First up: Highlights of the conversation between Dana Bash and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Trump, via WI), on CNN's State of the Union.
Bash asked whether Johnson's "comfortable with the president appearing to inflame tensions" instead of calling for calm, let's look at his entire response:
Listen, I have been urging calm across the board, particularly in light of what happened here in Kenosha. But, as I said in the opening statement, when we had acting Secretary Wolf before my committee, when you encourage disdain for the police, you encourage criminals. When you do little or nothing to stop rioting, you encourage anarchy. So, when you're encouraging criminals and anarchy, people's lives are lost. You have more and more destruction, more and more violence. So, what we need to do is, we need to get control of the situation. And until we -- until we do, we're going to have more violence, we're going to have, unfortunately, potentially more loss of life. So, we need to get control of the situation. We need to encourage calm.
And here's something else we need to do. We need to figure out what we do all agree on. And we share the same goal. We all want a safe, prosperous and secure America in states and communities. Let's concentrate on those areas of agreement, because that's how we achieve the unity everybody says they want.Not hearing him mention the president, Bash tried again. Appreciating Johnson saying that "everybody should be calm," but reiterated the president's "agitating and actively encouraging his supporters." and wondered if that was what Johnson wanted to see from the president.
But, Dana, there are people -- there are people agitating all over the place. And what we need to do is get control of the situation.Again, Bash reminded him she's talking about the President of the United States. Again, he didn't answer, instead talking about Wisconsin officials. So, Bash gave him one last chance, asking, "OK. So, given what you're saying, would you prefer that the president not tweet agitating comments and agitating ideas on his Twitter feed?
Well, that's how you -- that's how you are typifying it. What we need to do is, we need to encourage an end to the violence and the rioting.Bash allowed as how there's really no other way to see it. And when Johnson again talked about the governor, Bash said AGAIN, "I'm talking about the president."
No, what the president did was, he offered to surge manpower resources, so the violence could end. The governor did not accept that that day. That night, tragically, two people lost their lives because citizens took matters into their own hands. I'm not for vigilantism. I'm not sure that's what was happening. People felt, because the governor and local -- local officials were looking for help. The governor did not accept the help. And so, there was not the resolve to end the rioting. And so, people took matters into their own hands. And that's what ended up happening. People die.
RJ: It is a tragedy. DB: Do you -- do you condemn that? RJ: It is a tragedy. DB: Do you condemn it? RJ: It is a tragedy. It is -- it's a tragedy. DB: It is a tragedy, but do you condemn it? RJ: The entire situation is a tragedy. Listen, I don't want to see any loss of life. It is a tragedy. And the way you prevent these tragedies is, you support law enforcement... you calm the situation. DB: A tragedy could be a car accident or something happening that is not based on fault. Do you condemn this? RJ: You don't allow peaceful protest to turn siege -- into siege. Listen, I don't want to see anybody lose their life. I don't want to see the violence continue. I don't want to see businesses burned down. I don't want to see economic destruction. I condemn it all.Honestly, I would have asked a simple question: "Senator, do you have any intention of answering the questions I'm asking? Because if you do, let's move ahead, and if you're only here to get your talking points across, you can send them in writing and we'll take a look at them."
