Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin joined the “Tony Kinnett Cast” Monday night in an exclusive interview to discuss the upcoming Senate Republican leadership election scheduled for Tuesday. Johnson is currently petitioning to delay the leadership election in order to have a conference-wide meeting to discuss strategy.
“After this devastating loss, after we realize that our supporters are so disillusioned, so PO’d, they are not looking for business as usual. They want to hold at least somebody accountable, and you know, in the end, it’s people at the top that generally get held accountable,” he told Kinnett.
Kinnett, agreeing with Johnson, said that America is looking for “if not drastic change, at least a conversation about where things are going, how, and why.”
“Yeah, there’s no guarantee that a miracle is going to emerge from those conversations, but you ought to have them,” Johnson responded.
“Tony, our nation is in peril. That’s why I’m being so passionate. That’s why I’m just talking out as much as I’m talking out,” he continued.
Johnson has gathered the five signatures needed to call a conference-wide meeting Tuesday morning in hopes of delaying the election. The letter is signed by Johnson and Sens. Ted Budd, Rick Scott, Mike Lee, and John Kennedy. Sens. Jim Banks and Dave McCormick have also independently voiced support for delaying the election. However, in order to delay the election, he will need majority support during the meeting.
Johnson is hopeful that on Tuesday enough senators will speak up similarly and say, “this is madness,” noting that the Democrats aren’t holding their leadership elections until December.
One of Johnson’s seemingly biggest concerns is that he believes Republicans are not focused on strategy and are simply using tactics to hold their own individual power.
“There’s no strategy here. It’s all tactics, and tactics don’t win the day. Democrats have a strategy. I mean, their goal, their strategy, is to turn America into a one-party nation, and they’ve been implementing it,” Johnson said.
“A strategy encompasses a longer time period. A tactic is just, again, very short-term, and it only requires short-term thinking. Whereas a strategy requires long-term thinking. It requires things like principles,” he said. “We ought to fully embrace and be guided by the principles of our Founding Fathers—a limited government,” he continued.
“It’s deeply concerning to hear you say that there have only been tactics and not a strategy,” Kinnett said. “To essentially hear that this was just a bunch of tactics and reflexes, as it were, that’s deeply unsettling.”
When asked if this situation has changed his mind and if Johnson might throw his name into the race, Johnson deferred an answer but responded with his goals for the meeting, vowing not to participate in the elections if there is no delay.
“You know who’s willing to do this? Who do we think is going to be capable? You know who would be good at it? You know who’s got a strategy? Are they willing to convey it to the leadership or to the conference? I mean, at a minimum, our leadership team should be saying, ‘OK, guys, yeah, this was a disaster. Here’s our new strategy,'” he told Kinnett.
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[ H/T The Daily Signal ]
