Treasonous Climate Denier of the Week – Ron Johnson
October 4, 2019
I’ve pointed out that Acting White House Chief of Staff, Mick Mulvaney, who has facilitated the President’s ongoing treasonous behavior, is a major climate denier.
In this case, you could argue “useful idiot” rather than out and out criminal, but clearly Senator Johnson (R- Wisconsin) got wind of some pretty serious behavior over the summer, and chose to believe a serial liar’s account of what happened.
A Republican senator said he was told by an American diplomat in August that the release of U.S. aid to Ukraine was contingent on an investigation desired by President Trump and his allies, but Mr. Trump denied pursuing any such proposal when the lawmaker pressed him on it.
Sen. Ron Johnson said that Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, had described to him a quid pro quo involving a commitment by Kyiv to probe matters related to U.S. elections and the status of nearly $400 million in U.S. aid to Ukraine that the president had ordered to be held up in July.
Alarmed by that information, Mr. Johnson, who supports aid to Ukraine and is the chairman of a Senate subcommittee with jurisdiction over the region, said he raised the issue with Mr. Trump the next day, Aug. 31, in a phone call, days before the senator was to meet with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky. In the call, Mr. Trump flatly rejected the notion that he directed aides to make military aid to Ukraine contingent on a new probe by Kyiv, Mr. Johnson said.
“He said, ‘Expletive deleted—No way. I would never do that. Who told you that?” the Wisconsin senator recalled in an interview Friday. Mr. Johnson said he told the president he had learned of the arrangement from Mr. Sondland.
Mr. Johnson’s account, coupled with text messages among State Department officialsreleased Thursday, show some Trump administration officials—including Mr. Sondland and a top U.S. diplomat in Kyiv—believed there was a link between Mr. Trump’s July decision to hold up the aid to Ukraine and his interest in Kyiv’s launching new probes.
UPDATE: Never mind, he’s a damn traitor, and more like a useless idiot.
Sen. Ron Johnson, a top Republican ally of President Donald Trump, said a U.S. diplomat told him in August that the Trump administration had frozen almost $400 million in aid to Ukraine because the president wanted a commitment that Kyiv would carry out investigations related to U.S. elections.
The Wisconsin senator, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal published Friday, said he called Trump about the allegation on Aug. 31, and that Trump vehemently denied it.
“He said—expletive deleted—’No way. I would never do that. Who told you that?” Johnson recounted Trump as telling him in the call, according to the paper.
Johnson told The Wall Street Journal that he was informed of the allegations by U.S. ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland.
Speaking to reporters in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, before The Wall Street Journal story was published, Johnson said that during the Aug. 31 talk, he asked Trump to “give me the authority to tell [Ukrainian] President [Volodymyr] Zelinskiy that we were going to provide that” aid.
“I didn’t succeed,” Johnson said, according to audio of the interview posted by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
As for why not, Johnson said Trump had concerns, including about “what happened in 2016.”
“He was very consistent on why he was considering it. It was corruption overall generalized, but yeah, no doubt about it, what happened in 2016, what happened in 2016, what was the truth about that, and then the fact that our NATO partners don’t step up to the plate,” Johnson said.
In a statement provided to NBC News, Johnson’s office stressed that the term “quid pro quo” was not used.
“Senator Johnson does not recall in any meeting or discussion with the president, or any member of the administration, that the term ‘quid pro quo’ was ever used. Nor does he recall any discussion of any specific case of corruption in the 2016 election, such asCrowdstrike, the hack of the DNC servers, Hillary Clinton campaign involvement, or Hunter and Joe Biden, during general discussions of corruption, which is endemic throughout Ukraine,” the statement said.
Johnson told The Wall Street Journal that he’d reached out to Sondland after discovering the aid, which Johnson had advocated for, had been frozen. Sondland said the administration had been working on an arrangement with Ukraine in which the country would appoint a new prosecutor general and move to “get to the bottom of what happened in 2016—if President Trump has that confidence, then he’ll release the military spending,” Johnson told the paper.
The senator said the suggestion made him “wince.” “My reaction was: ‘Oh, God. I don’t want to see those two things combined,'” Johnson told the paper.
The money was released in September after news of the freeze became public and led to bipartisan push from Congress.
Johnson told reporters last month that he’d asked Trump to release the aid for Ukraine, but did not mention his conversation with Sondland.
Climate Denial Crock of the Week 
October 4, 2019 at 6:06 pm
The “reporter” doing the interview permitted out right lies to be spewed forth with ZERO push back. It is time for reporters to stop the questions and point out clear lies and proven wrong info in interviews.
October 4, 2019 at 8:22 pm
The best reporters can feed out rope with clever followup questions until the bullshitters being interviewed not only hang themselves but take others with them.
October 4, 2019 at 6:09 pm
And then at the end when Johnson says the impact of CO2 is trees just suck it up and grow more, the reporter just says “OK”. Not acceptable any longer.
October 4, 2019 at 6:46 pm
Good heavens! In about two minutes Ron Johnson blurted out the economy-sized variety pack of denier memes.
— The climate has changed a lot in geologic time
— If it weren’t for climate change, we would all be under a glacier, so be grateful for climate change.
— The glaciers melted and people didn’t cause that! So there!
— Human contribution is not proven.
— It is far more likely to be sunspots or something else rather than human caused.
— There was a medieval warm period, “and it’s not like there were tons of cars on the road.”
— It is absurd to claim that the climate right now just happens to be the correct way that it should be, the “sweet spot” he calls it.
— Addressing climate change will cost trillions of dollars and do great harm to the economy. (For no good reason.)
— And anyway we can’t do anything about controlling the climate.
— Cap and trade would cost large numbers of jobs (he mentions some specific number for Wisconsin, his state)
— He claimed some incident (I couldn’t catch the name) is a wake up call showing what damage would be caused by addressing climate change
— He is good guy because:
() He is a huge environmentalist because he is an “outdoorsman” who “likes a pristine environment”
() He gets his water from a well, so he is against ground water contamination
— And the key to a clean environment is a good economy!
— And the US is the leader in environmentalism.
— And when specifically asked about CO2, he said it helps trees grow.
Does this qualify as a Gish Gallop? I don’t think so, but it is hard for me to articulate the difference.
October 4, 2019 at 8:24 pm
This was in 2016. I think the denier memes have shifted a bit.
October 5, 2019 at 2:04 am
I’m still hearing most of the same BS
October 5, 2019 at 8:01 am
some of the craftier deniers are shifting ground, but I suspect Senator Johnson is still on the same page.
Senator Rubio, for instance, who will be next week’s Treasonous Denier of the Week, favors “realistic solutions” – meaning don’t do anything.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2019/08/19/rubio-on-climate-change-we-should-choose-adaptive-solutions-column/2019310001/
October 5, 2019 at 9:36 am
Yap! Rubio’s article is a perfect example of deliberately missing the point by raising a different point. He is all about funding projects that respond to Florida’s environmental problems. Increasing water flow through the Everglades to counteract increasing salinity, funding the Mote Center’s coral reef restoration program, things like that.
In Rubio’s formulation, these programs are an alternative to stabilizing greenhouse gasses. He yip-yaps that advocates for a carbon tax and the Green New Deal can’t show how these policies would specifically affect the problems of Florida. So he proposes funding coral reef restoration studies instead.
This is so flat-out intellectually dishonest that I kind of suspect Rubio (or his staff) know they are being dishonest.
October 7, 2019 at 7:11 pm
My response to “the climate has changed before” would be: How in the world do you know that? Could it be…scientists?
October 7, 2019 at 8:40 pm
Good one!
October 5, 2019 at 4:31 pm
I’m not sure how anyone could think it’s not a Gish Gallop. It’s not just a Gish Gallop, it’s a textbook example. It would make a great classroom exercise, homework or even exam for courses in science logic, rhetoric, and what used to be called civics that I’m saving it (and thanks for your list; it will come in handy in debunking the items.
Here’s a different response, equally applicable to Johnson.
October 4, 2019 at 9:48 pm
Treason and crimes against humanity. After decades of polite arguments, it is time to get nasty and call the bastards out to their face. Show in public the liars and idiots they are. Do a Greta.
October 5, 2019 at 8:03 am
or like
October 5, 2019 at 9:48 am
Aargh!
— “Where is the line?” “When are going to say I’m not backing any of this” “Your silence is supporting him.” “You didn’t pledge an oath to the president, you pledged it to our country.”
— It’s not my fault the president says stuff. “It is up to us as members of Congress to work with our allies to see that we remain strong.”
Even the for a non-answer answer, that was lame.
October 5, 2019 at 3:29 pm
It’s not just lame, it’s lame narcissistic psychopathy. If you’re a member of the Republican party you’re responsible for the ongoing destruction of civilization and millions of species. If you voted for Trump (or pretty much any other Republican) you’re either a pathologically selfish and suicidal mass murderer, intentionally profoundly ignorant, or suffering from some other mental illness. Really, there’s no way to avoid the conclusion you’re all 3. You have no business voting in the next 12 elections at least. (and by “you are” I mean “one is”). Such people have to be prevented from making any more political decisions in their lifetimes, by whatever peaceful means are necessary. This seems radical to some, I’m sure, but the last 20 years of conspiracy to literally end civilization and wipe out most life on Earth is evil unparalleled in the history of humanity.
There needs to be a truth and reconciliation process so the public can learn the names of all the people and money and techniques involved, and allow the most compassionate end possible to the denial and delay so we can move on to the solutions to our existential crisis.
Most conservatives believe the death penalty is appropriate for crimes far less evil than these. (I don’t think it’s ever justified or useful.) If they were being judged by their own standards they’d be far worse off than with these recommendations.
October 6, 2019 at 11:00 am
One would have to go some to beat the shear nastiness of this video:
Go Home Greta. from an outfit calling itself, ‘Blue Collar Logic: The Common Sense of Our Time’ .
I have renamed it:
‘Blue Collar Logic: a cesspit of ignorance and prejudice for our times.’
Which if you google and look around is a part of a very nasty place, it is hard to miss the vile cartoon image, ‘The 16-Year-Old Climate Activist from ‘2019 Winds of Jihad Page 5’
October 6, 2019 at 11:24 am
WOW! Terrific find. That clip from Blue Collar logic is one of the most insidiously evil things I’ve seen in a long time—-I’ve sprinkled the computer with holy water and nave a call in to the exorcists.
One of the most evil things about it is the title—-the morons will see it and immediately react positively—-“Oh, lookie!—-a site just for ME and the way I think”. Your title is close to the truth, bit IMO would be improved with the addition of “evil” somewhere.
Unfortunately, the site has been carefully crafted by people with advanced degrees in psychology who work at one of the right wing think tanks and are being paid with dark money by the Kochs et al—-no wonder the fight has been so long and hard.
(And the only “blue collars” in the building are the guys who empty the trash).
October 6, 2019 at 11:40 am
The irony was it was sent in a message from a denial ignoramus I had been trying to educate on social media. He was clearly impressed by the spiel from Jason Siler.
Did you find that ‘The 16-Year-Old Climate Activist from ‘2019 Winds of Jihad Page 5’ image I mentioned? Too sickening for me to post here.
October 6, 2019 at 11:54 am
No, couldn’t find it, but what I did find was enough to make me ill.
Like this: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/greta-thunberg-soros-isis-antifa/
October 6, 2019 at 1:30 pm
OK
Here it is in this montage page ‘ ‘The 16-Year-Old Climate Activist’:
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&biw=1270&bih=898&tbm=isch&sxsrf=ACYBGNRCEXqVRiqnqWUpjCqhpNbFMHh0Dw%3A1570386186358&sa=1&ei=CjGaXZi1FdDZgQb4gYQw&q=%22Jason+Siler%22+AND+%22Greta+Thunberg%22&oq=%22Jason+Siler%22+AND+%22Greta+Thunberg%22&gs_l=img.3…0.0..70596…0.0..0.0.0…….0……gws-wiz-img.H3YyMHLv6h4&ved=0ahUKEwiY4rC2oIjlAhXQbMAKHfgAAQYQ4dUDCAY&uact=5#imgrc=Yzv8tqAKC4Q1AM:
not sure if it will show OK to you.
October 6, 2019 at 7:08 pm
That’s beyond sickening.
October 9, 2019 at 1:18 am
Can’t watch it. I think I’ll go watch a sea otter video instead.