Marilou Johanek
@mariloujohanek.com
A veteran Ohio print and broadcast journalist who has covered state and national politics as a longtime newspaper editorial writer and columnist.
Is Ohio run like a wholly-owned subsidiary of Trump World?
Ohio politicians grovel and dance for Trump by launching even more attacks on voters and democracy • Ohio Capital Journal
Unquestioning obedience to a convicted felon drove Ohio Republicans (with obliging Democrats) to intensify congressional district map manipulation and give Trump the gerrymandered advantage he demande...
ohiocapitaljournal.com
November 12, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Is Ohio run like a wholly-owned subsidiary of Trump World?
Reposted by Marilou Johanek
Commentary: Betrayal can be dressed up as bipartisan or best-case scenario, but it is still betrayal. Ohio Republicans picked off two more congressional districts to gerrymander, in defiance of the Ohio Constitution and the clear will of Ohio voters ohiocapitaljournal.com/2025/11/04/a...
Allowing politicians to stay in charge of Ohio redistricting has just led to more gerrymandering • Ohio Capital Journal
Betrayal can be dressed up as bipartisan or best-case scenario, but it is still betrayal. Ohio Republicans picked off two more congressional districts to gerrymander, in defiance of the Ohio…
ohiocapitaljournal.com
November 4, 2025 at 11:30 PM
Commentary: Betrayal can be dressed up as bipartisan or best-case scenario, but it is still betrayal. Ohio Republicans picked off two more congressional districts to gerrymander, in defiance of the Ohio Constitution and the clear will of Ohio voters ohiocapitaljournal.com/2025/11/04/a...
Bipartisan betrayal in Ohio
Allowing politicians to stay in charge of Ohio redistricting has just led to more gerrymandering • Ohio Capital Journal
Betrayal can be dressed up as bipartisan or best-case scenario, but it is still betrayal. Ohio Republicans picked off two more congressional districts to gerrymander, in defiance of the Ohio Constitut...
ohiocapitaljournal.com
November 4, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Bipartisan betrayal in Ohio
GOP resistance to Trump redistricting steal not found in Ohio…
As some Republicans balk at Trump's calls for gerrymandering, Ohio Republican politicians go along • Ohio Capital Journal
Former Republican Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels broke his silence about the brazen Trump scheme to steal the 2026 election with gerrymandering. Having no such honor, Ohio Republican politicians are poise...
ohiocapitaljournal.com
October 28, 2025 at 4:13 PM
GOP resistance to Trump redistricting steal not found in Ohio…
Steal from the poor and give to the rich while millions go hungry
SNAP cuts would bring more hunger to already hungry Ohioans • Ohio Capital Journal
Commentary: Unless Republicans, who control Congress and the White House, re-open the government and pass a budget bill by Nov. 1 — that includes money for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Progra...
ohiocapitaljournal.com
October 21, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Steal from the poor and give to the rich while millions go hungry
Ohio GOP attempts to overturn popular vote
Republican politicians ignore will of voters, Ohio Constitution with proposed abortion restrictions • Ohio Capital Journal
After 57% of Ohio voters protected reproductive rights in the Ohio Constitution in 2023, the gerrymandered Republican supermajority in the Ohio Statehouse has been continuing to attempt to regulate, r...
ohiocapitaljournal.com
October 17, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Ohio GOP attempts to overturn popular vote
Still creating stories for attention
Ohio's JD Vance tells whoppers like his boss, but with no charisma he can't get away with it • Ohio Capital Journal
Ohio's former US Senator and now Vice President JD Vance has flat out declared his willingness “to create stories” for political purposes. But while Vance tells whoppers just as flagrant as his boss, ...
ohiocapitaljournal.com
October 10, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Still creating stories for attention
Trump tariffs ruin what made rural great.
Ohio family farmers describe life under Trump tariffs: 'We're in a hell of a mess here.' • Ohio Capital Journal
Chris Gibbs farms more than 500 acres of corn, soybeans, wheat, and alfalfa hay in Shelby County, along with a 90-head cow-calf operation. The Trump tariffs are shrinking incomes and exploding expense...
ohiocapitaljournal.com
September 30, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Trump tariffs ruin what made rural great.
Tempting fate with concealed carry
Amid horrific gun violence, Ohio politicians are proposing more guns at the Statehouse and City Hall • Ohio Capital Journal
It takes an astonishing lack of awareness about the volatile present tense, amid rising political violence in a country awash in firearms, to propose legislation that would let politicians carry conce...
ohiocapitaljournal.com
September 24, 2025 at 12:17 AM
Tempting fate with concealed carry
Voter suppression and citizen submission
None of this is normal: Not unconstitutional gerrymandering and not the Ohio National Guard in D.C. • Ohio Capital Journal
Ohio politicians pressured by an openly corrupt president look to be doubling down on blatantly partisan gerrymandering to help them in the 2026 midterms by manipulating congressional district boundar...
ohiocapitaljournal.com
September 18, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Voter suppression and citizen submission
Will any Ohio Democrat meet the urgency of the moment?
As Ohio Republican statewide politicians plan to play musical chairs, Ohio Democrats dither • Ohio Capital Journal
Ohio Republican statewide politicians plan to play a game of musical chairs in 2026, shuffling positions between secretary of state, auditor, treasurer and attorney general. Meanwhile, Ohio Democrats ...
ohiocapitaljournal.com
August 28, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Will any Ohio Democrat meet the urgency of the moment?
U.S. soldiers on the streets of America
Ohio Gov. DeWine sending guard troops to D.C. makes him complicit in Trump's military occupation • Ohio Capital Journal
What Pandora’s Box has Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine opened by sending National Guard troops to D.C.? His participation in Trump's military takeover of the nation's capital to target American civilians makes ...
ohiocapitaljournal.com
August 20, 2025 at 6:37 PM
U.S. soldiers on the streets of America
Grand theft politics from the “stop the steal” crowd…
Stop the Steal: Politicians cheat voters and destroy democracy with shameless gerrymandering • Ohio Capital Journal
“Stop the Steal!” The mantra screamed for years by MAGA to perpetuate the lie that that 2020 election was rigged can be repurposed as Republicans in Ohio and elsewhere announce their plan to pass even...
ohiocapitaljournal.com
August 12, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Grand theft politics from the “stop the steal” crowd…
Shame on you, Bernie Moreno and Jon Husted.
Ohio U.S. Senators Husted and Moreno keep putting Trump and billionaires over working Ohio families • Ohio Capital Journal
Ohio Republican U.S. Sens. Bernie Moreno and Jon Husted both swore to uphold the U.S. Constitution before taking their seats, but their loyalty to the rule of law was quickly supplanted by unyielding ...
ohiocapitaljournal.com
August 5, 2025 at 4:43 PM
Shame on you, Bernie Moreno and Jon Husted.
GOP playing dirty in Ohio and Texas
Republican politicians looking to gerrymander Ohio and Texas to protect U.S. House majority • Ohio Capital Journal
Ohio and Texas could do it. Both states could steal enough congressional seats with new gerrymandered maps for voting districts to fortify the Republican majority in the U.S. House next year, effectiv...
ohiocapitaljournal.com
July 22, 2025 at 4:21 PM
GOP playing dirty in Ohio and Texas
Boots on the ground in America
Every Ohio Republican congressmen voted to militarize America's cities • Ohio Capital Journal
Are you ready for armed occupation on in Ohio tearing immigrant families apart for sadistic spectacle? It is coming. Every single Ohio Republican member of Congress voted for it, while showering billi...
ohiocapitaljournal.com
July 15, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Boots on the ground in America
A perfect microcosm of budgeted greed at great expense…
Ohio Statehouse, Congressional Republicans embrace handouts for the rich, cuts for working families • Ohio Capital Journal
The saying used to be, "As Ohio goes, so goes the nation." Now it might as well be, as Ohio’s MAGA conformists in Congress go, transferring resources from the poor and middle class to the rich, so goe...
ohiocapitaljournal.com
July 8, 2025 at 4:32 PM
A perfect microcosm of budgeted greed at great expense…
American by birth
Children of immigrants made Ohio what it is. Constitutional birthright citizenship made it possible • Ohio Capital Journal
The story of Ohio is the story of immigrants. Throughout the 20th Century, those born to immigrant parents in the U.S. had birthright citizenship. The U.S. Constitution affirms that unconditional righ...
ohiocapitaljournal.com
July 1, 2025 at 3:09 PM
American by birth
Ohio’s cringe-maker
Former Ohio U.S. Sen. JD Vance just can't stop trolling, gaslighting, and flip-flopping • Ohio Capital Journal
Why does he do it? Why does Ohio’s former U.S. senator keep damning himself with snarky provocations and self-evident lies? How difficult is it for JD Vance to be respectful, instead of derogatory, ho...
ohiocapitaljournal.com
June 24, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Ohio’s cringe-maker
Where’s the humanity?
'Christian' lobbyists embrace Ohio Republican budget that guts programs to help the poor and hungry • Ohio Capital Journal
The Ohio Republican Senate budget guts efforts to bring down infant death rates, to help with child care, to fight hunger, to help middle-and low-income families with the costs of raising kids. Regard...
ohiocapitaljournal.com
June 17, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Where’s the humanity?
Let them eat cake…
National, Ohio Republican budgets prioritize corporate welfare and donor handouts over Ohio families • Ohio Capital Journal
Budget bills being shepherded through Congress and the Ohio Statehouse by Republicans are a reflection of priorities. Not working Ohio families or everyday people, but lavish corporate welfare and red...
ohiocapitaljournal.com
June 10, 2025 at 4:58 PM
Let them eat cake…
Demure Democrats don’t get it.
While Republicans shred the First Amendment and rule of law, Democrats in Ohio and elsewhere dawdle • Ohio Capital Journal
Freedom of speech, assembly, and due process are being shredded in real time by the felon-in-chief as Republicans on Capitol Hill do nothing. Meanwhile, Democrats in Ohio and elsewhere continue to dit...
ohiocapitaljournal.com
May 28, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Demure Democrats don’t get it.