On a radio show earlier this week, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) said he “never felt threatened” during the January 6th storming of the U.S. Capitol that resulted in five deaths, because the insurrectionists were people who “truly respect law enforcement” and “loved this country.”
But if the mob was comprised of a different demographic, Sen. Johnson explained, he might have felt differently:
“…had the tables been turned and President Trump won the election and those were tens of thousands of Black Lives Matter and Antifa protesters, I might have been a little concerned.”
Sen. Johnson’s comments were criticized for their racist implications.
During the same radio interview – on The Joe Pags Shows – Sen. Johnson added that the January 6th rioters would “never do anything to break the law, and so I wasn’t concerned.” In fact, video evidence shows members of the mob pushing past barricades, punching police officers, and using a chemical irritant – thought to be bear spray – on law enforcement personnel.
The New York Times describes the horrifying extend of the violence:
The pure savagery of the mob that rampaged through the Capitol that day was breathtaking, as cataloged by the injuries inflicted on those who tried to guard the nation’s elected lawmakers. One police officer lost an eye, another the tip of his finger. Still another was shocked so many times with a Taser gun that he had a heart attack.
They suffered cracked ribs, two smashed spinal disks and multiple concussions. At least 81 members of the Capitol force and 65 members of the Metropolitan Police Department were injured, not even counting the officer killed that day or two others who later died by suicide. Some officers described it as worse than when they served in combat in Iraq.
Sen. Johnson has been a leading proponent of the discredited “Stop the Steal” narrative that claims Donald Trump won the 2020 election. That fact-challenged assertion has been batted down by dozens of court rulings.
The Associated Press reports that Sen. Johnson’s unyielding commitment to Trump may cost him in 2022:
That sort of fealty to Trump has endeared Johnson to the far-right base in his state, but it could prove costly if he decides to seek a third term in 2022. As Johnson weighs whether to run again, his embrace of Trump’s anti-democratic campaign to overturn the election results already has angered some mainstream Republican allies, and is poised to motivate Democrats who have ridden opposition to Trump to new strength in the state.