The lasting legacy of the presidency of Donald Trump will not include, as he bragged it would, evidence of a booming economy or historically good job record. Instead, it will include the names of 600,000 Americans who died as a result of his incompetence in his handling of the COVID-19 crisis, and the names of his allies will be dragged through the historical mud right along with his.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel today:
Republican US Senator Ron Johnson "is the most irresponsible representative of Wisconsin citizens since the infamous Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy in the 1950s."https://t.co/ahwLlL7wkg
— Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) June 30, 2021
One of those names will be Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), who has carried Trump’s water faithfully for more than four years now. Lying about the 2020 election results and the effects of climate change was despicable but on brand for Republicans, but Johnson’s hometown newspaper called him out for his ongoing campaign to convince voters that the vaccine for COVID-19 is a danger to their lives. Johnson has focused on five people he says experienced negative health effects after receiving the vaccine with no proof that their health experiences were related to the vaccine at all.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wrote on Wednesday that:
‘Johnson’s misleading medicine show Monday included charts showing thousands of deaths supposedly linked to the vaccines. But the data he relied on — reports to the federal government’s vaccine adverse event website that anyone can file — prove nothing. The federal government requires health care providers to report deaths after COVID-19 vaccination to the site even if it’s unclear whether the vaccine had anything to do with it.’
Sen. Ron Johnson held a forum today to highlight adverse reactions to the COVID-19 vaccine. Asked about it on Friday, he said that he’s not anti-vaccine and that he’s just asking questions, which is also what nearly all anti-vaccine activists say, so … (https://t.co/UqTNEVbBwK). https://t.co/VepQeb4vP7
— Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D (@RVAwonk) June 28, 2021
Johnson has made a political name for himself by denying science, much to the disastrous effects of bad policy votes that put American lives in danger. In addition to his misleading remarks and outright lies about the vaccine, he had previously issued other ridiculous lies about climate change science, something he clearly fails to understand at all.
‘During a meeting with the Journal Sentinel editorial board in 2010, Johnson claimed global warming was more likely caused by sunspots than human activity. Over the years, he continued to downplay climate change, claiming as recently as 2016 that the climate hadn’t warmed in “quite a few years,” which he said was “proven scientifically.”
‘In fact, PolitiFact judged that claim to be false, reporting “15 of the 16 warmest years on record have occurred since 2001, with the two highest years being 2014 and 2015.”‘
Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson hosted a news conference that heard from five people who said they got side effects from COVID-19 vaccine.
— USA TODAY Politics (@usatodayDC) June 29, 2021
Trump’s trademark lies have been the catalyst for many of Johnson’s, none so obviously more so than his contributions to the Big Lie: the one about how the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Trump and illegally given to Biden.
‘Johnson’s role in spreading and amplifying lies about the election — including his threat to challenge the ceremonial counting of electoral votes in Congress — encouraged Trump supporters to believe the result could be overturned and helped lead to the insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
‘In the weeks after the riot, Johnson continued to deny the truth.’
Ron Johnson won't curtail his reckless rhetoric on vaccines | By Steve Benen https://t.co/mVldhKWmRP
— SafetyPin-Daily (@SafetyPinDaily) June 30, 2021