GOP's Ron Johnson peddles fringe 9/11 conspiracy theories, reaches new low

[LetMyPeopleVote]

Ron Johnson was once described as the GOP’s “foremost amplifier of conspiracy theories and disinformation.” On 9/11, he's proving his critics right.
https://bsky.app/profile/stevebenen.com/post/3lndwpno4pc2k

There was a time in the recent past when being a 9/11 truther would've been seen as disqualifying for a U.S. senator.

Ron Johnson appears to know that this time is apparently over, and he can expect to get away with peddling fringe 9/11 conspiracy theories

Link to tweet

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/gops-ron-johnson-peddles-fringe-911-conspiracy-theories-reaches-new-lo-rcna202221

It’s apparently time to add the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, to the list. Mediaite noted:

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) suggested Monday that the US government may have played a role in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks during an interview with MAGA influencer Benny Johnson on The Benny Show.

Though it seemed difficult to believe, after the far-right host asked the Wisconsin Republican what he wants to know about 9/11, Johnson said, "Well, start with Building 7,” adding that he believes there was “a controlled demolition” at the World Trade Center.

He went on to say, “Who ordered the removal and the destruction of all that evidence, totally contrary to any other firefighting investigation procedures? I mean, who ordered that? Who was in charge? I think there’s some basic information. Where’s all the documentation from this investigation? There are a host of questions that I want — and I will be asking, quite honestly, now that my eyes have been opened up.”

He did not appear to be kidding.

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:4llrhdclvdlmmynkwsmg5tdc/post/3lndkpeyfus2z

Link to tweet

......At this point, it’s probably worth reminding readers that, in the recent past, Senate Republicans thought it’d be a good idea to put Johnson in charge of the Senate Homeland Security Committee for six years.

Larry Glickman, a historian at Cornell University, noted that it's "incredible" that a sitting senator "can say something like this with every expectation that such comments will not be grounds for bipartisan calls for his immediate resignation or removal from office."

Ahead of his 2022 re-election campaign, the editorial board of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said Johnson was “unfit” for office and called him “the most irresponsible representative of Wisconsin citizens since the infamous Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy in the 1950s.”

Four years later, he’s vastly worse. There was a time in the recent past when being a 9/11 truther would've been seen as disqualifying for a U.S. senator. Johnson appears to know that this time is apparently over.

[SheltieLover]

1. So is he implicating dubya & darth for 9/11?

[Polybius]

5. Seems like it

[Clouds Passing]

7. Appears that way.

Maybe to ensure they keep their mouths shut

[SheltieLover]

8. Strange for repuke to cLl out others of his ilk for crimes

[Whiskeytide]

10. I started to post that as bad as w and the dick were, this new version...

… of MAGApublicans really are a different ilk. But the more I thought of it, I don’t think that’s right. The neocons were just the early model - before they realized that our traditional democratic foundations lacked the ability to actually stop them and hold them accountable.

[tishaLA]

2. I remember Van Jones being forced to resign for *signing a petition*

demanding an investigation at a rally that had nothing to do with 9/11. Now trutherism is becoming canon in the repub party.

[Deuxcents]

3. A distraction from the mess his party is making of this country.

[RJ-MacReady]

4. replay this crap over and over

Until his seat is up. A big issue the party has is not leaning into this kind of stuff.

[tritsofme]

6. I always thought there was a logical overlap between 9/11 truthers and Trumpers. They are both incredibly stupid

And gullible, in falling for ridiculous conspiracy theories.

So it makes quite a bit of sense.

[pansypoo53219]

9. sen stupid really is stupid.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

11. Sen. Ron Johnson could use his gavel of a far-reaching committee to probe the 2001 attacks.

Sen. Ron Johnson could use his gavel of a far-reaching committee to probe the 2001 attacks.

Link to tweet

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/22/senate-republican-wants-to-hold-hearings-on-a-9-11-conspiracy-theory-00303156

Sen. Ron Johnson is actively investigating 9/11.

A day after the Wisconsin Republican went on a far-right podcast promoting conspiracy theories about the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people, a spokesperson for Johnson said the lawmaker is currently seeking information and documentation in order to hold hearings on the event nearly 25 years later.

He would do so in his capacity as chair of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, one of Congress’s most storied and powerful panels with far-reaching jurisdiction that gives its chair wide latitude to probe a diverse array of matters. It has in the past probed war profiteering, organized crime and the 2008 global financial crisis.

In a podcast interview Tuesday with MAGA personality Benny Johnson, Ron Johnson asserted that one of the buildings around the World Trade Center complex in New York was brought down via “a controlled demolition” in the aftermath of the collapse of the twin towers.

Building 7 at the World Trade Center complex collapsed hours after the initial attack when al Qaeda terrorists hijacked commercial airliners and crashed them into both towers of the World Trade Center. The smaller office building could not withstand hours of uncontrolled fire after flaming debris rained down on the building.

However, its collapse has long been subject to rampant conspiracy theories from so-called 9/11 truthers, suggesting that Building 7 was demolished via planted explosives alone, or that it was, along with the twin towers, deliberately destroyed by the federal government or other entities in an attempt to place the blame on al Qaeda.