Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) proclaimed at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Monday that Democrats are a "clear and present danger to the country" — an odd departure from the GOP's own message, following former President Donald Trump's near assassination on Saturday, demanding that Democrats stop calling Trump a danger to the country.
Johnson apparently realized the hypocrisy was a bit too much to ignore, because he had an explanation when PBS News Hour's Amna Nawaz asked him about it: it was the teleprompter's fault.
"I asked Wisc @SenRonJohnson about him calling Democratic policies a 'clear and present danger to the country' while calling for unity - he says speech he just delivered at RNC was not the one he intended to give, that prompter loaded old version, new one called for unity," wrote Nawaz on X.
Commenters on social media weren't buying the excuse.
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"Blame the teleprompter," wrote MSNBC anchor Lawrence O'Donnell sarcastically.
"I hope the teleprompter goes haywire around 22:00 Central standard time tonight, and brings out quotes like 'Eat the rich' or 'bring back the guillotine.' That’d be so great, I’d tune in!" wrote the account @tevitauhatafe.
"The whole convention will be just a series of primal hate screams with them immediately walking straight to reporters to say it was really a speech about unity," wrote the account @CuriousAudioUS.
Many others mockingly compared Johnson to Ron Burgundy, the fictional inept newscaster played by Will Ferrell in "Anchorman."
This is not even the first teleprompter mishap to be had on the first day of the RNC.
Earlier in the day, House Speaker Mike Johnson froze up after his teleprompter malfunctioned, unable to deliver his speech, at which point the convention's live band took over to try to fill the silence.
