Opinion/Editorial
SENATOR RON JOHNSON RECALL…CENSURE…EXPULSION

 

Last week, in the Geneva Shore Report, I wrote an Op/Ed about one of Wisconsin’s two sitting senators. It was a scathing article about what Ron Johnson had done to the state, and its population, as a beyond-poor-performing representative of the people who live, work, or even visit the state.  That scathing report was all about Ron Johnson’s actions, and the result of his actions during the six years of his tenure.

In that article, Ron Johnson’s words and statements were discounted.  I didn’t feel what he said, privately or in public, measured up to the importance of his conduct, which, as a senator of some seasoning, has been pretty reprehensible.  Well, as if Mr. Johnson was reading those words, and I am presuming he certainly was not, he decides that his words are, indeed, going to measure up (or rather, down) to the reprehensible nature of his public service.

In an interview with a syndicated columnist on Friday of last week, here is what Senator Johnson had to say about the rioters who took over the House and Senate on the 6th of January: “I knew those were people who love this country, that truly respect law enforcement, would never do anything to break the law, so I wasn’t concerned.” As if the stupidity of what he said was not enough, and what I mean is this man so stupid, that he doesn’t know what the word stupid means anymore, (because he was talking about people who were committing felonies left and right, as well as wounding and killing policemen), he went on to do a point-counter-point about the same situation, the riot against the House and Senate, and made this racial comment: “Now, had the tables been turned, and Joe — this is going to get me in trouble — had the tables been turned and President Trump won the election and tens of thousands of Black Lives Matter and Antifa, I might have been a little concerned.”

Five people died during the assault on the Capitol, including a police officer, and 140 officers were injured. The insurrection also caused widespread damage and led to National Guard troops being called in to restore order. More than three hundred Trump supporters have been charged in the storming of the building, including members of far-right extremist groups. These descriptive comments should not have to be made, especially when they are mentioned to reference and illustrate the racist, and downright stupid words, of a Wisconsin Senator.

Ron Johnson told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editors that he made the comments because many of the protests last summer, over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, turned violent and caused widespread property damage. Some of the people running against Ron Johnson, should he run again in two years, have made deeply and incisively negative comments about what Senator Johnson said.

“Ron Johnson is a racist and is unfit to serve the people of Wisconsin. There is no missing context here. He knew what he was saying, he knew he shouldn’t say it, but this is who he is,” said Milwaukee Bucks executive Alex Lasry.  Tom Nelson, the Outagamie County Executive is also seeking the Democratic nomination, said Johnson has reached “a new despicable low” with his comments.

Ron Johnson does not need to be defeated in the upcoming election, to be held in 2022. He needs to immediately be recalled by the citizenry of Wisconsin unless that citizenry wants to continue to be represented by such a “despicably low” human being. Barring a recall, the Senate should move to either, immediately censure him, before going to a vote of expulsion. It is evident that this man, although he’s probably not capable of thinking this deeply or far into the future, is fomenting a race war. He wants the black population to rise up and become violent. There can be no other reason for Johnson’s comments. Either he’s reached a dreadfully dangerous level of dementia, is truly and abysmally stupid, or he’s working to build the White Supremacy movement.   Whatever he’s saying is much more important than I gave him credit for in my last Op/Ed about him.

In its ten years of existence, the Geneva Shore Report has never published an Op/Ed using such rancor, quoting a senator’s own terrible, divisive words, or been this much of an indictment. This man needs to go, or Wisconsin residents must stand up and have the righteous courage to show him the door in 2022. Supporting him would be an astoundingly negative and sorry descriptor for the population of a state in which the majority of its citizens are so wonderfully filled with warm and accepting goodwill.

~~James Strauss

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