Ron Johnson Has Become “The Republican Party’s Foremost Amplifier Of Conspiracy Theories And Disinformation”

NYT HEADLINE: “Assaulting the Truth, Ron Johnson Helps Erode Confidence in Government”

Johnson’s Latest Lie: Falsely Claiming There Was “No Violence” On The Senate Side During Capitol Attack On January 6th

Vulnerable Senator Ron Johnson is once again facing well-deserved scrutiny for his transformation into “the Republican Party’s foremost amplifier of conspiracy theories and disinformation” as the political fallout grows for the GOP’s most vulnerable incumbent in 2022.

A new in-depth New York Times profile highlights Johnson’s enthusiastic role as “an all-access purveyor of misinformation on serious issues such as the pandemic and the legitimacy of American democracy.” In recent months, Johnson has repeatedly amplified baseless lies about the 2020 presidential election results, touted “discredited” COVID-19 treatments, and embraced dangerous vaccine skepticism. One local GOP official bluntly stated: “if I were in the leadership of the Wisconsin Republican Party, I’d be out shopping for candidates.” A former Republican political operative in Wisconsin said Johnson has become a “perfect example” of the GOP’s new “Q-Anon sect.”

At a local political event in Wisconsin this weekend, Johnson continued the trend and “falsely claimed there was no violence on the Senate side of the US Capitol” on January 6th –– his latest attempt to mislead voters by downplaying the severity of the deadly mob attack targeting Congress. Johnson also doubled down on his recent “racist” and “unacceptable” comments that “he would have felt more threatened if Black Lives Matter protesters had stormed the Capitol.” 

CNN recently explored how Wisconsin voters are increasingly fed up with Johnson’s outrageous behavior, and The Hill reports that “several Republicans privately expressed deep frustration with Johnson over his often-inflammatory public remarks and willingness to lean into controversy.”

Read more about Senator Ron Johnson’s embrace of false conspiracies and disinformation:

New York Times: Assaulting the Truth, Ron Johnson Helps Erode Confidence in Government

• His revealing and incendiary comment, which quickly prompted accusations of racism, came as no surprise to those who have followed Mr. Johnson’s career in Washington or back home in Wisconsin. He has become the Republican Party’s foremost amplifier of conspiracy theories and disinformation now that Donald Trump himself is banned from social media and largely avoiding appearances on cable television.

• Mr. Johnson is an all-access purveyor of misinformation on serious issues such as the pandemic and the legitimacy of American democracy, as well as invoking the etymology of Greenland as a way to downplay the effects of climate change.

• In recent months, Mr. Johnson has sown doubts about President Biden’s victory, argued that the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol was not an armed insurrection, promoted discredited Covid-19 treatments, said he saw no need to get the coronavirus vaccine himself and claimed that the United States could have ended the pandemic a year ago with the development of a generic drug if the government had wanted that to happen.

• Last year, he spent months as chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee seeking evidence that Mr. Biden had tried to pressure Ukrainian officials to aid his son Hunter, which an Intelligence Community report released on Monday said was misinformation that was spread by Russia to help Mr. Trump’s re-election.

• Mr. Johnson has also become the leading Republican proponent of a revisionist effort to deny the motives and violence of the mob that breached the Capitol. At a Senate hearing to examine the events of that day, Mr. Johnson read into the record an account from a far-right website attributing the violence to “agents-provocateurs” and “fake Trump protesters.” On Saturday, he told a conference of conservative political organizers in Wisconsin that “there was no violence on the Senate side, in terms of the chamber.” In fact, Trump supporters stormed the chamber shortly after senators were evacuated.

• His continuing assault on the truth, often under the guise of simply “asking questions” about established facts, is helping to diminish confidence in American institutions at a perilous moment, when the health and economic well-being of the nation relies heavily on mass vaccinations, and when faith in democracy is shaken by right-wing falsehoods about voting.

• Though he has yet to announce whether he would be seeking a third term, Mr. Johnson recently said that the fury that Democrats had directed his way had made him want to stay in the fight. Still, he has raised just $590,000 in the past two years — a paltry sum for an incumbent senator.

• “Through the years, as the party has morphed into a muscular ignorance, Q-Anon sect, he’s followed along with them,” said Christian Schneider, a former Republican political operative in Wisconsin who embedded with the Johnson campaign in 2010 to write a glowing account for a local conservative magazine. “Now, he’s a perfect example of that type of politics.”

• If Mr. Johnson seeks a third term, the race is likely to be decided in the Milwaukee suburbs, which used to deliver Republican landslides but have moved away from the party since the Trump era.

• “There was a lot of eye-rolling” about Mr. Johnson’s recent comments about the Capitol siege, said Scott Berg, a conservative who has served as a Brookfield city alderman for 20 years. “If I were in the leadership of the Wisconsin Republican Party, I’d be out shopping for candidates” for the Senate in 2022, he added.

• “I’m a Johnson supporter — I voted for him twice — but I think he’s going down a rabbit hole I don’t want any part of,” said John Raschig, a retiree who was leaving a Pick ‘n Save supermarket.

CNN: Ron Johnson falsely claims there was ‘no violence’ on Senate side of US Capitol on January 6

• Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson falsely claimed there was no violence on the Senate side of the US Capitol during the January 6 insurrection, the latest in his continued attempts to downplay the severity of the attack.

• Johnson described the events of January 6 to a group of conservative Wisconsin residents at a local political event on Saturday and falsely stated the rioters were more active on the House side of the Capitol than the Senate side. Johnson also repeated he did not feel threatened that day, even after learning rioters had breached the Capitol building.

• Security cameras and videos from witnesses showed insurrectionists broke windows on the Senate side of the Capitol and stormed through the halls near the Senate chamber shortly after. One video showed Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman confronting protesters just outside the Senate chamber and leading them away from the room while senators were sheltering in place inside.

• Johnson’s comments are the latest in an effort to downplay the seriousness of the Capitol insurrection. Earlier this month, Johnson said in a radio interview on the “The Joe Pags Show” he would have felt more threatened if Black Lives Matter protesters had stormed the Capitol instead of supporters of former President Donald Trump.

• On Saturday, Johnson reiterated those comments and attempted to deflect criticisms regarding the racism in his statements, citing unverified statistics on the nationwide racial justice protests in the summer of 2020.

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