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Sid & Friends In The Morning

Ron Johnson | U.S. Senator from Wisconsin | 03-16-26

Sid & Friends In The Morning

77 WABC

Sports, News, Comedy

4.2 • 826 Ratings

🗓️ 16 March 2026

⏱️ 14 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Senator Ron Johnson joins Sid to touch upon his defense of the First Amendment and a free press, saying he generally opposes the government threatening broadcasters’ licenses, though he notes broadcast license holders have responsibilities to report truthfully and correct errors. He says a question about FCC complaints was sprung on him, as he intended to focus on the SAVE America Act and the filibuster. Johnson explains cloture and argues the modern cloture vote often shuts down debate; he says a “talking filibuster” wouldn’t overcome Democrats’ ability to keep offering amendments, and contends passing the SAVE America Act likely requires ending the cloture vote and moving to majority passage, believing Democrats will end the filibuster anyway. He also criticizes Republicans’ DHS funding strategy, saying they should have bundled DHS funding with Democratic priorities, and faults leadership for not attaching the Shutdown Fairness Act, which he says would have ensured pay during shutdowns. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Ron Johnson is, in my opinion, one of our great senators from the state of Wisconsin.

0:05.3

I've loved them ever since the RNC.

0:07.5

But Ron, Ron runs a risk of pissing off, my good friend.

0:12.1

Because before Ronnie, we get to the DHS funding and Iran and the HMOos straight and all that stuff,

0:19.0

I saw you yesterday talking about Brendan Carr and the FCC chair

0:23.3

and about how you are not for taking licenses away from certain broadcasters. Like for me,

0:30.3

for example, I think the view should be taken off the air. I know President Trump agrees,

0:34.7

but you don't. You're all about the First Amendment. And you set it on Fox,

0:39.1

which happens to be Trump's favorite network, but you're going to double down on that this morning

0:43.0

on imagine. Yes, Ron? Well, good morning. Well, they sprung that question on me. And, you know,

0:50.2

in general, I'm an absolute defender of the First Amendment and a free press.

0:55.5

Now, when you have broadcast license and those are granted by the government, there's a certain

1:00.6

responsibility to reporting the truth, or at least correcting the record when you're not reporting

1:05.8

the truth. Again, I don't know all the specifics. Again, I had no idea what Brandon Carr was complaining the networks about.

1:13.7

So I've got an open mind on it. But again, when you spring a question on somebody, I'm going to

1:17.9

naturally go toward defending the First Amendment, defending constitutional rights,

1:23.9

defending a free press. As much as I know, the corporate media is highly biased.

1:30.1

But because we have free press, we've got talk radio like your show and other things as well.

1:35.1

So I'd much rather have the open debate and a free press as opposed to, you know, I'm not a fan of government.

1:41.7

And no matter who wields government, I'm not a fan of federal government stepping in and potentially threatening First Amendment rights. Hard to argue any of that. I'm just kidding around with you. I was like, listen, nobody pushes that First Amendment more than me, Ron. I go right to that cliff. And I've fallen over the cliff a couple of times. I think I've been fired as much as stern and I'm as combined. So I get all that. And I can't stand the view and I can't stand a lot of these lefty shows. And on television, you know, networks like CNN and MSDN. They're just a disgraceful. They are disgraceful operations who woke up. They wake up every single day lying. There are no facts. They just lie. No matter what they do, they find a way to besmirce the President of the United States. Like we always say, if he found a cure for cancer, they'd complain he's putting oncologists out of work. So I have no patience for that, no stomach for that. But you're right. In the end,

2:38.0

if they're going to let me talk about Mom Donnie the way I do, then not can I stop them from talking about President Trump.

2:40.6

Precisely, again, the only thing you have to throw in that mix is they are operating

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