“This didn’t seem like an armed insurrection to me. I mean ‘armed,' when you hear ‘armed’ don’t you think of firearms? I never really felt threatened. I knew those were people that love this country, that truly respect law enforcement, would never do anything to break the law, and so I wasn't concerned. Had the tables been turned and President Trump won the election and those were thousands of Black Lives Matter and antifa protestors I would have been concerned."
– Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin (March 11, 2021)
For God's sake, in the House, we have Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who supported QAnon and the execution of prominent Democratic politicians. And now, in the Senate, we have Ron Johnson. who pushed conspiracy theories about the January 6 storming of the Capitol, claiming that Nancy Pelosi might have been involved.
Good old Senator Johnson is proudly representing Wisconsin as a kook and a racist. If someone made these accusations up, you wouldn't believe it. There is no need for fiction. Truth about elected officials is there for all to see.
Last week, Johnson, a Republican, told a Wisconsin Radio show host, Joe "Pags" Pagliarulo, that he was not concerned for his safety during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol Capitol, which left five dead, but that he may have been if the protesters had been linked to Black Lives Matter and antifa.
(Allison Pecorin. “GOP Sen. Ron Johnson says he didn't feel 'threatened' by Capitol marchers but may have if BLM or antifa were involved.” ABC News. March 13, 2021.)
As anyone with ears and eyes knows, over 300 people have been charged in connection to the Capitol attack, and investigations are ongoing. The breach of the Capitol stemmed from a "Save America" rally at which Trump encouraged supporters to march to Capitol Hill, where Congress was meeting to certify Joe Biden as the 46th President of the United States.
The Justice Department has found far-right extremists, anti-government militants, white nationalist groups, and even some conservative lawmakers were among the mob of pro-Trump rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6. FBI Director Chris Wray debunked conspiracy theories promoted by right-wing supporters of former President Donald Trump, saying there was no evidence that leftist extremists disguised themselves as Trump supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol.
Who Is Ron Johnson?
Johnson is a leading member of the Senate's Sedition Caucus, shepherded by the odious Josh Hawley of Missouri. This group threatened to challenge the counting of Electoral College votes even though there was no evidence of fraud, even though dozens of lawsuits to overturn the election had failed for lack of evidence in both state and federal courts, and even though all votes had been certified by the states, some after recounts.
The truth is Johnson had been shilling for Trump and stoking the violence at the Capitol for months … even years. He also rejects the scientific consensus on climate change. And, Johnson used his position as chair of the Senate Homeland Security Committee to invite witnesses to hearings to promote fringe theories about COVID-19. The witnesses promoted unproven drugs, made dubious claims about COVID-19 spread and pushed skepticism about vaccines.
(Linda Qiu. "The election is over, but Ron Johnson keeps promoting false claims of fraud.” The New York Times. December 17, 2020.)
Ron Johnson never really felt threatened during the Capitol insurrection because he was a devout Trump supporter. I'm sure other Trump loyalists in Congress felt the same way.
For example, as conspiracy theories quickly spread online about the Capitol breach as a “false flag operation,” conducted by left-wing activists to cast blame on Trump supporters, Rep. Paul A. Gosar (R-Ariz.) took to Twitter to point fingers. “This has all the hallmarks of antifa provocation,” he wrote, about three hours after the incident went down.
Plenty of other GOP lawmakers followed. Speaking to Fox Business’s Lou Dobbs, Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) said “there is some indication that fascist antifa elements were involved, that they embedded themselves in the Trump protests.”
And, of course, during the Senate hearing on the Capitol violence in February, Sen. Ron Johnson read a report blaming “agent provocateurs” and people who “obviously didn’t fit in” for the attack on the United States Capitol on Jan. 6 – concluding with no evidence that “fake Trump protesters probably planned this.” What was it Ron, an antifa mob or just good old boy buddies who stormed Congress on January 6? Get your story straight. Foes or friendlies?
Racist Ron?
Is Johnson a racist? Evidence points in that direction.
Johnson appeared on CNN’s State of the Union in July 2019. When he was asked to respond to President Donald Trump’s attack questioning the patriotism of four Democratic congresswomen of color. The Trump tweet said the lawmakers were not “capable of loving our Country.”
When asked by host Dana Bash if he agreed with Trump’s tweet, Johnson deflected.
“The whole ‘America, love it or leave it’ is not a new sentiment,” he said. “You know, back in the ’60s that wasn’t considered racist.”
(Dan Spinelli. “A GOP Senator Says “Love It or Leave It” Wasn’t Racist “Back in the ’60s.” He’s Wrong.” Mother Jones. July 21, 2019.)
On August 30, 2020 – after Trump attacked the Portland mayor and Democrats about a deadly shooting of a Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, on August 23 – Ron Johnson was asked on CNN's “State of the Union” about the violence. He said …
“The way you stop the violence, the way you stop the rioting is you surge manpower and resources, citizen soldiers, National Guard, and you overwhelm the number of rioters so they can’t riot.”
During the interview, Johnson also sidestepped questions on whether or not President Donald Trump had fanned the flames of violence or encouraged vigilantism against protesters with his remarks on communities like Kenosha and Portland.
(Mitchell Schmidt. “Ron Johnson: 'Surge' in manpower only way to quell protests in Kenosha.” Lee Newspapers. August 30, 2020.)
Way back in January 2018, Ron Johnson alleged and then withdrew the explosive claim that there was a “secret society” – a “Deep State” – in the FBI. Johnson said …
“And that secret society — we have an informant talking about a group that were holding secret meetings off-site. There’s so much smoke here, there’s so much suspicion. I’ve heard from an individual that … there was a group of managers within the FBI that were holding meetings off site. Wzhen Strzok and Page had described a secret society, that didn’t surprise me because I had corroborating information.”
(“Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day: Ron Johnson-2019 Update .” Daily Kos. August 18, 2019.)
Show Johnson the Road
Ron Johnson is unfit to hold office. Dan Shafer, a journalist from Milwaukee, explains:
“Johnson supported the conspiracy-driven effort to dispute the election results, sided with Republican Senators Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz who pushed this baseless opposition to object to the certification of Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory, and even went on 'Meet The Press' to make evidence-free allegations of widespread voter fraud just three days prior to the insurrectionist coup attempt.
“Johnson is on a short list of those in elected office who are most responsible for what happened at the Capitol.
“After the riot, he told reporters, “I want to find out who these people are. They are not your typical Trump supporters or conservatives," not seeming to recognize the monster he helped create. Though he’s clearly been pouring gasoline on the months of conspiracy theories about the election, giving them legitimacy in the halls of the Senate in a widely panned Dec. 16 hearing of the Homeland Security Committee, he said he has no responsibility for the violence at the Capitol.”
(Dan Shafer. “Ron Johnson, Conspiracy-Driven Wisconsin Republicans Bear Responsibility For the Pro-Trump Insurrection at the Capitol.” The Recombobulation Area. January 07, 2021.)
Goodbye Ron Johnson. Catch the next bus out of D.C. Racist comments, secret societies, conspiracies – it makes you wonder how in the hell you ever got elected. Maybe you had influence – After all, Johnson is a successful businessman. But, by the way, Johnson has even inferred (repeatedly) that it was he – not his father-in-law – who built his plastics business from “the ground up.” His claims of being a self-made man are simply not true.
Ron Johnson's father-in-law, Howard Curler, hired Johnson to work in his small plastics company called PACUR that he had set up for his son, Pat Curler (PACUR is a shortening of Pat Curler). In 1986, the Curler family sold PACUR to the multi-national corporation, Bowater, with the apparent agreement that Johnson would stay on as an executive.
In 1997, after driving PACUR into the ground, Johnson and his wife bought PACUR for a small fraction of what Bowater had paid for it a decade earlier, with financing almost certainly underwritten by his wealthy father-in-law, Howard Curler.
That's the same PACUR that, with some ham-handed accounting, paid for Ron Johnson's 2010 run for the U.S. Senate: According to Johnson's financial disclosure statements, he got a ten million dollar loan from PACUR prior to the election, turned around and loaned his campaign approximately nine million dollars, and was then given a 10 million dollar disbursement from PACUR a few weeks after the election.
(Jud Lounsbury. “Unlike Burke, Media Gives Ron Johnson's Business & Finance Claims a Free Pass.” WisCommunity. December 06, 2014.)
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