait time compared to a black 14 year old.

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The right wing doesn't like that he has a black son.

That's why McCain lost to Bush Jr.

You can thank Karl Rove for that.

McCain's adopted daughter is from Bangladesh, by the way.

Lol the secret exposed news that he's actually not racist is a controversy, but there's zero issues against his intense anti gay stance.

They all lie to get to power. They all tell us what we want to hear so we will elevate them to this power. If a politician is moving their mouth, they are lying.

“All politicians are the same, amirite?”

No, you are wrong

“Nuh-uh, YoU aRe WrOnG”

Yes, meet any politician anywhere in the world, and I can guarantee that they lied somewhere about something to get to that power. I would have to lie too, it’s the game, not the players. I count bending the truth and withholding info as lying as well.

This is such a daft take - I know plenty of local politicians - and indeed a couple of MPs local to me in the UK who have precious little "power" and work stupid hours looking after their constituents. They aren't trying to get cabinet positions or a cushy jobs. The kind of people who think 'there are some problems here I think I can solve' and sign up for what can be pretty grim work.

Good point. There are some “Mr. Smith”s out there, and yes, local level politics do have genuine helpful people. I should amend my statement to “politicians at such a high level”.