Ron “RoJo” Johnson

Trump’s Valet: Ron Johnson’s Ready To Destroy Our Postal Service

Johnson is playing the fool on Trump’s behalf. By John Nichols The Capital Times (8/23/20) Everyone in America is angry about the dismantling of the Postal Service by Donald Trump and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. Except, of course, for Ron Johnson. The Republican senator from Wisconsin heads the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that should be getting to the bottom of allegations of political scheming on the part of the Trump administration to slow down the mail in advance of a COVID-19 election where most people expect to cast their ballots by mail. But Johnson is, as always,…

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The President Is Mentally Unwell — And Everyone Around Him Knows It

[Editor’s Note: This article has a link to a 1980 Tom Brokow MSNBC interview with Donald Trump in which Trump is extremely well-spoken. He has a wide range of well pronounced vocabulary, speaks in complete sequential sentences and can answer questions directly and succinctly. Compare what you see here to his current degraded mental state. — Mark L. Taylor] By Eric Levitz New York Intelligencer (1/4/18) Until recently, the debate over our president’s mental health has focused on questions of psychological pathology: Do Donald Trump’s flamboyant narcissism, hedonism, and self-delusions add up to a malignant personality — or a malignant personality disorder?…


Want To Understand What Is Going On In America Right Now? Then Understand The ‘Shock Doctrine’

Intercepted: Mehdi Hasan & Naomi Klein Review Mounting Cost Of  Pro-Corporate Coronavirus ‘Shock Doctrine’ Capitalism Intercepted (4/7/20) The Intercept’s Mehdi Hasan speaks with Senior Correspondent Naomi Klein about coronavirus capitalism and the selective use of emergency measures to offload risks onto workers and families, while the people who are relatively more secure get no-strings-attached bailouts. Link To 33-Minute Video (Commoner Call cartoon by Mark L.Taylor, 2020. Open source and free for non-derivative use with link to www.thecommonercall.org ) ***** The ‘Shock Doctrine’ Documentary By Naomi Klein The Shock Doctrine is Canadian author and social activist Naomi Klein’s companion piece to…


How Right Wing Dark Money Played A Pivotal Role In Trump’s 2016 Wisconsin Win

A confidential report claims that secretive groups targeting independent voters helped tip the balance for Trump in 2016. By Lisa Graves The Progressive (3/2/20) Two groups from outside of Wisconsin may have been responsible for President Donald Trump’s narrow win in the state in 2016, according to a recently obtained “confidential” report. Between October 29 and November 7, 2016, sister groups Independent Women’s Voice and Independent Women’s Forum, two nonprofits based in Washington, D.C., launched a campaign to target registered independents and Republican-leaning women in Wisconsin. These efforts moved independent voters in the state by 16 percentage points toward Trump, says…


Shameless: Wisconsin’s Top GOP Corporate Pol RoJo Goes Full-On Trumputin

It was not a glorious moment for Wisconsin. By Ruth Conniff Wisconsin Examiner (10/10/19) On Sunday [10/13], U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, the highest ranking Republican official in Wisconsin, appeared on Meet the Press advancing conspiracy theories, attacking the media and avoiding questions with a barrage of nonsense so thick it propelled host Chuck Todd to yell back in exasperation. “Sen. Johnson, please! Can you please answer the question that I asked you instead of trying to make Donald Trump feel better?” It was no use. The Trump team has found the perfect surrogate in Johnson, who is reading right out of Trump’s…


Trump’s Head Choir Boy Sen. Ron Johnson Sings

Sen. Ron Johnson’s Loopy, Nonsensical Ukraine Answer Is The GOP Trump Defense In A Nutty Shell By Chris Cillizza CNN (10/7/19) With each passing day, the ongoing attempts of Republican elected officials to defend President Donald Trump’s behavior are getting more and more ridiculous. The latest example? Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson’s pained and downright bad attempt to change the subject when asked by NBC’s “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd to explain a quote he gave to The Wall Street Journal. Here’s the start of that exchange: … Read the Rest


Republican Sen. Ron Johnson & Three Other GOP Senators Allegedly Benefited From Illegal NRA Campaign Cash In 2014, 2016

How much of the millions the NRA was handing out was actually Russian money laundered through the NRA? By Joan McCarter Daily Kos (9/30/19) The Russian asset National Rifle Association has been illegally coordinating with Republican senators’ campaigns, according to a complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission. The nonprofit and nonpartisan organization Campaign Legal Center has filed an FEC complaint alleging the NRA’s coordination with Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin in the 2016 campaign through a shell corporation called Starboard, which illegally funneled potentially millions from the NRA in in-kind contributions. “There is substantial evidence that the NRA funneled millions through a shell…


As Deficit Explodes, Ron Johnson & Ted Cruz Demand Even More Tax Cuts For The Super Wealthy

Ron Johnson joined 19 other GOP senators to urge Treasury to give the wealthy yet another massive tax cut via executive order. By Bess Levin Vanity Fair (7/29/19) A sitting U.S. president who can’t stop attacking black and brown people. A never-ending trade war that has necessitated more than one multibillion-dollar farm bailout. A humanitarian crisis on the border of his own state. These are just a handful of the many issues that Senator Ted Cruz could be focused on. Instead, he’s currently devoting his efforts to a much more important cause: demanding another tax cut for the rich, this time without Congress’s approval. In a letter sent to Steve Mnuchin on Monday, the…


Wisconsin’s Sen. Ron Johnson: Sadist

    By Emily Singer The American Independent (4/17/19) Despite global condemnation for his cruel family separation policy, Trump still thinks his administration isn’t being cruel enough to immigrants and asylum seekers — and one Republican senator is ready to help Trump reach his especially cruel goal of jailing immigrant children for longer than the law currently allows. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) plans to introduce legislation that would let the Trump administration detain children for up to 90 days, far more than the current limit of 20 days, the Washington Post reports. Johnson wants to amend the 1997 Flores settlement, which allows children to remain in immigration detention…


CNN’s Tapper Uses Manafort To Slap Down GOP Loopy Sen. Ron Johnson’s Wild Ranting About Democrats Colluding With Russians

  [Editor’s Note: Funny how GOP Sen. Ron Johnson — as with every other republican who spouts off about the subject of the Steele Dossier — never mentions that the initial effort and funding resulting in the report came from a conservative online news publication opposed to Trump. — Mark L. Taylor] By Tom Boggioni Raw Story (1/13/19) CNN host Jake Tapper used the legal troubles of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort to shut down the wild ravings of a Republican senator accusing the Democratic Party of colluding with the Russians. The State of the Union host asked Sen. Ron Johnson…


Five Questions ‘Russpublican’ Ron Johnson Should Answer About His Recent Russian Junket

Democratic Party of Wisconsin (7/16/18) MADISON — Sen. Ron Johnson, who recently returned from a secret all-GOP trip to Russia, has yet to respond to requests that he disclose more details on his trip now that 12 Russian nationals were indicted in crimes related to Russia’s interference in our election. Here are 5 questions Johnson should be asked at his roundtable discussion today: Why did Johnson return from his trip downplaying the threat of Russian election interference? On his return from Russia, Ron Johnson remarked that Russia’s potential to interfere in future U.S. elections is “not the greatest threat to our…


Russia Monitor: Sen. Ron Johnson Joins Russpublican Pals For Home Office Visit

Wisconsin’s Own Senator Babushka By Dan Peak The Commoner Call (7/9/18) Dear Fellow Readers, If you live in Wisconsin, where did your Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) spend his July 4th celebration of American Independence Day? Daily Kos columnist Kerry Eleved posed the question for the day: What On Earth Compelled 8 GOP Lawmakers To Flee America For Moscow On July 4? Optics, schmoptics, the entire enterprise is atrocious. No Democrats invited. No U.S. media – which is now the pattern in Trump-Putin Russpublican get-togethers. The optics are atrocious: Eight top lawmakers of the American political party now in sole control of Congress running off to Moscow to meet…


Our Own Senator Clueless: Ron Johnson Brutally Rationalizes Family Separations While Flanked By Photos Of Him With His Family

  By David Edwards The Raw Story (6/24/18) Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson (R) on Sunday rationalized the separations of immigrant families by blaming former President Barack Obama’s administration. During an interview on CNN’s State of the Union, host Jake Tapper pointed out to Johnson that experts have said that Obama’s deferred action program for undocumented immigrants is not responsible for a rise in immigration. Instead, Tapper pointed to a rise in violence in Central America. Johnson replied from what appeared to be a home office, where he was flanked by a photograph of what appeared to be a white family —…


Suddenly Gun Shy: The NRA Dropped Lawmaker Ratings From Their Website, But They’re Not Saying Why

  By Hunter The Daily Kos (6/12/18) Over the weekend, reporters noticed an odd thing about the National Rifle Association’s website: The NRA “ratings” for lawmakers, giving them letter grades for their willingness to block new gun restrictions and weaken existing ones, had vanished without explanation. Was it a glitch, or something else? The nation’s largest domestic terrorism lobby is clamming up about the change, but the Washington Post’s Phillip Bump was able to pry the barest hint of information from an unnamed NRA staffer when he called for an explanation. “I think our enemies were using that,” he said. He…


Scarlet Letter: What The NRA ‘A’ Rating Is Really All About

  “Lives Over Bribes” — Gun control rally sign. By Mark L. Taylor The Commoner Call (2/22/18) The recent mass shooting — the latest bauble on the bloody necklace of American exceptionalism — has ignited the recent episode of national gun cult debate we have all grown numbingly use to. There are the predictable laments of “never thought it could happen here”, the candle-lit vigils, prayer services, grieving families, parades of ambulances and the empty thoughts and cynical prayers of the nation’s supposed ruling class. A ruling class that just can’t bring itself to even consider a tiny less wealth…


School Shooters Love Wisconsin’s Bipartisan Congressional Accomplices

  By Mark L. Taylor The Commoner Call (2/19/18) School and other mass shooters do not act alone. They are assisted by politicians on the take to the National Rifle Association. Through their indifference and coldly calculating, never satiated hunger for campaign cash and other benefits, these pols ignore the wishes of the majority of Americans to bring some legislative sanity to our gun cult. When the shooters begin their rampages they have been legislatively protected, coddled and assisted by those who are supposed to represent us. The National Rifle Association loves to splurge their cash — including donations from…


Russia Monitor: A Looooong Line Of Dominoes

  By Dan Peak The Commoner Call (2/12/18) Dear Fellow Readers, There are two threads that warrant attention for this edition of the Russia Monitor. There is a flurry of mixed news related to:  1) The court of public opinion or possible prosecution routes forward for Trump-Russia corruption, which we’ll come to second. We’ll begin with 2) a more complex story showing how challenging it is to prove Trump-Russia corruption specifics. Life would be easier if there was a group photo taken at Donnie Trump Jr.’s June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Russians holding up a hand-written, signed agreement saying…


Republican Hyena Tax Heist: Yes, America, There Is A Class War, And You Just Lost It

  (Editor’s Note: Time to get serious about organizing, folks, so we can grab back our stolen wealth from the rich! Remember: It is our childrens’ futures we are taking about. Grab it or lose it. Stand or crawl. – Mark L. Taylor) By Juan Cole Informed Consent (12/20/17) The Republican Party did not just overhaul the tax code and they did not cut “your” taxes. They engineered a coup against the middle and working classes and they threw enormous amounts of public money to private billionaires and multi-millionaires. Americans do not understand this sort of con game because mostly…


Run, Hide & Threaten Citizens: Fragile Republican Snowflakes Paul Ryan & Ron Johnson Bully Constituents

By Capper Crooks & Liars (3/1/17) Like many Republicans around the country, Wisconsin’s Republicans have been doing their best to avoid their constituents and not have to listen to their anger or how they are not representing them. But since this is Wisconsin, our snowflakes tend to be bigger and uglier, even though we are going through an unseasonable warm spell. Even Lyin’ Paul Ryan is no exception. Ryan’s office stopped taking phone calls from his constituents. (Don’t worry, he gave his personal phone number to all of his wealthy friends and benefactors – y’know, the people he truly represents….