Obama Goes Nuclear on Ron Johnson Over Social Security at Wisconsin Rally: ‘He Should Not Be Your Senator!’
Former President Barack Obama delivered blistering remarks against Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin in a stump speech for his Democratic opponent, Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes.
Speaking in Milwaukee, Obama contrasted the backgrounds of the two candidates, stating that Barnes came from a modest upbringing while Johnson has lived a privileged life. The senator was the CEO of his wife’s family’s plastics company for 13 years. In 2018, his net worth was estimated to be $39 million.
The former president portrayed Johnson as an out-of-touch elite who votes to enrich himself, his family, and other wealthy people:
Ron Johnson, as a senator, helped give millions of dollars in tax deductions to some of the biggest donors that funded his campaign. And after he voted for a tax plan that allows people to write off the costs of private planes– I’ve been trying to get this thing closed since I was president.
If you can afford a private plane, then you don’t need a tax break! But no, he fought for this. And then his adult children bought, not one, not two, but three private planes, because apparently carpooling was not an option.
Obama also claimed Johnson wants to slash Social Security benefits and raise the age for eligibility. The former president proceeded to go full-bore against the senator:
Meanwhile, Senator Johnson voted to raise the retirement age to 70, supported a plan that would put Social Security and Medicare on the chopping block every single year. Each year you’d have to vote to renew this thing. I mean, think about it, because Washington works so well that you want your Social Security and Medicare reliant on Congress every year. He’s called Social Security a Ponzi scheme, said that it’s candy that the left is giving it away.
The point is, some of you here are on Social Security. Some of your parents are on Social Security. Some of your grandparents are on Social Security. You know why they have Social Security? Because they worked for it. They worked hard jobs for it. They have chapped hands for it. They have long hours and sore backs and bad knees to get that Social Security!
And if Ron Johnson does not understand that, if he understands giving tax breaks for private planes more than he understands making sure that seniors who’ve worked all their lives are able to retire with dignity and respect, he’s not the person who is thinking about you, and knows you, and sees you, and he should not be your senator from Wisconsin!
The crowd broke into raucous applause as Obama spoke.
Johnson was first elected to the Senate in 2010, when he pledged to serve two terms at most. He is hoping to win a third term in next month’s midterm elections. An aggregate of polls in the race shows him ahead by 3.3 percentage points.
Watch above via MSNBC.
