Mary Trump Warns Mike Johnson Is 'Worse Than Jim Jordan'

Mary Trump has issued a warning about the new speaker of the House, Mike Johnson.

On Wednesday, House Republicans elected Johnson following weeks of turmoil over who would be the chamber's next leader following former Speaker Kevin McCarthy's ouster earlier this month. Republicans have celebrated Johnson's victory as a win for conservatives, but Democratic critics have singled out the evangelical Christian's record on various issues, including the 2020 presidential election, abortion and LGBTQ+ rights and gay marriage.

Mary Trump, the estranged niece of Donald Trump and an outspoken critic of the Republican Party, warned about Johnson in an interview with historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat posted to her Substack newsletter, The Good in Us by Mary L. Trump.

"We now have, as speaker of the House, somebody who's a religious fanatic— homophobic, anti-woman, actually worse than Jim Jordan," Mary Trump said.

Newsweek has reached out to Johnson's office for comment via email.

Jordan, an Ohio Republican and conservative hard-liner, in the House, was another contender to become the next speaker. Although his candidacy received support from the GOP Conference's hard-right members, he struggled to convince centrist and swing-district Republicans to vote for him on the House floor, which ended his chances of gaining the leadership post.

Johnson, who previously served as the vice chair of the House Republican Conference, had not had a high profile like Jordan's. But since he was elected speaker, critics have voiced concerns about his alleged ties to Christian nationalism.

Mary Trump described him as a "Christo-fascist" in a post to X (formerly Twitter) about her interview with Ben-Ghiat. In a clip from the interview, Ben-Ghiat warned about the "separation of the removal of church and state," which is "not good for democracy."

Other critics have raised questions about Johnson's religious beliefs. During his first speech as House speaker, he said that there are "no coincidences" and that he got elected because the Bible teaches God "raises up those in authority." He also said God has "allowed and ordained each and every one of us to be here at this specific moment."

In an opinion piece for MSNBC, columnist Sarah Posner called Johnson the "most unabashedly Christian nationalist Speaker" in history.

"Between the Bible talk and Johnson's record, Republicans have made abundantly clear that they have emerged from the uncertainty and chaos of the last few weeks with one clear mission: to run a Christian nationalist House," Posner wrote.

Johnson has also expressed anti-LGBTQ views, including describing homosexuality as "inherently unnatural" and a "dangerous lifestyle" in a 2004 opinion piece for The Times in Shreveport, Louisiana.

In that piece, he also wrote that pedophiles would "be next in line to claim equal protection" if same-sex marriage were approved.