Opinion: What authoritarianism would look like in America
Jim Chrisinger January 9, 2022
Donald Trump and Republicans are shoving America toward authoritarianism. That’s why many of us are shouting about a threat to democracy.
Many Americans don’t fear a potential slide into authoritarianism because they have no basis for doing so. Our oceans and hegemony have coddled us; we take democracy for granted. But democracy and the rule of law are not the normal state of governments, certainly not historically.
Authoritarianism wouldn’t happen overnight, but authoritarian regimes have shown us a road map. Here’s a picture of what it would look like here.
If Trump and his enablers get their way, how you experience your life would depend on whether you identified — and were identified — as a Trump Republican.
Identified as a Trump Republican by your bumper sticker, you would be more likely to get a warning instead of speeding ticket. You would gain the inside track for government jobs, grants, and needed permits. Decisions about government benefits, like unemployment and disability, would be more likely to go your way. Your children would be more likely to win scholarships and admission to their chosen schools. You would get more favorable loan and mortgage treatment and better access to scarce goods, the best tickets.
Regulations would be interpreted in your favor, or maybe just ignored. You could rely on the criminal justice and judicial systems to go easy on you, if not help you out.
If, instead, you were perceived as a Democrat, or just an insufficiently Trump Republican, you would experience the reverse of what’s above. Tax auditors would focus on you. You would be more likely to be hassled by police, even jailed if you were too troublesome. Nasty graffiti might appear on your business or home. You would be accused of being un-American, a traitor. You would learn to keep your head down and be careful about what you said to whom.
Former President Donald Trump, on Saturday, Oct. 9, 2021, at a rally in Des Moines, Iowa.
Science would be interpreted or even suppressed to suit Trump Republican needs. History would be whitewashed to celebrate the regime and its version of events. School curricula and texts would similarly conform.
LBGTQ folks would closet themselves again. Fewer women would lead in government, business, or society. People who want to marginalize and discriminate against people of color, non-Christians, and immigrants would find cover to do so. Abortion and birth control would be illegal. Public education would wither as religious schools claimed more and more public funding. Air and water quality would suffer. Climate change would go unaddressed. The military could be used to put down dissent.
Again, not all of this would happen instantly, and we can’t predict how far the Trump Republicans would go. But this is the path that they are on.
So if you are a Trump Republican, perhaps all this sounds great. Finally, justice for my many grievances. Maybe that’s the country in which you want to live.
I hope and pray that the great majority of Americans will reject it.
Jim Chrisinger is a retired public servant living in Ankeny. He worked for both Republican and Democratic officials at multiple levels of government.
Coronavirus FAQ: What’s the risk of catching omicron outdoors?
Sheila Mulrooney January 21, 2022
This German snowman wears a protective mask over its banana nose and mouth, but experts say the risk of catching COVID outdoors is slim.Peter Kneffel
Studies conducted prior to omicron show that being outside greatly reduces your risk of infection with the coronavirus. One review of studies concluded that the odds of indoor transmission is almost 19 times higher than outdoor transmission. And in a study of 64 college football games during the 2020 season involving 1,190 athletes, researchers at Texas A&M University found zero spread of COVID during game play based on three postgame PCR tests over the course of a week — likely because of the outdoor setting and short duration of close contact, experts say. (Of course, football games have been postponed this season because of COVID outbreaks, but the study’s authors believe that players were more likely spreading it in locker rooms and other shared indoor spaces.)
Outdoor airflow has done a good job dispersing pathogens.Article continues after sponsor message
But does omicron play by the same rules?
“From a virus standpoint, there’s no indication that omicron is behaving differently [in outdoor settings],” says Dr. Preeti Malani, an infectious disease professor at the University of Michigan who co-authored an editorial on the research on football teams.
“That doesn’t mean [transmission is] impossible if you’re packed together in a place that’s only sort of open air and if people are sharing food or kissing or drinking. But if it’s a casual interaction outside, even if it’s relatively crowded, I’m comfortable not having a mask on. And at this stage of the pandemic, we have to find ways to do things that are meaningful to us. It’s nice to see people’s expressions and feel a sense of normalcy.”
And playing outdoors, Malani notes, is great for kids — building snow structures and sledding in parts of the country that are now shivering in winter temperatures.
Of course, omicron is the most transmissible variant yet. That, combined with the sheer volume of cases, could mean that there could be more cases of outdoor transmission, says Dr. Jill Weatherhead, assistant professor of adult and pediatric infectious diseases at Baylor College of Medicine. So some people may want to mask up in certain outdoor situations. But that shouldn’t cause you to lose sight of the advantages of socializing outdoors, she adds.
“Being outdoors continues to provide another layer of protection because of the ventilation,” Weatherhead explains. (The other layers are vaccination, masks and physical distancing.)
“So the safest place you can be [with other people] is still going to be outdoors,” she says.
If your own risk tolerance is low, certain outdoor situations could call for masking up. Earlier studies showed that the fewer cases of outdoor transmission almost always occurred during prolonged, close contact. For example, talking face-to-face with someone who is unmasked and very, very close to you is risky no matter where you are, especially if it’s for a prolonged period of time.
“It can happen outside,” says Dr. Don Milton, an infectious disease aerobiologist at the University of Maryland School of Public Health.
Still, he says, you have to be close to the infected person or downwind of them. “That gentle breeze outdoors is generally safer” than indoors, he says. “The air movement [outdoors] is more random and the virus won’t build up.”
And yes, that holds true for omicron, he believes. Although it makes sense that people would worry about getting a more contagious variant outdoors, it’s likely that the current surge in cases doesn’t have anything to do with outdoor spread.
Preliminary research, including a small study by Milton’s lab, suggests that people infected with omicron don’t breathe out higher viral loads than people infected with delta. And people who are vaccinated likely carry less infectious virus particles than people who are not.
So if you find yourself worrying about not being able to distance yourself in a crowded outdoor situation with people of unknown vaccination status, slip a mask on.
Just keep in mind that risk is a continuum.
“Slipping on the ice or getting in an accident on the way [to an outdoor rendezvous] is probably more likely than getting COVID outside,” Malani says.
However, if you live in a cold locale as she does, you may want to leave your mask on for warmth. Not only does it keep your cheeks warm, but who wants to take their gloves off to fuss with a mask in sub-freezing temps?
Sheila Mulrooney Eldred is a freelance health journalist in Minneapolis. She has written about COVID-19 for many publications, including The New York Times, Kaiser Health News, Medscape and The Washington Post.
Intel is investing $20 billion in a new computer chip facility in Ohio, amid a global shortage of microprocessors used in everything from phones and cars to video games. The 1,000-acre location will initially host to two chip factories, and is expected to create 3,000 company jobs and 7,000 construction jobs. Additionally, the factories will support tens of thousands of additional jobs for suppliers and partners, the company and local and state officials announced Friday. Construction is reportedly due to kick off this year, with the site becoming operational in 2025. In an interview with Time, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said the company expects the site to become “the largest silicon manufacturing location on the planet,” adding that it could eventually expand to 2,000 acres with eight fabs. The news comes as the demand for computer chips continues to grow.
Billionaire Mark Cuban Opens Online Pharmacy To Provide Affordable Generic Drugs
Lisa Kim, Forbes Staff Jauuary 20, 2022
TOPLINE
Billionaire investor Mark Cuban launched an online pharmacy Thursday that offers more than 100 generic drugs at an affordable price with a goal of being “radically transparent” in its price negotiations with drug companies.
Mark Cuban attends the 2019 NBA Awards at Barker Hangar on June 24, 2019 in Santa Monica, … [+] GETTY IMAGES
KEY FACTS
The Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drugs Company (MCCPDC) is a registered pharmaceutical wholesaler and purchases drugs directly from manufacturers, bypassing middlemen to lower the price of more than 100 medications, it said in a statement.
For example, the leukemia drug imatinib is priced at $47 a month on MCCPDC compared to the $9,657 retail price.
The online pharmacy’s prices for generics factor in a 15% margin on top of actual manufacturer prices and a $3 pharmacist fee, the statement said.
The markup on generics average “at least” 100%, the MCCPDC said, while the Wall Street Journal reports in some cases it exceeds 1,000%.
The company doesn’t process insurance claims and requires customers to pay for their medications out of pocket, noting its drugs cost less than most insurance plans’ deductible and copay requirements.
Customers have to request a new prescription from their provider to place an order for medications on the MCCPDC website.
KEY BACKGROUND
MCCPDC CEO Alex Oshmyansky reached out to Cuban with an idea for a low-cost generic drug company in a cold email. It was launched in January last year. They were motivated in part by “Pharma Bro” Martin Shrkeli’s outrage-producing price hike of the lifesaving drug Daraprim from $13.50 to $750 per tablet while Shrkeli was CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals. Cuban toldForbes last year the pricing for generic drugs was “ridiculous.” He said he decided to put his name on the company to “show capitalism can be compassionate and to send the message I am all in.” It’s not clear how much he had invested in the company.
TANGENT
The company aims to complete the construction of an $11 million pharmaceutical factory in Dallas that spans roughly 22,000 square feet by the end of this year.
BIG NUMBER
$4.5 billion. That’s how much Forbes estimates Cuban, the owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, is worth, as of Thursday.
Cory Booker, Tim Scott spar over comparing voting restrictions to Jim Crow laws
Catherine Garcia,Night editor – January 20, 2022
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.). Ethan Miller/Getty Images
Things got heated on the Senate floor Wednesday during debate on a voting rights bill, with Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) at odds over whether the strict voting restrictions being put in place by Republican-led state legislatures can compare to Jim Crow laws.
Jim Crow laws were first enacted in the late 1800s in order to segregate and disenfranchise Black people, especially in the South. Poll taxes and literacy tests, plus intimidation, were deployed to stop Black Americans from voting. The landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act outlawed discriminatory voting practices, which in turned increased voter registration and turnout.
Democrats have been trying to pass voting rights legislation that would, among other things, reinstate parts of the 1965 law, make Election Day a national holiday, and ensure access to early voting and mail-in ballots.
Scott, the Senate’s only Black Republican, stated that when Democrats refer to these state laws as “Jim Crow 2.0,” they are putting forward “a negative, false narrative of what is happening in America.” The comparison is “offensive not just to me or Southern Americans, but offensive to millions of Americans who fought, bled, and died for the right to vote,” he said.
Scott noted that he defeated the son of late GOP segregationist Sen. Strom Thurmond when he first won a House seat, and referring to himself and Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), said it’s “hard to deny progress” when two of three sitting Black senators “come from the Southern states that people say are places where African American votes are being suppressed. Not to mention the fact that 2020 was a banner year for minority participation.”
Democrats have argued that the higher minority participation is exactly why Republican-led state legislatures have enacted voting restrictions since the 2020 election. “Don’t lecture me on Jim Crow,” Booker said, speaking after Scott. “I know this is not 1965. That’s what makes me so outraged — it’s 2022 and they’re blatantly removing more polling places from the counties where Blacks and Latinos are overrepresented. I’m not making that up. That is a fact.”
Booker also said data shows that on average, Black voters have to wait in line at polling places twice as long as white voters. “In the United States today, it is more difficult for the average African American to vote than the average white American,” he stated. “That is not rhetoric, that is fact.”
Home prices rose faster than ever in 2021. The typical home gained $50,000 in value
Chris Arnold January 20, 2022
New homes under construction in Mebane, N.C., earlier this month. A historic shortage of homes for sale has been pushing prices sharply higher. So builders are trying to ramp up projects.Gerry Broome/AP
Home values rose faster than ever in 2021. The median sales price for an existing home was $346,900, up a whopping 17% from the prior year.
That made things tough for people looking to buy a house for the first time.
But for those who already own the roof over their head, the typical American homeowner saw a gain of $50,200 in home equity, or housing wealth, in just a single year.
“The price increase is a record,” says Lawrence Yun the chief economist for the National Association of Realtors which just came out with the new numbers. He adds that the rise in home values is “even stronger than the days of subprime lending.”
Yun is referring to the ruinous lending practices that fueled the housing bubble and led to the financial crisis 15 years ago. Back then prices were getting artificially boosted because people were paying more than they could actually afford.
But Yun says reforms put in place by Congress since then insure that people can afford the home loans they get. So something very different is happening now.
“We are facing a major housing shortage,” Yun says. “In December, we saw record low inventory, an all time low, there’s simply not enough homes available for sale.”
Meanwhile, during the pandemic, millions of people working from home have wanted more space and have been trying to buy homes. Record low supply, coupled with strong demand, has pushed prices up quickly and dramatically. But Yun expects price gains to moderate this year, perhaps to around 4% to 5%.
“The price gains will begin to normalize,” he says. “And people should not anticipate another year of this double digit rate of appreciation.”
Still, the housing market will remain out of balance so long as the supply of homes is so constricted. After the financial crisis, many homebuilders went out of business, and for a decade the builders that were left did not build enough homes given population growth.
In fact, estimates are that the U.S. is short several million homes. And building more won’t happen overnight.
Homebuilders say they are facing major headwinds including, in many places, a lack of available land, labor, building materials, and overly restrictive zoning.
“Policymakers could help by reducing lumber tariffs,” says Robert Dietz, the chief economist of the National Association of Homebuilders. He says local and state governments could also help get more affordable homes built by, “enacting zoning reform to allow builders to build with greater density.”
He says workforce development programs to train construction workers are needed too.
At this point in the pandemic, you’ve likely spent a hefty chunk of time over the past 22 months (!!) researching the best face masks and scrolling through sites such as Amazon to purchase the recommended pick(s). And with the varying guidance (i.e. first cloth masks were okay and now they’re not), odds are your wallet’s gotten quite the workout. But soon you should be able to give your bank account a bit of a break while still securing those much-needed face coverings.
On Wednesday, the Biden administration announced that it will make 400 million nonsurgical N95 masks available free of charge to Americans starting late next week. “This is the largest deployment of personal protective equipment in U.S. history,” a White House official told CNN, adding that the program will be “fully up and running by early February.”
The N95 masks will come from the government’s Strategic National Stockpile — essentially a federal repository or warehouse of drugs and supplies ready for deployment in the case of a national emergency — and will be given out at local pharmacies and community health centers nationwide. But don’t expect to leave distribution locations with a tote bag full of masks. There are only three masks available per adult. As for children? “We anticipate making additional, high-quality masks for children available in the near future,” an official told The Washington Post.
The administration’s announcement comes as the highly-transmissible Omicron variant continues to sweep the country and just days after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidelines for face masks. While the agency continues to recommend that you “wear the most protective mask you can that fits well and that you will wear consistently,” it now notes that certain masks and respirators (e.g. N95s approved by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health or NIOSH) provide “the highest level of protection” against COVID-19 compared to cloth coverings. (Related: Here’s the Latest CDC Mask Guidance for COVID-19)
So, How Do You Get Your Free N95 Masks?
Unlike with the free COVID-19 tests (which you can order online), in order to actually get your free masks, you’ll have to pick them up in person at a federal community health center or pharmacy, according to The Washington Post. Although specifics on exact distribution locations are still TBD, it appears that Walgreens is part of the program. “We are pleased to partner with the administration to make N95 masks in varying sizes available free of charge at select Walgreens locations nationwide while supplies last,” a company spokesperson told NBC News Chicago. (Related: Can An N95 Mask Actually Protect You From the Coronavirus?)
As for when exactly you’ll be able to pick up your three N95s? That’s also somewhat TBD. U.S. officials are starting to ship masks at the end of this week, meaning they’ll likely be available at your local pharmacy and health center late next week, reports The Washington Post. But the keyword here is “likely,” as, again, a concrete timeline has not been made available to the public.
Officials also haven’t addressed how (if at all) they’re going to prevent someone from visiting pharmacies frequently and getting masks as each visit. But please don’t get any ideas — just be a good citizen and stick to your allotted three free masks, as there should be more than enough to go around. After all, the 400 million nonsurgical N95s being distributed amount to more than half of the 750 million stored in the Stockpile, according to CNN. Plus, special surgical N95 masks will be reserved for health care workers and not given out alongside the nonsurgical respirators, so know that these pandemic warriors (and, TBH, heroes) are getting ample PPE, too.
What If You Need More N95 Masks or Need One ASAP?
While the opportunity to receive three respirators free of charge is undeniably exciting, there are some limitations. For starters, N95 masks are meant to be single-use. That being said, each covering can be used more than once if necessary but no more than five times, according to the CDC. Given this info, odds are you’re going to still need to purchase additional masks to ensure optimal protection (research suggests that performance and efficacy decrease with use of the masks) as this pandemic continues.
And then, of course, there’s the possibility that you need to restock your face covering collection now and, thus, can’t wait for the government’s rollout. If this is the case, know that there are plenty of options available for purchase online and in stores. But buyer beware: There’s an increasing number of fake N95 and KN95 masks out there, so you want to be sure you know what to look for when shopping for PPE. (Related: How to Spot Fake COVID Test Kits)
Before whipping out your wallet, make sure the N95s in your cart have been tested and certified by NIOSH. Both the mask and its packaging should be labeled as “NIOSH-approved,” meaning they meet a specific set of criteria to guarantee a certain level of protection and performance, Stella Hines, M.D., associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, told USA Today. You can also refer to the NIOSH-Certified Equipment List on the CDC’s website to see if your N95 mask’s manufacturer and approval number (both of which should be on the respirator).
The information in this story is accurate as of press time. As updates about coronavirus COVID-19 continue to evolve, it’s possible that some information and recommendations in this story have changed since initial publication. We encourage you to check in regularly with resources such as the CDC, the WHO, and your local public health department for the most up-to-date data and recommendations.
States with looser gun restrictions have higher number of homicides, suicides: study
January 20, 2022
States with more relaxed gun laws have higher rates of firearm-related homicides and suicides, according to a new study from the nonprofit advocacy organization Everytown for Gun Safety.
California, Hawaii, New York and Massachusetts were all among the eight states with the tightest gun laws and the lowest rate of gun-related deaths. California came in the number one spot for restrictive gun laws, and Hawaii and Massachusetts reported the lowest number of gun deaths.
On the other end of the spectrum, the study listed 13 states as falling significantly below the national average on both gun deaths and restrictive gun laws. Louisiana, Missouri, Wyoming and Mississippi were rated as the states with the highest rate of deaths caused by gun violence. Mississippi was rated as the top state for both the weakest gun laws and the highest death rate.
Everytown said they compiled the study by analyzing the 50 most important policies in each state and categorizing those laws from the highest level of impact to the lowest. They also analyzed figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Center for Health Statistics and WONDER Online Database.
“What this project does, is show what we’ve been saying for years: Gun laws save lives,” Nick Suplina, senior vice president of law and policy at Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, told CNN. “We think this is going to be a really important tool for lawmakers, reporters and advocates that have been looking for the kind of visual tool that can make that case clearly.”
The study also notes that even states that have highly restrictive gun laws are seeing firearm deaths going up due to guns coming across state lines. It notes that when guns from another state are found at crime scene, four out of five come from states with weak background check laws.
The study comes after the United States reported over 20,000 gun deaths in 2021, making it one of the deadliest years on record, according to investigate organization
Earth’s Core Cooling Faster Than Scientists Thought
Cristen Hemingway Jaynes January 18, 2022
The structure of Earth’s crust seen in a 3D rendering with elements furnished by NASA. Photo credit: Rost-9D / iStock / Getty Images Plus
The Earth of 4.5 billion years ago was covered in hot magma that had to gradually cool for the planet to become habitable. This happened over millions of years, as the surface formed the hard rocks of the crust that is our home. The interior of our planet still emanates geothermal energy that causes plate tectonics to move, resulting in earthquakes and volcanoes. But how fast did Earth cool and how long will it continue to cool before the effects of its hot interior stop?
Professor Motohiko Murakami of ETH Zürich and colleagues from the Carnegie Institution of Science have developed a system to measure how well a mineral — bridgmanite — conducts heat. Bridgmanite makes up the boundary layer between the iron-nickel core of Earth and its mantle layer, and its thermal conductivity influences how fast heat flows through the core into the mantle.
From their experiments, Murakami and the other scientists suspect that Earth may be cooling faster than previously thought. Their study, “Radiative thermal conductivity of single-crystal bridgmanite at the core-mantle boundary with implications for thermal evolution of the Earth,” was recently published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters.
“This measurement system let us show that the thermal conductivity of bridgmanite is about 1.5 times higher than assumed,” Murakami said, as ETH Zürich reported. This finding suggests that core to mantle heat is also higher than was once believed, which accelerates the cooling of Earth.
Earth’s interior will eventually cool and solidify, and its plate tectonics will cease as well, possibly turning Earth into a sterile rock similar to Mercury or Mars, ScienceAlert reported.
Another factor in the rate at which Earth loses its heat is that when bridgmanite cools down it transforms into post-perovskite, a mineral that is more efficient at conducting heat and therefore increases the rate of heat loss from Earth’s core to its mantle.
“Our results could give us a new perspective on the evolution of Earth’s dynamics,” Murakami said, as reported by ScienceAlert. “They suggest that Earth, like the other rocky planets Mercury and Mars, is cooling and becoming inactive much faster than expected.”
Additional research is needed to determine how long it will be before the convection currents in Earth’s mantle stop, Earth.com reported. “We still don’t know enough about these kinds of events to pin down their timing,” Murakami said.
Nobody’s senator but theirs: Ron Johnson’s backroom dealing shows who he’s working for. It’s not you.
USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin Editorial Board January 19, 2022
A blockbuster scoop by ProPublica on Wednesday makes crystal clear who Ron Johnson represents: He is the senator for the ultra-wealthy.
The exposé details how Wisconsin’s Republican senator ensured that his wealthiest donors made out like bandits in the massive 2017 tax bill that GOP leaders marketed as a “middle-class tax cut.”
Thanks to Johnson’s demands, it wound up delivering a huge portion of its billions in savings to just 82 of America’s wealthiest families. And the senator’s top donors — billionaires Diane Hendricks and Dick and Liz Uihlein — were with Michael Bloomberg at the very top of a short list of those who gained the most.
Though he tried to defend himself on Wednesday, Johnson’s secret, closed-door maneuvering on the tax bill is one more reason he’s unfit to represent Wisconsin citizens. The sooner he’s removed from office, the better for our democratic republic.
In 2017 as President Donald Trump’s administration was rushing to get the massive tax cut through Congress, Johnson surprised the president and other Republicans by saying he’d vote “no.” The tax cut wasn’t sweet enough for “pass-through companies,” he argued — businesses that pass their profits directly to owners, ProPublica found through emails and other records.
The pressure campaign worked. Trump personally begged Johnson for his support, and the authors of the legislation boosted the tax cut for pass-through businesses, allowing them to deduct up to 20% of their profits.
Johnson also carried water for real estate developers after another of his donors, Milwaukee businessman Ted Kellner, complained that developers like himself wouldn’t get a big enough tax break from the bill. Johnson forwarded Kellner’s letter to Kevin Brady, a Texas Republican, who chaired the House Ways and Means Committee, and in the final version of the bill, developers got the same generous tax break.
Diane Hendricks: Owner of ABC Supply in Beloit, Hendricks is among the richest women in the U.S., estimated by Forbes to be worth $2.1 billion.
Johnson’s deal-making showered eye-popping benefits on his two biggest donors — Hendricks, who owns ABC Supply Co. in Beloit, and the Uihleins, Schlitz Brewing heirs who own the Uline packaging company in Pleasant Prairie.
Using tax records it obtained of the wealthiest Americans, ProPublica, a nonprofit investigative news service, found that in 2018 alone, the tax deal helped deliver $215 million in deductions for the two families. Of that, Johnson’s intervention saved the Uihleins $43.5 million in 2018 and Hendricks about $36 million. The donors could reap more than a half-billion dollars in tax savings from his changes over the course of the tax cut’s eight-year life span.
In 2016, as Johnson faced a tough race against former Sen. Russ Feingold, the families had contributed a combined $20 million to groups supporting Johnson’s reelection.
They got quite a return on their investment — Johnson proved to be the best senator money could buy.
Republicans claimed that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act — what Trump called his “big, beautiful Christmas present” — would goose economic growth and result in a simpler, fairer system.
What it actually did, according to a study by Treasury economists, is hand out most of the tax savings to the richest 1% of Americans. They got nearly 60% of the savings — and most of that went to the top 0.1%, ProPublica found. These are the people who benefit most from our interstate highways, our national defense, our financial system safeguards and our other shared public services — even as some do all in their power to pay as little as possible for them.
These are the people Ron Johnson truly represents and works for — even as he panders to people who are less well-to-do yet continue to believe in Trump and his promises to shake up the status quo and “drain the swamp.” Johnson knows he needs the former president’s less wealthy supporters in Wisconsin if he decides to break his earlier promises and run for a third term next year.
But what is more defensive of the status quo than secretly helping the very richest families get even richer? What is further from draining the swamp than writing laws that enrich yourself and your biggest campaign donors?
This is the same senator whose utter disregard for scientific evidence and responsible behavior led him to use his taxpayer-financed bully pulpit to repeatedly tout unproven treatments for COVID-19 and cast doubt on life-saving vaccines.
This is the same senator who after the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol claimed the insurrectionists were “people that love this country, that truly respect law enforcement, would never do anything to break a law.”
However, this same senator said he would have really been concerned about the violent Jan. 6 assault against police, Congress and our nation’s Capitol had the insurrectionists been members of the Black Lives Matter movement, rather than the white supremacists, Q-Anon conspiracy believers and Rebel flag-waving Trump supporters they were.
Johnson has never made a secret that he supports big business and the wealthy. Still, the audacious nature of the secret deal-making outlined by ProPublica is breathtaking.
Johnson couldn’t be bothered to support a bipartisan infrastructure investment this week, which aims to repair the nation’s deteriorating roads, bridges and ports; replace lead water pipes in cities like Milwaukee; and bring high-speed Internet to areas of Wisconsin and rural America that badly need it.
The senator is willing to work hard, and even stand up to his party’s leader, when it comes to doing the bidding of a few extremely rich patrons. When it comes to working for the good of the many more average Wisconsin citizens he represents? Not so much.
Johnson’s priorities are all wrong — and they’ve been all wrong for this entire term.
Former Sen. Herb Kohl, who financed his own campaigns, used to have a slogan: Nobody’s senator but yours.
Ron Johnson has put a new spin on that: Nobody’s senator but theirs.
It’s time to actually drain the swamp and fire Sen. Ron Johnson from public office.
About editorials
Editorials are written by the USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin Editorial Board, which operates independently from the network’s news departments across 11 state communities.
