Harmless grandparents arrested after January 6

Common sense suggests that Sen. Ron Johnson should stop saying strange things about the Jan. 6 attack, but as Raw Story noted, the Wisconsin Republican apparently can’t help himself.

For Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI), the Jan. 6 brawl was a blip in American history, and those who suffered the most were mostly innocent elderly people who happened to be in Washington, D.C. Appearing on Fox Business, the politician fumed that federal authorities were searching for the Jan. 6 rioters – claiming that “grannies and grannies” were being handled by a SWAT team.

“We have this massive manhunt, this massive manhunt for grandmas and grandpas who show up on January 6th, never enter the Capitol, but just happen to be in Washington, DC – they’re deploying agents, conducting SWAT raids to arrest people who pose no threat to them at all,” the Republican senator claimed with a serious face.

Johnson continued to insist that the FBI – by most standards the most politically conservative agency in the federal government, headed by Donald Trump’s hand-picked director – is “totally partisan” and anti-Republican.

At this point, we could spend a few sentences explaining that law enforcement did not send SWAT teams after innocent people who “happened” to be in the nation’s capital on January 6, 2021. Likewise, we could note how bizarre it is to hear prominent GOP officials whine incessantly about the FBI.

At this point, however, it is also worth taking a step back and acknowledging the fact that Johnson should really choose another topic to continue talking about.

The Wisconsin Republican has falsely told the public that the Jan. 6 rioters were unarmed. He has promoted the ridiculous notion that the pro-Trump forces that launched the attack on the Capitol were secretly made up of “fake Trump protesters.” He has praised the rioters’ patriotism.

As Charles Sykes wrote for MSNBC last week, Johnson is also up to his ears in the conspiracy to obtain fraudulent electoral votes, and as NOTUS reported today, the far-right senator also rushed to the aid of attorney Jim Troupis, one of the alleged masterminds of the legally questionable conspiracy to obtain fraudulent electoral votes in his home state – even after Troupis was indicted.

In these circumstances, wouldn’t it be better for Johnson to stick to his odd rhetoric on Covid and steer clear of comments on January 6?