IF YOU STRIKE AT THE KING YOU MUST KILL HIM: Left for dead, Sen. Ron Johnson freed to shake up DC, repeal Obama regs.

Newly re-elected Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson isn’t supposed to be here.

After all, Washington’s political-media-donor clique had written off the businessman in a rematch against former Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold in a state the pundits said tilts Democratic.

First, the website FiveThirtyEight gave Feingold an 85 percent chance to win. Then Washington-based political action committees stopped writing checks to “RonJohn.” And finally he was mocked by critics for sticking with Donald Trump.

But he didn’t drown his sorrows in beer. He celebrated his independence from Washington with a Milwaukee-made Miller Lite.

“Back here in D.C., I realized how thoroughly I was written off. At least prior to the election, people were giving lip service to the thought I’d have a chance. I always thought I did,” he said in an interview.

And win he did, beating Feingold 50.2 percent to 46.8 percent, a bigger margin that Trump’s win over Hillary Clinton, and getting the largest vote total of any Wisconsin Republican to ever run.

Despite being a one-term senator, Johnson said he ran as an outsider who portrayed Feingold as a political lifer.

“It definitely was an outside of Washington campaign. It was also outside the professional political consultant class. It was breaking away from that and just running a campaign like a business person would trying to market a product. And I was the product,” he said.

Novel approach.