The 1/6 insurrection is going to haunt Wisconsin Republicans for a long, long time. You know about Ron Johnson. But do you know about Derrick Van Orden, who was one of the GOP’s top House candidates in 2020 trying to unseat Ron Kind?
Derrick Van Orden was at the Jan 6th rally before the insurrection, proudly posting selfies with fellow attendees. Totally silent re the Camp Auschwitz sweatshirt, Confederate flags, other ugliness. Says he left when it got violent; deleted his own tweet. wispolitics.com/2021/wisdems-f…
When things got violent, he then tweeted a series of apologies and rejections of what happened at the Capitol. But he’s never acknowledged his own role in fueling the anti-democracy conspiracy theories that led to the rally… or to his own attendance.
Then, a few weeks later, he more or less equated Robert Reich with Nazism for speaking out on the filibuster.
If you attend an insurrectionist rally and don’t say anything about the guy in the Camp Auschwitz t-shirt, you might want to take a long look in the mirror before tweeting anything about the Holocaust.
After getting called out on this, Derrick Van Orden once again deleted his problematic tweet and posted an apology thread. But in his apology, he manages to once again analogize Dems and “the most oppressive and criminal regimes in world history.” lacrossetribune.com/7rivers/former…
This is a pattern of political extremism married to political cowardice. Accuse your opponents of unforgivable behavior. Incite political violence. And then disavow it and pretend you have no responsibility. It’s emblematic of the deep rot at the heart of today’s GOP.
Derrick Van Orden’s campaign for Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District last cycle was one of the national GOP’s top races. The district even went for Trump—but rejected Van Orden and elected Ron Kind. Let’s make sure Van Orden never comes close to public office again.
We’re running this ad to share the truth about Derrick Van Orden—and to send a message to every Republican insurrectionist: Attacking our Constitution will only hurt you politically.
Help us reach as many Wisconsin viewers as possible by becoming a monthly donor today: wisdems.org/stopDVO
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THREAD: Wisconsin’s coronavirus crisis is a crisis of democracy. For over 290 days, Republicans in our state leg have done nothing but attack public health measures—and now voted against masks & passed a trash bill that @GovEvers has vetoed. Why is this happening? 1/
In 2020, Wisconsin’s legislature was literally the least active state in the country. Instead of passing COVID-19 protections, Republicans went to court to strike down @GovEvers’ emergency powers & kill his stay-home order. We went after them for it. madison.com/wsj/news/local…
Across Wisconsin in the fall of 2020, as Wisconsin suffered through one of the nation’s worst COVID-19 outbreaks, Dems and public interest groups made calls, sent mail, and ran ads hammering the GOP for undermining health protections. Like this billboard, for example:
Ron Johnson is THE most vulnerable GOP Senator up in 2022. After the insurrection, 60% of Wisconsinites said he should be replaced. But it'll take a massive effort to win. We just need 197 new monthly donors to reach our January goal of 1000—chip in now! wisdems.org/Donate-Defeat-…
The Biden-Harris administration has a massive to-do list because of the mess Trump left behind. But it wasn’t just Trump. One of his most destructive accomplices came from right here in Wisconsin: Senator Ron Johnson. madison.com/ct/opinion/col…
Johnson added fuel to the fire of insurrection, pushing conspiracy theories and even saying he would vote against certifying electoral college votes. Then he flip-flopped, and now openly says that effort would’ve disenfranchised voters.
For the last week, Wisconsinites in every region of the state have seen this TV ad from the @WisDems calling on Ron Johnson to resign from the United States Senate.
This ad was funded by grassroots supporters who know Johnson shouldn’t be Wisconsin’s Senator.
The poll, conducted by @DataForProgress for @MoveOn, asked voters if they think Senator Johnson should resign. 18% of Republicans said yes. So did 56% of independents and 92% of Democrats.
There is always light, if only we are brave enough to see it—if only we are brave enough to be it. – @TheAmandaGorman, whom I am now enthusiastically following on Twitter
In the time it took me to make this screenshot, @TheAmandaGorman's follower count rocketed up past 160k
Real accountability means owning what you do, not just what you say.
Rep. Mike Gallagher claims “President Trump has lost my support — permanently.”
But he voted to shield him from impeachment. So we’re holding Gallagher accountable, with this TV ad running statewide in WI:
Gallagher has voted with Trump 86.7% of the time. He voted against impeaching Trump despite obvious high crimes and misdemeanors—twice. He’s seeking media attention for criticizing Trump, but when it counts, Mike Gallagher has Trump’s back. projects.fivethirtyeight.com/congress-trump…
As a profile in political courage, Rep. Gallagher is right up there with Betsy DeVos. After 3 years & 50 weeks on Team Trump, she resigned from the Cabinet after the insurrection, instead of pushing for the 25th. Gallagher shakes his head about Trump—and votes to protect him.
Want to feel old? The @TheWebbyAwards are celebrating their 25th year. The Webby anniversary theme is “overwrite tomorrow”—to spur thinking on what in our society we need to overwrite. Here’s one thing: let’s stop overwriting political infrastructure, and build long-term instead.
Campaigns and viral moments come and go. Institutions and people endure. So over these next 25 years, let’s invest in institutions and people. Let’s invest in institutions and people who can lift up and energize campaigns, undergird movements, and shape moments.
The cultures and business models of our institutions shape the outcomes they produce and the the people they touch. And the values and mindsets of the people within them shape our institutions. Let’s focus on those.