Jim Clyburn Bluntly Calls Out GOP Sen. Ron Johnson Over BLM Comments: ‘The Guy Is Racist’

Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) pulled no punches about his congressional colleague Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) on Tuesday night, matter-of-factly calling him a “racist” for the latter’s comments about the Black Lives Matter movement.

Last week, Johnson infamously claimed he didn’t feel threatened by the (overwhelmingly white) mob of Trump supporters that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 and injured more than 100 police officers, but that he would’ve had the rioters been BLM and Antifa.

After white-hot outrage ensued in response to this admissions, Johnson tried to defuse the situation in a Wall Street Journal op-ed and then a Fox News interview with Maria Bartiromo, where he insisted there was “nothing racial” about his comments linking BLM and Antifa to a counterfactual about the Trump supporter assault on the Capitol. Instead, he defended himself by saying that the critics highlighting the bigoted nature of his remarks were “playing the race card,” despite the GOP senator having prefaced his incendiary comments by conceding “this could get me in trouble.”

The South Carolina Democrat wasn’t buying that excuse, however, and said as much to CNN host Don Lemon who brought up Johnson’s remarks during a Tuesday night segment.

“Can we please talk, if you will, about Senator Ron Johnson now saying that the left has twisted what he said about the January 6th investigation,” an exasperated Lemon said. “How did you hear that?”

“I heard it the way he meant it,” Clyburn shot back. “You know, the moment he said or prefaced his last statement, ‘I know I’m going to get in trouble for this,’ then went on to say it. That said to me he knew exactly what he was saying, he knew why he was saying it, he knew exactly how the reactions would be. He just didn’t care.”

“The guy is racist,” Clyburn added, point-blank. “This is not the first time he has indicated such. I would hope that the people Wisconsin would take note of this and do what they can to help make this country a better place. Now, I know the history of Wisconsin. When it comes to politics. They have been on both sides of the extremes, extreme right and extreme left. I would hope that they will moderate themselves in the next election and get rid of this right extremist.”

Watch the video above, via CNN.