After three weeks, multiple failed votes, and several well known Republicans face-planting on the House floor, the Republicans elected someone named Mike Johnson as Speaker of the House.

I’m sure your first question is, who the eff is Mike Johnson? Is that a real person?

Fair question.

I follow politics for a living, and I had to Google Johnson to remember exactly who he was and where he was from.

Here’s who he is:

Paul Ryan’s economic policies + Mike Pence’s views on abortion + Donald Trump’s dangerously wacky views on the 2020 election = Mike Johnson.

In other words, if Democrats could design in a lab the perfect candidate to run against, that person would look a lot like Mike Johnson.

It’s tempting to laugh at the absurd process that led to this heretofore anonymous Congressman winning the Speakership. However, Johnson is not only the leader of the rowdy Republicans; he is second in line to the Presidency, the most powerful individual in a co-equal branch of government during a time of domestic turmoil and international crises on multiple fronts.

Choosing someone who is the perfect avatar of MAGA extremism as the face of House Republicans trying to hold onto one of the narrowest majorities in history is certainly an odd decision, and Democrats should make sure Republicans pay a steep political price by picking a series of fights with Johnson and the MAGA House...