Ron Johnson won't testify to the Jan. 6 Committee because he only plotted to overthrow the election for "a couple seconds."
"I had virtually no involvement!" he said. "Literally, my involvement lasted seconds. OK?" pic.twitter.com/vsTZSCqkYj
— David Edwards (@DavidEdwards) August 21, 2022
Baud
You can’t just disregard the Constitution’s 30-second shot clock.
Jerzy Russian
My involvement in that poor fellow’s murder only lasted a few seconds (these fancy rifles have quick triggers).
Steeplejack
Redacted.
Anonymous At Work
With this perfect alignment of farce and reality, am I the only one who thinks that Hollywood screenwriters should be able to sue politicians for copyright infringement? Ron “A little light treason” Johnson follows Donnie “Don’t look up” Trump in a long list of politicians that mock the Screenwriter’s Guild’s best efforts at parody.
Ken
Doesn’t take that long to say “Sure, I’m in!”
Omnes Omnibus
The five second rule is for dropped food, not treason.
NotMax
“It’s like the three second rule in the kitchen, don’tcha know.”
//
bbleh
And let’s be honest, who hasn’t involved himself personally in a plot to subvert the Constitution at least once or twice, amirite? Sorta like not coming to a complete stop at a stop sign, y’know? No biggie …
matt
That falls under the 5-second rule for criminal intent.
cain
and Clinton said he only inhaled ONCE and immediately exhaled cannabis!
I had no idea that the constitution supported the 30 second rule.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: Ha! Ron Johnson would have been better off not answering at all.
I hope he comes to regret those words.
Scout211
I was wondering, when I saw that interview yesterday, what the heck he thought he could possibly gain from making it seem as though a few seconds of participating in a crime just voids the crime altogether. I guess a only a few seconds of mass murder with an assault rifle makes the murder now void?
So maddening these Republicans who find all kinds of excuses to deny their own crimes but recklessly accuse others of crimes that they didn’t commit, like grooming. 🤬
Kay
Villago Delenda Est
I suppose the 8th Amendment kinda gets in the way of flaying alive?
Baud
@Kay:
If I didn’t know he was lying about all of that, I would be offended.
Step 1: It’s not needed.
Step 2: Hoocoodanode?
Step 3: We need to respect the court’s decision.
MattF
Amateurs like Johnson think that some excuse is preferable to just lying.
Ken
Maybe Tesla will add a “Treasonous” setting to their autopilot in the 2023 model year.
Kay
“Stare decisis would be decisive in this case” (of gay marriage)
Actual quote. Good Lord. They just make it up as they go along.
Villago Delenda Est
@Kay: “Women” are not people, in the eyes of Ron Johnson.
Kay
@Baud:
“Its just Democrats”
Much like the sensible, well-founded and ultimately true warnings on Roe.
The worst case scenario is never even a “scenario” – it’s always “in the works”
RaflW
In RonJon’s defense, he’s so freaking stupid, his brain probably shuts down for a re-boot every few seconds so he’s accidentally telling the truth.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: I’m not responsible, I was only driving the getaway car!
I only gave my friend a ride, I didn’t know where we were going.
I didn’t know he had a gun.
How many people are serving life sentences after making statements like that?
WaterGirl
@Kay: So apparently millions upon millions of women are not people???
Baud
@Kay:
The reassurances worked with a lot of women before Dobbs. Johnson hopes it still has some juice with the gays.
Kay
@Villago Delenda Est:
I’m surprised they didn’t prep him better. He looks shocked to be asked.
“Let’s move on”. Oh, yeah. I bet you would like that. Not even worth mentioning.
Jeffro
Ron would look good in tar & feathers. He’d look especially good tarred, feathered, and marched across the length of Wisconsin at the point of a pitchfork.
Kay
@WaterGirl:
Well, not important people. Not people who should be able to rely on 50 years of precedent. Disposable voters- “extra” – nice to have but white men are probably enough, right?
Chief Oshkosh
Gee, Senator, then it is perfectly reasonable for you to tell the committee, under oath, who it was that had such stature that you honored their request to receive the false elector file and to whom you then passed it to.
WaterGirl
What movie is that from?
Calouste
I guess that also how Ron Johnson would try to get out of paying child support: “I was only involved for a few seconds”
Baud
@Calouste: Nah, he would force the woman to have an abortion.
Kay
Just running backward on progress for women now. Speeding back to 1950.
MattF
Hey! I slowed down!
Baud
@Kay:
Is that because the law is requiring more in more states?
Almost Retired
@WaterGirl: You mean the clip in the main post? It’s Arrested Development, a tv show.
Quiltingfool
@Kay: Jesus, Joseph and Mary. Ron Johnson is such an asshole.
They really do discount women, don’t they? I’ve known that for years, but to see them casually discard women out loud and proud? Sickening.
Kay
@Baud:
It’s companies that had offered more leave “trimming benefits”. Or “benefit”, really. Just that benefit.
RedDirtGirl
@Kay: I’m kind of surprised he is saying this at all. Does he have a big gay constituency that he is trying to appease?
Omnes Omnibus
@Quiltingfool: There is a reason he is falling behind in the polls.
hueyplong
So I guess the plan is to keep this guy talking until November?
Steeplejack
Here is a clear and present danger to the republic.
Unpaywalled Times article.
geg6
@WaterGirl:
Only one of the greatest tv shows of all time: Arrested Development.
Omnes Omnibus
@RedDirtGirl: The Fifth Ward in Milwaukee. OTOH, he wrote off Milwaukee years ago.
Omnes Omnibus
@hueyplong: It can’t hurt.
RaflW
@WaterGirl: If they can repeal the 19th Amendment, then yes.
Ken
@hueyplong: Our plan, yes. I imagine his campaign people are planning an “accident” that requires wiring shut his jaw for three months.
Anonymous At Work
@WaterGirl: “Regret” requires learning better later on.
RaflW
@Kay: If that were a British interviewer, asking to move on would signal the time to move in for repeated probing. I wish more US journos would catch on.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Kay: I’m flabbergasted at his disregard. You know what? Fuck him.
Elizabelle
@Steeplejack: ProPublica seems to be on the same story.
How a Secretive Billionaire Handed His Fortune to the Architect of the Right-Wing Takeover of the Courts
In the largest known political advocacy donation in U.S. history, industrialist Barre Seid funded a new group run by Federalist Society co-chair Leonard Leo, who guided Trump’s Supreme Court picks and helped end federal abortion rights.
This is just so disgusting. It should not be legal. How do citizens have a voice when money is speaking, and buying, and bribing like that?
Expand the court. To lucky 13, or even more.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I think Josh Marshall is just trolling DeSantis fans here, but then again, I think DeSantis is capable of just about anything
Scout211
Some good news (hopefully) out of Idaho today. Link.
RaflW
@RedDirtGirl: He’s dumb. But he’s aware that freedom to marry whom you love polls well. Even among Republicans it’s net positive.
US News 7/28/22: A record-high 71% of Americans now support same-sex marriage, according to the most recent Gallup poll, including 55% of Republicans.
Now, many of those 55% of R’s won’t vote out GOPers just on same sex marriage. But it creates a wedge point for Dems to exploit. And Dems should!
WaterGirl
@Almost Retired: Yes, that’s what I meant. I have heard plenty about the show but have never seen a single episode. thanks.
Elizabelle
@WaterGirl: re Arrested Development. We may have to find DVDs in the library, and catch up on it.
I will start on The Wire, in a month or two.
Kay
@RaflW:
You really get a sense of what a bubble far Right wingers live in – he can barely talk. It’s all sweaty denials, as if none of this occurred to him before. He understands senate seats can’t be gerrymandered, right? It’s actually competitive?
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
So say Wisconsin voters, hopefully.
Van Buren
He says that people are paying too much attention to this story and I just want to know what he thinks is the proper amount of attention to pay to an attempted coup.
Steeplejack
@Elizabelle:
Thank you, Citizens United! 👌
RaflW
@Steeplejack: Political money in this country is an absolute debacle. The radicals on the Supreme Court announcing that money is speech and basically unregulatable (and yet books can be banned?!?) is the toxic stew within which all this fascism is brewing.
Jeffro
@Steeplejack: but…but both me and Leonard Leo still have free speech, so all is well here in our democracy. //
If anything, it’s on me to go find my own $1.6B and keep up with the
Joneseser Leos, as it were.Steeplejack
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Maybe he’s wearing body armor to protect against ninja antifa assassins.
Kropacetic
I know one woman the reassurance worked on and it hasn’t moved her, still supporting Republicans vehemently.
I don’t understand gay Republicans. Can’t even pretend to. How can any gay woman or man look at these shitheads and see people with their best interests at heart.
I see guys on the online dating explicitly stating “no Republicans.” Gay Republicans will often use that space to bemoan their lack of dating options or pushing some propaganda.
I get credentials first. I don’t want to show up at someone’s house and see an unread copy of “Clinton Cash” on the bookshelf.
cain
@Steeplejack: All I see is huge grift operation – where 1.6 billion dollars will disappear down a lot of pockets. Just remember that these people are lazy as fuck. Sure some of that might go.
Also, it’s all projection isn’t it? Literally these are like soros checks.
Elizabelle
@Steeplejack: I know.
That story just absolutely ruined my day. Gutted me.
BUT: better that we know about it. Perhaps the coming Democratic majority in Congress can take an axe to
CitizensMoney Speaks Only United?GoBlueInOak
@Kay: Link broken.
Steeplejack
@Jeffro:
Yes, the law in its infinite majesty allows both plutocrats and paupers an equal opportunity to fund tax-exempt PACs. Democracy in action!
moops
his trip to Russia on July 4 lasted a whole lot longer than a few seconds.
Also, too, This idiot tweeted on July 5th, a whole day before, that *he* would be certifying the election and not VP Pence. This was not a crime of passion. This was planned. He was all in on sedition up to the moment that Pence said “nope” and then he scuttled back into a crouch ready to sedition again.
RaflW
@Kay: Senators used to actually make unscripted public appearances in their home states and face normal voters. It helped them hone their skills and know how to speak about things.
Now that it’s all (or at least mostly) friendly TV hits in remote video hookups for Fox, etc, they’re clueless how to speak like normal people, or think on their feet.
I still see Dems out and about. Granted it was still a friendly crowd, but I was able to attend a Dean Phillips – Amy Klobuchar event in a park where we all stood around an ice cream truck and the candidates made rootbeer floats and talked to people. Like, “Hi, I’m a normal person and let’s eat a treat and talk about stuff.” It was fun and they seem like they’re not in such a bubble.
WaterGirl
@Baud: I keep hearing the “Fuck that guuuyyy” from the “background singers” in the Randy Rainbow video last week.
WaterGirl
@moops: That wasn’t Ron Johnson. I believe that was the also-traitorous Chuck Grassley.
Steeplejack
@GoBlueInOak:
Fixed:
Ken
The skull has to be expanded so there’s room to implant the Grey Reptiloid control device.
UN-altered REPRODUCTION and DISSEMINATION of this IMPORTANT Information is ENCOURAGED, ESPECIALLY to COMPUTER BULLETIN BOARDS.
Steeplejack
@moops:
The “I’ll be certifyin'” senator was Grassley, not Johnson.
cmorenc
I seem to have missed the part of the criminal procedure class in law school about the shot-clock for criminal intent violations. I know I was there when they taught about statute of limitations, but that’s like years, not seconds. So maybe I partied that night after they taught statute of limitations and missed the next day’s class where they went into the shot-clock stuff? Also, I don’t recall a shot-clock criminal intent question on any of the two different state’s bar exams I passed on the first try. However, I do seem to remember from criminal law class that an instant intent is enough when you have a gun in your hand and it goes off. Don’t recall any shot-clock exceptions for intent in that class, either.
Ken
Nonsense. Action by Congress to protect the 19th is “completely unnecessary” because “the decision on women voting will never be overturned” and precedent is “decisive.”
(Echo in here….)
RaflW
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I’ve barely heard him speak. Is Ron DeSantorum from Jersey? I know a lot of Floridians are. His accent seems very pronounced there, more than I’ve noticed in his few excerpts I’ve seen.
Chief Oshkosh
@RaflW: And look at Beto going into the belly of beast, having sincere discussions with wackaloons (well, sincere on Beto’s side) at (gasp!) totally open campaign stops!
JaySinWA
I admit that I haven’t read the articles yet about the $1.6B donation, but if they were in the last 2 years then they are after the fact of the bulk of the damage done by Leo. This would appear to be funding the next generation of FedSoc agenda setting and maintenance
ETA If this is correct this is less about where we are now and more about what’s ahead.
Kropacetic
@Chief Oshkosh: Man must have the patience of a Saint.
rikyrah
A couple of seconds…
for the man WHO SPENT THE FOURTH OF JULY IN MOSCOW
cain
@Chief Oshkosh: Also, if you’re out there and making connections – guess the one thing they have to concede? Their candidate isn’t showing up and meeting with any of them. They are out there on their ivory tower – they couldn’t even show up when there was a tragedy.
GoBlueInOak
@Steeplejack: Thanks. Looks like a large part of drop could be the time period surveyed – 2020 vs 2022. Classic rate of change bias based on how you pick the baseline year. Lot of employers provided temporary expanded benefits during the pandemic and now are looking to re-set back to closer to what they had in place in 2019.
Its not great – our country’s parental leave benefits outside a few states like California are abysmal – but its not as shocking as the topline numbers would make it seem.
Betty
@moops: He has admitted to reviewing several texts and sending two of his own so even 3 seconds is a lie.
RaflW
Holy crap this video of DeSantis parroting TFG is, we’ll, amazing.
Omnes Omnibus
@Ken: There is a big difference between Roe and the 19th Amendment. One was a Supreme Court decision which they can chose to overturn. The other is an actual Amendment to the Constitution, something they cannot overturn.*
*Yes, I understand that this Court is nuts. I do think that overturning the Constitution by fiat is a few steps too far.
Gravenstone
C’mon November. We need to turf this asshole out, and do so yesterday!
Gravenstone
@Kay: I’m sure hope the millions of women heard that dog whistle loud and motherfucking clear!
Ramona Rosario
@Steeplejack: Please Mr. Leo, appoint Rick Scott to manage this foundation.
artem1s
@Kay:
well that just about says it all doesn’t it. nice to know Johnson doesn’t consider women people.
oatler
“No touching!”
germy shoemangler
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Bullet-proof vest?
Sister Golden Bear
@Omnes Omnibus:
Forgive me if I don’t share your optimism.
Kropacetic
Only if someone’s willing to do something to stop them.
moops
This idiot was already announcing on twitter the day before his intention to participate in the coup.
Lazy reporters aren’t nailing him with that.
Gravenstone
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Put him on HGH. That’ll fatten his melon right up. Just look at Barry Bonds (et al) for an example.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@germy shoemangler: I thought of that, but if it was, he’d probably tell us, so he could play the victim. Christina Pushaw may be trolling this comment section looking for ideas
Omnes Omnibus
@Sister Golden Bear: @Kropacetic: Again, overturning a law or a prior decision by the Court is something that the Supreme Court does, however specious its reasoning. Declaring a part of the Constitution to be invalid is something else entirely.
Ken
@Omnes Omnibus: Section 2 of the 15th Amendment begs to differ.
Omnes Omnibus
@Ken: Okay. The Court is completely out of control. They will do whatever with no limits and Gilead is the inevitable result. Everyone happy now?
Sister Golden Bear
@Omnes Omnibus: I’m fully aware of the difference. But the Dominionists on the Court may not give a damn.
Bill Arnold
@Kropacetic:
According to Justice Scalia and 4 other Republican (inc Kennedy) SCOTUS justices, the Second Amendment is for all Americans, not just Republican Patriots In Name Only. (We as a country do not want to go down that path. Everyone loses.)
Dangerman
Only lasted seconds. I wonder if that excuse worked on his Honeymoon..
Kropacetic
@Bill Arnold: There are plenty of non-violent means that can be employed to stop them overriding our Constitution. Stopping them does not mean violence.
jonas
*stares into void, blinking slowly
Ken
@Kropacetic: I am intrigued by a couple of observations I came across on twitter (so more than a grain of salt, but still).
Article III says that justices “shall hold their offices during good behavior” but nowhere defines that, so it’s something Congress could define by law.
And, Article III does not state that impeachment is required to remove a justice from office. However they may be covered by Article II section 4 which requires impeachment to remove “civil officers of the United States”. (Though that doesn’t seem to prevent the President from removing any cabinet officers or other persons requiring Senate approval.)
WaterGirl
@Ken: Both of those are intriguing. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
J R in WV
@Ken:
I think any “justice” who voted to remove a constitutional right from 50% of the nation has exhibited BAD behavior, and congress should make that clear by passing a law that makes this behavior unacceptable. Fire them for bad behavior, in other words.
Also, lying in their confirmation hearings on the part of newly seated justices is not good behavior. Fire them, revoke their law licenses, kill off their pension, if any is owed, make them seek a job at Burger King’s drive thru. Don’t give them a job, make them seek a job.
Ruckus
@Elizabelle:
“How do citizens have a voice when money is speaking, and buying, and bribing like that?”
Well he’s probably a citizen…..
But your point is absolutely on point, this should never be allowed, to “donate” this much money, because obviously very few people have that kind of clout and therefore it isn’t in any way a reasonably democratic situation. Now as this money is not donated to a particular candidate I’m not sure how to regulate this. But there damn sure should be some way.
Kropacetic
But who says what rights the Constitution protects? Either this would be toothless as any radicalized Supreme Court could rule on itself or, if it were up to legislators, Supreme Court justices would only hold their jobs as long as they had a friendly Congress.
Problem is, did they lie? Or did they make a profoundly misleading implication that failed to inform anyone on their actual position?
Ruckus
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I’d say his head has shrunk. I mean there is almost zero functioning brain inside there, it’s been replaced with some creature’s shit, possibly his own, he does seem to be full of it.
Haroldo
@RaflW:
It was guaranteed that at every Green Bay Packers home game (well, at a lot of ’em) you’d find Sen. William Proxmire pressing the flesh.
Daoud bin Daoud
My name is Ron Johnson
I come from Wisconsin
The land of the curds & the whey.
I spew out deceit
As I trip on my feet
And do it again the next day!
scott (the other one)
Not counting any chickens…but…replacing this jamoke with Mandela Barnes would be such an upgrade it’s almost unreal.
Daoud bin Daoud
@Omnes Omnibus: the Extreme Court is willing to overturn anything by fiat, even a Constitutional amendment.
Jackie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Bullet proof padding?
Daoud bin Daoud
@Kropacetic: they lied. Through their teeth.
Kropacetic
@Daoud bin Daoud: They said it was settled law. They never the fact that it had been settled means they couldn’t revisit it. They misled, but what they said was “true” in the barest sense of the word.
Suppose a couple is fighting because one is cheating on a diet. Partner A demands “Promise me you won’t sneak any more pizza.” Partner B says “I promise not to sneak any pizza.”
Then Partner B proceeds to openly, brazenly eat pizza directly in front of Partner A. Partner B didn’t lie, they mislead then proceeded to do what they wanted. Sure, there are problems there to be addressed. But if you’re looking for the truth value of “I promise not to sneak pizza,” they didn’t “sneak,” so the promise holds true.
Yes, I recognize this as severely abusive, perhaps even more pernicious than lying. But we’re dealing with a party whose whole political reason for being is to find weasel words to excuse bad behavior.
When mushy middle types are watching a debate between D and R and the D says “they lied,” the R can point to the literal text and assert what they said was true. And it was, in a trivial way, but I don’t want to have to rely on a large percentage of people making that distinction.
There’s a salient issue here, I’m only suggesting that we tighten up the language around it a little bit.
brantl
@Gravenstone: Look at that big fat head on Joe Rogan, but to be fair, it started out pretty big to begin with.
Bill Arnold
@Kropacetic:
They deliberate mouthed political cover for those in the Senate who were mildly uncomfortable with voting for nominees who clearly had a Christian Supremacist agenda that they would make real when opportunity struck. This lying misleading on their part was a political move to reduce electoral damage from irate non-Christian Supremacist voters. The Republicans were fully aware that their Christian Supremacist voters understood the lies misleading statements for exactly what they were.
Clear intent to mislead with partial truths.
Kropacetic
Their mantra right there.
In the time since I wrote that, I spent some time considering the futility of trying to cross every t and dot every i alongside the fact that this is to debate the most shameless liars known to (this) man.
Even if we all declare as one we’re going to free ourselves of rhetorical shackles, will the media allow it?
Kropacetic
@Kropacetic: This gave me a little thought experiment, can one be a liar in the habitual sense without having ever explicitly lied*? I don’t see any word in chronic use for constant misleading. Misleader? Odd, cumbersome.
Liar it is.
*For the thought experiment. I’m sure the subjects previously under discussion have lied plenty, just not technically this time.
J R in WV
@Kropacetic:
I’m going to have to disagree with you here. These people committed perjury openly the day they voted to overturn Roe in their Dobbs decision. Perhaps excepting Angry Sam Alito, I don’t recall his confirmation hearings as well as Beer Boy’s and Amy Godbotherer’s and Neal Gorsuch’s hearings.
They have no leg to stand upon and should be put out of their high office and sent away to seek gainful employment available without a law license. Perhaps cleaning toilets at a stadium?
Villago Delenda Est
@Elizabelle: “There’s money in the banana stand!”
Once you see the first episode, you’ll get this.