As the Republican National Convention looms in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, GOP members are on edge, fearing potential clashes with protesters. Republican leaders, grappling with the realization of the division they’ve fueled, are intensifying calls for heightened security measures, with concerns escalating over the proximity of demonstration zones to the event site.
Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) on Sunday said he’s urging the U.S. Secret Service to relocate the designated protest area further from the convention venue to avert potential confrontations. In a televised interview on Fox News Business, Johnson underscored the urgency, citing the absence of adequate control over the current protest zone, which sits just a block away from the convention site.
“They’re pretty well rely on the fact that they developed a security plan for the DNC convention in the summer of 2020. Now, they develop that plan before the riots of 2020. Certainly before January 6, so it could just have changed plus, there was a Democrat National Committee convention held in a Democrat city,” Johnson Said. “So when I first saw these plans couple of weeks ago, and I see the gathering spot for the protests, literally a block away from the convention. They originally had the entrance points on the street north and south adjacent to that park. Obvious concern, so I met with the director Secret Service, and she tells me well, we establish this plan based on our criteria or security events. Once we have this set, we risk lawsuits. In other words, she has the authority to set the plan. Now she doesn’t believe she has the authority to change the plan. I think it’s ridiculous. I’m not taking that as an answer and we’re going to continue to highlight this and hopefully should come to our senses. If if something were to go wrong and I hope and pray it doesn’t and people responsible for not changing the plan would be responsible.”
Later during the interview, Johnson sought to shift blame onto President Biden for the division exacerbated by Donald Trump, stating: “You know, we saw the riots of 2020. We see [an] inflamed situation, the division being caused and pushed by, for example, President Biden. This is a serious security concern that could be addressed. I hope they address it.”
Johnson’s apprehensions echo broader GOP concerns, with the Republican National Committee (RNC) previously voicing similar anxieties in a letter addressed to the Secret Service. Todd R. Steggerda, counsel to the RNC, highlighted the risk of clashes between groups with conflicting ideologies, citing recent instances of unrest on college campuses as a cause for alarm.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) echoed these sentiments, expressing deep reservations about the current security plan in a May 10 letter to Kimberly Cheatle, the Secret Service director.
“As you know, this year has been a very challenging one for protests in the United States. We must all take seriously that tensions are high and do our best to balance the right to express dissent while also keeping Convention attendees as safe as possible,” McConnell wrote in his letter.
With the convention slated for July 15-18, GOP leaders are grappling with the sobering reality of a deeply polarized political landscape. As they confront the fallout of their own making, Republicans are left to reckon with the unsettling truth that the seeds of discord they’ve planted have now come home to roost.
Watch portion of the interview below:
The U.S. Secret Service set the RNC security plan but now say they don’t have the authority to change it.
That’s ridiculous, I’m not taking that as an answer.
We need to work together in order to reduce risk and help prevent the preventable. pic.twitter.com/m2LQz3GT9Y
— Ron Johnson (@RonJohnsonWI) May 18, 2024
