Ron Johnson names his top Senate priority as 'the vaccine injured'—not crime, or inflation, or ...

Sen. Ron Johnson promised—as in swore to his constituents, his God, and the elemental cheese curd faerie who guides his Oldsmobile to Fleet Farm during snowstorms—that he would serve two terms and two terms only in the Senate. But as we now all know, when it came time for him to give up his swank D.C. digs and demurely decompose into the rich, fertile loam of his old Wisconsin home, he balked, claiming, “I believe America is in peril. Much as I’d like to ease into a quiet retirement, I don’t feel I should.”

Oh my gerrrd, America is in peril! Peril! Yeah, well, it kind of is, but that’s mostly because of folks like Johnson, who once participated in a scheme to literally end American democracy.  

But that’s not what he’s talking about these days. Johnson ran for reelection in 2022 on many of the same issues that propelled Republicans throughout the midterm election cycle: Curbing inflation, addressing crime, and not being a Black candidate named Mandela in a predominantly white state. But when asked recently about his top legislative priority going forward, the best Johnson could manage was advocating for the “vaccine injured.”