As the whole nation and the entire world now know, the United States Capitol was violently overrun on January 6, 2020.
Most of the culprits were President Trump’s ardent supporters, willing to spill their blood for his cause. Some were agitators looking for a fight, and others came along for the ride. The footage from the scene is horrific. According to authorities, at least five people were killed. Many have called the situation an act of sedition and an insurrection, a valid classification on the day Electoral College votes were being counted to codify the 2020 presidential election. It was a shocking interruption of the American tradition of peacefully transferring power from one elected president to another.
As the situation started to unfold, conservatives rapidly took to social media to swiftly condemn it. Republican lawmakers did the same once they safely emerged from secure locations after being evacuated from the House and Senate floors.
Then, former Vice President and President-elect Joe Biden made a statement.
"The scenes of chaos at the Capitol do not reflect a true America. Do not represent who we are. What we're seeing are a small number of extremists dedicated to lawlessness. This is not dissent. It's disorder, it's chaos, it borders on sedition. And it must end now. I call on this mob to pull back and allow the work of democracy to go forward," Biden said in a live, televised statement. "The work of the moment and the work of the next four years must be the restoration of democracy — of decency, honor, respect, the rule of law, just plain, simple decency. The renewal of the politics that's about solving problems, looking out for one another, not stoking the flames of hate and chaos. As I said, America is about honor. Decency, respect, tolerance — that's who we are, that's who we've always been."
It actually isn’t "who we’ve always been," and look no further than Biden's side of the political aisle for proof.
Just last year, Americans watched as cities around the country were ransacked by Antifa and Black Lives Matter rioters. People were killed, government buildings came under siege, and thousands of buildings owned by hard-working Americans were burned to the ground. They were the most expensive riots in American history and lasted for months.
When this was occurring, the Left and Democrats not only refused to condemn it, they embraced it. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris helped fundraise to get rioters out of jail. After rioters attempted to storm the White House, burning a historic church and injuring more than 60 Secret Service agents in the process, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser not only refused to punish the perpetrators, she instead dedicated an entire block to the movement and named it "Black Lives Matter Plaza." Corporations donated billions of dollars to the cause.
Biden failed to roundly condemn any of it until it started showing up as a negative in polling. His friends in the media, like CNN's Chris Cuomo, declared protesting wasn't "supposed to be polite" as his network described riots as "fiery but mostly peaceful."
For four years, Democrats incited violence against Trump supporters and those who worked for him. Congresswoman Maxine Waters told constituents to accost Trump supporters in public and to run them out of society. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez urged people to start making lists of administration officials and staff in order to punish them and ruin their lives further once Trump leaves the White House. There are countless examples; these are only a few.
Now, these same people have expressed their outrage over what happened at the Capitol. Fine. But they failed to afford the same to months of hell from their people. They have no credibility and have proven once again that they use violence as a weapon when it serves their political purpose.
America was founded on the idea that all men are created equal. We have a justice system that is supposed to be blind and fair to all who enter it. We have a media that employs journalists who are supposed to tell both sides fairly. Over the past year, these principles have been shoved aside. Violence perpetrated by the Left for the sake of their cause has been repeatedly justified.
Hypocrisy on the condemnation of violence matters because it's about fairness. The current attempts by the Left, politicians, and media to gaslight Americans by solely focusing on the violence of Wednesday is despicable. I choose to condemn all of it.