Pretty much any time Ron Johnson opens his mouth the immediate response is "How is this idiot in the U.S. Senate?" I admit I just don't get it either. And Johnson's recent interview with conspiracy theory peddler YouTuber TommyG just added more evidence of his unfitness for the job.
Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson said it is "certainly possible" government agencies were involved in the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy and called the death of the sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein "fishy" during a wide-ranging interview released Tuesday by a popular YouTuber.
“I think it’s certainly possible, yeah” the Wisconsin Republican responded when asked by the YouTuber Tommy G if it was possible that U.S. agencies were involved in JFK's assassination. “The American public deserves the truth, and we haven’t gotten it.”
"There’s so many unanswered questions, so many witnesses that just died, so many leads that weren’t followed up on, so much evidence that obviously should have been collected that people have been prevented from collecting," Johnson said.
And naturally, because of the subject matter, Washington's politicians were a tad reticent to appear on camera. "A conspiracy-spewing film-maker called all 100 U.S. senators to try to get an interview about Jeffrey Epstein, JFK and other craziness. Only one responded: Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson," tweeted Daniel Bice.
Johnson's comments on JFK's death were just one of several conspiracy theories the Oshkosh Republican entertained during the interview with Tommy G, a YouTuber who bills himself as making "the craziest documentaries" on the video streaming website. The pair also touched on the circumstances surrounding Epstein's death in a jail cell in 2019, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s presidential campaign and potential surveillance.
The nearly 20-minute video purported to be "Investigating Corruption in Washington DC" and featured only one lawmaker: Johnson. Wisconsin's senior senator, Tommy G said, was the only member of Congress who agreed to an interview.
Johnson promoted the book JFK and the Unspeakable by James W. Douglass, which argues agencies were behind the assassination.
A review of the book by former Marquette University political science professor John McAdams described it as "utterly uncritical of any theory, any witness, and any factoid, as long as it implies conspiracy." McAdams said Douglass, the author, "fundamentally, doesn’t care about what really occurred."
So we have a U.S. Senator promoting the most pernicious and ludicrous conspiracy theories around just because he can. Good job, Wisconsin.
