Republican Sen. Ron Johnsonâs exchange at a Feb. 8 Senate confirmation hearing with Biden nominee Deborah Lipstadt was pure gold.
Lipstadt, a historian who has authored several books about the Holocaust, has been tapped to lead the State Departmentâs Office of the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism. The Washington Post describes her as an âauthority on antisemitism.â
If confirmed, Lipstadt, 75, will serve in a diplomatic role, which is slightly ironic given the ease with which she insulted the senator from Wisconsin in a March 2021 tweet.
Speaking with radio host Joe Pagliarulo the previous day, Johnson said he had not been worried during the Jan. 6 Capitol incursion, but he would have been had the rioters been members of Black Lives Matter or antifa, according to Haaretz.
He told Pagliarulo: âI knew those were people who love this country, that truly respect law enforcement, would never do anything to break the law, so I wasnât concerned.â
âNow, had the tables been turned, and Joe â this is going to get me in trouble â had the tables been turned and President Trump won the election and tens of thousands of Black Lives Matter and antifa, I might have been a little concerned,â the senator added.
Johnson came under vicious attack by the left following those remarks.
Attaching the Haaretz article, Lipstadt took to Twitter and wrote the following:
Johnson began his exchange with Lipstadt by citing Bidenâs inaugural promise to âhealâ the divisions in America and asked her if she thought he had been successful. She replied, âI think not. I think there are deep divisions.â
He agreed. Next he told her about a hands-on program he had initiated with a Wisconsin pastor that has already transformed the lives of hundreds of people, the majority of them black.
So far, so good.
âA way not to heal, I think, is whatâs happening on social media,â Johnson said calmly. âIt was interesting to hear Sen. Schumer talk about the malicious poison ⌠And it comes from across the political spectrum. We need to all condemn it.
âLet me ask you a question. If somebody came up to you privately, quietly and said, âYouâre a racist. Youâre a white supremacist. Youâre a white nationalist.â 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, âDo not bear false witness,â my Lutheran catechism says, âalways put the best construction on things.â In other words, always assume the best about people.â
âHow would you feel if somebody just privately called you a racist?â he asked.
âFirst of all, I would say theyâre wrong. Second of all, I would disagree with them,â Lipstadt responded. âAnd, as I said earlier, but I want to reiterate, that even in my critiques of people, Iâm very careful never to ascribe to the person â .â
Johnson abruptly cuts her off and says, âI heard that. I thought that was interesting.â
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Then he goes for the jugular: âSo you never criticize the person, but thatâs not true. What you just testified there is false. Because not only did you go on ⌠First of all, you donât know me. You donât know a lot of the people that you have accused online in front of millions of people. You have engaged in the malicious poison. Youâve accused people you donât know of very vile things. Wouldnât you agree that probably calling somebody racist is just under murderer and rapist, calling somebody a racist? Isnât that about as serious and vile an accusation as you can hurl against somebody. Somebody you donât even know. Youâve never talked to me. Youâve never met me. You donât know whatâs in my heart, do you?â
She tells him she has no idea whatâs in his heart.
âSo why would you go on social media and make those charges?â Johnson asks. âThis position is supposed to be for a non-partisan. It seems like how you engage in malicious poison is purely partisan. Youâre hurling these charges against people that are generally of one political persuasion.â
âWhy did you go on social media and level these vile and horrible charges against people, including me, that you donât even know?
Lipstadt was clearly rattled and tried to deny it, but Johnson held up a copy of the tweet which shows precisely what sheâd said.
He asked her if she felt bad about that.
âAs I said earlier, it was not nuanced. I would not do diplomacy by tweet ⌠I certainly did not mean it, and Iâm sorry if it was taken â and Iâm sorry if I made it in a way that it could be assumed to be a political â at the person personally.â
âListen, I appreciate your apology, and Iâll accept your apology,â the senator said. âBut I think somebody that has had a 30-year professional career ought to know better, and when youâre being nominated and considered for confirmation to a position of diplomacy representing these United States, I certainly cannot support your nomination. I hope my other colleagues wonât either.â
Johnson concluded, âYouâre just simply not qualified for it. I wish you the best in life, and I do accept your apology.â
Talk about a TKO!
What a superb takedown of a liberal.
Weâre tired of hearing from Democrats that all Trump supporters are racists, white supremacists and domestic terrorists.
The left claims to be so enlightened, while they declare the right to be so vile and contemptible.
Democrats have played the Race card so casually in todayâs world that itâs begun to lose its power.
Americans, in large numbers, have begun to understand whatâs behind the liberalsâ incessant use of the race card. At its very essence, itâs simply a tactic used for political gain. Denigrating Republicans as racists has increased their power.
But the tactic is becoming worn from overuse.
Leftists like Lipstadt put out their woke nonsense from behind the safety of their keyboards. The separation provided by social media has made the left very brazen. Itâs easy to cavalierly toss out labels on Twitter, but when pressed, face to face, and asked to explain their baseless accusations, liberals lose their boldness and begin stumbling and bumbling â as Lipstadt did when Johnson confronted her.
Itâs rare that someone gets the chance to respond in person to an individual who has baselessly attacked them online.
Sen. Johnson was lucky. When offered the opportunity to face his accuser, he pounced.
He proved that this woman didnât have the gall to say the same thing to him directly; he also proved she wasnât willing to stand behind her comments.
Itâs a shame more Twitter trolls arenât held to account like this.
At least this time, Johnson was the one who got the last word.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
