Comrade Ron Johnson

27/04/2023

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) questioned an energy policy expert on Wednesday during a Senate Budget Committee hearing on the healthcare costs related to climate change and argued that the U.S. – his home state of Wisconsin in particular – will be better off as a result of global warming. Johnson concluded his remarkable comments, which quickly went viral online, by dismissing the risks other areas of the globe, like Africa, would face due to climate change.

“In terms of excess deaths, a warming globe’s actually beneficial. In my own state your study shows that we’d have a reduction in mortality of somewhere between 54 and 56 people per, I guess, a hundred thousand. Why wouldn’t we take comfort in that?” Johnson asked University of Chicago economics professor Michael Greenstone.

“So thanks for the question Sen. Johnson and what the work shows in the chart is that the effects of climate change are going to be very unequal and, absolutely, Wisconsin, Chicago, where I live, the reduction in cold days, the benefits from that will outweigh the damages from the hot days,” Greenstone politely replied.

“But if you look more carefully at that, there’s large swatches of the country where the damages will be much larger. And in fact, they get,” Greenstone continued as Johnson cut him off.

“But again, if you want to balance, if you want to balance it all out globally if you’re trying to mitigate harm globally. Isn’t it true that the number of deaths, according to this Lancet study, the number of deaths caused by heat are 600,000 per year. Deaths caused by cold are 4.5 million annually. So in terms of global health in terms of excess death, we’re actually in a better position to prevent death by having the climate increase in temperature a little bit,” Johnson said.

“Senator, I’m not familiar with that study. What I am familiar with is my study. Your characterization of it is incorrect,” Greenstone shot back.

“Well, your study is very favorable to my state,” Johnson replied.

“Wisconsin will benefit in terms of mortality. There are 49 other states in the United States, many of them will suffer. Many of them will suffer more than Wisconsin will gain. And that is the nature of climate change. It’s very unequal,” Greenstone clarified as Johnson jumped in again:

"According, to your study, [there’s] concern if you’re in the really hot region of Africa. But in terms of United States and most of Europe, we’re in pretty good shape. We’re all blue. We have reduced risk of death."

By Alex Griffing

Ron Johnson said it's concerning if you are in the "hot region of Africa. But in terms of United States and most of Europe, we're in pretty good shape."

25/04/2023

05/01/2023

The final release of documents from the January 6 Select Committee revealed concerns the former Wisconsin GOP chair had about Sen. Ron Johnson's actions in the days before state Republicans submitted a fake slate of presidential electors.

Andrew Hitt was chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin during the 2020 election, and was one of 10 Republicans who signed onto a fake slate of Wisconsin presidential electors.

The committee previously presented text messages indicating Johnson helped pass along the fake elector papers to then-Vice President Mike Pence on January 6, prior to the riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Pence's staff told Johnson's chief of staff to keep the phony elector slate away from Pence.

The newly-released trove of committee records includes the transcript of Hitt's interview. It also includes text messages Hitt sent to Mark Jefferson, who was the state GOP's executive director at the time.

The committee questioned Hitt about texts he'd sent to Jefferson on December 7, one week before Wisconsin's electors were set to meet at the state Capitol.

Hitt relayed that Johnson was pushing for the GOP-controlled legislature to pick Wisconsin's 2020 electors.

"Ron called me right after [a call with county GOP chairs] and now is arguing for us to have the legislature choose the electors," Hitt texted.

Hitt confirmed to the committee he was talking about Johnson.

Jefferson replied, "what is he doing?"

"There is a huge amount of pressure building on them to find a way around the electoral college," Hitt responded.

27 News contacted Hitt on Wednesday and requested comment for this story. Hitt did not immediately respond.

Johnson's office, in a statement this week, said the committee distorted Johnson's intent, which was to address the concerns some Republicans had about how the 2020 election was administered.

"This isn’t the first time the January 6 committee has selectively and deceptively released text messages to smear me," Johnson said in a statement. "I have no recollection of the phone call referenced in the texts, and therefore do not know the context of any comment I might have made."

UW-Madison Political Science Professor David Canon said the context is clear and there's only one way to read Hitt's text message to Jefferson.

"The context is Senator Johnson was pressuring them to try to find a way around the electoral college," Canon said. "Johnson is trying to, basically, have the state legislature try to steal the election for Donald Trump in Wisconsin."

In his statement, Johnson maintained he was looking to secure elections moving forward. His office referred to a November 2021 meeting Johnson had with Republican legislative leaders at the state Capitol, in which he encouraged them to take more control of how elections are run.

"My goal since the November 2020 elections has consistently been to restore confidence in our election system," Johnson said. "It is indisputable that there were a number of irregularities with that election. The Wisconsin Election Commission issued guidances and election clerks instituted procedures contrary to state law."

While nonpartisan and conservative reviews found the elections commission issued guidance that was inconsistent with state law, the most comprehensive election reviews also found no evidence of widespread fraud that would've affected the outcome of an election President Joe Biden won by more than 20,000 votes.

Courts at the state and federal level also rejected challenges from former President Trump's campaign calling for tens of thousands of votes to be thrown out.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said Tuesday Johnson had never pressured him to have lawmakers pick Wisconsin's 2020 electors.

"No, no. There were legislators, and obviously, there were activists who wanted some of those things," Vos said. "But I can't say it any more than I already have: it's unconstitutional, it can't happen."

Canon said Johnson's statement failed to address the issue at hand. He said there's a distinct difference between seeking to change election laws for future contests and trying to have lawmakers decide the outcome of election that already happened.

"That's very different than a couple days before the Electoral College electors are selected, saying that we want the state legislature to get involved here to fix this problem," Canon said. "There, you're talking about trying to overturn the results of an election that had been decided by almost 21,000 votes by the voters."

By A.J. Bayatpour

The former Wisconsin GOP chair relayed in text messages Sen. Ron Johnson wanted the GOP-controlled legislature to pick Wisconsin's 2020 electors.

09/12/2022

Grassley and Johnson also called out the Justice Department's decision in 2016 against appointing a special counsel to investigate Hillary Clinton's private email server and mishandling of classified information while she served as secretary of state. At the time, Clinton was the Democratic nominee for president of the United States.

"The kid-gloves treatment given to Secretary Clinton by the Justice Department is different than the apparent treatment given to former President Trump," they wrote.

Republican senators say Jack Smith poses conflict of interest issues now that he is special counsel in the Trump case, and they accuse the DOJ of having a double standard.

10/11/2022

As the year got underway, Oshkosh Corporation, a Wisconsin-based company, announced plans to create plenty of new manufacturing jobs — in South Carolina. Wisconsin’s Democratic senator, Tammy Baldwin, immediately went to work trying to keep those jobs in her home state.

The state’s other senator, Republican Ron Johnson, said he didn’t much care. “It’s not like we don’t have enough jobs here in Wisconsin,” the GOP lawmaker said.

There were times in 2022 when Johnson practically seemed to be daring voters to reject him. It was as if he were conducting a real-life political science experiment, testing the limits of how far a politician could go and still get re-elected in a competitive battleground state.

The incumbent didn’t just thumb his nose at economic development in his own state, he also concocted a weird conspiracy theory about the FBI, which he foolishly claimed had tried to “set him up.” Johnson moved sharply to the right on Social Security and Medicare, endorsing a plan that would put the programs in jeopardy. His Jan. 6 antics made the Republican a national laughingstock. He wouldn’t even commit to accepting the legitimacy of Wisconsin’s election results.

With just a few weeks remaining in the cycle, the editorial board of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published a thorough takedown of Johnson’s career, adding that the far-right incumbent “is the worst Wisconsin political representative since the infamous Sen. Joseph McCarthy.”

And yet, Johnson won anyway, overcoming his embarrassing record and lack of accomplishments, defeating Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes by a single percentage point — even as Wisconsin’s Democratic governor, Tony Evers, simultaneously won re-election by a wider margin.

The GOP senator who occasionally seemed as if he were trying to lose nevertheless earned a third term — at which point Johnson whined some more.

The conservative Washington Times reported yesterday, “Sen. Ron Johnson blasted his Democratic opponent Mandela Barnes for a long wait to concede the race clear when it was clearly breaking for the incumbent.” It’s not that Barnes refused to accept the results; it’s that Johnson was bothered by the fact that Barnes didn’t concede fast enough to satisfy the senator.

The Republican also slammed the “corporate media” for not calling the race as quickly as he would’ve liked.

Last night, Johnson appeared on Fox News, thanked Sean Hannity for the host’s “crucial” campaign support, and proceeded to whine some more.

“[T]he media is completely allied against us, as is our education system. ... But I think maybe more than anything, Democrats have no problem lying. The president lies. President Obama lies. My opponent lied. And, of course, the media amplifies those same lies. And let’s face it, lies taint you. So it’s very effective. You know, we won this campaign, we won this race, because I told the truth. But, again, those lies — when you have a political party that has no problem lying, where they figure the end justifies the means, unfortunately, that has impact in politics.”

Remember, this is the guy who didn't come up short on Election Day.

Johnson made clear that he wasn’t prepared to lose gracefully. Evidently, he doesn’t believe in winning gracefully, either.

By Steve Benen

Ron Johnson made clear that he wasn’t prepared to lose gracefully. Evidently, he doesn’t believe in winning gracefully, either.

04/11/2022

Wisconsin GOP Sen. Ron Johnson was asked a simple question on the campaign trail this week: Would he commit to accepting the results of next week's midterm elections?

His answer was anything but simple.

"I sure hope I can, but I can't predict what the Democrats might have planned," Johnson said. "You know, we're not trying to do anything to gain partisan advantage, we're just doing whatever we can to restore confidence. It sure seems like there's an awful lot of, in the past, a lot of attempts on the part of Democrats to make it easier to cheat."

Which is not "yes." Or anything close to it.

Johnson, who is running for reelection against Democratic Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, offered no actual evidence to back up his claim that there had been "a lot of attempts on the part of Democrats to make it easier to cheat."

Johnson was asked the question, at least in part, because on Thursday a top Milwaukee election official was fired after allegedly requesting military ballots for fake voters and sending them to a Republican state lawmaker.

This is far from the only time over the last few years that Johnson has dabbled in conspiracy theories. Consider:

* Johnson suggested that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (and House Democrats) voted to impeach Donald Trump for his role in the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol as a way to cover up her own culpability for what happened that day. (There's no evidence to back up that claim.)

* Johnson said that he saw no evidence that January 6 was an "armed insurrection." (There's lot of evidence it was.)

* In a Senate hearing on the Capitol attack, Johnson read excerpts of a piece by J. Michael Waller, which ran in The Federalist on January 14, 2021, claiming that "a small number of cadre appeared to use the cover of a huge rally to stage its attack," and suggesting that these "agents-provocateurs" were a) not Trump supporters and b) were primarily responsible for the violent storming of the Capitol. (There's zero evidence to back up that claim.)

* Johnson suggested at a 2021 virtual town hall that mouthwash was a potentially effective treatment to combat being infected with Covid. "By the way, standard gargle mouthwash, has been proven to kill the coronavirus," Johnson said. "If you get it, you may reduce viral replication. Why not try all these things?" (Nope!)

And while Johnson did not vote to decertify the 2020 election results, the House committee investigating January 6 revealed that Johnson's chief of staff had attempted to coordinate the hand-off of a slate of fake electors from Michigan and Wisconsin to Vice President Mike Pence. Johnson has said his involvement only lasted "a matter of seconds."

There's more -- plenty more -- but you get the idea. Johnson is someone who doesn't just dabble in conspiracy theories, he bathes in them. And so, it's not terribly surprising that Johnson is already sowing doubts about the coming election.

But what his wishy-washy answer on accepting the results should tell you is that the notion that the 2022 election will be free of claims of fraud from Republicans is a fantasy.

The same people who continue to re-litigate the 2020 election will view 2022 in the same light -- particularly (but not exclusively) if their preferred candidate loses. Election denialism about 2020 will move seamlessly into election denialism about 2022.

By Chris Cillizza

Wisconsin GOP Sen. Ron Johnson was asked a simple question on the campaign trail this week: Would he commit to accepting the results of next week's midterm elections?

19/10/2022

The House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol has established that Donald Trump was the central figure in a coup attempt that sought to install Trump as an illegitimate pretender president for a term he did not win. The committee has done the meticulous work of placing the former president at the center of a conspiracy to upend democracy that involved not just Trump and his closest aides, but also key figures in Congress and the states — and Republican candidates such as Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson.

The committee has subpoenaed Trump, and it will eventually issue recommendations for how to address the damage done by Jan. 6 conspirators and their partisan allies.

But the ultimate power to demand and obtain accountability rests with the voters.

They can, on Nov. 8, rebuke charlatans such as Johnson and insurrectionist congressional candidate Derrick Van Orden, along with all the other Big Lie Republicans who have placed their loyalty to Trump ahead of their commitment to the U.S. Constitution and the rule of law.

But for that to happen, Democrats must make it clear that what happened on Jan. 6, 2021, can and should be understood as a 2022 election issue.

Of course, there are other issues candidates must address — abortion rights, price gouging and inflation, the lingering effects of the coronavirus pandemic, and an increasingly unstable international circumstance. But to neglect the role that Trump-aligned Republicans have already played in assaulting democracy would be political malpractice.

What happened on Jan. 6 was jarring in and of itself. But the shock to the system did not begin or end on that day. It pointed to threats to democracy that have only become more significant as the midterms approach. Dozens of insurrectionists — extreme right-wing activists who went to Washington at Trump’s behest and who were at or near the Capitol when it was attacked by his supporters — are running as Republicans for top posts in states across the country. They need to be called out in stark, unapologetic terms. So, too, do their allies and apologists.

State Sen. Brad Pfaff, the Democrat who is running against Van Orden for the open Third Congressional District seat in western Wisconsin, recognizes the importance — and the political potency — of an accountability message.

Pfaff’s campaign just released a TV ad featuring U.S. Army veteran Ga***rd Oppegard speaking about the fact that Van Orden traveled to Washington on Jan. 6, rallied with Trump and allegedly was on U.S. Capitol grounds as the violent assault on democracy played out.

“I’m a veteran. I know what it looks like to love your country, and this isn’t it,” says Oppegard, as images of protesters clashing with Capitol police during the attack are shown.

“Derrick Van Orden was on the Capitol grounds on Jan. 6. He broke past the police barricades and was part of a riot that injured over 100 cops, and some of them ended up dying,” adds Oppegard, while a photo of Van Orden on the Capitol grounds appears on the screen.

“Now he wants us to believe he’s a patriot? Mr. Van Orden, patriots defend their country — they don’t try to burn it down.”

Pfaff is not the only candidate who is raising the insurrection issue.

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mandela Barnes focused on the coup attempt during his first debate with Johnson — to devastating effect.

After the millionaire incumbent attacked Barnes for supporting cash bail reform to assure that nonviolent offenders aren’t jailed simply because they lack the money to pay for bail, the Democrat explained why the reform is a matter of equity. He said, “Now, Sen. Johnson may not have encountered a problem he could not buy his way out of, but that’s not a reality for the majority of the people in this state.”

That threw Johnson for a loop, and he tried to suggest that Barnes’s policies were disrespectful toward the police. The Republican claimed he went out of his way to show that respect. Barnes replied: “The senator, on the last question, did mention police officers. Now, with that being said, I’m sure that he didn’t have the same interaction with the 140 officers that were injured during the Jan. 6 insurrection. One officer was stabbed with a metal stake. Another crushed in a revolving door. Another hit in the head with a fire extinguisher. So when we talk about respect for law enforcement, let’s talk about the 140 officers that he left behind — because of an insurrection that he supported.”

When the senator — who tried to deliver slates of fake electors to former Vice President Mike Pence — attempted to downplay the seriousness of the violence on Jan. 6, Barnes was ready. “He may not have noticed that an insurrection was happening because he called those people ‘patriots,’" said the Democrat. "He called them ‘tourists.’ These are the folks that he supported. This an act that he supported. He can make whatever comparisons he wants to. But the reality is, this was an attempted overthrow of the government by trying to overturn a free and fair election.”

That is the truth about Trump conspirators, allies and apologists such as Ron Johnson and Derrick Van Orden.

Voters need to be reminded of it — again and again — as Nov. 8 approaches.

By John Nichols

The same goes for Brad Pfaff in his race with Trump-backed Derrick Van Orden.

19/10/2022

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson's campaign has paid more than $20,000 to a Wisconsin law firm that assisted former President Donald Trump's campaign attempt to overturn the state's 2020 presidential election results. The firm's principal, Jim Troupis, has also been implicated along with Johnson in Trump's scheme to send fake electors to the U.S. Capitol.

It's a sign the senator may be gearing up for a potential legal battle should his reelection campaign come down to a recount.

UW-Madison Political Science professor and director of the Elections Research Center, Barry Burden told Wisconsin Public Radio it's not unusual for high profile campaigns to bring on legal counsel to prepare for such a possibility. But he said it's notable Johnson picked an attorney who was involved with 2020 lawsuits, "some of which had a frivolous aspects to them."

"Jim Troupis is a well-established attorney," Burden said. "He's been involved with elections in Wisconsin well before Trump was on the scene. But he is connected to this movement and he did have some role in trying to forward the names of fake electors through Sen. Ron Johnson's office. ... That makes him an unusual person among the attorneys campaigns normally pick up to help with recounts and other legal issues."

Federal Election Commission filings show Johnson's campaign retained Troupis Law Office of Cross Plains for legal consulting in July and consultation on a potential recount in August. The campaign paid a total of $20,287.50 to the firm.

Troupis is a longtime GOP lawyer in Wisconsin who was at the forefront of a Trump campaign lawsuit in Dec. 2020 that sought to overturn the state's presidential election results that year by throwing out more than 220,000 absentee ballots cast in Dane and Milwaukee counties.

The lawsuit alleged, among other things, that the Wisconsin Elections Commission violated state law by offering guidance recommending clerks correct incomplete witness addresses on absentee ballot envelopes when they could verify the correct information. That guidance had been in place since 2016. The Wisconsin Supreme Court denied the challenge because it was filed after the 2020 election.

Last month, a Waukesha County Judge ruled clerks are not allowed to fill in the missing witness address information. That ruling has been appealed. Another lawsuit filed by the Wisconsin League of Women Voters aims to allow clerks to accept ballots with incomplete witness information.

Troupis and Johnson have also been implicated in a Trump campaign scheme to deliver slates of fake electoral ballots from Wisconsin and Michigan to former Vice President Mike Pence on Jan. 6, the day Trump supporters led an insurrection aimed at stopping certification of President Joe Biden's 2020 election win.

A Nov. 18, 2020 memo sent by Trump attorney Kenneth Chesebro to Troupis outlined the "alternate elector" strategy to have Republicans cast ballots on Dec. 14, 2020 in hopes of contesting election results. FEC records show Chesebro donated $5,800 to Johnson's campaign in May.

During a June hearing of congressional committee investigating the insurrection, members highlighted text messages sent by Johnson's former chief of staff Sean Riley to Pence aide Chris Hodgson that stated "Johnson needs to hand something to VPOTUS" before electoral ballots were certified. When asked what it was, Riley responded "Alternate slate of electors for MI and WI because archivist didn't receive them." Hodgson told Riley, "Do not give that to him."

Johnson has downplayed his role in the fake electors scheme, claiming that his involvement was limited to introducing Troupis to his chief of staff via text messages. He has also claimed he didn't know what the Trump campaign wanted delivered to Pence that day.

Troupis has represented numerous Republican clients and conservative causes prior to his work with the Trump campaign. In 2011, he represented former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser amid a statewide recount.

David Becker, executive director and founder of the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation and Research, told WPR he couldn't comment directly on the Johnson campaign's hiring of Troupis. But he said both Republican and Democratic candidates in tight elections "have lined up attorneys" ahead of Nov. 8.

"It's actually prudent if you are thinking about it," said Becker. "If there's going to be a very, very close election, you want to be ready to make sure that you're prepared to argue your case in court under the process that was established before the election."

Democratic Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes' campaign quickly criticized Johnson's decision to retain Troupis and said "Johnson has refused to commit to accepting the results of this election" in a press release on Monday.

Johnson's campaign did not respond to requests for comment for this story, nor did an attorney representing Troupis in a lawsuit filed by Democrats over the fake elector scheme.

By Rich Kremer

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson's campaign has hired a law firm lead by attorney Jim Troupis, who assisted former President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn Wisconsin's 2020 election results. Troupis and Johnson have also been tied to the Trump campaign's fake elector scheme aimed at contesting certificatio...

14/10/2022

During Wisconsin's final Senate debate Thursday night, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson made a comment that surprised many in attendance.

"The FBI set me up with a corrupt briefing and then leaked that to smear me," the Oshkosh Republican said.

The remark drew laughs from the crowd as Johnson explained he's been trying to uncover and expose alleged corruption within the FBI.

Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, who is trailing Johnson with less than a month until election day, quickly made T-shirts of Johnson's quote in an attempt to raise campaign funds.

More:Five takeaways from second Wisconsin U.S. Senate debate between Ron Johnson, Mandela Barnes

Johnson's comment came after Barnes claimed Johnson "had to be sat down by the FBI and warned that he may be a Russian asset. We cannot trust Sen. Johnson to protect democracy abroad because we can't even trust Sen. Johnson to protect democracy here at home."

Here's what we know about the matter.

♦️Disinformation warning came in 2020♦️

It is true that the FBI in August 2020, months before the election, warned Johnson that he could be a target for Russian disinformation. But Johnson has dismissed that warning as a ploy.

Johnson, who is seeking his third term, has said the FBI briefing didn't include specifics and that he already knew of the threat from Russia. He said he believed he was being given the briefing so it could be used against him later.

That briefing came as Johnson had spent much of 2019 and 2020 — when he was chair of the Homeland Security Committee — investigating the activities of Hunter Biden, the son of now-President Joe Biden who sat on the board of a Ukrainian energy company.

He also looked into whether Ukraine had interfered in the 2016 election.

(U.S. intelligence agencies determined Russia intervened in the 2016 election and that Russia tried to blame the election interference on Ukraine.)

"I asked the briefers what specific evidence they had regarding this warning, and they could not provide me anything other than the generalized warning," Johnson told the Washington Post last year. Without specific information, I felt the briefing was completely useless and unnecessary (since I was fully aware of the dangers of Russian disinformation)."

The briefing also came weeks after Democratic leaders in Congress told the FBI they feared Johnson's investigation was part of a Russian disinformation campaign.

Johnson and his staff in 2019 met with Ukrainian diplomat Andriy Telizhenko as the senator pursued the theory that Ukraine had interfered in the 2016 election.

The U.S. State Department later sanctioned Telizhenko and six others for attempting to undermine Biden's candidacy.

The sanctions led Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon to say Johnson's investigation of Biden was "based on Russian disinformation." Johnson has said he vetted the information Telizhenko provided before using it.

♦️Johnson made a much-criticized trip to Russia♦️

Johnson has also been criticized by opponents for his 2018 trip to Russia with other congressional Republicans in which he spent the July 4 holiday in the country.

Johnson at the time said senators "brought up" Russia's meddling in the election and called Russia an adversary. But he also indicated there should be dialogue between the two nations.

"This is an important relationship," Johnson said that month. "Russia is not going away."

By Lawrence Andrea

Ron Johnson's claim during Thursday's Senate debate that the FBI "set me up" dates back to an August 2020 briefing related to Russian disinformation.

13/10/2022

He’s an election falsifier who recklessly promoted lies about the 2020 presidential race long after it was clear Donald Trump lost.

He’s a science fabulist who suggested, without evidence, that the COVID-19 vaccines could make the pandemic worse and who repeatedly touted unproven remedies for the disease — from Ivermectin to mouthwash.

He's tried to rewrite the sordid history of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, claiming the attackers were "people that love this country, that truly respect law enforcement, would never do anything to break the law."

He suggested the government should rewrite the rules for the two government programs seniors rely on most — Medicare and Social Security — making them subject to annual political fights in Congress rather than mandatory payments as promised.

For years, Ron Johnson has demonstrated that he should be retired to his family's seaside Florida home — and not representing Wisconsin in the U.S. Senate. Voters should send him packing this November.

➡️Here are eight reasons:

♦️He wants to upend Medicare and Social Security♦️

Johnson said recently that Medicare and Social Security should be subject to annual budget deliberations, which would be a drastic change for a pair of essential social insurance programs and could put them at risk.

Americans pay into both programs and qualify for benefits when they reach retirement age. They are set up like insurance plans and offer a guaranteed benefit. That's why they are treated by the government as mandatory spending. Treating them as “discretionary spending” would subject them to annual partisan squabbles and could put the guarantees promised to seniors at risk.

Though there are legitimate concerns about future funding of both programs, neither is in imminent danger. Medicare is funded through 2028 and Social Security through 2035, according to government projections. In the past, Congress has been willing to work out solutions rather than continually blast campaign rhetoric. It has resolved funding problems without resorting to drastic steps.

♦️His office was involved in Trump's ‘fake elector’ scheme♦️

Johnson's office was involved in an attempt to pass a document regarding “Wisconsin electors” to then Vice President Mike Pence just minutes before Congress was to ceremonially certify the election on Jan. 6. Johnson’s explanations for what happened — and for what he and his staff knew — don’t add up.

Trump and his lawyers were pushing a wild scheme to replace authentic electors — the people selected based on citizens' votes — with sycophants who would flip the results in battleground states to Trump. That corrupt plan could have erased the choice made by voters and potentially handed the presidency to Trump if enough swing states flipped. Trump lost the popular vote by 7 million votes nationwide and in the Electoral College 306-232. The Trump scheme was treasonous.

♦️He refused to tell the truth about the 2020 presidential election♦️

Johnson spent weeks questioning the validity of the election despite evidence showing conclusively that Joe Biden had won the presidency. He held a one-sided hearing allowing Trump’s lawyers to air allegations of fraud that had already been rejected by dozens of courtrooms across America, including both Republican and Democratic judges and even federal judges appointed by Trump.

Johnson’s role in amplifying lies about the election — including his threat to challenge the ceremonial counting of electoral votes in Congress — encouraged Trump supporters to believe the result could be overturned and contributed to the tragedy at the Capitol.

On Jan. 6, 2021, Johnson did not vote against objections to Joe Biden's victories in Arizona and Pennsylvania after the deadly sacking of the U.S. Capitol interrupted Congress' tallying of Electoral College votes. Up until the insurrection, Johnson publicly stated he intended to vote in favor of challenges to state-certified votes.

Johnson knew better.

About two weeks after the election, he acknowledged that Joe Biden had won the election, according to the former Brown County Republican chairman. And in August of 2021, Johnson was recorded saying that Trump lost Wisconsin simply because he underperformed other Republicans on the same ballots in the same election. "He didn’t get 51,000 votes that other Republicans got, and that’s why he lost," Johnson said.

Now Johnson refuses to say whether he would accept the outcome of the November election once the results are certified, the Wisconsin State Journal reports.

We cannot elect people to office who do not honor the results of elections and still expect to hold onto our democratic republic. It's that simple. Even citizens who don't like his opponent should withhold their vote for Johnson on this point alone — to ensure our government derives its power from the consent of the governed.

To ensure, as Republican President Abraham Lincoln put it, "that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth."

♦️He repeatedly downplayed the seriousness of the attack on the U.S. Capitol♦️

Johnson claimed the rampage "didn’t seem like an armed insurrection.” This was despite the fact that five people died, rioters called for the deaths of Vice President Mike Pence and leaders of Congress, weapons were found on attackers and stashed nearby, and organized white nationalists led violent charges against Capitol Police and forced their way into the building, using flagpoles, bear spray, fire extinguishers and other blunt objects as weapons.

Johnson later said those who attacked the Capitol, “were people that love this country, that truly respect law enforcement, would never do anything to break the law.” If that wasn’t bad enough, he added this racist remark: If the protesters had been “Black Lives Matter and Antifa protesters,” he said. “I might have been a little concerned.”

With a wink and a nod, Johnson was voicing support for the white supremacists who led the attack on the Capitol.

It's worth noting: One of the people at the scene that day, a top lieutenant to the Proud Boys chairman, pleaded guilty last week to seditious conspiracy in connection with the riot at the Capitol.

♦️He made sure his ultra-wealthy donors got a giant tax break♦️

Johnson forced changes to the 2017 Republican tax overhaul that benefitted some of the nation’s wealthiest people, including himself and his own donors.

In 2021, ProPublica revealed how Wisconsin’s Republican senator ensured donors got a massive tax break in a bill the party claimed was a “middle-class tax cut.” Thanks to Johnson's last-minute threat to vote against the legislation, a huge portion of its billions in savings ended up going to just 82 of America's wealthiest families.

Three of the senator's top donors — billionaires Diane Hendricks and Dick and Liz Uihlein — were on the short list of those who gained the most. ProPublica reported that the tax break Johnson muscled through "could deliver more than half a billion in tax savings for Hendricks and the Uihleins over its eight-year life."

And now, as Johnson comes under criticism during his reelection campaign for leveraging a tax break for the uber-wealthy who need it least, he accuses his critics of "class envy."

Hendricks and the Uihleins continue to invest in Johnson, funding attack ads against his challenger, Democrat Mandela Barnes.

♦️He has displayed a stunning lack of interest in creating jobs in the state he represents♦️

After Oshkosh Corp. said in June it intended to make vehicles for the U.S. Postal Service at a new facility in Spartanburg, S.C., U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin and others stepped in to try to bring those 1,000 jobs to Wisconsin.

Johnson stepped aside.

"It's not like we don't have enough jobs here in Wisconsin," Johnson said. He said the company was best suited to decide where to locate the jobs.

"I wouldn't insert myself to demand that anything be manufactured here using federal funds in Wisconsin," Johnson said.

♦️He was a super spreader of disinformation during the pandemic♦️

Johnson used his perch as a U.S. Senate committee chair to promote the use of Ivermectin as a coronavirus therapy even though the manufacturer itself said there was no evidence it worked. He touted the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine as a treatment though studies found it wasn’t effective.

Johnson questioned the need for masks — and later questioned the safety of COVID vaccines themselves and declined to be vaccinated, even though all the evidence has shown masks help slow the spread of disease and that the vaccines are safe and effective.

Johnson asserted that gargling with mouthwash can kill the virus that causes COVID-19, an outlandish claim the makers of Listerine and medical experts quickly debunked.

Johnson claimed "athletes are dropping dead on the field" after receiving the COVID-19 vaccination, an utter fabrication.

And he falsely claimed that unvaccinated people around the world were being put into “internment camps,” earning him a “Pants on Fire” rating from PolitiFact.

♦️He’s a climate change denier♦️

From his first run for office in 2010, Johnson has thought that he knew better than the vast majority of scientists who study climate change.

During a meeting with this editorial board that year, Johnson claimed the impact of humans on the climate hadn’t been proven. It was “far more likely,” he said then, that “it was sunspot activity or something just in the geologic eons of time where we have changes in the climate.”

And last year, he told a Republican group, "I don't know about you guys, but I think climate change is — as Lord Monckton said — bu****it."

In fact, more than 99.9% of peer-reviewed scientific papers agree that climate change is mainly caused by humans burning fossil fuels and increasing the amount of carbon and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, according to a 2021 survey of 88,125 climate-related studies.

It should come as no surprise that Johnson has taken hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from people employed by or associated with the fossil fuel industry.

➡️The bottom line

You'll notice Johnson is not touting a long record of accomplishments in his ads for re-election. Instead, he and his supporters have attacked his opponent — a Black man — as "different" and "dangerous."

So, what has Johnson delivered for Wisconsin after 12 years in the Senate (the equivalent of three presidential terms)?

Earlier this year, he touted two accomplishments:

• The Trump tax cut that he, in fact, blocked until it was amended to deliver enormous new breaks for his top donors and 80 other ultrawealthy American households.

• A 2018 "Right-to-Try bill" that allows terminally ill patients to try experimental treatments not yet approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

In fact, Ron Johnson is the worst Wisconsin political representative since the infamous Sen. Joseph McCarthy. Johnson in the past promised to serve no more than two terms. Voters should hold him to that pledge in November.

From casting doubt on the 2020 election to recommending gargling with mouthwash to kill COVID, the Republican has embarrassed the state repeatedly.