(CNN) Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson is very good at one thing: Making comments that are, at best, ill-informed and at worst, racist and/or dangerous.

And late last week, Johnson did it again. Again.

"Even though those thousands of people that were marching to the Capitol were trying to pressure people like me to vote the way they wanted me to vote, I knew those were people that love this country, that truly respect law enforcement, would never do anything to break the law, and so I wasn't concerned...

" ... Now, had the tables been turned -- Joe, this could get me in trouble -- had the tables been turned, and President Trump won the election and those were tens of thousands of Black Lives Matter and Antifa protesters, I might have been a little concerned."

Now, what ever could be the difference between the rioters that stormed the Capitol and those who populated the Black Lives Matter protests over the summer? What. Could. It. Be.

It certainly wasn't the level of violence exhibited by the two groups. Because the US Capitol riot left five people dead and dozens more injured, with images and videos emerging in the aftermath of rioters attacking police officers, a gallows being constructed in front of the Capitol building and people chanting things like "Hang Mike Pence."

And of course, only one of the two groups actually penetrated one of the most prominent symbols of the democracy in this country, ransacking it in the process.

But Johnson said he "never really felt threatened" even as rioters were pouring into the Capitol because they were "people that love this country" and "that truly respect law enforcement." (Johnson must have missed all of the footage of rioters attacking the police -- both physically and verbally.)

So what could the difference be then? Since it seems that, on every measure, that the riot at the US Capitol was far more dangerous?

Simple: The vast majority of rioters on January 6 were White. The crowds at the Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020 were not predominantly White. That's it. That's the difference Johnson is talking about.

He wasn't worried about being in danger from the demonstrably dangerous group of rioters on January 6 because they, like him, were White. But he would have been worried if it was the (mostly peaceful) demonstrators at the BLM rallies because they were Black.

That double standard is striking -- and informed by racist stereotyping. That it was uttered by a sitting US senator is shameful.

Source: CNN

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