Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin said Monday that the speech he gave on the first night of the Republican National Convention was “the wrong speech.”
“That speech was written last week. They literally loaded the wrong speech,” he told PBS News.
Co-anchor Amna Nawaz had asked Johnson about his remarks that Democratic policies are a “clear and present danger,” in contrast to the message of unity and healing he expressed in the PBS News Hour special interview in the wake of an assassination attempt of Donald Trump.
“Instead I had loaded that we needed a somber moment in history. We should heed President Trump’s call to unite, to be strong, to be determined. We must heal and unify this nation,” the senator said, noting he didn’t know how to add that into his remarks without messing up the teleprompter.
Johnson added that he felt it is “completely legitimate to talk about the difference in vision, the difference in policies” with Democrats on issues like the border and global standing.
“I didn’t attack an individual, I was talking about their policies,” Johnson said.
The Wisconsin senator was also asked if Trump had a responsibility to turn down the temperature on his own rhetoric, including predicting a blood bath if he doesn’t win in November. He responded rhetorically that if Trump just narrowly escaped death, wouldn’t that change him?
“Hopefully both men, both presidents recognize the error of their ways,” Johnson said of dangerous partisan division.
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