MSNBC's Johnson Melts Down: GOP Commits Violence Against Black People Regularly

June 21st, 2022 5:52 PM

On MSNBC’s Deadline: White House on Tuesday afternoon, host Nicole Wallace spent her show the same way she has almost every day since January 6, 2021, which is obsessing over the riots on Capitol Hill. During this coverage, she brought on Morgan State University journalism professor and MSNBC contributor Jason Johnson to react to the latest theatrics from the Pelosi-picked January 6 committee. 

After airing a soundbite from a Georgia poll worker named Ruby Freeman who was allegedly made a target after being caught on tape “passing a suspicious USB drive while counting election results in Fulton County,” Johnson was furious. 

“The level of rage that I and people that I know had when we saw this testimony is beyond anything I've probably experienced since George Floyd,” Johnson wailed. “That's my grandmother. That is literally the kind of work that my grandmother used to do in Newark, New Jersey, registering people to vote, taking seniors in buses to go here & there, getting young people registered to vote,” he added. 

 

 

He then claimed without evidence that the Republican Party engages in violence against black people “on a regular basis"

The level of violence that the Republican organization engages in against black people on a regular basis should make everything that happens in this trial pale in comparison. This is what they do. This is what they do.

Johnson never gave examples of this supposed violence and never explained that if it did occur “on a regular basis” why doesn’t MSNBC cover it. 

“This is why Randy Bowman and Raffensperger-- this is why I don't care about getting threatening calls. Cause you know what happens to them? They go back to their offices and they get security,” Johnson ranted. “You know what happens to people on the Supreme Court when they get threatened? They get security paid for by the Senate.” 

Ending his unhinged rant, Johnson demanded his political opponents be put in jail despite no evidence to justify it: “every single one of these people should be in jail. And if they're not, it's an absolute abdication of responsibility by this committee, by Merrick Garland all the way up to the White House.”

This mentally unbalanced segment on MSNBC was made possible thanks to the endorsement from AT&T. Their information is linked so you can contact them. 

To read the relevant transcript click “expand”: 

MSNBC’s Deadline: White House
6/21/2022
4:24:54 p.m. Eastern

JASON JOHNSON: The level of rage that I and people that I know had when we saw this testimony is beyond anything I've probably experienced since George Floyd. That's my grandmother. That is literally the kind of work that my grandmother used to do in Newark, New Jersey, registering people to vote, taking seniors in buses to go here & there, getting young people registered to vote. 

The level of violence that the Republican organization engages in against black people on a regular basis should make everything that happens in this trial pale in comparison. This is what they do. This is what they do. This is why Randy Bowman and Raffensperger-- this is why I don't care about getting threatening calls. Cause you know what happens to them? They go back to their offices and they get security. You know what happens to people on the Supreme Court when they get threatened? 

They get security paid for by the Senate. But not regular black people who are just doing their jobs, not people who have lost their name. the ability to go to the grocery store, the ability to just live their regular lives for having the audacity to stand against the white nationalist coup that masquerades as the Republican Party. What angers me so much honestly Nicole about that testimony is that I know that those women are going to get additional threats because they were brave enough to get on television and talk about what happened. 

And I also know that the party that is putting these hearings together is going to do little or nothing to keep those people safe when we face this again this fall. This was the most infuriating part of these hearings that I've ever seen. Every single one of these people should be in jail. And if they're not, it's an absolute abdication of responsibility by this committee, by Merrick Garland all the way up to the White House.