When the sun rose over the Capitol on Oct. 25, 2023, Mike Johnson was a backbencher, an unknown-to-most-people congressman from Louisiana. By that afternoon, he was the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Since then, many of us have been reminded, or learned a lot, about Johnson. After the 2020 election, he incessantly pushed Trump’s lies about election fraud, and he was the chief architect of the plan to overturn Biden’s win by not certifying the election results.

Johnson led 100 House Republicans in a baseless lawsuit brought by Texas that sought to overrule Biden’s wins in the swing states of Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Remember that craziness? A win could have delivered victory to Trump or delayed the Electoral College count, but the Supreme Court threw out the case. Texas had no standing.

Then, on Jan. 6, as rioters ransacked the Capitol, Johnson insisted on Fox news that there was nothing unusual about Republican objections to the electors. After that, he led the election deniers in voting against certifying Biden as the winner. He also had led the Trump defense in the initial impeachment. And so on.

Johnson’s fight to upend democracy is not the only reason the hard right reveres him. In addition, he describes abortion as “a Holocaust” and wants to impose a nationwide ban. He describes being gay or lesbian as “inherently unnatural” and “dangerous.” He believes that books with LGBTQ characters or themes should be banned. When it comes to “don’t say gay,” Johnson out-DeSantises DeSantis.

There’s more. He blames school shootings on no-fault divorce laws. He believes fervently that Christians in America are being discriminated against, but not Jews or Muslims, or anyone else. He asserts that the biblical description of the creation of the world is factually accurate and wants his Christianity to be infused into the curriculum of public schools. He has shared his perspective that divine intervention brought him to the speakership, and he rejects the science of climate change.

Care to see for yourself? Go online and look at the clip of Johnson after his election as speaker when an ABC reporter, Rachel Scott, asked him about his attempt to overturn the 2020 elections. Check out his smirk and his supporters and colleagues jeering the reporter and shouting “shut up.” Note that Johnson saw no need to distance himself from his attempt to subvert democracy or respond in any way.

It’s hard to reconcile Johnson’s religiosity with his reverence for Trump. My guess is that what they share is love of power. For Trump. Johnson is a useful tool who will keep evangelicals in the fold of his personality cult. For Johnson, Trump will turn his Christian nationalism theories into America’s reality.

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As speaker, Johnson is next in line for the presidency after Kamala Harris. The order of presidential succession will not be lost on gun-loving, violent right-wing extremists. It’s something too frightening to contemplate at length here. For the moment, don’t forget the speaker’s enormous power, including the authority to decide which bills make it to the House floor.

I’d like to share a conversation I overheard when I was very young. A friend of my parents was arguing to them that the world could not have known what Hitler would do. My dad responded, Oh yes, the world should have known because Hitler published his plans and beliefs in his memoir and treatise, “Mein Kampf.”

My dad was right. Mein Kampf put the world on notice of Hitler’s rabid antisemitism, his desire to annihilate Jews and other minorities, his plan for German conquest, and his need for absolute power, all presaging his plans for a fascist thousand-year Reich. It’s all in his writing and speeches. The world only needed to read and hear his words. Some people did. Some even approved.

Today at America’s giant electoral roulette wheel, where the country is gambling its future, you can hear the carnival barkers “round and ’round she goes, where she stops nobody knows.” But in actuality, we do know. The totalitarian state, the American version of fascism, the path Trump and Johnson intend to lead us down, is clear. We cannot afford to pretend to not see or hear their words. The fact that Johnson’s tone is often more modulated makes him more dangerous, not less.

A recent Los Angeles Times editorial reminded its readers that Republicans in the House marched in lockstep behind Johnson despite (or perhaps because of) the fact that he tried to overthrow the 2020 election results. That newspaper then posed the question, “Is this how the experiment in American democracy ends?” It answered, “We hope not. But that depends on whether Americans finally reject the extremists who have taken control of the Republican Party.”

Republicans assert as the reason for standing shoulder to shoulder with Johnson is that he doesn’t grandstand, he’s sincere, and most importantly, he’s a “nice guy.” The assertion reminds me of the fact that Adolph Hitler and other high-ranking Nazis who perpetrated World War II and the Holocaust loved their dogs. Apparently, they really did.

Bill Newman, a Northampton-based lawyer and co-host of Talk the Talk on WHMP, writes a monthly column.