We’re less than one week away from the presidential inauguration of former Vice President Joe Biden. Washington, D.C., looks like a war zone. The Nation’s Capitol is completely fenced and walled off, reinforced with razor wire, to anyone without accepted credentials. There are 20,000 National Guard troops, who have been issued lethal force authority, stationed around the Capitol. Troop levels in Afghanistan and Iraq pale in comparison. The National Mall has been shutdown. Federal officials have constructed a no-vehicle “Green Zone" and are manning a number of checkpoints.
If we are to believe the FBI’s assessment of chatter for additional violence over the weekend and into next week, I applaud the presence of the National Guard to prevent or put down a mob attempting to interfere with America’s tradition of a peaceful transfer of power.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is vowing to punish Republicans for thought crimes, took time to thank soldiers in person. Even giving them a Speaker’s challenge coin to show her gratitude.
But hypocrisy in unprecedented times like these still matters. This is because hypocrisy is about standards.
When President Trump deployed the National Guard to protect the White House and National Monuments from endless nights of rioting last summer, Pelosi was incensed and demanded “accountability” for the move.
“We have seen soldiers on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. We have witnessed Bureau of Prisons officers in Lafayette Square. We have seen National Park Service offers hassling peaceful protestors. Several states have deployed members of their National Guard to D.C. This is in addition to FBI and other security forces operating in our nation’s capital,” Pelosi wrote in a letter to President Trump. “We are concerned about the increased militarization and lack of clarity that may increase chaos. I am writing to request a full list of the agencies involved and clarifications of the roles and responsibilities of the troops and federal law enforcement resources operating in the city. Congress and the American people need to know who is in charge, what is the chain of command, what is the mission, and by what authority the is the National Guard from other states operating in the capital.”
As long as the National Guard is at her service, Pelosi has no complaints and is happy to have them in town.
The hypocrisy, unsurprisingly, doesn’t end there. For the past nine months, and for years before that under the Obama administration, Democrats have repeatedly called for vilification and defunding of police stations around the country. After the riots last week, Democrats have changed their tune.
“A Capitol Police officer is being hailed as a hero for drawing an angry mob away from the entrance to the Senate floor Wednesday as rioters smashed their way into the U.S. Capitol,” USA Today reported. “In viral video from the scene, the officer is seen glancing to his left and notices the unobstructed hallway to the Senate as he was chased up a flight of stairs."
“This brave USCP officer kept murderous rioters away from the Senate chamber and saved the lives of those inside. God bless him for his courage," Democratic Congressman Bill Pascrell Jr. tweeted.
The halls of Congress and the Capitol are lined with handmade signs thanking officers for their service and bravery.
We should be consistently grateful for a National Guard that has been tasked to keep peace in the Nation’s Capitol. The same applies to appreciation for the Capitol Police and police departments around the country whose officers go to work every day, knowing they may never come home, to serve their communities.