Should you have been following Senator Ron Johnson’s (R-WI) actions over the past four years, you might conclude that Wisconsin is a very red state. Senator Johnson has made clear that he is a staunch supporter of former President Trump and has gone out of his way to defend the former President when even some of his Republican colleagues have not.
While Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, Senator Johnson used his power to investigate then candidate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, with regard to Ukraine. Despite tarnishing Biden’s name by claiming for weeks that his report would find Biden “unfitness for office,” Senator Johnson’s final report found no evidence of wrongdoing by Biden. Furthermore, all 10 witnesses interviewed by investigators testified that Biden did not alter American foreign policy because of his son’s work.
In 2018, Senator Johnson claimed that an informant told him there was a “secret society” in the Department of Justice and the FBI working to undermine the Trump Administration. Senator Johnson called for a second special counsel to investigate the FBI probe into whether the Trump campaign had ties to Russia. However, in less than 24 hours, Senator Johnson walked back his “secret society” informant allegation and claimed that he did not know “what they meant.”
Unfortunately, Senator Johnson’s shenanigans did not stop there. Two days after the electoral college confirmed President-elect Biden's victory, Senator Johnson used his committee chairmanship to promote false claims of widespread voter fraud that had already been rejected by the courts.
Despite Senator Johnson’s best efforts to push a false narrative about voter fraud, Chris Krebs, the Trump administration’s former cybersecurity head, testified that the election was the most secure in American history. In addition, Trump’s Attorney General, William Barr, said that the Department of Justice uncovered no evidence of widespread voter fraud that could change the outcome of the election.
However, likely the most egregious behavior of Senator Johnson has been his insistence on defending the Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol during the certification of the electoral college votes confirming Biden's win over Trump.
The Trump incited riot left five individuals dead, including a Capitol Police Officer, and was the first attack on the U.S. Capital since the British burned the beacon of democracy in August of 1814.
Inexplicitly, Senator Johnson suggested that the Capitol riot by Trump supporters was the fault of Speaker Pelosi (D-CA).
“Is this another diversionary operation? Is this meant to deflect away from potentially what the speaker knew and when she knew it? I don’t know, but I’m suspicious,” Senator Johnson said after the Capitol was attacked.
Following his failed attempt to blame the Capitol riot on Speaker Pelosi, Senator Johnson tried a different tack - downplay the insurrection. Shortly after voting to acquit former President Trump in his second impeachment trial, Senator Johnson said on conservative talk radio that what happened at the Capitol, “didn’t seem like an armed insurrection to me.”
Of course, as captured by numerous cameras, there was an armed insurrection at the Capitol on January 6 and numerous law enforcement officials said in court documents that bombs, guns, excess ammunition and other weapons were found on rioters.
Despite Senator Johnson dedicating the last four years to a full throttle defense of Trump and a multipronged attack on Biden, Wisconsin is far from a deep red state.
Since 1988, the Republican presidential nominee has only won the state of Wisconsin once, in 2016. And while former President Trump was the first Republican presidential candidate to win Wisconsin in almost 30 years, he won the state by less than one percent of the vote.
Liberals might also have the impression that Wisconsin is a deep red state because recently Wisconsin has been home to some of the most high profile Republicans in America. Former Speaker of the House and onetime Vice Presidential nominee, Paul Ryan is from Janesville, Wisconsin and former Trump White House Chief of Staff and Chairman of the RNC, Reince Priebus is from Kenosha, Wisconsin.
However today, Senator Johnson is the only statewide elected Republican in Wisconsin. In 2018, Democrat Tony Evers defeated the incumbent Governor, Scott Walker, by about 29,000 votes and in 2020, Biden defeated former President Trump in Wisconsin by about 20,600 votes.
Hence the political conundrum: Why has Senator Johnson so closely aligned himself with Trump and nonsensical conspiracy theories that do nothing to help his constituents? While the decision to align himself with Trump might help Senator Johnson in a potential primary, general election voters, who just voted for a Democratic Governor and President, will certainly question if Johnson is their Senator or Trump’s defense lawyer. This is obviously not to say that the battleground state of Wisconsin is a shoo-in for Democrats, but rather Republicans would be wise to ditch Senator Johnson and run a more traditional, perhaps moderate candidate, who is not determined to defend a lawless former president and use taxpayer funds to launch frivolous investigations into Democrats and the underpinnings of democracy.
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