House Democrats Claimed Their Republican Colleagues Might Murder Them and No One Noticed
“What if it were the other way around?” That’s a common refrain in politics. How would you treat this information were the parties reversed, or if the name of the country or religion or president were different? And while that can get tiresome, it’s sometimes important to bring up.
For example, if a person where you work said to you, “I’m really worried about coming to the office now that employees with badges can bypass the security line, because people who work on the left side of the office are unstable and might shoot me dead,” what would you take them to mean?
Would you think your colleague was suggesting a coworker might bring an outsider past security who might commit violence?
Would you think they were expressing general safety concerns about no one in particular?
Or would you think, as they said, they were accusing specific employees of being unhinged and set on violence?
A lot of my Republican colleagues glorify violence and proudly display the firearms they have in their offices, so it just makes me nervous that we could have a workplace violent event. They’re not the most stable people.
That’s what California Democrat Rep. Eric Swalwell said last week to Raw Story. He was asked very specifically about removal of the metal detectors that lawmakers walk through to go to the House floor.
He deliberately and explicitly referred to his “Republican colleagues” in his response, saying they have firearms and aren’t stable. Not their constituents or friends, but they themselves.
That’s a serious accusation. A sitting Democrat Representative said he is afraid that, without metal detectors, Republican Representatives may shoot him and others, might commit murder on the floor of the U.S. House.
That’s … stunning.
The metal detectors were installed after the January 6 attack on the Capitol. Importantly, the normal security remains: Capitol police at their posts, multiple screening points, and ample metal detectors. Only the machines members had to pass through at the doors the House floor were removed. It’s not clear who in particular ordered it, but it’s generally credited to the new GOP majority.
The majority that Swalwell said might do a mass shooting. Although, not just Swalwell.
Raw Story’s headline is “Some Democrats fear a mass shooting on House floor — by a QAnon-Republican.” The first paragraph reads:
Surprise quickly morphed into alarm for some at the Capitol this week as a post-Jan. 6 security measure vanished without warning just before Republicans reclaimed control of the House. Some Democrats fear there could be a mass shooting on the House floor at the trigger of one of the GOP’s newly expanded ranks of conspiracy-believing lawmakers.
There is no ambiguity in Raw Story’s characterization of what these Democrats said they fear.
“There’s been an increase in political violence in this country, and I think we have a responsibility to make sure that when people come to work—this is a workplace—that they could do so safely and free from any fear of violence, particularly gun violence,” Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI) told Raw Story this week. “I think it should concern everyone.”
In this pitched political atmosphere, Democrats don’t like what they’ve heard about Trump’s new block of political allies on Capitol Hill.
“There’s a frightening group of people over there,” Rep. Dan Kildee told Raw Story about Republican members of Congress. “I used to assume that nothing crazy could happen here. I no longer assume that. After Jan. 6, I don’t assume anything anymore. So it’s a little concerning.”
These weren’t broadly worded prompts but pointed questions asked about Republican reps. Rep. Jan Schakowsky was asked whether it worries her not having metal detectors, “because if they get mad in the heat of debate, you don’t want firearms on the floor?”
“That is a concern,” Schakowsky affirmed.
“I try not to think about it,” said top Democrat Adam Schiff about Republicans no longer passing through metal detectors. “Let’s just hope we don’t have a tragedy on our hands.”
Whether you’re outraged a Democrat would say this, or outraged they must live in fear of unstable Republicans, there’s no planet on which it’s not a big deal.
Fox News noticed Swalwell’s comments with an article online, but CNN and MSNBC did not. Nor did the New York Times or Washington Post, for that matter.
Swalwell’s remarks did not come up on cable news all weekend, and he wasn’t asked about them.
He even appeared on air with MSNBC’s Alex Wagner on the same day the article was published, and spoke on the exact subjects of violence and Republicans. Yet Wagner didn’t ask him about his mortal fear.
It would, if a Republican feared Democrats shooting up the joint. That would come up. You’d hear about it.
Maybe they’d be called a loon, or mocked on Morning Joe rather than be taken seriously, but it wouldn’t just go unremarked.
So why the quiet? Well, you KNOW why. Part of why, anyway. Some of you are thinking it right now: Well of course you fear Republicans and not Democrats. Republicans are the crazy ones!
And yes, that sort of faulty, partisan reasoning drives a lot of story selection in the press. But still, you’d think this would merit some mention. Was it lost, drowned out in other news, ignored for bigger fish? Did they not trust Raw Story’s reporting? Maybe.
Or maybe it was ignored because it sounds crazy to half of America. Because reporters don’t want to put Swalwell on the spot. Or because ultimately the press agree with him, anyway, as they do with most things said by Democrats.
It’s bad judgement. He should have been asked for names, asked to back up his fears. The People have a right to know. And it would have been asked if the parties were reversed.
Is it annoying when every time something is reported, someone says “oh you wouldn’t say that if it was the other party”? Yes, that gets annoying.
But maybe the solution is for that to stop being true, instead of for people to just stop pointing it out.
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
