Elections have consequences — and so does trying to overthrow the government when you don’t like the results of those elections.
Ron Johnson, along with Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz, led the way in calling for the overturning of the presidential election. In fact, while Hawley and Cruz spoke on the Senate floor before the right-wing terrorist attack on Congress interrupted the proceedings, it was Johnson who pushed the hardest for the failed sedition, using bogus “election fraud” hearings and appearances on TV (including an inexplicable invitation to Meet the Press) to spread his lies.
Now, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, the largest paper in Wisconsin, is calling for his expulsion, along with two other members of the state’s Congressional delegation. They call for the ouster several times in the piece, with devastating and very clear reasoning:
Johnson is a leading member of the Senate's Sedition Caucus, which is shepherded by the odious Josh Hawley of Missouri. This group threatened to challenge the counting of Electoral College votes even though there was no evidence of fraud, even though dozens of lawsuits to overturn the election had failed for lack of evidence in both state and federal courts, and even though all votes had been certified by the states, some after recounts.
Johnson, Fitzgerald and Tiffany are cowardly, and they represent a virulent strain of politics that is an existential threat to democracy. In its early days, it was sometimes carried in the bloodstream of the Tea Party movement. But it found its truest expression in the rise and fall of Donald Trump.
Johnson had the delusional obstinance to claim he and Trump bore no responsibility for the mob attack on the Capitol and Congress, which was spurred by their repeated lies and false claims about the election.
For Ron Johnson, this was just the latest act of treachery against the American people. The disgraced senator spent all of 2020 working to prop up Donald Trump in any way he could, from battling all COVID-19 relief and healthy & safety restrictions (he said we overreacted to a virus that has killed 360,000 Americans) to pushing conspiracy theories about Hunter Biden, voting, and bad COVID treatments.
Thankfully, Johnson already has a strong Democratic opponent running against him in 2022. Tom Nelson, a progressive County Executive (a big role in Wisconsin) has been elected six times in a red district, and even before the insurrection had called for Johnson to resign. And he posted this statement yesterday:
Even as I write this, Donald Trump just supported the armed terrorists who stormed the Capitol on Wednesday. Ron Johnson hasn’t said a word about them. Republicans like him really aren’t accomplices so much as they are active co-leaders in this seditious plot to overthrow the country.
We know they have no shame and that the margins in DC are too narrow to have them kicked out (and let’s face it, Dem leadership reluctant to even impeach Trump — they’re talking about midweek next week — isn’t going to do it anyway). So it’s up to us to help boot these traitors from office when their next elections come up.
Ron Johnson is up first, in 2022. Tom Nelson is a progressive candidate, lifelong Wisconsinite (unlike other potential candidates there), and has won consistently in red territory. He’s the guy to back, ASAP. Fueling his campaign now will help build him build the case against Johnson. I’m happy to be helping his campaign out, mostly as a volunteer making videos, and I know Tom would love your help, too.
CLICK HERE to Donate to Tom Nelson’s campaign against Ron Johnson!
PS. I run a progressive political newsletter that has raised over $5.8 million for progressive Democratic candidates and causes since 2017. I interview candidates, organizers, experts, and other leading progressives, while also providing insight on state and local races. I’ll have a big interview with a right-wing extremism expert on Sunday. You can subscribe to the newsletter here!