Worry less about TikTokers and Bin Laden — fret more that Mike Johnson shares the terrorist's views

By calling America "dark," "depraved," and "irredeemable," the GOP speaker may as well be citing Al Qaeda's leader

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In a video recorded just weeks before he ascended to his role as the most powerful Republican on Capitol Hill, Johnson filmed a video for the World Prayer Network with rabidly homophobic pastor Jim Garlow. As Frederick Clarkson has chronicled for Salon, Garlow is part of an apocalyptic Christian movement that wishes to end secular democracy and replace it with "a utopian biblical kingdom where only God's laws are enforced." (Which, of course, sounds much like bin Laden's hope for an Islamic caliphate.) Garlow asked Johnson if he felt that it was finally "a time of judgment for our collective sins."

To this, Johnson replied, "The culture is so dark and depraved that it almost seems irredeemable." As evidence, he noted how many young people identify as something other than straight.

Johnson's words echo those of bin Laden's "Letter to America: "We call you to be a people of manners, principles, honour, and purity; to reject the immoral acts of fornication, homosexuality, intoxicants, gambling's, and trading with interest."