Ron Johnson Actually Described The Jan. 6 Insurrection As A ‘Peaceful Protest,’ And Jokesters Couldn’t Help Themselves

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) must have slept through the entirety of the failed MAGA insurrection on January 6, or he’s simply making things up in an attempt to rewrite recent history. The latter possibility is probably the correct one, since it’s unlikely that Johnson could doze through the mayhem at the U.S. Capitol, but he’s acting like everyone’s making a big deal about nothing. It’s, uh, not good, but Fox News’ Laura Ingraham was here for it. Here’s Johnson telling her that there was no insurrection to speak of, and “by and large it was a peaceful protest.”

Yep, he’s really going there, although Johnson did prefaced his conclusion by saying, “You know, I condemned the breach. I condemned the violence, but to say there were thousands of armed insurrectionists breaching the Capitol intent on overthrowing the government is just simply false narrative.” He conceded that “there were a number of people, basically agitators that whipped the crowd and breached the Capitol.” And he doesn’t seem to understand that no one has claimed that “thousands” of insurrectionists were armed, but some were, and many of the rest contributed to the dangerous physical momentum that crushed a police officer in a doorway.

In the end, five people died as a result of the January 6 violence, and Johnson’s silly “by and large” description got dragged, hard, with jokes that would have been too soon, had they not referenced events that are several decades old, like the John F. Kennedy assassination and the “cruise” known as the Titanic disaster. Oh, but the Fyre Festival got some airplay, too. That one might be too soon?

Some of the other replies did arguably get out of hand, but the point stands: Ron Johnson’s probably fooling someone, but he’s not fooling everyone.