On Friday, The Daily Beast released a new podcast episode with Molly Jong-Fast in which conservative writer Charlie Sykes, a longtime expert in Wisconsin politics, seeks to explain how Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) went from being a relatively generic Republican to an ardent mouthpiece for far-right conspiracy theories.
“There was a while when I tried to come up with various theories about it, because I was trying to think, how did he get from this normal sort of Wall Street Journal-reading businessman from Oshkosh, Wisconsin, to RonAnon?" asked Sykes, using a portmanteau of "Ron" and the conspiracy theory "QAnon". "What drew him down those rabbit holes? He turned out to model himself on Joseph McCarthy, our other legendary senator from Wisconsin.”
In recent months, Johnson has drawn controversy for claiming, among other things, that the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol could have been triggered by "agent provocateurs," and that COVID-19 can be treated with mouthwash. He has also suggested, baselessly, that there could have been misconduct in the Wisconsin election that chose President Joe Biden.
Johnson's transformation, argued Sykes, is part of a broader radicalization of the Wisconsin GOP. "He's fallen in with a bad crowd... and apparently also lost his mind," he said.
“The establishment here decided it was gonna go along and appease the Trumpists," added Sykes. "They would throw a little bit of red meat. They figured that they could grow the crocodile in the bathtub and it wouldn't get big and come out and eat them ... now they have Ron Johnson, one of the craziest United States senators.”
Wisconsin Republicans have been pushing a partisan probe of the 2020 election results led by a retired state Supreme Court justice, Michael Gableman, who has pursued conspiracy theories about the vote count and even tried to arrest election officials.
Listen to the episode here.
