Thursday, January 16, 2020

Ron Johnson again plays the demagogue. And a sweet insider's hand.

Our Trump-loving senior Senator serves up a special blend of hypocrisies, red-baiting and self-interest :

"I'm not a socialist," says the Wisconsin GOP pol in his tenth year enjoying millions of dollars annually in publicly-paid salary, free travel, staff budgets, and access to other perks obscure and treasured:
Federal legislators are permitted to park for free at Reagan National, in garages and lots used by passengers. Records obtained by the I-Team under the Freedom of Information Act show members of Congress used the free parking benefit hundreds of times in 2015, costing taxpayers more than $132,000. 
"While it may not seem like a major perk, it is still one of the coveted benefits of being a member of Congress," said David Williams of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance.
And had run a private business (in which he retains some interests) which twice received millions in publicly-subsidized low-interest loans.

And which also received a public grant to build a rail line to the business:
...a separate $75,000 federal grant...went to the company that was the precursor to Pacur. Wisconsin Industrial Shipping Supplies Inc. received the money in 1979 to build a railroad line to the company, which was renamed Pacur several months later.
And let's not forget Johnson's more recent vote
Ron Johnson, official portrait, 112th Congress.jpg
that saved Trump's tax 'reform' plan after a successful bargaining stance which The Washington Post had framed this way:
Sen. Johnson is a ‘no’ on the tax bill. He says it hurts businesses (like his own).
And throw in his empathy-free penchant for cruelty and you've got a worthy competitor to tail-gunner Joe McCarthy as Worst Wisconsin Senator, Ever. 

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

James, you are on right target with putting RoJo in the running for worst WI senator ever. He has compiled an incredible record of ignoring constituent’s needs as he pursues his ideal of an unfettered free market in America, with exceptions for increased socialism for the corporate “citizens.” I’m only 66, so did not personally experience McCarthy’s red madness, but in my lifetime Johnson is in hot pursuit of the prize. Anyone who blindly follows and exalts Trump would be.

Maynard McKillen said...

Anonymous is right on target.

I'll add that Johnson has undiagnosed cognitive deficits, much like Scott Walker, coupled with information processing deficits. These deficits prevent Johnson from forming coherent schema to explain phenomena, and prevent him from mastering, much less describing, cause and effect relationships.

Ron Johnson is the fool who embarrassed Wisconsin by bloviating loudly, during an interview, about an absurd, truly idiotic conspiracy theory:

"In an interview with Newsmax on October 16th, 2014, Ron Johnson participated in the GOP’s fear-mongering about the Ebola virus prior to the 2014 elections, claiming that it was a “clear and present danger” that ISIS might purposely infect its own followers with the disease, and come to the United States to deliberately spread it. The director of the FBI and the head of the Department of Homeland Security actually had to go on record to deny this ridiculous claim, which is not just paranoid, it’s medically and strategically ridiculous.” (https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/andrewkaczynski/gop-senator-isis-using-ebola-is-a-clear-and-present-danger)

But this is only one of many idiocies this idiot has spouted.

Ron Johnson is that hapless fool who insisted a “Secret Society” existed at the highest levels of the FBI. He had no evidence whatsoever to support this conspiracy theory, but orally evacuated this brain fart after FBI officials exchanged text messages in which they reminded each other that Donald Trump is an idiot.

Johnson: “What this is all about is further evidence of corruption. It’s more than bias, but corruption at the highest levels of the FBI and that secret society, we have an informant that is talking about a group that were holding secret meetings off-site. There is so much smoke here, there is so much suspicion.” (https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/johnson-informant-said-fbi-secret-society-meetings)

Ron Johnson is the airhead who, when asked what the government could do about homeless veterans, answered, “I don't believe this election is really about details. It really isn’t.”

So, in Ron Johnson World, homeless veterans are dehumanized to “details”…

HIs stupidity is boundless. His corruption is boundless. His utter contempt for public service is boundless.

Peter Felknor said...

Maynard--
Beautifully said.