Vox reports on possibly dangerous actions on the part of Trump ally Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI):
One of the Republicans who pushed “the big lie” about the 2020 election — namely, that President Joe Biden’s victory was illegitimate — used the first congressional hearing about the violent January 6 attempt to overthrow Donald Trump’s loss to amplify a fantastical conspiracy theory aimed at exonerating Trump and his supporters from any responsibility.
That senator — Ron Johnson of Wisconsin — used his questioning time during Tuesday’s Senate hearing to read excerpts from a January 14 article published by the Federalist that argues “agents-provocateurs” and “fake Trump protesters” were behind the assault on the Capitol, rather than actual Trump supporters, as was the case.
Is Senator Johnson not aware that many of those same protesters are furious at being labeled antifa and agent provocateurs by Trump allies? And that they have a strongly documented history of violence?
Senator Johnson often seems to be living in a bubble all of his own, feeding only on right-wing approved propaganda, but this sounds simply downright personally risky to me. A word to this wise, Senator Johnson – don’t believe your own side’s propaganda. And don’t piss on your own allies. They hate that.
And we’ve already seen what hate can motivate these folks to do.
