Republican Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin faced accusations of racism and asks for his resignation after telling a radio announcer that he did not feel threatened by the pro-Donald Trump crowd that invaded the Capitol in January, but would be concerned if the invaders were “antifa” activists or Black Lives Matter.
“I never really felt threatened,” Johnson told Wisconsin radio presenter Jay Weber. He said the rebels were mostly “people who love this country, who really respect law enforcement, would never do anything to break the law.”
“If the situation had changed and President Donald Trump won the election and those were thousands of Black Lives Matter and antifa protesters, I would have been concerned,” continued Johnson.
Five people died in the January 6 riot on Capitol Hill, including a policeman, and dozens were injured. Prosecutors charged more than 300 people with crimes and nearly that number was arrested. Forty people were arrested for assaulting police officers.
“It didn’t look like an armed uprising to me,” Johnson told the radio announcer. “I mean ‘armed’, when you hear ‘armed’, don’t you think about firearms?
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel asked Johnson to step down in an editorial. “If he runs again, Johnson must be fought in the primary and general elections by people who care enough about democracy to support and defend it,” the newspaper said.
“No, Senator Ron Johnson,” tweeted Noah Bookbinder, president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, “the truth is that the January 6 rebels broke the law, injured and killed police officers and were trying to overthrow the elected government of the United States United.
“To say that the opposite is true of this group of rebels, but that you would have been concerned if they were Black Lives Matters protesters, is racist, dangerous and inappropriate for a United States senator.”
Former Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer agreed.
“Everyone in the country and in the world has seen the rebels beat, wound and kill police officers on Capitol Hill and has seen them violate the law repeatedly while breaking windows and dirtying the citadel of democracy,” she tweeted. “Everyone, except Senator Ron Johnson. He needs to go. “
A two-term senator, Johnson would run for re-election in 2022. He was one of Donald Trump’s most active supporters during the former president’s two impeachment trials and supported Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Days before the Capitol invasion, Johnson spread lies about electoral fraud on national TV and called for a “full fact-finding authority” to audit the election. Trump’s justice department found no evidence of electoral fraud and dozens of courts dismissed the allegations of fraud by Trump’s lawyers as unfounded.