Bruce Murphy
Murphy’s Law

Is Ron Johnson a White Supremacist?

He pushed the great replacement theory that influenced the racist mass shooter in Buffalo.

By - May 17th, 2022 02:36 pm
Ron Johnson. Photo by Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America / Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en

Ron Johnson. Photo by Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America / Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0)

In the wake of racially motivated mass shootings in Buffalo, there is evidence the alleged shooter was fixated on the “great replacement theory,” the idea that there is plot to replace white, native born Americans with immigrants. So were the shooters charged with massacres at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018 and an El Paso Walmart in 2019.

Some Republicans have been criticized for pushing this theory. That includes Wisconsin’s U.S. Senator Ron Johnson. “A number of Republican politicians, including Rep. Matt Gaetz (Fla.), Rep. Scott Perry (Pa.) and Sen. Ron Johnson… have openly espoused the ‘great replacement’ theory’,” as Washington Post columnist Max Boot has written. New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie has called Johnson a member of the “great replacement caucus.”

But Johnson denies these charges, as his spokesperson Alexa Henning explained to Urban Milwaukee: “The senator absolutely condemns the racist murders that occurred in Buffalo. Pushing the lie that he in any way supports ‘replacement theory’ is another example of the corporate media working overtime to cover up for the disasters of the Biden administration.”

Here is what Johnson said last year on a Fox Business show. He charged that the Biden administration “wants complete open borders and you have to ask yourself why. Is it really, they want to remake the demographics of America to ensure their — that they stay in power forever? Is that what’s happening here?”

Leaving aside the false statement that Joe Biden supports complete open borders, Johnson’s comment clearly echoes the white nationalist theory that immigrants will take over the country at the expense of other Americans, to the benefit of the Democrats and liberals.

The theory was long a white nationalist trope that made no inroads among mainstream politicians or media. And then Donald Trump begin to push it as a candidate for president, saying this in September 2016: “I think this will be the last election that the Republicans have a chance of winning because you’re going to have people flowing across the border … and they’re going to be legalized, and they’re going to be able to vote, and once that all happens you can forget it. You’re not going to have one Republican vote.”

No one has pushed the theory more than Fox commentator Tucker Carlson. A three-part series by the New York Times that analyzed 1,150 episodes documents how Carlson pushed “Trumpism” and white nationalism to become the most popular show on Fox and arguably the most racist show in cable news history.

The series offered many quotes from Carlson’s show hammering home the great replacement theory:

“They can import an entirely new electorate from the Third World and change the demographics of the U.S. so completely they’ll never lose again.

“Democrats know if they import enough new voters, they’ll be able to run the country forever.

“As with illegal immigration, the long-term agenda of refugee resettlement is to bring in future Democratic voters.

“Illegal immigrants are the key to their power.

“This policy is called the great replacement, the replacement of legacy Americans with more obedient people from faraway countries.”

“One in three American adults now believe that an effort is underway “to replace native-born Americans with immigrants for electoral gains,” according to an Associated Press poll released this month,” the Times reported. “The poll also found that people who mostly watched right-wing media outlets like Fox News, One America News Network and Newsmax were more likely to believe in replacement theory than those who watched CNN or MSNBC.”

Johnson, in short, is really connecting to a significant portion of his Republican base of supporters by espousing this theory. And it’s not the first time he has backed white nationalists. He infamously praised the violent insurrectionists who stormed the US Capital, which included many white nationalists and neo-Nazis, saying “I knew those were people who love this country, that truly respect law enforcement, would never do anything to break the law.”

In response to this, conservative MSNBC commentator Kurt Bardella declared that “Ron Johnson is a racist. He is a white nationalist sympathizer.”

Johnson has run a ton of ads which you can find here, but they don’t feature his most controversial stands. They include an attack on the mainstream media for being “advocates for the Democratic Party,” as Johnson puts it. But the media has also spread his most controversial theories, helping Johnson portray himself as a friend of the far-right fringe, something he clearly thinks will help him get reelected. This November we’ll find out if his calculation is correct.

6 thoughts on “Murphy’s Law: Is Ron Johnson a White Supremacist?”

  1. frank a schneiger says:

    There are “white supremacists,” and there are “white supremacists.” Ron Johnson is in the group that assumes white people are the #1/best race as a default position, but are never going to get their hands dirty. Leave that to the militia guys. After all, he is a “businessman” and kind of above doing the dirty work. He is more like what were referred to as Quislings during the Nazi period in Europe, always willing to go along with the program, but positioning himself to always say, “who me?” if things go sideways.

    So, when “replacement theory” pops up, Ron Johnson says, “Sure, why not? Everybody else in the party is going along with it. The base buys it, and it’s a winner on Fox News. And because he is a stupid person, with no historic perspective, he is oblivious – and indifferent – to the immediate and long-term consequences of his and his radicalized and racist party’s actions.

    Our reactionary age, which started with “white backlash,” and is now the most powerful political force in our country, targets all of the usual scapegoat groups. It is grounded in the Republican/Fox News theme of white victimization. And it seems clear that we are coming to a critical moment. They don’t ring a bell when you get to the edge of the precipice; the moment when it is too late to pull back from mass violence, which would be unleashed in the most heavily armed nation on earth.

    Whatever happens, Ron Johnson, and the other Quislings, will have gone along with the program and then deny complicity. But he will have been complicit in what may become one of our nation’s greatest tragedies.

  2. kaygeeret says:

    Let’s just call them what they really are – – Fascist dictator wannabees and be done with it. Whether any of them actuall believe the garbage they spout is a question. Rojo never did appear all that smart, while Cruz is smart and amoral.

    I hate the seriousness with which their idiocy is discussed.

    They hate anyone who is not rich and white – end of story – and also does not bode well for the poor and middle class white person. So it goes!

    Lord, I find these folks beyond the pale.

  3. Ryan Cotic says:

    Bruce muphy should be ashamed of himself for stooping to such a low level. Honestly the fact he is allowed to still spew this hatred is shocking.

  4. ringo muldano says:

    Ron Johnson may be a functional sociopath or mentally ill. Likely both.

  5. mkeumkenews09 says:

    @Ryan Cotic – What statement(s) should Bruce Murphy be ashamed of, which statement(s) were spewing hatred?

    Bruce stated facts about Ron Johnson, with examples of Johnson’s previous statements as support. Bruce provided background facts on the “Great Replacement Theory” along with the media sites making an issue about it.

    It is not spewing hatred to truthfully point out malevolence, hatred, disinformation and lying, done by those in power. If only the media had been that brave in Germany in the run-up before WWII.

  6. NieWiederKrieg says:

    @mkeumkenews09 – If only America’s media had been that brave in the run-up to the illegal US invasion of Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, Lebanon, Somalia, Ukraine, El Salvador, Panama, Nicaragua, and Vietnam.

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