MAGA has won the Speakership of America’s House of Representatives.

It is difficult to be more MAGA-like than Louisiana Congressman Mike Johnson.

He is opposed to Ukraine; supports Israel; maintains that Trump won the 2020 election; is a born again evangelical Christian who quotes the Bible whenever possible; voted against the Biden budget; is a member of the right-wing Freedom caucus;  is opposed to same-sex marriage; opposes abortion and has Trump’s endorsement.

Moderate Republicans – and just about everyone else – were terrified at the prospect of the election of right-wing “legislative terrorist” Jim Jordan. He seemed more intent on tearing down the political establishment then working with it. So they blocked him, again and again and again.

The moderates wanted Minnesota Congressman Tom Emmer wielding the Speaker’s gavel. They looked as if they might succeed. Then Donald Trump interceded – in a complete reversal of his previously stated neutrality, and in contravention of all political conventions – slammed Emmer for voting to certify Joe Biden’s election and endorsed Mike Johnson.

By this time the moderates had been worn to a frazzle by long nights, ruined weekends and endless rounds of votes. They risked being blamed for a government shutdown if a Speaker was not chosen soon as well as being accused of preventing vital aid reaching war-torn Israel and Ukraine. They voted for Johnson for an easy life.

They will most likely live to regret it. Moderate Republicans are telling themselves that the lesser of two evils has been elected. But the only real difference between Jim Jordan and Mike Johnson is the decibel levels at which they operate. Jordan’s reputation is as a loud-mouthed arch-conservative bully. Johnson is quieter. He has as worked more in the Capitol Hill shadows and he has not been in Washington as long as Jordan. But Johnson is every bit as uncompromisingly far-right as Jordan and just as ruthless in pursuit of his political agenda. The difference is style, not substance.

Johnson also has another characteristic that Jordan lacks. He is perhaps the most religious evangelical Christian in the US House of Representatives. He hosts a Christian podcast with his wife Kelly and his acceptance speech before the House was peppered with Biblical references.

His pre-congressional career included a stint with the Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative Christian organisation which campaigns for an end to separation of church and state. Johnson has gone on record to say that “the Founding Fathers wanted to protect the church from an encroaching state, not the other way around.”

Any serious student of American history knows he is wrong. First of all, you have to look at the issue within the context of 18^th century Britain and America. Britain had an established state church with the monarch at its head. The church was corrupt and many of those who sailed to America did so because they disagreed with the teachings of the Church of England and its venality.

The US constitution reflects this distrust of a state religion. It does not, as such, spell out separation of church and state. The First Amendment merely says: “Congress shall make no law regarding the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”

It was not until 1802 that Thomas Jefferson (and one cannot be more founding father than Jefferson) clarified the issue in a letter to a Baptist congregation in Danbury, Connecticut. He maintained that the First Amendment clause created a “clear wall” that separates church and state. Every subsequent US judicial ruling has agreed with his interpretation.

This does not sit well with Johnson and many of his ilk. They would like to apply 2,000-year-old Biblical rulings to 21^st century secular law books. Furthermore, they believe that they have been chosen by God to perform this task. Johnson said in his acceptance speech: “I believe that… the Bible is very clear; that God is the one who raises up those in authority.”

For most people, the concept of the divine right of kings (or politicians) was fought over and discarded nearly 400 years ago.

* Tom Arms is foreign editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and author of “The Encyclopaedia of the Cold War” and “America Made in Britain".