In the two-plus months since Donald Trump incited a vicious mob to attack the Capitol building, Senator Ron Johnson has had some peculiar things to say about the insurrection that left five people dead. One of them was that the rioters were not actually Trump supporters but “provocateurs” impersonating Trump supporters. Another was that the attack was Nancy Pelosi’s fault. Yet another was that the attempted coup wasn’t “an armed insurrection,” even though that’s exactly what it was on account of all the guns and bombs and other weapons seized. Then there was the take he delivered last week, which was that while he wasn’t scared of the violent white people who stormed the Capitol trying to overturn the election, he would’ve been terrified if they had been there to protest police brutality against Black people.

In an interview on The Joe Pags Show on Friday, Johnson explained that he was never concerned for his safety on January 6 because the mob was comprised of “people that loved this country,” as opposed to Black Lives Matter protesters. “I knew those were people that...truly respect law enforcement, would never do anything to break the law, so I wasn’t concerned,” Johnson said of a group of people who participated in a riot that left more than 100 police officers injured and one dead and have literally been charged with breaking numerous laws. On the other hand, the senator from Wisconsin explained, “Had the tables been turned, and President Trump won the election and those were tens of thousands of Black Lives Matter and antifa protesters, I might have been a little concerned.”

Unsurprisingly, Johnson’s commentary received a great deal of criticism, as he made it extremely easy to read between the lines: White, seditious, zip-tie-toting rioters who breach the Capitol chanting, “Hang Mike Pence,” force lawmakers into hiding, and attempt to overturn the U.S. government are nothing to be fearful of, but protesters—some of whom might be Black—demanding an end to police brutality and racially motivated violence? They’re definitely something to be afraid of.

Of course, public figures who say extremely racist things absolutely hate it when people make the outrageous leap in logic that they are, in fact, racist. So naturally, Johnson now insists that race had nothing to do with his comments.

He also claims he’s been “silenced,” despite his words being shared far and wide, not just on C-SPAN but in the pages of The Wall Street Journal. In an op-ed published Monday night, he writes:

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.... We should all be disgusted at the cynical way antifa and other leftists hide behind the banner of equality—a goal we all share—even as they carry signs calling for an end to America or talk of burning cities down. It was also sadly predictable that liberals would hurl the accusation of racism. This isn’t about race. It’s about riots.

Johnson concludes by suggesting that his First Amendment rights to make totally not-racist comments have been violated—“All who value liberty and free speech must push back”—a point he makes, again, in the pages of one of the nation’s largest newspapers.

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