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Ron Johnson says if BLM and Antifa protesters marched to Capitol instead of pro-Trumpers, he would be concerned

'I’m also criticized because I made the comment that on January 6 I never felt threatened... I knew those were people that love this country'
PUBLISHED MAR 15, 2021
Senator Ron Johnson talks to reporters at Capitol Hill (Getty Images)
Senator Ron Johnson talks to reporters at Capitol Hill (Getty Images)

Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson spoke of the Capitol riots on a local radio show 'The Joe Pags show' and what he said has received major backlash. Democrats and the media have so far accused Johnson of being racist while supporters claim that his quote from Joe Pags Pagliarulo's radio show has been seen out of context. 

On the radio show on Thursday, March 11, Johnson had said that he would have been concerned had Antifa or supporters of Black Lives Matter movement had marched to the Capitol on January 6 instead of former president Donald Trump's supporters. It has been reported that before Johnson said this, he had indicated that he had condemned the people who rioted at the Capitol multiple times and he also spoke about the 'riots' by BLM and Antifa protesters in 2020 and claimed that the damages to the state were close to $2 billion in addition to leading to the death of 26 people.

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On the show, Ron Johnson said, "I’m also criticized because I made the comment that on January 6 I never felt threatened. Because I didn’t and mainly because even though those thousands of people that were marching to the Capitol were trying to pressure people like me to vote the way they wanted me to vote, 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." 

He then went on to add, "Now, had the tables been turned — Joe, this could get me in trouble — 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… Well, let’s face it, people didn’t board up their storefronts in metropolitan areas in case Joe Biden won.”

Ron Johnson participates in a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing (Getty Images)

According to a report in Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Senator LaTonya Johnson asked in response to this, "what, white people love this country and Black people don’t? That’s exactly what he’s saying." The Democrat further said, "For him to say something as racist as that — it’s ridiculous. It’s a totally racist comment and the insult to injury is he didn’t mind saying it in the position that he holds because for some reason that’s just deemed as acceptable behavior for people who live in and are elected officials in this state."

Democratic US Senator Tammy Baldwin also stated that this comment by Johnson is the perfect example of systemic racism and drew a comparison between this and claims made earlier this week by Republican Rep Glenn Grothman about Black Lives Matter supporters being anti-family. Baldwin tweeted, "As I said earlier this week, systemic racism is real. Whether it's on the House floor as we heard from a congressman a couple of days ago, or as we hear it from the mouth of a senator. Their words don't represent the Wisconsin I know."

She also said, "A violent insurrection against our Democracy is not showing you "love this country" and when a Capitol police officer is killed and over 140 are injured that is not showing you "truly respect law enforcement." That’s why over 300 rioters have been charged with breaking the law."

A woman marches at the head of the group of members and allies of the LGBTQ community to the White House as part of the Pride and Black Lives Matter movements (Getty Images)



 

Johnson however claimed that the reason he had said what he had said was because of the damages and the loss of lives that were caused by the protests held in 2020 following the death of George Floyd. He reiterated, "That’s why I would have been more concerned."

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