BUCK: Senator Ron Johnson is with us now from the great state of Wisconsin. Senator, thanks for being here.

SEN. JOHNSON: Hello, guys. Hope you’re doing well.

BUCK: Actually, can you give me your thoughts on just the cost of everything right now, food, obviously getting more and more expensive. Baby formula shortage is a huge stressor for young parents, for parents with young children across the country. And now there are some looming, broader supply chain issues. I mean, how much of a concern is this?

SEN. JOHNSON: It’s a huge concern. And you listen to and need to understand this didn’t just happen. You know, inflation, record gas prices, those are the direct result of Democrat governance and Democrat policies. War on fossil fuel, driving up the price not only on gasoline but energy in general which contributes to inflation. Printing trillions of dollars we don’t have.

Too many dollars chasing too few goods and spending those dollars on programs that make it possible for people to sit on the sidelines so manufacturers can’t meet the demand; so you have fewer products and no doubt about it the war in Ukraine is icing on the cake. But all this inflationary trend, all this gasoline prices that are rising, that was well underway before Vladimir Putin ever decided — because of Biden’s weakness — to invade Ukraine.

CLAY: Senator, you’re fighting the good fight trying to keep Biden from accelerating inflation. Thankfully Build Back Better didn’t pass. How much more time do we need to run out the clock before we have to worry about more disastrous decisions being made by the Biden administration, given that you guys are gonna leave — meaning Congress — and go back on the campaign trail, and the hope is that the House and the Senate are both gonna flip back to Republican control. So how much strategizing, how much time do you guys actually have to avoid tax increases, massive governmental spending increases? What do we need to be paying attention to in terms of your calendar?

SEN. JOHNSON: Well, obviously they’ve got ’til the end of the year to do these things, okay? So, even after the election, you gotta be careful of a lame-duck session. So, you always have to be on guard. But they are running out of time — and, quite honestly, they’re running out of votes. There are members of their party are a little concerned particularly before the election of fueling claims of inflation.

Because even though they won’t admit it publicly, certainly people like Joe Manchin realize that the out-of-control deficit spending has contributed to inflation. People like Larry Summers, Obama’s economic adviser, they were predicting this. So, there is public pressure coming to bear even on Democrats so I’ve got my fingers crossed but you needed to always be wary.

BUCK: Speaking to Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin. Senator, they are going after you — I’m sure you’ve seen this — in the Washington Post. They’ve got a photo of you saying during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on fiscal year 2023, that somehow they’re tying you into replacement theory. Clay and I have been discussing a lot that the immediate political attack that they’re using as a means of leveraging for political purposes this attack in Buffalo is something that is reprehensible. What do you say to those who at the Washington Post and the Democrat Party are going after you, Tucker, a whole range of well-known Republican figures?

SEN. JOHNSON: Well, what the Wall Street Journal said, it’s despicable, and it truly is. These guys have no shame whatsoever. It’s a diversionary operation. They refuse to admit that the radical left policies that they’re promoting — for example, open borders, flooding this country with illegal immigrants. So one and a quarter million people last year. That’s a number larger than the population of eight states.

They refuse to acknowledge how that, you know, threatens this country, the national security threat, that is. And so they gotta divert people’s attention and they’ve been they’re doing and of course they will always go on the offense with lies and distortions, ’cause they want to stay in power. This is all about power for the Democrats. So, I get accused of talking about something I never even heard of, okay? (laughing)

I don’t think I’ve ever even said the word and I’m not gonna say it now, okay, about this theory. All I’ve ever done is parroted exactly what Democrats have said about this. For example, Julian Castro said, it’s going to become a purple state, talking about Texas, then a blue state because of demographics, because of the population growth of folks from outside the state. The Center for American Progress said that we need to get behind the pathway to citizenship so 11 million undocumented immigrants living in our country as the only way to maintain the electoral strength in the future.

This has been their game plan. So just a guy like me just talks about what they’ve actually said or now, the fact that I’ve talked about how President Obama, five days before he got elected, said he was gonna fundamentally transform America. Joe Biden said the exact same thing and I’m pointing out we’re seeing what they meant by fundamentally premeditation transformation this nation, open borders, 40-year-high inflation, record gasoline prices, rising crime. They’re fundamentally destroying this country.

Now, the left doesn’t like hearing the truth about their policies and how they’re fundamentally destroying this country; so, they take it and twist it. Of course then their allies in the media run with it. That’s what we’re up against. We are up against not only Democrat Party, but we have their advocates, their allies in the media that are willing to carry their water and do everything they can to destroy somebody like me.

CLAY: Senator Johnson, you’ve been one of the truth-tellers when it comes to covid. Buck and I were talking about earlier in the show — you may have heard it, or you may have heard he is earlier in this week — talking about what the data is showing now. And I’m curious. I know you’ve been paying a lot of attention to the data coming out of England and other countries. What’s going on that in the places that are the most vaccinated right now, people who have gotten the most covid booster shots, people are being hospitalized there at highest rates and also we’ve got the highest rates of cases going on? What’s the data telling us, based on what you’re seeing?

SEN. JOHNSON: Listen, I’m not a doctor or medical researcher, but this is basically what a lot of the doctors and medical researchers I wasn’t talking to back even in 2020 were predicting. We all hoped and prayed it wouldn’t come true, but what we are seeing — what is undeniable — is that the federal health agencies — the covid cartel, the administration, the agencies, Big Pharma, the legacy media, Big Tech, social media giants, the covid cartel — they’re not gonna tell us the truth.

They’re not gonna give us the data. At this point — with the body count over a million, over six million globally, a million in the U.S., the human toll of the economic devastating, the ill-advised widespread shutdowns that didn’t work, what we’ve done to our children, at this point — they can’t afford to be proven wrong. And here’s what we’re up against. You can apply this to any one of these issues.

They have the power to make it almost impossible for us to prove them wrong. And we got the truth on our side. He has its own power. We have, you know, some news outlets like talk radio. But, by and large, the real bulk of the media, they’re radical leftists, they’re advocates, and it’s a real challenge for us to get the truth out.

BUCK: Senator Ron Johnson, everybody, of Wisconsin. Senator, appreciate making the time for us, sir.

SEN. JOHNSON: Appreciate it. RonJohnsonForSenate.com if you want to help me get reelected.

BUCK: Yeah, everybody.

CLAY: Definitely want to do that.

BUCK: Definitely want to do that. So, Senator Johnson —

CLAY: We should do an event with the Senator up in Milwaukee.

BUCK: Yeah, Senator, can you pick a fun place where they have good beer and cheese? I’ve heard stories.

SEN. JOHNSON: Well, there’s all kinds of fun places. I’d love to have you. Let’s plan on it, okay?

BUCK: All right. Fantastic. Thanks, Senator.