Washingtonians mustn’t tolerate US Capitol coup. And don’t think it can’t happen here
There can be no rationalization, no excuse making and no sugarcoating for the despicable explosion of mob violence that broke out Wednesday afternoon at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.
Do not dignify it by calling it a protest. What we saw take place, 2,700 miles away from Tacoma — and what’s still unfolding, even as we write this — is nothing less than an attempted coup.
What other word can describe rabid Donald Trump supporters crashing through barricades and storming our national seat of government, trying to stop the peaceful transfer of power to the duly elected 46th president?
What other word captures the sights and smells of tear gas being deployed in the Senate chamber, of a woman fatally shot inside the Capitol building, of representatives being instructed to lie on the floor, of a citywide curfew being imposed?
What we’re seeing is an attempted coup tacitly instigated by a defeated US president who refuses to cede power or respect democratic norms. So what that Trump sent out a tweet earlier in the day, calling on his MAGA shock troops to “stay peaceful.” You can’t put Pandora back in the box, and you can’t put the reckless rhetoric back in the dog whistle after it’s been repeatedly blown.
Our state’s senior senator, Democrat Patty Murray, injected some much needed sanity into the tweetstorm. “I’m safe and so is my staff, but I condemn in the strongest terms the hate-fueled violence we are seeing in our nation’s Capitol today.”
When assigning blame, the self-serving actions of an outgoing president rank at the top. What ultimately may be worse, however, is the complicity of more than 100 Republican members of Congress who will be sticking around for at least the next few years; they planned to contest Wednesday’s Electoral College vote count, challenging Joe Biden’s victory in certain states.
Among them was newly reelected Washington Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Spokane. She later changed course and begged Trump to “put an end to this madness.” But her constituents in the 5th Congressional District must not forget what took place Wednesday, nor overlook the seditious political behavior that set the stage.
The good news is that none of the assaults on democracy that happened Wednesday or in previous days will change the electoral outcome, as noted by another Washington representative, Derek Kilmer. “We do not – and will not – get bullied by angry people who are on the losing side of an election,” the Gig Harbor Democrat said in a statement. “Let’s be clear – this will not get in the way of the will of the voters. Order will be restored, the American voters will be heard, and Joe Biden will be sworn in as President on January 20.”
The outpouring of shock and awe from political operatives in our state was swift. Caleb Heimlich of Puyallup, chairman of the Washington State Republican Party, issued a statement: “ Today’s events are unfathomable. I never thought I would see something like this in the greatest country in the history of the world.”
As with McMorris Rodgers, file it under the heading of “too little, too late.” Heimlich and other Washington state Republicans stood largely silent as Trump’s threadbare election challenges have played out over the last two months.
If anyone wants to write this off as an isolated event, or if any Washingtonians think that “it couldn’t happen here,” we respectfully urge them to wake up and look around.
Next week, the state Legislature will open its 2021 session under tight COVID-19 restrictions, and a right-wing militia organization has declared it will enter and occupy the Legislative Building. A peaceful pro-Trump rally in Olympia Wednesday was marred by one person’s cry, which we pray wasn’t prophetic: “It’s war now!”
Now is the time for responsible citizens of all political stripes to stand up and speak out for bedrock principles. Assaults on democracy must not be tolerated.
We, as a collective people, are better than this. We must heed the words of Abraham Lincoln from his first inaugural address, spoken on the brink of Civil War, and somehow summon “the better angels of our nature.”
This story was originally published January 6, 2021 at 2:30 PM.