The column below reflects the views of the author, and these opinions are neither endorsed nor supported by WisOpinion.com.

The American Dream is out of reach for many Wisconsinites. The Trump economy is not working for regular folks. Trump’s trade wars and economic policies have hurt factory workers and farmers. Moreover, the endless Iran War has fueled inflation; diesel and gas prices are way up, fertilizer costs are rising, and grocery prices are up, as are mortgage rates. And healthcare is far more unaffordable. Not a good track record for Republicans to run on in the November 3 midterm elections. What to do?

Wisconsin GOP Senator Ron Johnson has decided to distract with demonizing Dr. Tony Fauci and his efforts to contain the COVID pandemic. Over 1.1 million Americans, including nearly 15,000 Wisconsinites, died of COVID. Many more were sickened by the virus. Fauci played a critical role in developing COVID vaccines and protective measures to end the pandemic. Without him and numerous other doctors and scientists, it would have turned out like the Black Death in the Middle Ages.

The late conservative Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson said: Johnson was a practitioner of “strategic ignorance.” He characterized Johnson as “America’s most reliable source of unreliable information about COVID-19 – such ignorance might not be feigned. (Johnson) might well believe that gargling with mouthwash can kill the coronavirus, and that thousands of people are regularly dying from vaccine side effects … . If a significant group of Americans regard the musing of a politician such as Johnson as equal in value to Fauci’s lifelong accumulation of expertise, the basis for rational action is lost. And the result is needless death.”

That’s the road Johnson is going down, using his position on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, chaired by Kentucky GOP Senator Rand Paul, to defame Fauci and send him to prison. Paul previously called for Fauci to be imprisoned. Fauci, mindful of Paul’s threat, repeatedly cited his Fifth Amendment rights during the hearing. Paul led his committee, along party lines with Johnson’s support, to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress. Fauci may now face prison time for asserting his constitutional rights.

However, Johnson wants more blood. As chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (chaired by Wisconsin GOP Senator Joe McCarthy in the 1950s) he is holding his own inquisition. Johnson has released Fauci’s cellphone records in a failed attempt to embarrass him. Johnson increasingly acts like Joe McCarthy with fearmongering and bold-faced lies. As Richard Rovere wrote in “Senator Joe McCarthy”: a “demagogue cannot survive except as an oppositionist and the organizer of a flight from reality … .” So true for Johnson.

Johnson’s sorry record in Congress is also infamous for his acting as an accountant for the wealthy, including his campaign donors. He has supported tax dodges for himself and other tycoons while consistently opposing healthcare tax credits for regular folks. Some day Wisconsin voters are going to realize that Johnson is an impostor. He is uninformed, in over his head and oblivious of facts. Serving as an accountant for the wealthy doesn’t merit a Senate seat.

Kaplan wrote a guest column from Washington, D.C., for the Wisconsin State Journal from 1995 – 2009.