The upcoming campaign by former Sen. Russ Feingold to challenge incumbent Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., will present a stark contrast on a number of issues, particularly on surveillance. Johnson defeated Feingold in 2010.
Feingold was the lone vote in the U.S. Senate against the Patriot Act in 2001, while Johnson has become a powerful champion of the National Security Agency. Johnson is pushing for full renewal of the Patriot Act and for additional new domestic surveillance legislation, including the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act.
Discussing the differences between him and Feingold on the Patriot Act on WTMJ in Milwaukee yesterday, Johnson touted his position as chair of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, telling host Charlie Sykes that he has the “advantage of talking to folks at the NSA, talking to FISA court judges,” whom Johnson said “do not want to snoop on Americans.”
Listen to the exchange here:
Johnson has criticized the USA Freedom Act, legislation to shift bulk collection of telephony metadata from the NSA to telecom companies and to create a public advocate at the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. According to Johnson, such revisions to surveillance law would create “a race to the bottom” that will “degrade our ability” to monitor terrorists.
“The Patriot Act has needed to be changed from the day I voted against it,” Feingold recently told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The former senator said he thought the USA Freedom Act, which passed the House of Representatives last week, is a positive step but doesn’t go far enough in protecting civil liberties.
Johnson has also touted his track record on highlighting ISIS social media efforts. Earlier this month, he hosted a widely ridiculed congressional hearing about combatting ISIS social media memes.
(This post is from our blog: Unofficial Sources.)
Photo: Russ Feingold debates Ron Johnson during the 2010 election, Darren Hauck/Getty
IT’S EVEN WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT.
What we’re seeing right now from Donald Trump is a full-on authoritarian takeover of the U.S. government.
This is not hyperbole.
Court orders are being ignored. MAGA loyalists have been put in charge of the military and federal law enforcement agencies. The Department of Government Efficiency has stripped Congress of its power of the purse. News outlets that challenge Trump have been banished or put under investigation.
Yet far too many are still covering Trump’s assault on democracy like politics as usual, with flattering headlines describing Trump as “unconventional,” “testing the boundaries,” and “aggressively flexing power.”
The Intercept has long covered authoritarian governments, billionaire oligarchs, and backsliding democracies around the world. We understand the challenge we face in Trump and the vital importance of press freedom in defending democracy.
We’re independent of corporate interests. Will you help us?
IT’S BEEN A DEVASTATING year for journalism — the worst in modern U.S. history.
We have a president with utter contempt for truth aggressively using the government’s full powers to dismantle the free press. Corporate news outlets have cowered, becoming accessories in Trump’s project to create a post-truth America. Right-wing billionaires have pounced, buying up media organizations and rebuilding the information environment to their liking.
In this most perilous moment for democracy, The Intercept is fighting back. But to do so effectively, we need to grow.
That’s where you come in. Will you help us expand our reporting capacity in time to hit the ground running in 2026?
We’re independent of corporate interests. Will you help us?
I’M BEN MUESSIG, The Intercept’s editor-in-chief. It’s been a devastating year for journalism — the worst in modern U.S. history.
We have a president with utter contempt for truth aggressively using the government’s full powers to dismantle the free press. Corporate news outlets have cowered, becoming accessories in Trump’s project to create a post-truth America. Right-wing billionaires have pounced, buying up media organizations and rebuilding the information environment to their liking.
In this most perilous moment for democracy, The Intercept is fighting back. But to do so effectively, we need to grow.
That’s where you come in. Will you help us expand our reporting capacity in time to hit the ground running in 2026?
We’re independent of corporate interests. Will you help us?
Contact the author:
Latest Stories
The Intercept Briefing
“Me Too” Comes Back To Congress
Intercept staffers discuss the themes emerging this midterm election season.
Voices
Kash Patel Is Using MAGA’s Favorite Tool to Muzzle the Free Press
By suing The Atlantic for defamation, the FBI director is leveraging one of Trump’s legal tactics to tamp down free speech.
License to Kill
Trump Has Already Spent at Least $4.7 Billion Attacking Latin America
It’s not cheap to attack Venezuela and capture its president or conduct dozens of strikes on civilian boats.