Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) on Monday insisted that his disturbing rhetoric in opposition to members of Black Lives Matter whereas defending the overwhelmingly white Capitol rioters was “innocuous” and never “racial.”
“There was nothing racial about my comments, nothing whatsoever,” the perturbed senator defined in response to a reporter’s query. “This isn’t about race, this is about riots.”
Johnson instructed a conservative speak radio host final week that he was not frightened by the white mob of Trump supporters that stormed the Capitol Jan. 6. Even although greater than 320 folks have been arrested within the siege — together with two males charged in an assault on a police officer who died — Johnson deemed the rioters individuals who “love this country.”
They “truly respect law enforcement [and] would never do anything to break a law,” he added.
The right-wing senator mentioned, nevertheless, that he would have been “concerned” if members of Black Lives Matter or antifa had been within the Capitol that day.
“Let’s face it, people didn’t board up their storefronts in metropolitan areas in case Joe Biden won,” Johnson mentioned.
He mentioned Monday that he anticipated pushback over his feedback, however discovered the cruel criticism “shocking” over what he defended as “completely innocuous comments.” He added: “Use the race card on me and say there’s some kind of racist comment involved, and there was none.”
Earlier on Monday, Johnson mentioned in a radio interview on WISN-AM: “I completely did not anticipate that anybody could interpret what I said as racist. It’s not.” He mentioned his feedback weren’t racist as a result of some white folks attend Black Lives Matters protests.
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