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Today, if Johnson bothers to show up for the impeachment trial, he’ll hear a flimsy defense of the indefensible. Then he faces an existential, character-defining choice: Country and Constitution, or party and personal power. We have a guess. But first, let’s review some clues.
Just a couple of days before the impeachment trial began, Ron Johnson said that there was “no reason” to hold the trial—and that barring Trump from ever holding federal public office again would “pre-emptively” disenfranchise people. https://www.wisn.com/article/upfront-recap-us-sen-ron-johnson-says-theres-no-reason-to-impeach-trump/35438003
Ron Johnson knows something about disenfranchisement. In fact, he’s a big fan of it. He sought to disenfranchise millions of voters who chose Biden, spreading lies and fueling the fire of the January 6th insurrection.
He went on Fox News to claim there was voter fraud, that “millions of Americans have suspicions,” and made accusations about the validity of absentee ballots. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/sen-ron-johnson-challenge-2020-election-results-blind-eye
Johnson went on in that same interview to explicitly call for Congress to “delay accepting a particular state’s electors.” He announced that he was going to vote against accepting Arizona’s electors, feeding the fury of the Jan 6th insurrectionists.
After the devastating attack on the Capitol, Johnson backtracked his initial intention to vote against the certification of the Electoral College, saying that he had only wanted to “have the debate” and that we have to “respect the rule of law.”
This was particularly shameless given his previous call to delay accepting the election result “until we actually investigate.” https://www.iheart.com/podcast/139-vicki-mckenna-27246267/episode/the-vicki-mckenna-show-billboards-76230183/?cmp=web_share&embed=true
On a right-wing radio interview, Johnson said that convicting Trump on impeachment would “overturn the wishes of future voters.”
Again: Johnson is enthusiastic about overturning the wishes of current voters. What he cares about is just the past, present, and future voters who might support *him.* Democracy be damned.
Weeks later, Johnson was getting ready for the 2nd impeachment trial of Trump. Out of nowhere, he casually threw out a wild, baseless claim: that impeaching Trump is a “diversionary operation” to deflect from Speaker Pelosi being the one to blame for the Capitol violence. Um?
If this sounds offensively unreal to you, well, it is. But it’s totally on-brand for Johnson. https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2021/2/7/22271351/senate-impeachment-republicans-ron-johnson
Johnson has argued for years that the FBI’s investigation into Russia’s support for Trump, and everything that came after it, was all a “diversionary operation” to cover up for the FBI exonerating Hillary Clinton from supposed email crimes. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=3235104243206350
(Speaking of diversionary tactics, Johnson does not fail to bring up Hillary Clinton every chance he gets) https://twitter.com/mmcauliff/status/1359577525366759427
Early last year, Johnson accused the deep state and the Obama Administration of “an attempted coup” against the incoming Trump Administration, “rather than that peaceful transition of power.” Hmm, if only there were a clearer example of an attempted coup. https://radiopublic.com/the-jay-weber-show-G4brDd/s1!4b7c0
Even after all the division that Ron Johnson has caused and is personally responsible for, he is now arguing that Congress doing its duty to impeach Trump somehow betrays President Biden’s promise to unify America. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/senator-ron-johnson-tells-joe-biden-to-choose-trumps-impeachment-trial-or-his-cabinet/ar-BB1cZprH?li=BBnb7Kz
Oh, and speaking of unity: prior to the 2020 election, Johnson claimed, at a Janesville Trump rally, that the country would be unrecognizable if Joe Biden won and that Biden supporters “don’t particularly love America.” Where’s the healing spirit, Ron? https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/24/us/politics/ivanka-trump.html
*Cue petty video of Johnson saying he has “nothing to congratulate him for” after being asked about Biden’s win* https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1326237779848802304
Johnson has said that impeaching Trump the second time around would be unconstitutional, but he’s never really specific about it. His only argument is that Trump has left office. Which, as @RepRaskin devastatingly proved, is no argument at all. https://twitter.com/nowthisnews/status/1359669228987584517
Ron Johnson fanned conspiracy theories, threatened our democracy, watched Trump incite an insurrection, blamed Pelosi, and now says if Trump is convicted—and barred from running again—it would “disenfranchise future voters.”
So, to conclude, we don’t know for 100% certain how Johnson will vote on conviction on the article of impeachment. But one thing is clear: Ron Johnson, @TheWorstSenator, needs to resign. If he doesn’t, we’ll vote him out.
Chip in to help us do it: https://wisdems.org/Donate-Defeat-Ron-Johnson
Chip in to help us do it: https://wisdems.org/Donate-Defeat-Ron-Johnson
