We deserve answers and accountability after deadly Capitol riot
Amale rioter raising his fist in triumph from the dais of the U.S. Senate chamber, minutes after Vice President Mike Pence was whisked off the floor for his own safety.
Another man carrying a Confederate flag, that shameful symbol of treason and white supremacy, through the corridors of the U.S. Capitol.
A mortally wounded female rioter bleeding on the floor, dying, wrapped in a Trump flag.
These disturbing images from the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, and so many others, will linger for a long time. They are images of desecration. They’re profane.
They’re unforgettable. And the Republican political leaders who quite predictably want Americans to forget them are out of luck.
We deserve answers, and accountability, in the wake of the riot that left five people dead — including U.S. Capitol Police officer Brian D. Sick nick, a 12-year veteran who succumbed to injuries sustained “while physically engaging with protesters,” according to a statement from the Capitol Police.
For one thing, we need to know why Capitol Police and related law enforcement agencies were so poorly prepared for the breach of the Capitol, which disgruntled supporters of President Donald Trump have been openly planning for weeks. As awful as this riot was, it could easily have been worse.
We also need to be clear-eyed about the fact that some Republican leaders played a role in inciting this riot, the aim of which was to overturn a fair election. Chief among them, sadly and shamefully, is Trump. He has spent weeks insisting, falsely, that he was the true victor of the 2020 presidential election. On Wednesday morning, at a “Save America” rally outside the White House, he urged his supporters to march to the Capitol and confront members of Congress who were then preparing to certify Democrat Joe Biden’s 306-232 Electoral College victory — “to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our
country.”
“You will never take back our country with weakness,” said Trump, who vowed to accompany them but then of course returned to the safety of the White House, where he watched the mayhem unfold on television.
The reality TV starturned-president may well be impeached a second time over his role in the ensuing riot. And on Friday, he incurred what surely strikes him as a severe consequence: Twitter permanently suspended his account. Either way, he’ll be out of office by Jan. 20, when Biden is inaugurated.
But he was far from the only Republican leader to spend the weeks since the election spewing irresponsible and inflammatory rhetoric — or at least turning a blind eye to it.
By the end of Wednesday ,16 Republican members of Texas’ delegation to the House had voted against certifying the electors won by Biden from key swing states, citing baseless voter fraud claims. They included Houston-area congressmen Troy Nehls, Michael Cloud, and Brian Babin. Nehls, a former Fort Bend County sheriff, courageously stood with Capitol police as they confronted rioters trying to storm the House chamber, but one of his first votes is not one he should take any pride in.
Texas Attorney Gen. Ken Paxton, meanwhile, was among the Trump loyalists who spoke at the “Save America” rally in front of the White House Wednesday morning.
“We will not quit fighting,” Paxton told the crowd, with his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, by his side. “We’re Texans. We’re Americans. And the fight will go on.”
A few hours later, he took to social media to falsely assert that the rioters were in fact part of a left-wing protestmovement.
“Those who stormed the capitol yesterday were not Trump supporters,” tweeted
Paxton, under indictment in Texas for securities fraud and is reportedly facing a federal investigation into whether he used his office to benefit a political donor. “They have been confirmed to be Antifa.” Nice try, Ken.
And U.S. Sen Ted Cruz, whose eyes appear clearly fixed on 2024 as he promotes Trump’s discredited and perhaps delusional theories about the election being stolen, is under particular scrutiny for his role in this week’s events. He spent the days prior to Wednesday “leading the fight to reject electors from key states unless there is an emergency audit of the election results,” as his campaign put it in a fundraising message that shamelessly went out during the Capitol assault. And he’s spent the aftermath attempting to reframe his efforts, while disavowing any responsibility for his role in the insurrection.
“The attack at the Capitol was a despicable act of terrorism and a shocking assault on our democratic system,” Cruz said in a statement Thursday, calling for those involved to be vigorously prosecuted.
He said it was time to “come together and put this anger and division behind us,” before insisting yet again that it would be unreasonable to expect
Trump supporters to accept the results of the Nov. 3 presidential election.
Cruz knows better and has let his ambition get the better of him. The junior senator’s behavior this week was not that of a leader, nor behavior that constituents can respect.
To put it in terms that Cruz might actually care about — this was not the behavior of aman who should ever be president.
And we don’t need politicians such as Cruz lecturing us about how the Americans who believe the election was stolen “deserve” to have their grievances humored indefinitely.
We’ve seen where that approach leads. Nowhere good.