MSNBC’s Jason Johnson Condemns House GOP as Complicit in Violent Unrest Over Election Conspiracies: ‘They Are Now Terrorist Sympathizers’
MSNBC contributor Jason Johnson called out Republicans in Congress who continue to indulge President Donald Trump’s ongoing 2020 election conspiracies, tying Trump’s GOP enablers to the violent unrest breaking out around the country.
Speaking with guest host Ali Velshi on The Last Word on Monday night, Johnson accused the Congressional GOP of giving mainstream political cover to extremist groups who might resort to threats and violence to protest Trump’s loss. Last week, Johnson had predicted that MAGA-fueled violence in response to Trump’s loss would continue to ramp up over the next few months and would “make this past summer look like a picnic.”
“Jason, there’s going to be people that say, ‘Come on, don’t get carried away with yourself here. It’s not a coup,'” Velshi said, kicking off the conversation. “This is actually what they look like.”
“It is,” Johnson agreed. “Here’s the thing, and this is very important for people to understand. It’s not just that we are in a coup, but we are at the beginning of a coup that will only get more violent. Coups don’t have to be successful, it’s like attempted murder. Attempted murder is still a crime even if you’re not successful.”
Johnson then pointed to recent instances of violent unrest spurred by Trump’s false election claims, including a “Stop the Steal” Proud Boys march in Washington, D.C. last weekend where four people got stabbed and an attempt by armed, far right extremists to storm the Oregon state capitol on Monday.
“They are all acting at the behest of Donald Trump, unless anybody thinks it’s like, well, they are not directly — remember, this is a guy, who, during a presidential debate, told the Proud Boys, who are a terrorist-sympathizing organization to ‘Stand up and stand by,'” Johnson pointed out. “This is what the president is calling for. The meetings are going to be less of a problem than the number of men and women that you have on the ground who are willing to engage in violence. So, that is the danger here. It has to be seen as a danger, and the men and women who are placating the president on this, the men and women in Congress who are pretending that this really isn’t an issue, they are now terrorist sympathizers. Because if you can’t stand up and see actual acts of violence that are happening in our states about this election, then you’re sympathizing with terrorists.”
Watch the video above, via MSNBC.
