Politico blasts COS in Mike Johnson hit piece

Over the past two weeks, the media has hit Speaker of the House Mike Johnson for everything from believing in prayer to using CovenantEyes, a porn accountability app endorsed by Johnson as “a great way for all of us parents to help guard the hearts of our teenagers,” to disliking divorce and enjoying a successful marriage. According to Vanity Fair, “we've managed to learn a tremendous amount about him—most of which could be charitably described as extremely not good.”

But that would depend on one’s perspective. To others, the more “extremely not good” dirt the media digs up on him, the more likable Johnson becomes. After all, much of what he believes would have been considered perfectly normal in American society until five minutes ago when some far-off editorial board deemed it all “radical.”

The latest example is the new speaker’s longtime support for Convention of States—or, as Politico put it, his “ties to a far-right movement to gut the Constitution.” Translation: in this case, “gut the Constitution” simply means “use the Constitution.” But of course, “gut” fits the everything-Mike-Johnson-touches-is-fascist narrative much better. 

“As the interregnum without a speaker of the House came to an end last month, people from across the political spectrum came together, in a rare show of unity, to ask a single question: Who in the world is Mike Johnson?” the article begins in an intro that sounds suspiciously a lot like something I wrote two weeks ago. (Throughout the piece, it becomes apparent that Politico has been tuned into our communications, even quoting COS grassroots activists.) “But amidst the general bewilderment, one group of conservative evangelicals with a radical cause immediately recognized the new speaker’s name.”

“For the last 10 years, the ‘Convention of States’ movement has sought to remake the Constitution and force a tea party vision of the framers’ intent upon America,” the article continues. “This group wants to wholesale rewrite wide swaths of the U.S. Constitution in one fell swoop.”

Stop right there—“gut”?; “remake”?; “wholesale rewrite?” You mean “amend” the Constitution? Where do they get the idea that using Article V of the Constitution to procure amendments (which the Founders encouraged, by the way) is the same thing as totally trashing the blessed document? Did the Bill of Rights, Civil War Amendments, and Women’s Suffrage Amendment gut the Constitution? No, of course not. To call the Founders' constitutionally-prescribed safeguard against government overreach “extremist” is simply the latest left-wing ploy to radicalize Johnson, not to mention the millions of Americans who support Article V. The same media that dubbed Johnson “a sinister little creep” who “gives off strong incel energy” because of his religious beliefs about marriage has forfeited any right to be trusted when it uses words such as “a radical cause” to describe Convention of States.

“Americans both inside and outside the Convention of States movement tend to treat the Constitution as scripture, one occasionally in need of interpretation by the high priests on the Supreme Court,” Politico wraps up after nearly 3,000 words worth of drivel. “In reality, the Constitution is a piece of paper that can be interpreted in many ways or simply set on fire. The real bedrock of American democracy is our unspoken, unquestioned agreement to abide by the document and play by the rules. Should COSA succeed in calling an Article V convention, the real question is not what the rules of our current Constitution allow or even what their new version would require, but whether the various institutions that run this country are willing to implement it. And now, one half of Congress is led by someone who has ties to the movement.”

Ironically, the publication seems unconcerned that the “piece of paper” might “simply set on fire.” It certainly does not care that the federal government has been torching the integrity of the document for decades. But when it comes to amending the Constitution for the purpose of reinforcing the Framers’ original vision, that is still a big, bad, radical no-no.

In the past, we’ve extensively debunked the media’s most egregious claims about COS, including many that appear in Politico’s hit piece. In reality, there’s not much new here. What does stand out is that Convention of States has joined the worthy list of “radical” causes our new “extremist” speaker supports.

And just as with virtually everything else about Mike Johnson that the media calls “radical,” everyday Americans are fully onboard.

To join the nearly six million patriots who support this timely constitutional provision, sign the petition below.