Republican former congressman says GOP will continue to fan the flames of violence to rake in more cash
Former Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA) said that he has little hope of the end to violent rhetoric from Republican officials because they make far too much money using it.
Speaking to MSNBC's Katy Tur, Riggleman explained that officials like Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) are well aware of the truth around the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, but if he intends to run for reelection in 2022 he has to scare off a primary challenger.
"I think the 'false flag' and big lies are part of the narrative for the 2022 mid-terms," said Riggleman. "And I've said a few times, we could have a real issue, right, with the GOP taking the House back based on the fact that this 'Stop the Steal' messaging works."
He noted that a previous report about the reasoning behind a possible March 4 attack made him think that "crazy gets stuck in their own rabbit holes.
"And I will be really blunt here, I talked to members of Congress, I was just there, and the type of fundraising is so good at the grassroots level, I don't see that language going away at all," he said. "When you look at some people running in Michigan or Texas they're still spouting a Big Lie, false-flag, conspiracy narrative. When you listen to Ron Johnson, that's idiotic, right? That's just a brain cell issue, or you're pandering for some kind of fundraising, or you're still some kind of Trumpophile that can't seem to get out of your own way mentally."
He went on to say that he can't see how people can look at data and call Jan. 6 a "false flag operation."
"We released a report on this and we know there were a minimum of seven white nationalist groups that were involved," said Riggleman. "And there is people right now that you're interviewing, like Ben and the others, they actually know, without a doubt, that individuals are going to continue to push this. This has gone well beyond the Messiah of President Trump now, this has been institutionalized" and "government is not to be trusted. And now the rehash of the 'New World Order' coming out and I'm not as optimistic as other people that this is going away any time soon."
See the interview below:
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