There are so many jaw-dropping moments in this CNBC interview with the second-in-line to the presidency. I’m not sure whether it’s worse if Johnson actually believes what he said or if he doesn’t.
The gaslighting began when CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin asked Johnson about recent news on Trump’s extremism on immigration and his refusal to leave the White House after he lost the 2020 election.
Johnson waved those off as matters of “personality.” He said, “Listen, I think when we're voting for president, it can't be about personalities. It's got to be about policies and principles.” He went on to claim that “if you want liberty, opportunity and security for more people in the country,” then Trump is your guy.
After Johnson babbled a bit more about Trump’s fabulous policies and Biden’s awful ones, CNBC’s Joe Kernen asked Johnson whether Trump really believed his claims about a stolen election and voter fraud.
“I take him at his word,” Johnson predictably said. “I know how he thinks and he's convinced that, because of all the irregularities and everything else, that he was still entitled.”
Sorkin challenged the notion of taking anything at Trump’s word. Sorkin avoided calling Trump a liar directly but noted he has made such blatant falsehoods that “I think for a lot of Americans” Trump’s word is “very hard to trust."
Super Duper Christian Johnson’s response: So what? “Well, listen there are a lot of people in Washington who's saying things that are not accurate all the time. Everybody does. We're all human.”
Besides, Johnson said he’s talked to Trump “personally” about the election and “what he believes about that, that is deep in his heart.” Therefore, “we should take him at his word.”
It’s beyond frustrating that none of the hosts brought up the fact that no fraud was found and that Trump was told that. But that’s a quibble considering the rest of the crap Johnson spewed.
Johnson moved on to claim that 91-felony-charged Trump “does believe in the rule of law.” Obviously, what Johnson really meant is that Trump believes in the same radically-right judicial system Johnson loves, so who cares if he tried to overturn an election he “believed deep in his heart” was wrong? “I mean, look at what he did,” Johnson continued. “On the U.S. Supreme Court, for example. He's given us great justices that are restoring the integrity of that institution, in my view. He had, we had, of course, many judges throughout the system that he appointed, and that's the longest-lasting legacy.”
Sorkin seemed astounded, and rightly so, that Johnson claimed Trump believes in the rule of law, given all the felonies he has been charged with, even though Sorkin was willing to “stipulate” that some of the “elements” are “probably” “political.”
Johnson claimed all the charges against Trump are political prosecutions. “It’s just another way to go after a candidate,” the second-in-line for the presidency insisted. His so-called proof? “Every time a new indictment drops, it follows after some favorable thing that [Trump] gets in the in the poll ... I mean, everybody can see this with their own two eyes.”
He went on to accuse the FBI and DOJ of having been “weaponized against their political enemies” – which is exactly what Trump did and will do more of or worse should his tiny hands make it back into the White House.
Johnson acted as if he knew nothing about this. He claimed Republicans are “using our oversight responsibility,” the “power of the purse” and “every tool in our arsenal” to “change the way Washington works and bring back faith in this institution because it's critically important to keep a constitutional republic.”
