Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin is symbolic of what is wrong, bad, and dangerous about a majority of the Republican members of Congress. In his misplaced arrogance or ignorance, he makes inaccurate statements about COVID, false claims about the insurrection, and his recent racial disparagement of black people. In a CNN analysis, Chris Cillizza, Editor-at-Large summarized the most known statements of ignorance from Johnson;
- NancyS Pelosi was somehow responsible for the Jan. 6th resurrection
- The riot at the Capitol was not an armed insurrection
- Professional rioters were stirring up problems that day
- The rioters were made up of predominantly leftist groups
- Insisted the economy had to fully re-open despite the coronavirus)
- The deaths from the virus were necessary sacrifices to keep the economy going
There are two major differences between the groups Johnson is comparing; 1) the Capitol rioters were more dangerous than the Black Lives Matters protestors killing 5 people, injuring dozens, and threatening to hang and capture members of Congress, and 2) one group was predominantly black and one was predominantly white. The senator continues to make statements that put his character and intelligence in question. It is unclear whether he believes the content of what he says or if he is merely pandering to the conspiracy theory, a racist segment of former President Trump’s Republican party.
In addition to Senator Johnson, other members of congress pose a threat to America re-establishing a commitment to honesty in the Texas government, the pursuit of equality for all, bipartisanship, and preserving easy access for all Americans to vote. For example, the power-grabbing hypocrisy of Senator Mitch McConnell is a stain on Congress and the country. He is threatening Democrats not to eliminate or alter the filibuster, which is exactly what he did as majority leader to fill vacancies on the Supreme Court. Unmanly, whiny Mitch’s idea of bipartisanship is for Democrats to go along with all Republican policies while asking for no modifications. In Mitch’s view, America should not be a two-party system but rather an America that is white, Christian, conservative, and where voter suppression of minority communities is the law. In McConnell’s view, all other ideologies are unpatriotic and dangerous. He is perpetuating the Trump art form of gaslighting vulnerable Americans into believing whatever he declares as truth.
Senators Josh Hawley of Missouri and Ted Cruz are other toxic Republicans who are fueling the lie about the 2020 election being stolen from Trump. They encouraged Americans to interfere with the certification of Joe Biden’s presidential victory at the Capitol on Jan. 6th, and have refused to offer a full-throated denouncement of the insurrection. Neither senators talk about Republican policy or ideology. They are not talking about getting COVID under control, or presenting a healthcare plan to replace Obamacare, or lifting people out of poverty. Instead, Republicans are talking about laws to restrict access to voting, spreading conspiracy theories, and not voting in a bipartisan way on the overwhelmingly needed and popular American Rescue Act.”
Minority Leader Mark Mitchell may not know it yet because he is still playing To Trump, but history will look at him as an unpatriotic liar, falsely claiming the election was rigged and stolen from Trump. He will be forever branded as an unapologetic enabler of the attempts Trump made to transform America’s democratic norms and rule of law into a racist themed autocracy. His desperate hunger to become the next Speaker of the House and his willingness to spread disinformation to win support from Trump’s base is transparent and in a perfect world would disqualify him to stay in office.
Neither party is perfect in how it operates to preserve our democracy and meet the needs of the people. However, the current Trump-obsessed Republican party’s use of disinformation and its self-serving, power-hungry abuse of the Constitution and its moral vision of the American democracy is the party that may be causing irreparable damage to the strength and integrity of this country.
Buy on Amazon books: “AMERICA SURVIVED TRUMP”, A CHRONOLOGY OF THE STRUGGLE
POSTS FROM COVID TO END OF Trump’s Term, BY REBECCA SPERBER, M.S.
