Morning Joe Mocks ‘Idiot’ Senator Ron Johnson’s Op-Ed Claiming Censorship: ‘This is What Systemic Racism Looks Like’

The hosts and contributors of Morning Joe had a field day with Senator Ron Johnson, who appears to have never learned the adage that the best way to get out of a hole is to stop digging.

The Wisconsin Senator wrote an op-ed published by the Wall Street Journal that employed the old “the best defense is a good offense” tactic regarding the broad condemnation for a radio interview he gave late last week that many saw as racist in nature.

In the original comments, Senator Johnson said that he felt no personal fear during the deadly attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters on January 6th, but had the protestors been BLM or Antifa, it “might have been a little concerned.” He also described the insurrectionists as “people that love this country, that truly respect law enforcement, would never do anything to break the law.”

In Tuesday morning’s WSJ, Johnson hit back at the raft of critics who called out his dubious remarks, pledging that he “won’t be silenced.” The column opens by saying, “I’m amazed but not surprised. Those who seek political advantage by dividing the nation hurl the worst possible accusations to silence anyone who challenges their left-wing agenda.”

Joe Scarborough has long been on the front foot in calling out Johnson’s curious commentary, and Tuesday morning was no different. “Let me tell you, Ron, the left doesn’t want you to be silenced because the more you say bigoted things like the other day, the more you actually help the left,” he said.

Co-host Willie Geist jumped in, calling Johnsons’ tripling down as “astounding,” before adding, “We joke about Ron Johnson, because so many of his colleagues, not us, so many of his colleagues, current and former, tell us how limited he is, but this is clearly something different.”

But it was Daily Beast contributor Matt Lewis who offered the pithiest and sharpest commentary on the Wisconsin Senator’s curious victim play. “Ron Johnson is obviously an idiot,” he proferred before using these comments for a broader critique of many in the Republican party.

“Ron Johnson’s comments were the best case study I’ve ever seen or the best evidence of systemic racism and subliminal racism,” Lewis alleged, adding “he really proves the point that a lot of us, over the years, also didn’t grasp, which is the fact that a lot of people, a lot of Republicans, sadly, who maybe are just unconsciously racist.”

He continued to explain that, in his opinion, many Republicans are “harboring this bias, and out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. I think that’s what just happened. Ron Johnson just told us who he is.

Watch above via MSNBC.