Republican Senator Ron Johnson made an unfortunate slip during an interview on Fox News, accidentally saying he "condones" white supremacy before quickly correcting himself to say he "condemns" the ideology.
Mr Johnson appeared on Fox News opposite anchor Maria Bartiromo and discussed how other Congress members frequently cited white supremacy as an issue. That's when he slipped up.
"My ranking member would always be bringing up white supremacy, which I condone — I mean, I condemn —" he said.
To be fair to Mr Johnson, "condone" and "condemn" are similar words and it's likely he simply stumbled over his words.
However, Mr Johnson has been criticised in the past regarding race issues, leading social media users to mock him for the embarrassing stumble.
In March, Debroah Lipstadt, who would become the White House's Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, tweeted that Mr Johnson was engaging in "white supremacy/nationalism. Pure and simple."
She issued that tweet in reference to Mr Johnson telling a radio host that he would be more afraid of BLM protesters at the Capitol than of the Capitol rioters who actually did attack the building on 6 January, 2021.
He said that Mr Trump's loyalists “love this country … truly respect law enforcement, [and] would never do anything to break the law," despite the fact that numerous police officers were assaulted during the attack. More than 850 people have been arrested for their roles in the riot.
She later apologised for the tweet during her confirmation hearing. Mr Johnson told WISN-AM after making the comments that there was "no racism" in his comments. “I completely did not anticipate that anybody could interpret what I said as racist. It’s not.”
He claimed there was no racism in his statement because "a lot of [BLM and antifa protesters] are white."
“It has nothing to do with race. It has everything to do with riots,” he said.
One Twitter account under the name "Joshua Bockman" needled the senator on the social media platform.
“Oops! He almost told the truth there and then he caught himself. Close one, don’t want to get kicked out the GOP,” he wrote
Activist David Rothschild also jumped on the senator's gaffe.
"This is who the Republicans are and have been for awhile now," he wrote.
Mr Johnson also criticsed Joe Biden's 2021 speech on the 100th anniversary of the massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma of Black Oklahomans at the hands of white residents.
“[In] less than 24 hours, 1,100 Black homes and businesses were lost. Insurance companies … rejected claims of damage. Ten thousand people were left destitute and homeless, placed in internment camps. … Yet … no arrests of the mob were made," Mr Biden said. "No proper accounting of the dead. The death toll … by local officials said there were 36 people. … But based on studies, records and accounts, … the likely number is much more, in the multiple of hundreds. Untold bodies dumped into mass graves.”
Urban Milwaukee reports that Mr Johnson called the comments "awful and so incredibly divisive" and complained that Mr Biden's decision not to ignore the brutal act of racism was contrary to his pledge to "heal the nation."
“The federal government is incapable of solving these problems and this administration is doing the exact opposite of what President Biden promised, which is to heal this nation,” Mr Johnson said.
In 2021, he indicated he intended to block a bill making Juneteenth, which celebrates the end of slavery in America, a national holiday. After discovering he had no support, he dropped his objection.
“While it still seems strange that having taxpayers provide federal employees paid time off is now required to celebrate the end of slavery, it is clear that there is no appetite in Congress to further discuss the matter,” he said at the time, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “Therefore, I do not intend to object.”
Regardless, he was booed and heckled during an event commemorating Juneteenth in Milwaukee after the bill’s passage.
