U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R–Wis.) has proven himself a gullible person who immediately believes a bogus conspiracy theory rather than gathering the facts beforehand.
The idea that a secret society has infiltrated the FBI is the stuff of fantasy. But a joke between two individuals who worked within the FBI caused Johnson to panic…unnecessarily.
Text messages between two FBI agents, Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, referenced “the first meeting of the secret society” as part of a discussion during and after the 2016 presidential election. Fox News and other conservative media outlets latched onto the idea of an FBI “secret society” attempting to undermine Trump.
For his part, Johnson pushed the idea forward in Washington. But the truth of the matter is, the text message was a joke — which, to anyone who has read it, is about the clearest thing in the world.
Of course it was a joke, and of course conservatives like Johnson blew it out of proportion. We’re talking about a group of people who thought Barack Obama was a foreign-born Muslim who was trying to destroy the U.S. from the inside — a notion that, by the way, Trump has yet to apologize for promoting.
The GOP is looking for any excuse it can get to distract from the investigation into possible collusion between Trump and Russia, and the likely obstruction of justice that the president engaged in during that investigation. But it won’t work. The only thing Republicans’ tirade against a supposed “secret society” has accomplished is making themselves look foolish.
Johnson now admits that the “secret society” text was likely a joke. But his initial reaction to the texts won’t disappear — and it reveals that Johnson is willing to defend Trump, even if the defense is about as farcical as one can get.
Ron Johnson and other Republicans pushing this conspiracy theory are the real joke. It’s just unfortunate that these jesters are running our government.