In 2010, Sen. Ron Johnson swept into Congress on the racist Tea Party wave. In 2016, he rode Donald Trump’s vile coattails to a second term. And now, despite having promised he’d never seek office again, RoJo is running hard. If he wins this time, he’ll probably find a way to leverage white grievance again in 2028, despite taking a blowtorch to white supremacist assumptions every time he opens his mouth.
Of course, this time around, the Wisconsin Republican is running against a Black man, so the racism flows naturally, like Leinie’s Summer Shandy at an Alvin Styczynski polka rave. (That’s just like a regular rave, except there’s polka, obviously, and the only time you see a dude with his shirt off is when EMTs are trying to revive him in the wake of another cheese curd-facilitated fibrillation.)
While Johnson has been particularly goofy, gormless, and egregious during this election cycle—regularly promoting COVID-19 quackery, supporting a coup against the U.S. government, and playing every racist card he can get his grimy hands on—he still has a decent chance of winning. But that doesn’t mean he’s going to spare a second to be gracious toward his Democratic opponent, Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes.
RELATED STORY: Ron Johnson keeps saying things, which is really bad for his campaign
Moderator Charles Benson closed out Thursday night’s Wisconsin Senate debate at Marquette University in Milwaukee with a question that was meant to introduce a bit of bonhomie into what’s been a hard-fought, no-holds-barred campaign. Benson asked both candidates to say something admirable about their opponent. Barnes responded like a normal human being, but Johnson decided to go another way with it.
Watch:
BENSON: “When we traveled around the state talking with voters, we heard repeatedly from people tired of divisive politics and attack ads. So our final question here tonight is, both of you have been successful in life. You have 30 seconds here. Mr. Barnes, you go first. What do you find admirable about your opponent?”
BARNES: “Well, no, no, seriously, I do think the senator has proven to be a family man, and I think that’s admirable. You know, that’s absolutely to be respected. He speaks about his family and he’s done a lot to provide for them, and I absolutely respect that.”
BENSON: “Mr. Johnson.”
JOHNSON: “Likewise. I appreciate the fact that Lt. Gov. Barnes had loving parents—a schoolteacher, father worked third shift. So good upbringing. I guess what puzzles me about that is with that upbringing, why has he turned against America?”
AUDIENCE: [Boos]
Jesus Christ, what an asshole! And even if Barnes is “against America”—which, for the record, he’s obviously not—at least he doesn’t spend his Independence Days playing footsie with brutal, murderous dictators.
Of course, that wasn’t the only time Johnson’s answers drew derision from the audience. RoJo was pretty much an unintentional laugh riot from beginning to end. More than once, the audience openly guffawed at his nonsense.
For instance, after Barnes noted that Johnson had been warned by the FBI that the Kremlin was trying to turn him into an asset, Johnson trotted out an explanation that sounded roughly as plausible as “alien chemtrails scrambled my brain.”
JOHNSON: “In response to the wild charges of Lt. Gov. Barnes, the FBI set me up with a corrupt briefing and then leaked that to smear me. Let’s talk about it. He’s referring to corruption by the FBI, which I’ve been trying to uncover and expose.”
And here he is claiming that building Donald Trump’s useless southern vanity wall would cost less than not building it:
JOHNSON: “It has cost us more not to complete the wall that we’ve already contracted for than to actually build it.”
AUDIENCE: [Laughs]
JOHNSON: “Democrats have voted against three of my amendments, in committee and on the floor. All but Sen [Joe] Manchin voted against completing the wall that we’ve already bought and paid for.”
Okay, sure. But since the wall is clearly useless—at least without an alligator-filled moat and/or a total rewrite of international law—the next red cent we spend on it will be 100% wasted. Also, walls need maintenance—and not only to plug the holes people keep sawing in them with cheap, easily obtained reciprocating saws. So actually finishing the Trump border sieve would simply commit us to a perpetual boondoggle.
Meanwhile, RoJo turns so white in this clip as Barnes takes him to the woodshed over abortion rights, you’d think he’d already slathered on his greasepaint in preparation for his next answer.
BARNES: “In Ron Johnson’s America, women don’t get to make the best choices for their health. Rape victims don’t … get to make the choices for themselves. That’s the unfortunate reality. I support us going back to Roe v. Wade. That was the law of the land that worked for 50 years. And Roe also allowed for some restrictions, but the reality is it had strong protections for the health and the life of the mother, and that’s what we should be moving toward. Sen. Johnson has sponsored eight different national abortion bans. He sponsored abortion bans that had no exceptions for rape, incest, or the life of the mother, and that position is too out of touch and extreme for Wisconsin.”
Wisconsin, if you’re tired of being represented by a racist clown, it’s time to back Barnes, who will stop embarrassing you on a near-daily basis. But it goes well beyond that. Not only did Barnes have a “good upbringing,” he’s lived a good life—much of which he’s dedicated to helping others.
Unlike Johnson, who’s gone out of his way to question the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, Barnes has traveled throughout Wisconsin to encourage lifesaving vaccinations. Rather than pushing tax breaks that would benefit himself and his donors at the expense of working Wisconsinites and small businesses, Barnes has worked to strengthen unions. Instead of threatening everyone’s Social Security and Medicare benefits by trying to remove their status as entitlements, Barnes promises to fiercely protect those benefits.
So the choice is clear, and stark—even if you are a big fan of comedy. If you can, please rush a donation to Barnes. Our Senate majority—and the very fate of our democracy—may depend on it.
Donate now to give Democrats a true majority in the Senate.
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