Media use usual tricks to attack Senator Ron Johnson on 9/11 comments

By Craig McKee

It’s so, so predictable.

The mainstream media propaganda machine wasted no time in attacking Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson for his comments supporting a new investigation of 9/11.

The attacks demonstrate the last gasps and sputters of the establishment media that have lost their relevance and the trust of the public. In the latest attempts to protect the 9/11 official story, the media have pulled out all the usual tropes.

They target Johnson’s credibility, not his facts.

Steve Benen, a producer of MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show, writes a piece titled “GOP’s Ron Johnson peddles fringe 9/11 conspiracy theories, reaches new low.”

Benen accuses Johnson of having a history of “peddling bizarre and easily discredited nonsense” about a variety of subjects. He cites Johnson’s statements about 9/11 as being the most recent example. The article uses a mocking tone as Johnson is quoted on the rapid removal of evidence from the WTC site and other elements of the evidence.

“He did not appear to be kidding,” Benen writes.

Establishment media (and MSNBC is among the worst offenders) love to use descriptives like “bizarre” and “easily discredited” to discount dissenting positions because it saves them having to actually respond to facts.

This author wrote a two-part examination of the use of the “conspiracy theory” label that outlines the very tactics we see repeated every time a mainstream media outlet addresses challenges to the 9/11 official story. The first article, from 2022, was titled, “Hundreds of articles dismissing ‘conspiracy theories’ read like they follow a single script,” and the follow-up, from 2024, was “Demonization of 'conspiracy theories' now paints speech itself as ‘dangerous.’”

Included in those two articles is a list of 18 dishonest tactics the media use to suppress dissenting views. Many of those tactics have been used to mock Senator Johnson over his recent 9/11 comments.

Politico on ‘flaming debris’

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, which claimed in 2022 that Johnson is “unfit” for office and compared him to Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, was a bit more restrained in its attacks in an article this week, although it did use the tiresome theory label in its headline: “Ron Johnson suggests more congressional hearings into 9/11, spreads conspiracy theory.”)

Not surprisingly, it did reinforce the 9/11 official story, as reporter Hope Karnopp writes:

“The National Institute of Standards and Technology, whose investigation into the collapse Johnson called corrupt, determined that debris from destruction of the Twin Towers started fires on floors of Building 7. The sprinkler system failed, and heat from the flames meant a structural column failed, ultimately causing the whole building to fall.”

Politico contributed another nasty and laughable article that featured this disinformation:

“Building 7 at the World Trade Center complex collapsed hours after the initial attack when al Qaeda terrorists hijacked commercial airliners and crashed them into both towers of the World Trade Center. The smaller office building could not withstand hours of uncontrolled fire after flaming debris rained down on the building.”

Then there’s a piece on the website of The Hill, which fancies itself to be outside the mainstream, but it’s not. Elizabeth Crisp writes: “Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) suggested in an interview released Monday that Congress could hold additional hearings on the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and indicated he’s been listening to long-festering and debunked conspiracy theories about the government’s alleged involvement.”

An article in the Indian daily The Economic Times, stated that Johnson had “hinted at the possibility of the Congress holding additional hearings into the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Appearing on a far-right podcast, he also indicated that he has been exploring already-dismissed conspiracy theories about the government's alleged role in the terror plot that led to the devastating tragedy.”

Note the attempt to discredit the source by calling Benny Johnson’s podcast “far right.” And the one that always seems to be in there – the “already-dismissed conspiracy theories.” Dismissed by whom? And since when is something being dismissed by the establishment media the same as it not having merit?

This continued attempt to suppress dissent by using these childish attacks just show how morally and intellectually bankrupt the media are. But fortunately for all of us, these propaganda outlets are having less and less influence all the time. This is reflected in the declining audiences of network news shows as well as cable networks like CNN and MSNBC.

Meanwhile, independent thinkers like Joe Rogan, Tucker Carlson, and others keep gaining popularity. The 9/11 Truth Movement has spent years trying to attract the attention of the mainstream media, but now we understand that the best way to expose truth is to go around these utterly captured “journalists.”