On Thursday's Deadline: White House, MSNBC contributor and frequent show guest Jason Johnson hurled vitriol at Republicans, accusing them of pushing for a "white nationalist ethno-state," and of not caring who dies as they pursue that goal.
His incendiary comments came during a discussion of Republican members of Congress trying to downplay the Capitol Hill riots from January 6.
MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace read from a Time magazine piece in which one of the Capitol Hill police officers, Mike Fanone, was interviewed and recalled the trauma he experienced being attacked by the mob. She posed: "I don't even know where we are, Jason, when someone goes through that, and one of the two political parties denies the horror and denies the medal."
Alluding to the tendency for Republicans to defend law enforcement when the media misleadingly hype police violence involving black suspects, Johnson began by suggesting Republicans are racists:
The problem -- the sad thing honestly for me, Nicolle, is I know exactly where we are. And this doesn't shock me. It's not hypocritical -- it's actually very consistent for the Republican party for the last 10 years or so. They -- of course they support police officers when you're beating up black folks. So they -- of course they support the blue when it's Black Lives Matter. But they don't like the police if the police stand for order in the face of white nationalism. They don't like the police if the police stand for order against an authoritarian government that they desire. And that's what this boils down to.
He then invoked COVID victims as well as children killed in school shootings as lives who do not matter to Republicans:
The Republicans simply want power. They want a white nationalist, you know, a white nationalist ethno-state. That's what they want. They're not subtle about it. Every voting legislation, every war they've voted for -- that is what they have been about ever since Donald Trump got the nomination. And they don't care who they have to sacrifice -- whether that's people in central Texas having to die over COVID or police officers in the Capitol -- they don't care who dies. They don't care if it's kids in Sandy Hook as long as it is about accruing power to a white nationalist ethno-state.
Johnson notably has such a history hostility to police officers that he has accused law enforcement of being racists, and has claimed that he is more likely to be shot by a police officer than by an intruder in his home.
This episode of MSNBC's Deadline: White House was sponsored in part by Verizon. Their contact information is linked.
MSNBC's Deadline: White House
August 5, 2021
4:16 p.m. Eastern
NICOLLE WALLACE: I don't even know where we are, Jason, when someone goes through that, and one of the two political parties denies the horror and denies the medal.
JASON JOHNSON, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: The problem -- the sad thing honestly for me, Nicolle, is I know exactly where we are. And this doesn't shock me. It's not hypocritical -- it's actually very consistent for the Republican party for the last 10 years or so. They -- of course they support police officers when you're beating up black folks. So they -- of course they support the blue when it's Black Lives Matter. But they don't like the police if the police stand for order in the face of white nationalism. They don't like the police if the police stand for order against an authoritarian government that they desire. And that's what this boils down to.
The Republicans simply want power. They want a white nationalist, you know, a white nationalist ethno-state. That's what they want. They're not subtle about it. Every voting legislation, every war they've voted for -- that is what they have been about ever since Donald Trump got the nomination. And they don't care who they have to sacrifice -- whether that's people in central Texas having to die over COVID or police officers in the Capitol -- they don't care who dies. They don't care if it's kids in Sandy Hook as long as it is about accruing power to a white nationalist ethno-state.
And what concerns me honestly -- and what I worry about honestly with these officers -- I really -- because, Nicolle, like, hearing that and hearing this guy cry, and hearing how he has to try and sleep at night -- all the other guys -- all the other officers -- men and women who have to suffer through this -- is the feeling that this could happen again because I keep thinking back, Nicolle. We all remember to the reports at the time -- there were members of Congress who were like -- I saw staffers and other members of Congress giving tours to people the day before this insurrection. We still haven't found out who might have been doing that.
So these guys are still going to work every day saying, "I don't know when this is going to happen again -- I don't know when somebody else could show up -- I don't know if somebody holding the door in back of the Senate building is to let somebody in with Jimmy John's or to let somebody in to kill us all." And that's what makes this so frustrating for me. I'm not shocked at what the Republican is -- what the Republican party is today. What I am disturbed about is the absolute lack of concern for humanity and the lack of integrity to continue this charade in the face of people who were willing to die.
