Of course he would:
U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson said he opposes new gun laws and blamed “wokeness” and critical race theory for school shootings days after a gunman in Texas killed 21 people, almost all of whom were elementary school students.
“This is a society-wide problem, a society-wide sickness that is not going to be solved by some gun law, additional gun laws here in Washington, D.C.,” the Oshkosh Republican told Fox Business host Neil Cavuto.
Asked whether stiffer background checks could curb future school shootings, Johnson said people will always fall through the cracks. He added he believed some people shouldn’t have guns but questioned how that determination might be made.
“The solution lies in stronger families, more supportive communities, I would argue renewed faith,” he said. “We’ve lost that. We stopped teaching values in so many of our schools. Now we’re teaching wokeness. We’re indoctrinating our children with things like CRT, telling, you know, some children they’re not equal to others and they’re the cause of other people’s problems.”
Not surprised at all:
A Republican member of the Wisconsin Elections Commission announced his resignation this week after U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson took a rare step into state politics and told a top GOP lawmaker that the commissioner had lost support from his own party.
Dean Knudson, already under fire from his own party over his refusal to embrace false claims about the 2020 election, said in his announcement that he was leaving his post because members of his party at the "highest levels" made clear he should not run to be commission chairman — an election that was supposed to take place Wednesday but was delayed by Knudson's resignation.
A spokeswoman for Johnson told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Thursday that the state's senior U.S. Senator talked to Assembly Speaker Robin Vos to "express his belief that Dean Knudson had lost the confidence of the grassroots Republicans in representing their interests on the Wisconsin Elections Commission."
"As the senator has traveled around the state, election integrity continues to be a primary concern of the grassroots," Johnson spokeswoman Alexa Henning said in a statement. "He never suggested that Dean (Knudson) resign and continues to believe the number one goal regarding election integrity is to restore confidence in our election system for every Wisconsinite — Republican, Democrat and independent."
Knudson said Thursday he was resigning because he thought it was in the best interest of the state and the Republican Party, and did not feel pressured to leave.
“I would not be pressured out and I wasn't pressured out,” he said. “I left because I just felt like at this point Republicans deserve to have someone that can effectively represent them. And I had gotten to the point that I didn't feel like that could happen.”
Knudson stunned his colleagues with his resignation and said he had been effectively excommunicated from his party because he refused to dispute President Joe Biden's 2020 victory over Donald Trump.
And boo fucking hoo:
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) on Thursday took to Twitter to push back on a report from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the senator has been using tax dollars to travel between Washington, D.C., and a Florida vacation home, calling the piece “the politics of personal destruction.”
“This isn’t journalism, it’s advocacy,” Johnson said. “It is a fully coordinated attack by the Dem Party and their allies in the media.”
“When the truth isn’t on their side, Dems and MSM media lie, distort, and engage in the politics of personal destruction,” Johnson continued. “Wisconsin and America deserve better.”
The senator’s comments come after federal records included in the Journal Sentinel article indicated that Johnson had been reimbursed with federal money for 19 flights between Fort Myers, Fla., and Washington, D.C., between 2013 and 2021.
By the way, shout out to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D. NY) for calling out Johnson on this:
Senator Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin, on Wednesday sought to win unanimous Senate agreement to bring up a bill he has written that creates a sort of clearinghouse on best practices for school safety.
“There’s nothing partisan about this bill whatsoever,” said Mr. Johnson, a strong proponent of gun rights. “It’s just a good idea that could save lives.”
But to Democrats, Mr. Johnson’s idea was far from an appropriate legislative response to what took place this week in Uvalde, or earlier this month in Buffalo, or in 2012 in Newtown, Conn.
“The Johnson bill is not in any way, shape or form a sufficient solution,” said Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader.
Some more context here:
Schumer, meanwhile, stressed that the American people want "real solutions to our nation's gun violence epidemic" and said that Johnson's bill alone "is not in any way shape or form a sufficient solution."
"Hardening schools would have done nothing to prevent this shooting. In fact, there were guards and police officers already at the school yesterday when the shooter showed up." Schumer said Wednesday. "The shooter got past all of them."
Schumer has opened the door to considering measures with a "different point of view," such as Johnson's, on how to protect schools. He urged his Republican colleagues to vote yes on a motion to proceed with his Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act and clear a path for debate on such legislation.
Here’s the latest on the Democratic Primary:
Milwaukee Bucks executive Alex Lasry is closing in on Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes in Wisconsin’s Senate Democratic primary, according to a new internal poll.
Thirty-four percent of likely Democratic voters support Barnes, while 31 percent are for Lasry, 18 percent back state Treasurer Sarah Godlewski, and 5 percent are behind Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson, a survey commissioned by Lasry’s campaign found.
The poll is the latest sign that the battleground primary has become a close race between Barnes, a progressive backed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren and the Working Families Party, and Lasry, a more center-left candidate who has won the endorsement of local labor unions. Another survey by Marquette University Law School in April showed Barnes and Lasry in a statistical tie.
Barnes, whose position as a statewide official helped him build name recognition, began the primary as the clear frontrunner. He first started going on air last week with a television commercial that highlights his middle-class roots — and takes a dig at “the other millionaires running for Senate.”
Lasry, who has loaned millions out of his own pocket to his campaign, began airing TV ads in October 2021. He is on leave from his job with the NBA team. Godlewski has also helped finance her own bid.
Primary Day in Wisconsin is August 9th. Click here to register to vote or check your registration.
Health and Democracy are on the ballot next year and we need to keep Wisconsin Blue. Click below to donate and get involved with the Wisconsin Democrat of your choice and these Wisconsin Democrats campaigns:
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