Everyone may not agree with this, but…
To be clear, what has happened at the capital today is wrong, illegal, against what we stand for, and frankly… sad. And it’s not the first time. Whether this was pre-planned or further incited will come as part of an investigation, but if it was incited by the President’s inflammatory words, which is equally as wrong – he needs to forcefully denounce it and stop it. Now. A few “stay peaceful” tweets is not anywhere near sufficient.
Here’s what have I heard so far today: Republican leadership forcefully condemning all of this, on the air, live. I heard Kevin McCarthy saying, with a lot of emotion, that this is totally wrong and unacceptable. I heard Mitch McConnell talking about not overturning the election, as that would be devastating to what we stand for as a country. I heard Mike Pence announcing he would not stand in the way of certification. That, everyone, is what Republicans stand for – not the president’s rhetoric and certainly not the crowd that stormed the capital. A few hundred people do not warrant a labeling of 74 million, so I would encourage everyone to keep that squarely in mind. That GOP position will remain after January 20th, and at this point I doubt President Trump will ever get elected again – don’t worry.
That said, I will say that I consider it a responsibility of everyone to condemn these kind of things in the strongest of terms, and to stand against them. But those that selectively condemn – I would also expect you to choose your words carefully now. I know that’s a strong statement, but let me remind many of you (certainly not all of you) when you were painfully and obviously silent when: House and Senate Democrats called for violence – some of which was later carried out – against Republicans and the Trump Administration in 2017 and onward (e.g., Maxine Waters and others – on camera); House Republican Scalise and aids were GUNNED DOWN on a softball field in 2017; cities were burned, dozens were killed, police were targeted, Federal and State government buildings were occupied and destroyed, parts of cities were surrendered to “protestors”, and businesses by the thousands destroyed during this past summer’s riots. All of that requires equal condemnation – from everyone. But many of you were silent, and some, as I recall, defended some of those actions.
Nothing justifies what is happening now, or over the last several years. Nothing. Ultimately, unity happens differently from this – it happens when we collectively agree to not allow or tolerate this – any of this.
