Decades ago, a Senator from Wisconsin tried to save America from a communist takeover. These days, a Senator from Wisconsin is trying to save America from financial bankruptcy.
We are talking about Joe McCarthy and Ron Johnson.
McCarthy was the target of character assassination who ended up in Bethesda Naval Hospital with a knee problem and came out in a body bag.
Johnson is the today’s real enemy of the Deep State, otherwise known as Big Government, which President Trump strangely wants to make bigger and more dangerous through more deficits and debt in his “Big Beautiful” bill that passed the House.
Johnson stands in the way. If he only gets 3 or 4 like-minded Republican Senators on his side, he can save Trump from himself and save the country in the process.
The White House insists the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimate that the Trump tax bill would add $2.4 trillion to the deficit over a decade is wrong. In an official release, the White House claims the bill reduces the deficit. But Senator Johnson’s numbers cannot be disputed. He is a Republican who wants to see Trump succeed.
Johnson is on a mission to save our children and grandchildren from financial ruin. He was sounding the alarm before Elon Musk left government service and warned the country that Republican politicians had passed a bill that was a “disgusting abomination.”
Yet, national MAGA youth spokesman Charlie Kirk is backing the bill, while admitting Elon Musk and Senator Johnson are correct about the financial dangers and the need to move toward a balanced budget. Calling himself a pragmatist, he is towing the White House line and selling out members of his generation.
“Big government is the tendency for the government to expand itself for the sake of more power, control, and money,” says Kirk’s group, Turning Point USA. But with Trump’s bill, government will expand, not contract.
“We will soon pay more toward interest on the national debt than we do for our national defense — and we have the most expensive national defense system in the world,” notes former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. How does this make financial sense?
Trump sounds the alarm about the trade deficit, a legitimate concern, while pushing a bill that the evidence shows will expand federal deficits and debt. It does not make sense. He has made a serious mistake in his budget strategy and has to realize that blaming the Federal Reserve chairman for bad economic conditions won’t wash.
To the rescue comes Senator Ron Johnson, one of the most conservative Senators. Please take a moment to watch Johnson’s appearance on CNBC, the business channel, and watch him take apart, piece by piece, the “Big Beautiful” bill that he calls “immoral.” He has the facts and figures. He has an alternative approach that makes complete sense.
Johnson is unique in that he does his homework. He mentioned how he is using artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze the mathematical deficiencies in the bill. This kind of research is not being done by most of his colleagues. It is the kind of research that was done by Elon Musk and his DOGE associates. Johnson wants a line-by-line analysis of federal spending.
Senator Rand Paul notes that President Trump is demanding Congress cut $9.4 billion that DOGE found. But that is only about 5 percent of what Musk found. Paul opposes the House bill, arguing that it would add $5 trillion to the debt.
Rather than seek to restore fiscal solvency to the United States, Trump is asking Republicans to act like a moderate or light version of the Democratic Party, with a goal of national bankruptcy postponed by a few months.
“The golden age of America has only just begun” said Trump in his speech to a 2025 joint session of Congress. That will not happen with the “Big Beautiful” bill.
The White House can’t spin the facts about America’s financial problems. But their public relations strategy seems to be working with such outlets as the Washington Examiner, supposedly a “conservative” paper, which ran a column by Michael Faulkender, the deputy treasury secretary, claiming Trump is building “a thriving economy.”
Yet, the warnings signs are all around us. The recent downgrade of the U.S. government’s debt rating means the experts doubt whether Washington will be able to pay its debts.
Thomas Savidge, a Research Fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research, writes that American families “will feel the squeeze through higher borrowing costs, higher taxes, a more aggressive tax collection regime, and a weaker dollar.”
Trump is apparently planning to blame Fed chairman Powell if his “Big Beautiful” bill passes and the debt crisis develops. But the blame will be on him.
Trump should listen to the Senator from Wisconsin, Ron Johnson, whose only motive is to save the country from socialist ruin. Trump should stop attacking Senators like Rand Paul for pointing out the obvious fiscal problems with the bill.
We can not depend on the so-called “conservative” establishment, which is instead urging passage of the meager $9 billion recission legislation. As Senator Paul notes, this is only 5 percent of what DOGE identified. The so-called Conservative Action Project memo, entitled “Conservatives Urge Congress to Pass President Trump’s Rescission Plan,” is a joke. This is penny ante stuff.
These “conservatives” don’t have the courage or intestinal fortitude to stand up to Trump’s irresponsible budget plan.
We need more conservatives like Ron Johnson who will stand up for real conservatism.
Just as Wisconsin Senator Joe McCarthy fought communism in the federal government and exposed real communists, Johnson is doing the same on a fiscal level, identifying those on the federal gravy train and inside the Washington Beltway who make their living at the expense of the American people.
Before he suffers another embarrassment, Trump should admit his bill is doomed in the Senate and reverse course quickly, embracing the approach of Senator Johnson.
As Johnson notes, it’s not too late to do what is morally right.
