As we discussed, Rep. Mikie Sherrill has been sounding the alarm all week that she believes several Republican Congressmen were providing reconnaissance tours to the MAGA terrorists ahead of the Capitol siege. James Clyburn and several prominent Democrats believe the same, that Congressional Republicans provided material aid and intelligence to terrorists. Add to that, there are several freshmen Republicans who seem to believe that they should be able to carry guns in the Capitol, and on the floor of the House. Those same freshmen are throwing fits about going through metal detectors and being frisked by Capitol Police. So here we are: Congressional Democrats are deeply worried that their Republican colleagues will try to kill them.
After last week’s deadly assault on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump, members of Congress are expressing something once unthinkable: that some of their own colleagues may be endangering their lives. Not in a rhetorical sense, but in a direct and immediate way.
“It’s the most poisonous I’ve ever seen,” Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., said in an interview. “There’s the overall sense that maybe if some of them have guns — and likely the ones who are more into conspiracy theories and QAnon with the pedophilic satanic rings — are we safe from them?”
Since the deadly riot Jan. 6, lawmakers have suggested — not, so far, backed up by evidence — that far-right colleagues may have helped plan or guide the attack. There are particular concerns about some newly elected members who have espoused extremist views, including comments supportive of the QAnon lie that accuses perceived enemies of Trump of being part of a child-abusing cult. One House freshman is pushing to carry firearms on Capitol grounds, and another recounts being armed during the attack, further putting their colleagues on edge. With the support of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., security officials have installed metal detectors outside the House floor, causing tension among some Republicans and effectively suggesting that members themselves may pose a danger.
Democrats are outraged at 147 Republicans who they say abided by the rioters’ calls and voted to overturn the election results even after the violent attack, which left five people dead and forced lawmakers to hide in their offices and safe rooms. But, Beyer said, the issue “that has the greater emotional impact is the sense that there’s perhaps actual physical danger from our colleagues.”
With lawmakers traumatized, hundreds of members of the National Guard sleeping in congressional hallways and warnings from authorities about continued threats, suspicion and rumor are running rampant.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., has said she feared for her life, in part because she doubted the motives of unnamed colleagues who were sheltering with her. “There were QAnon and white supremacist sympathizers, and frankly white supremacist members of Congress, in that extraction point who I have felt would disclose my location and would create opportunities to allow me to be hurt, kidnapped, etc.,” Ocasio-Cortez, a highly visible progressive and frequent target of conservative media, said in a speech Tuesday streamed live on Instagram.
A trio of GOP freshmen have drawn particular attention and concern from colleagues: Reps. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. Some lawmakers have suggested that Boebert, a Second Amendment advocate and past QAnon sympathizer, may have deliberately revealed Pelosi’s location during the attack on Twitter. Boebert also tweeted “Today is 1776” the morning of the rally.
Yeah, keep your eye on Boebert, Cawthorn and Greene. But I feel like we should also expand our view past them too – it would not surprise me whatsoever if Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, their staffs or other senators also provided material aid and intelligence to the terrorists, and I wouldn’t put it past certain senators to actually try to physically harm their colleagues either. It’s not just a House problem, it’s a Republican death cult problem.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
We are so far from okay, America. The inauguration is just the beginning of a long long road…
America needs to be 50 countries (I understand why this didn’t happen originally and why this would never happen but as an outsider, MY GOD, just do it).
Many scholars of fascism address how this is actually a goal of the current crime family in chief to sell the US for parts, just like Putin has been able to scavenge the former USSR. Breaking up the US would leave us all much more vulnerable and exposed. And having a failed fascist kleptocracy on your border (say…Arizona vs Utah, Pa vs West Va) isn’t exactly a comfortable position. For better or for worse we get out of this together or not at all. Let’s replicate Georgia!
Indeed. From the outside looking in (I’m from NZ, but am a long-term resident in Mexico), it’s all just astounding.
@SarSte, I could not disagree more. Smaller nations are more susceptible to dictatorships/autocrats. One of the strengths of the US is the vast size and Lincoln knew that to divide would weaken.
Which leads me to a new thought, IF an insurrection like this happened with the Brits. Would they not also have to overthrow the BRF??? So it could be argued the BRF is like a safety against this: To get people on board to over throw both the government and a symbolic monarchy may be too much. Just thinking out loud …
If America breaks up, it won’t be into fifty countries. It’ll be regional territories – i.e. the West Coast would probably stick together, then the Southwest/Midwest, South, and then the Northeast quadrant, etc. I mean, it’ll be economically and politically devastating, definitely, and have a tremendous impact on world politics, but it won’t all be individual states. Quite frankly, a lot of the territories that bang about secession couldn’t survive without the bigger states. They simply don’t have the population for it. They’d have to group together to survive. Texas and Florida are the only two red states that have the size and are economically robust enough to survive on their own, and the latter relies on an enormous amounts of tourism to generate tax revenue.
I used to think something like this too, but as Gruey says, this is actually what the would be authoritarians want because it would great weaken our ability to protect human, environmental and all kinds of other rights that this admin has fought so hard to dismantle but are still at least somewhat in place. I’m realizing it’s important we not fall for this. Also, they point to GA, don’t write off so-called red states… That’s a dangerous fiction too, driven by gerrymandering, voter suppression, and the electoral college. And yes, this is the Putin playbook…
It’s possible but only if the BRF is popular. A weak ruler (Charles or William!) wouldn’t be as much of an asset to the government and could even be a liability. The imperial powers have been overthrown right along with the government in many former colonies. (Peacefully or otherwise)
Colin Woodard wrote a book, “American Nations”, & identified 11 distinct cultures that have historically divided North America (Canada is included in his overall analysis). Interesting stuff!
Expel them.
if you can’t, make the fine 1 million dollars each time.
Why do you need a gun on the house floor? Sounds like the wild west. Don’t like what someone is saying – just shoot them.
Censorship of opponents through intimidation is EXACTLY what these terrorist-legislators want to accomplish. Kick them out.
It’s against House rules to bring a gun to the floor. We know some did on Jan 6 and did those guns protect them from a violent mob? No, police protected them.
It’s amazing to me that the House didn’t already have metal detectors at it’s entrances. It’s a secure area, and those that enter are, or should be, subject to search. Every time I go to my County Courthouse (frequently, it’s part of my job) I have to walk through metal detectors and send my briefcase and purse through a scanner. How should Congress be any different?
When I was going through my divorce 15 years ago I had to go through metal detectors. I couldn’t even bring in a small scissors to work on my cross stitch while waiting. Most theme parks now have you go through metal detectors and having purses, bags, etc searched before getting in.
My local courthouse made me get rid whiteboard markers in my purse! I teach and there’s always 6 or so markers in my bag. They made me run back to my car and stow them… in case I had a knife or drugs in them.
Agreed. Children have to go through security to go to school. Children have hidden under their desks in fear for their life when active shooters came in. Sucks to have to go through what grade school kids go through. Suck it up and get over yourselves.
The Capitol building itself and the congressional office buildings that connect to it through a series of tunnels all have metal detectors at the doors. However, members of Congress are allowed to bypass those machines and are allowed to have guns in their offices. They are not allowed to bring guns or knives or other weapons to the House floor due to a brawl back in the 19th century that left a member seriously injured. Pelosi has ordered metal detectors installed at the doors to the chamber and is requiring that House members go through them so that they can’t just bring something from their offices through the tunnels.
Three years ago or so, i visited capital hill for appropriations week. We were hosted by a rep and given a tour if the house chambers and rotunda. The general entrances do have metal detectors. However, most congress people do not use the main entrances to the building; they enter the complex through the office buildings that surround the hill, then travel to the chambers using tunnels under the buildings. I think the reps are salty they put a checkpoint right at the chamber entrance.
Children walk through those detectors on a daily basis because of these gun lunatics.
I pray all of those Republican scumbags get arrested within weeks.
I am so tired of seeing the Malon Labe phrase used by gun enthusiasts. It was used by Spartans who were loyal to their City State – loyal to their death. There is nothing courageous about the people who use it just so they can carry a gun or have weapons. And there certainly is nothing courageous about the female wearing that mask with the famous phrase when she going against what is in the best interest of her elected collogues. IDIOTS.
It’s quite easy to claim you’re loyal to the death when it doesn’t actually concern your own life. Cowards like this don’t actually mean their own death but the death of people they use for their own profit. In that regard they fit right in with Trump. Trump used those idiots to do his bidding but when it came down to it he threw them under the bus. He’s not risking getting sued when the people he told he loved them are getting charged left and right. Typical cowardice of these types of people and their followers are too stupid to realize it.
Thank you, I was trying to work out what it said and what it meant. I was wary of googling in case it was some far right crazy thing.
I definitely read it as “labia” at first and was like “what a weird thing to want written on your mouth…😂
@kat, thank you! I needed that laugh.
@kat, at first i thought it said moron labia, which i guess would be another way of saying d*mb c*nt
Hmm, so it’s ok for kindergarteners to walk through metal detectors to get into their schools because gun nuts want every nutter who wants a gun to get a gun BUT when it comes to them having to walk through a metal detector it’s all ‘infringing my rights’.
WTAF is wrong with some people!!!
DU, I JUST posted the same thought. I am with ya!!!!!
At the primary division of the school where I work, the children do lock down drills. This is an expensive private school. I asked the Principal what he tells the PreK and Kindergarten students (ages 4-6). He told me they make it like a game. “Hey, we’re all going to hide from Mr. (Principal!).” That broke my heart.
F those gun toting Yosemite Sam wannabes.
My heart breaks to read this.
I am British and live in London and for the life of me cannot understand this obsession with guns and the 5th amendment.
My daughter is 8 (second grade) and was upset after their most recent lockdown drill because their teacher (who I love and think is amazing) told them that they have to stay in their hiding places “no matter what” and “no matter who” comes in the classroom/down the hall. She was upset to think that I might come pick her up and she might not be able to go with me. I explained to her that I will always follow the rules when I pick her up and her teacher is helping her stay safe. I was choking back my own tears so as not to upset her further, but DAMN. It kills me to know that these sweet, innocent babies are having to learn about the evil of the world far too soon. And the emotional toll it takes on teachers to make it a game and actively plan for how they would keep 15-25 little chatterbox perpetual motion machines “safe” if the worst were ever to happen. That should not be okay with any one of us. It’s obscene.
Both my Senators and Congressperson are Democrats, so, while I have called their offices to express concern and horror, I don’t know what they can do. I’ve also tried contacting some Republican Congresspeople, but assume they screen calls by area code. I encourage all of you to call your elected officials and ask for answers.
If any of you have any other ideas about what to do to as civilians to help, please share them.
I call my dem representatives too and thank them when they do something I want. They still need to hear from you. I never used to do anything like this but in the past 3 years I’ve gotten so much more engaged in the weeds of bills I want passed, etc. It turns out if you don’t watch Dems they relinquish their power very quickly.
I do too. My Senators are always pretty safe in re-elections, but my Rep is in a purple district and has now twice voted to impeach, so I really appreciate it.
They need to be more Dom, less Dem. : D
I call my dem representatives too and thank them when they do something I want. They still need to hear from you. I never used to do anything like this but in the past 3 years I’ve gotten so much more engaged in the weeds of bills I want passed, etc. It turns out if you don’t watch Dems they relinquish their power very quickly.
When I first heard about how congress critters weren’t going through the metal detectors I was kind of like “that’s dumb, but isn’t the threat from the outside? Why are they subjecting themselves to metal detectors when they are the target of the violence and anyone who would storm the capitol again is obviously not going to go through the detectors anyways.” (This was a couple of days before all the articles about how they feared their Repub colleagues were aiding the rioters so much and working so closely with them.) Then it dawned on me that yeah, they are worried about their own colleagues shooting them and working that closely with the Maga mobs and I was so freaked out and sickened. They must have some serious evidence of their colleagues being actual threats if they are subjecting themselves to metal detectors. I also don’t understand why they let anyone in who won’t go through them. If the threat is real, then enforce the rules!
God, I woke up at 4 a.m. worried about Biden standing in the open to take the oath of office on the 20th. I’m looking at how far the National Guard had pushed out the perimeter and barricades and hoping it’s far enough. Then I think about the people who are invited, sitting behind him, and worry that there’s a closet traitor in there. Please tell me I’m just having nightmares and it will all be fine.
I’m really bothered that they’re still pushing for normalcy with the Inauguration, honestly. I understand that Democrats don’t want to be seen as “giving in” to the demands of a bunch of fringe lunatics, but…they’re not fringe lunatics. The QAnon people make up a disturbingly high percentage of the Republican Party, and we shouldn’t apologize for taking that threat seriously. I’m not sure why they can’t just have a private swearing-in for the moment, then throw a rager once there’s been a proper investigation and the seditious elements have been rooted out. We may have the Presidency, the House, and the Senate, but until then, for many Democrats, it won’t really FEEL like we’ve won, anyway.
I concur. These are not random actors; they are organized, number in the thousands and are well-equipped. I won’t stop stressing out until measurable actions are taken to quell these terrorists.
Agreed! Do it one of the beautiful historic government buildings, hell, do it in the rotunda, make a statement. It does not have to be outside and in full view and also putting everyone’s lives at stake who are working on this event including performers. I don’t know much about it yet but it just seems like too big of a production. I mean, from a historical standpoint and all of the firsts discussed in another post, the visuals and representation are important. And to show that we can still celebrate the win of good and these incredible new legislators who will work for our collective good from state to federal level. People showed out and that will result in better conditions for us all at a time when we really, really need that.
This. The Trumpists will claim Biden is a coward if it’s not an open air affair. But it’s consistent with the message Biden has been sending about safety and masking, and the additional logic is “we’ve been left with a lot of work to do to rebuild the government. A LOT.”
As someone who went to high school in the heart of downtown Chicago, we had to scan in with barcodes on our name tags, send our bookbags through an x-ray machine, go through metal detectors and get wanded all before going into the building each day.
This congressmen whining is ridiculous.
Marj’s inbred pupillary distance hurts my eyes.
Hahahahaha yes, that’s what it is. I really can’t look at any of these people usually but she is especially disturbing.
I feel the same way about Gaetz.
Omg I cannot look at him! He looks like a cartoon inbred serial killer and I’m amazed he was chosen to lead anything, anywhere.
Funny that these ammosexuals conveniently ignore the fact that we have an actual photo of the POTUS and First Lady posing with the Grand High Pedophile on Pedophile Island, but yeah, no, it’s the Democrats who belong to a child sex death cult.
Yes but #epsteindidntsuicide
“ammosexuals”. Oh so apt.
I’m probably projecting, but man- the dejection and weariness on that security guy’s face. Probably thinking “I put my own safety at risk every day for this?”
They aren’t the only ones having to worry about being killed. Eugene Goodman, the black officer who selflessly led racist terrorists away from the Senate, fears the media attention and the bill being introduced by lawmakers to honor him, will make him a target of white supremacists. He can’t even enjoy this moment fully in 20 f*kng 21. Never mind that he had to do what he did in 2021.
I was a little concerned about that too, when his name went public. He deserves the honors, but more importantly deserves to live peacefully as well.
I read somewhere that he’s not talking to the press and I guess now I know what that’s about. Poor man.
Agreed. That was my first worry when people started promoting his image and the story. From cleaning shit off the walls to the one man who stood up to these racist terrorists now afraid of retaliation, Black people in this country just stay having to clean up white people’s crap. So f-ing over it.
Cong. Sherrill does have evidence which she has shared with the capital police, just not with the media.
Yes, that bugs me in articles about this. Just because she hasn’t tweeted out what evidence she has, doesn’t mean she doesn’t have evidence. She has even said that she can’t say more to the press/public because of the ongoing investigation but that she HAS given statements and evidence to the proper authorities.
Expel them! And now would be a great time to pass reasonable gun laws since students everywhere in the US spend every day wondering if their fellow students will kill them in a gun shooting.
What about panic buttons being removed from some of the offices? Ayanna Pressley, who has been a vocal opponent of Trump’s, went to use hers during the riot when she was barricading in her office, and it had been ripped out, the whole mechanism was gone. This was a well-prepared attack with prior tours for the seditionists given by anti-Democrat Representatives and god knows what else. The FBI has CCTV video of the groups being toured around the Capitol, which hadn’t been allowed since last March due to COVID. The “tour guides” would have had to sign in as well. Cell phone data would have been tracked by a wireless data infrastructure that can turn any connected phone into its own tracking device.
The enablers of this catastrophe will be in one hot mess after the dust settles.
All of this @Jaded The levels to which this was coordinated…they are right to feel unsafe amongst their own colleagues.
As an actual Hellene (what we greeks actually call ourselves, “greek” is an english word…), I can’t describe how ******* disgusted I am to see this neo-nazi woman use one of our most sacred ethnic sayings. Which btw, isn’t spelled “Molon Labe”, but “μολὼν λαβέ “Molon Lave”. First, you are not greek. Stop using our culture to fuel your racist, nazi ideology. Secondly, this words are thousands of years old and a saying we and our forefathers have used for thousands of years through all of our wars and it is none of your business. If you are not an actual ethnic greek, you have NO idea what these words mean and can NEVER understand it. Kindly f*ck off. Also after I saw this woman I read that it’s stolen by right-wing people in the US for their “right for guns”? Disgusting. Stop stealing my culture.
Hi Elena ,
Fellow Greek here, living in Greece!
I totally agree, this is a disgusting use of our culture… Even the spelling is wrong. Idiots!!
Not Hellene / Greek, but completely agree with you! How Infuriating for you to see your culture used by this f**king idiot and the like!
I think we’re headed towards a civil war. I hear people at my workplace talking about the “Great Reset”. One man was talking like he was trying to recruit people into the movement. It’s scary.
Please record any details and pass them onto the FBI.
I am not from the US and didn’t know anything about Greene, but even before reading the article I could tell 100% by her vibe in the pictures and the way she holds her hands that she is Republican.
I had the impeachment vote on on mute in my home office this week as I was working. I could tell whether many of the speakers were republican or democratic depending on how they wore their masks. Many of the idiot republicans wore their masks below their notes.