Congressman sounds the alarm on China: 'We're sleepwalking through this competition'
During four terms in Congress, South Dakota's Dusty Johnson has emerged as a leading voice on American agricultural policy, U.S.-China relations and fiscal responsibility. Often known as the "problem solver,"...
By Fox News · Fox News
During four terms in Congress, South Dakota's Dusty Johnson has emerged as a leading voice on American agricultural policy, U.S.-China relations and fiscal responsibility. Often known as the "problem solver," he recently sat down with Fox News Digital at Freedom Fest in Las Vegas to discuss his congressional career, his South Dakota gubernatorial bid and his future plans as his time in the U.S. House draws to a close. Long respected for his detailed analysis of China policy, Johnson believes the United States is routinely underestimating the geopolitical and economic threat posed by Beijing. REP. DUSTY JOHNSON INTRODUCES GET AMERICANS BACK TO WORK ACT "I think the biggest mistake is that we're basically sleepwalking through this competition. I mean, every day the leaders of China get up, and they try to figure out how to beat America, how to destabilize our country, how to get an advantage. "And we're, frankly, in this country spending more time fighting one another than we are trying to think about how to compete with the Chinese Communist Party." Johnson is the former leader of the Republican Main Street Caucus, a group of center-right Republicans focused on commonsense governance and pragmatism. He has approached his career aspiring to break the famed Washington gridlock. However, recently Johnson lamented that "it's a tough time to be normal," observing that the loudest and angriest voices seem to be increasingly dominating the national conversation. "Well … looking a little further than the New York primaries last week, where just an insane bunch of really out there democratic socialists beat some pretty liberal but still kind of mainstream American political thought Democrats, I just think you see that happening in both parties. "Primary turnout is rarely great. Those who do turn out are generally the most interested in purity rather than in progress. And, so, when you're trying to swim upstream, when you are trying to deliver a message of nuance and thoughtf…