Like a ‘banana republic’
Wisconsin delegation describes storming of US Capitol
Wisconsin delegation describes
storming of U.S. Capitol
The men and women who represent Wisconsin in Congress went to Washington this week to fulfill their duty of confirming the results of the Nov. 6 election but instead were forced to hide in their offices Wednesday while thousands of the president’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, leaving at least one woman fatally shot.
“I mean, this is banana republic shit.
That’s where we are,” U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher, a Republican from Green Bay, said in an interview after President Donald Trump’s supporters broke through barriers at one of the most secure buildings in the nation.
“This is the type of stuff I saw in Iraq when I deployed,” said Gallagher, who deployed in Iraq with the United States Marine Corps before getting elected.
The breach occurred on a day that is normally a pro-forma procedure of the Congress counting the Electoral College votes for president.
It became anything but pro-forma after a fusillade of false claims from Trump and Wisconsin Republicans like Gallagher and U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson about election fraud.
Several Republican lawmakers, including Johnson, announced they would contest President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in some states on Wednesday, setting off a potentially lengthy process of debating individual state results.
But the proceedings were suddenly interrupted when thousands of people breached the building for the first time since the War of 1812.
U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat from Madison, took to Twitter to tell her constituents she was safe — a previously unthinkable necessity for a U.S. senator inside the nation’s Capitol building.
“I am safe, but it’s disgraceful that our country has to experience this violence because of Trump’s lies, conspiracies and un-American attacks on our Democracy,” Baldwin said.
Biden won the popular vote by more than 4 percentage points and 7 million votes; he won the Electoral College 306 to 232, and Trump supporters lost dozens of court cases.
Supporters of Trump swarmed the Capitol building anyway, prompting Vice President Mike Pence to be swept to a secure location and the Senate chamber to be evacuated, and leading to an armed standoff at one point with Capitol police.
At least one woman was shot and taken to the hospital, according to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. She later died.
The riots broke out after Trump called on thousands of protesters who had gathered at the National Mall earlier Wednesday to march to the Capitol.
Johnson, Tiffany planned to object to election results
The protesters were there to object to the results of the Nov. 3 election, which Trump lost. Johnson and Rep. Tom Tiffany of Hazelhurst, both Republicans, planned to object to the results on the floor.
Johnson has for weeks sought to discredit the election without presenting evidence to back up his claims of vast irregularities.
But on Wednesday, when thousands of supporters who agree with him broke into the Capitol, Johnson called the breach “disgusting.”
Johnson said senators sheltered inside the chamber and then headed to their offices.
“They just escorted us all out,” he said.
“I want the crowd to go home,” he said. “Again this is not what I’ve experienced with our supporters. They assemble peacefully. I condemn anything other than that.”
Tiffany was on the House floor when people began to breach the Capitol.
“I’ve been very consistent — ever since this started back in May of 2020 when Minneapolis, Madison, Kenosha, places like that were getting overrun by violent groups — that this has to be brought under control,” Tiffany said. “Everyone, both elected leaders and the police, have to bring this under control. This is not a civil society when stuff like this is going on. I will continue to condemn any violence. Regardless
of where people come from on the political spectrum, it’s wrong.”
Tiffany said he has no regrets about contesting the election results and that challenges to the election’s legitimacy are “not why we saw this protest, why some people turned violent.”
U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, who represents the state’s 2nd Congressional District, called Wednesday’s events something out of another country.
He said from his office Wednesday afternoon that he was safe but saddened by the events at the Capitol.
“The president has basically encouraged domestic terrorism,” Pocan said. “That this is happening in our country and not in a banana republic that you watch on TV is sad.”
Gallagher, who has opposed the effort by some other Republicans to overturn the election but has backed their claims of voting irregularities, said the storming of the Capitol shows there is a “cost” to the push to overturn the election, because Trump supporters were told that it was actually possible to do so.
He said the problem is that they “convinced thousands of Americans it could succeed. The President told thousands of people in DC that the vice president had the power to somehow change the election result. So the people storming the Capitol are doing it not because they want to participate in some two-hour debate but because they want to overturn the results of the election. That’s the cost.”
Republican Rep. Glenn Grothman of Glenbeulah called Wednesday’s events shocking.
Grothman criticized Trump and others for suggesting his supporters could get Congress to change the results of the election.
“I have been critical of expectations being raised by people including the president as to what will happen today,” he said.
Reince Priebus, a Kenosha native and former chief of staff to Trump, called those who breached the Capitol “domestic terrorists.”
Priebus tweeted: “Many of these folks are nothing but domestic terrorists. And many are criminals and trouble makers all acting in a manner opposite of patriotism. These violent people have no respect for democracy. Pure insanity and disgusting.”