Speaker of the House Johnson outlines his plans during visit to Clark County

United States Speaker of the House Mike Johnson was in Clark County on Thursday to rally supporters of Republican candidate Joe Kent in his battle for the 3rd Congressional District. Johnson also shared his plans if Republicans win big this November. Photo by Paul Valencia

The United States Speaker of the House was in Southwest Washington to support Joe Kent’s campaign in the 3rd Congressional District, and he also hopes for a victory for President Donald Trump

Paul Valencia
ClarkCountyToday.com

The United States Speaker of the House came to Clark County on Thursday to support Republican candidate Joe Kent in his quest to win the 3rd Congressional District’s seat.

Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) also described his party’s plans if they win control of Congress and the White House, and he gave a warning for the future of the country if his party does not prevail in the 2024 election.

“Everything’s at stake. The way I summarize it all around the country, we’re not really in a contest anymore just between Republicans and Democrats. The Democrat philosophy has really left a lot of people behind. So we’re in a contest between two completely different visions,” Johnson told a gathering of media after Thursday’s rally in Ridgefield.

“Are we going to maintain our status as the world’s super power, the great constitutional republic, the greatest nation in the history of the world? Or are we going to change our country into some sort of European-style, socially Marxist utopia?” Johnson asked. “We believe in conserving the greatest nation in the world.”

Johnson had made similar comments to the large crowd that gathered outside of the Republican Victory Office in Ridgefield, across the street from the Clark County Fairgrounds. He said Democrats have a different kind of ideology.

“The people running for the highest offices in the land, and some incumbents like the one in this seat, are following an ideology that looks a whole lot more like Marxism than it does our trusted and true American philosophy,” Johnson said.

The incumbent he was referring to is Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, the Democrat who currently has the 3rd Congressional District seat. Perez narrowly defeated Kent two years ago.

Johnson and Kent took questions from those at the rally for a few minutes, then answered more questions from the media after the rally.

Johnson continued to praise the Republican’s path for the country, and also gave a passionate defense of President Trump’s record as President and shared his hopes that Trump would return to the White House.

The people, Johnson said, “want common sense solutions to the cost of living, the rising crime rate, the weakness on the world’s stage, and the open border. We’re offering those answers, and I think it’s really resonating with people around the country.”

Johnson said he has been to more than 200 cities in 40 states this campaign.

At the rally, a woman who said she was a pharmacist said she had been censored during the pandemic when she tried to express her opinion of the dangers in the medicines the government was pushing.

In the media gathering, he continued with his answer: “When you censor and silence viewpoints … that’s something Marxists and communists do. That’s not the American way of life.”

Same could be said for discussing politics. He reminded the media of the Hunter Biden laptop situation leading up to the Presidential election four years ago.

“When social media platforms buried information that they didn’t favor, it did real damage to the country,” Johnson said.

There are those on the left, of course, who are worried that a second term for President Trump could lead to serious consequences, such as Trump having a fascist or dictatorial world view.

“I do not have any concern about that at all,” Johnson said. “We’re very close with President Trump. I’m a constitutional law attorney, a lifelong movement conservative. We believe in the founding principles of the country, and so does President Trump.

“When he says, ‘Make America first,’ it comes from an honest place in his heart. He means we take care of our own house before we take care of the neighborhood. I mean these are common sense principles.”

Johnson called some of the descriptions of Trump from the political left to be fantastical.

“He’s already been president. He was the president for four years. We brought about the greatest economy in the history of the world. We had stability on the world stage. We didn’t have hot wars under President Trump’s leadership because our allies respected him and our enemies feared him. We have to get back to that kind of leadership right now.”

Johnson said he did not want to put the cart before the horse, but he is looking forward to the possibility of having a unified government. If that happens, look for an aggressive first 100 days in office, the Speaker said.

“I told President Trump, ‘Mr. President, you could be the most consequential president of the modern era because we have to fix almost everything,’” Johnson said.

That begins with securing the border, Johnson said. Then work the economy, regulatory reform, and a new energy policy. Plus, America needs to reestablish a strong hand.

“The image that we have around the world is so important. If America is strong, it helps everybody and freedom all around the globe,” Johnson said. “And when America is weak, it jeopardizes that.”