Youngstown State appointing MAGA election denier Bill Johnson as its president is appalling

Appalling. No other word fits what Youngstown State University did recently by secretly anointing a MAGA Republican, with a shameful congressional history, as its next president. The abrupt announcement of Ohio Congressman Bill Johnson, R-Marietta, to the top post was met with dismay by university stakeholders — students, faculty, staff, alumni, community — left in the dark about the decision until after the fact.

Everything about the YSU Board of Trustees opaque maneuvers to quickly install a right wing Trump apparatchik and notorious election denier as the university’s 10 th president stinks. How Michael Peterson, chairman of the board, could suggest that Johnson fit the “overarching expectations” of their search for “a president with unquestionable integrity” after what the dishonorable pol did before and after Jan 6, is beyond me.

Johnson was one of five Ohio Congressmen who attempted to overturn the results of a free and fair election based on a hunch or hearsay or passing conspiracy theory but no hard evidence . After all the manufactured mania about massive voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election, of a grand scheme to “steal” Trump’s contrived victory ever materialized. The reality is simply more Americans voted for Joe Biden than Donald Trump.