“Magic” Mike Johnson is gearing up for a seriously messy midterm battle this November. While Tr*mp disgraces the GOP and alienates more voters by the day, Johnson is on the campaign trail in New Mexico stumping for a congressional candidate with a very chequered past. It definitely doesn’t help that New Mexico is currently the site of the only open criminal investigation into the Epstein files.

Yesterday in Albuquerque, Johnson referred to the upcoming race for the soul of America as  a “contrast between common sense and crazy.” He’s actually right about that, but not for the reasons he thinks. “We’re gonna flip a number of seats from California to New York,” Johnson said. “They will become red on election night. The reason is very simple — we fulfilled our promises, we’ve done what we said we were going to do.”

That’s… not exactly true, and it’s about to bite Johnson and the GOP in the ballot.

The “common sense” part of the election is that voters are increasingly frustrated with Tr*mp on key issues from foreign policy to inflation, where his approval rating s ank to -48 last month, the lowest number in tracking history.

But Johnson maintains that November is going to usher in big GOP wins, especially in New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District, where Johnson’s pick, conservative contender Greg Cunningham, is up against Democrat Gabe Vasquez for one of this year’s most important “must flip” seats. It’s a high-stakes race, and at this point, a true toss-up.

With a narrowing House majority of 218 to 212, Johnson seems to be engaging in some serious wishful thinking. Especially because Cunningham, the guy he endorsed, is aligned with an anti-women’s rights, anti-LGBTQ+ megachurch in Albuquerque.

Cunningham won Tr*mp’s endorsement in the usual way: by looking good on camera. Johnson and Tr*mp agree that Cunningham appears “straight out of central casting.” But Cunningham has, in the past, given props to his pastor for shaping his political agenda. That pastor is at the head of the noted anti-LGBTQ+ Legacy Church, and has called abortion “murder,” as well as condemning same-sex marriage and implying that queer people are “hell-bound” as recently as 2022. Cunningham also aligned himself with an anti-abortion group that spreads dangerous falsehoods about abortion, such as the conspiracy theory that the process can heighten cancer risk.

If Albuquerque residents don’t care about all the fire and brimstone, they’re definitely going to care about Cunningham’s approach to real estate. Last year, a report accused Cunningham of using a special VA mortgage loan in order to purchase two properties: one in Albuquerque, and one in nearby Arizona. Both were listed as Cunningham’s primary residence.

It makes sense that Johnson is simping stumping so hard for Cunningham, despite the congressional hopeful’s two-time loss in past races. At this point, the GOP is trying to make their radical right-wing agenda happen at the risk of alienating voters who have long ceased caring about culture wars. The GOP’s failure to see that is getting more embarrassing—and problematic—by the day, especially in New Mexico.

One woman among a crowd of protestors outside Johnson’s stump speech put it best. “Tr*mp and his friend Epstein have not been held accountable,” she said. “Mike should work for the American people and not the p*do-in-chief.”