Johnson rallies GOP ahead of midterms

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson hit the Golden Sands Golf Course on May 15 to rally the Shawano County Republican Party during its Lincoln Reagan Day Dinner and encourage conservatives to be out in force for the midterm elections.

Johnson told more than 200 people in attendance about how a cousin went through some family belongings and came across a piece of paper dated from January 1934. It was about the time that his grandfather had passed, and his grandmother went from farm to farm in Minnesota to raise enough money to bury her husband. In all, she received $12.25, which would equate to about $320 today, he said.

“To me, that letter — that piece of paper with those names and what those folks did in January 1934 at the depth of the Depression — epitomizes what America is and who Americans are,” Johnson said, generating applause. “Isn’t it true that, in any crisis, Americans come together and unite? Whether it’s a regional tragedy, like in Florida with the hurricanes or the Midwest with the floods and tornadoes or out west with the wildfires, we send truckloads of construction supplies and construction workers to help our fellow citizens rebuild.”

Coming together is what America needs to do again, said the senator, who is running for a third six-year term. Johnson looks at the pandemic that the country has endured for over two years and believes it is as fractured as it has ever been.

“That even includes the Vietnam War protests,” Johnson said. “This country is as divided as it has ever been in my lifetime.”

Johnson noted that President Joe Biden’s inaugural address included a vow to bring America together. A similar claim was made in 2009 by President Barack Obama.

“Then they go about and they do the exact opposite,” Johnson said. “They said they were going to fundamentally transform America. Now we see what fundamental transformation looks like. It’s open borders. It’s 20-year high inflation. It’s record gasoline and energy prices. It’s record crime. Fundamental transformation means they’re fundamentally destroying this country.”

Johnson went on to attack Democrats for pushing a “socialist agenda,” something that he said was front and center during the coronavirus pandemic. He said it was up to Republicans, whom he claimed truly love the United States, to stop it by voting Republicans into every office available in the 2022 elections.

“The left is relentless in growing government and taking away our freedoms,” Johnson said. “During COVID, they couldn’t wait to strike. They think that a crisis is a terrible thing to waste, and they never do.”

Johnson noted that the people who were there at the dinner came because they feel a need to fight for freedom.

“That’s why you’re here on a beautiful day,” Johnson said. “You recognize that freedom is at risk. Freedom is on the ballot.”

The fight Johnson is fighting is the same one that he fought in 2010, he said, noting that the battle for freedom has been the same for over 240 years, whether it is on the battlefield or the ballot box.

“It’s not somebody else’s fight,” Johnson said. “It’s our fight. It is a fight we absolutely must win.”

He touted his fiscal conservatism, claiming he’s only voted in favor of 10% of the appropriations brought before the Senate during his two terms in office, and most of that was military spending. He noted there have been times where he has objected to just letting freefall spending, one of which he described as a “trillion-dollar boondoggle,” go by.

“I had to go on the floor twice in one day during COVID — which wasn’t popular to do, by the way, but I was the only one to do that. We had a Republican senator, and then two hours later had Bernie Sanders offering a unanimous consent for another round — I think it was the fourth round — of $1,200 checks,” Johnson said. “I was willing to go down there and object, but then I’m accused of not liking babies.”

Johnson also claimed support for Ukraine as it is fighting for its freedom against Russian invasion and believes that it is important for that support to not waiver.

“You see Russia on the run, and the worst possible thing would be for Russians to see Americans equivocating in our support for Ukraine,” Johnson said.

Johnson pointed out that he has time to prepare for his campaign because he’s not facing anyone in the primary in August. However, there are several candidates who are, and a number of them — including two running for governor, two for county sheriff and six for the Sixth District Assembly seat being vacated by Gary Tauchen — were there making their pitches.

“We need to make sure we have a Republican on every line in the ballot, and then we have to support them,” Johnson said.

Richard Kucksdorf, county Republican Party chairman, described Johnson as the best senator in the United States for calling out the hypocrisy in Washington, D.C.

“He’s honest. He’s tenacious,” Kucksdorf said. “They just don’t like that.”

lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com