Mike Johnson, the new speaker of the House, is a gender extremist | Moira Donegan

Gender conservatism does not tend to attract as much notice as the other pillars of the far-right ideology, but it is central to the Republican ideology

Late last month, when House Republicans ended their chaotic, weeks-long search for a new speaker by elevating Louisiana's Mike Johnson, a curious trend of stories began appearing in national media. Democratic operatives (and perhaps a few of Johnson's Republican adversaries, too) had begun leaking what's known in Washington as oppo", or opposition research - unflattering truths about political rivals - about the new speaker.

For many politicians, the embarrassing secrets revealed in an oppo dump are somewhat oblique; usually, they're about money. Maybe the candidate, as a young lawyer, represented a bank in a case where he aimed to repossess the home of a poor widow; maybe the candidate's husband or daughter was appointed to a job they did not seem quite qualified for, raising questions about nepotism or access trading. The aim of such stories is to make a politician appear corrupt, or unscrupulous - like someone beholden to greed and not to principle.