I don’t think some people truly understand the scope and gravity of the security failure today, and of the situation in general. I watched videos of Capitol police letting domestic terrorists in through security gates and smiling and taking pictures with them. Reporters detailed how the building was cleared by pushing people to the Rotunda and out specific doors. I listened to officials on TV talk about perhaps making a handful of arrests and restoring the damage to the chambers. This response is utterly unacceptable and completely misses the mark.
When Capitol Police lost control of the building during a joint session of Congress to armed rioters, no one knew exactly what was happening, who was entering the building, or for what purpose. The world watched the government of the most powerful nation on Earth disrupted with relative ease.
The symbolism of that alone was bad enough. Had four or five highly trained foreign soldiers been in the group using the riot as cover, the world instead could have literally been watching Senators and Representatives held hostage and executed on live TV. Or members of one political party could have been targeted, changing the political direction of the country by force. Even as is, we’re lucky we aren’t watching images of the entire building on fire. Yet luck aside, the rioters just showed any bad actor how easy it would be to occupy and destroy one of the strongest symbols of Democracy.
And that’s just the rioters. One branch of government declared war on another today. Congress loves telling anyone who will listen that they’re a co-equal branch, but will they act like one?
A truly co-equal branch would use the awesome power of the federal government to immediately seek out, arrest and try anyone and everyone who could be identified taking part in the riots or trespassing. They would immediately draw up and act upon Articles of Impeachment. They would immediately suspend any officer who failed in their duties to protect the legislators in the building, and demand a full investigation of the significant security failure. And they would root out any overly partisan or white supremacists hiding within the Capitol Police’s ranks.
To do anything less is to show the country and the world that Democracy isn’t something Americans feel is truly worth protecting.
I encourage you to contact all of your elected federal representatives and demand significant action in response to the egregious actions of the Executive Branch and the complete security failure of the Capitol Police.
House of Representatives
Senate
Call them, email them, and send them a snail mail to your closest district office. You have one representative and two senators.