Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has his moments. There are good moments and then there are miserable ones. Lindsey 2.0 is who we like—but he also reverts to his squishy self at times. On January 6, he channeled a darker version when he wanted Capitol Police to open fire on the rioters.
“We give you guns for a reason—use them,” he said during the riot (via Fox News):
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham urged Capitol police to use their guns and regain control of the Capitol on Jan. 6, a new report details.
"What are you doing? Take back the Senate! You've got guns. Use them," Graham told Capitol police, according to an extensive report from the Washington Post, which described Graham as "irate" that senators were forced to leave their chambers during the storming of the Capitol.
"We give you guns for a reason," he said. "Use them." The Washington Post stated the quotes were based on an unnamed Republican senator with knowledge of the incident.
Graham’s office confirmed the quotes are "accurate" in a statement to Fox News on Monday.
"Graham was quite clear on this point, noting that the backpacks and other items brought into the Capitol could have contained bombs and explosives. The damage could have been much, much worse," Graham’s communications director, Kevin Bishop, said.
Well, one officer did shoot and kill Ashli Babbitt. She’s the only person who was killed inside the Capitol Building. What’s interesting is that liberals almost always assumed that all officer-involved shootings are murders, except for this one, right? This wasn’t an armed insurrection. It wasn’t a coup. It was a riot, but it also wasn’t the 9/11 attacks or Pearl Harbor. If the police had followed Graham’s advice, well—maybe the narrative would have been different. Blessedly, they did not lay waste to hordes of unarmed people inside the building.