Biden Nominee Cries Wolf Accusing Senator Of Having Racist Ties

Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson confronted President Joe Biden’s nominee for Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, Deborah Lipstadt, Tuesday for suggesting he is a “white nationalist.”

In March 2021, Johnson said that hypothetically if there had been a storming of the Capitol by Black Lives Matter and Antifa he would have been “a little concerned.” Lipstadt accused the senator of making remarks that reflected “white supremacy” and “white nationalism,” in a tweet.

Johnson mentioned Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer making a statement at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing about public figures taking part in the “malicious poison” that is circulating across social media. Johnson then asked Lipstadt about her hypothetical reaction if she was accused of being a racist.

“It was interesting to hear Senator Schumer talk about the malicious poison and what’s happening on social media so often it’s just malicious. And this comes as I think you said in your opening statement from across the political spectrum,” Johnson said. “Let me ask you a question, if somebody came up to you privately, quietly, and said ‘you’re a racist. You’re a white supremacist. You’re a white nationalist.’”

“By the way, I do not believe you are, I would never assume that because certainly growing up when I was being taught the commandment that says, ‘Do not bear false witness,’ my Lutheran catechism says, ‘always put the best construction on things,’” Johnson continued. “In other words, always assume the best about people, not the worst. So, how would you feel if somebody, just privately, called you a racist?”

Lipstadt answered that her criticisms do not “ascribe to the person.” Johnson argued that according to her tweet, she falsely testified to Congress regarding her criticisms by evidently taking part in the “malicious poison.”

“But that’s not true,” Johnson said. “What you just testified there is false. Because not only did you go on—first of all, you don’t know me. You don’t know a lot of the people that you have accused online in front of millions of people. You have engaged in the malicious poison. You’ve accused people you don’t know, a very vile thing. I mean wouldn’t you agree that probably calling somebody a racist is just a shot under murderer and rapist.”

“Calling somebody a racist is about as serious and vile an accusation as you can hurt over something against somebody you don’t even know. You’ve never talked to me. You’ve never met me. You don’t know what’s in my heart, do you?” he continued.

“No, I do not know what’s in your heart at all… As I said earlier, it was not nuanced,” Lipstadt said. “I would not do diplomacy by tweet. While I may disagree with what you said specifically and I think that’s a legitimate difference, I certainly did not mean it and I’m sorry if I made it in a way that it could be assumed to be political at the person personally.”

The senator said her “malicious poison” is partisan, however, anyone holding the position is not supposed to take partisan stances. Johnson accepted her apology but said he could not support her nomination on the grounds that she “ought to know better” than to make those kinds of accusations publicly.

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