Despite calls for softer political rhetoric in the wake of Donald Trump’s attempted assassination over the weekend, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) did not hold back when he spoke at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Monday, slamming Democratic policies as a “clear and present danger” to America.
“They are the party of open borders, reckless spending, weaponized government, and weakness on the world stage,” Johnson said as he tore into the Democrats, adding that the party’s “fringe agenda includes biological males competing against girls and the sexualization and indoctrination of our children.” Shortly after he spoke, however, Johnson incredibly claimed he’d not intended to deliver the speech at all.
Asked by PBS News host Amna Nawaz about why he had said Democratic policies are a “clear and present danger” to America, Johnson said: “That speech was written last week.” He added that “they literally loaded the wrong speech” into the teleprompter.
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When pressed if he had intended to make the “clear and present danger” claim, Johnson indicated that he had not. “I had taken that out, OK?” he answered. Instead, he claimed he’d wanted to urge America to “heed President Trump’s call to unite, to be strong, to be determined—we must heal and unify this nation.”
“I didn’t know how to get that in without screwing up the teleprompter,” Johnson said in his defense, adding he was “not happy with that.”
When Nawaz pointed out that the message of unity he had apparently intended was a “very different one to the one you delivered to the delegates in the room and people watching at home,” Johnson immediately defended what he had said, even if it was in error.
“It is completely legitimate to talk about the difference in vision, the difference in policies” between the GOP and the Democrats, he said. “I will absolutely stand by the fact that Democrat policies are destroying this country.”
Nawaz later said Johnson’s office had provided her with the newer version of the speech that Johnson had intended to give, sharing the text on X. The updated version apparently had cut the “clear and present danger” line—while retaining attacks about Dems supposedly having a “fringe agenda” and a “radical, far left mission.”
Johnson’s speech mixup comes after Trump himself said he rewrote his own upcoming convention address in the wake of his brush with death. “I think it would be very bad if I got up and started going wild about how horrible everybody is and how corrupt and crooked, even if it’s true,” Trump told the Washington Examiner over the weekend. “Had this not happened, we had a speech that was pretty well set that was extremely tough. Now, we have a speech that is more unifying.”
