Heroic DC Officer Tears Into GOP For Betraying Democracy

0
1147

During an appearance on MSNBC ahead of this Thursday’s planned public hearing of the House committee investigating the Capitol riot, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department officer Daniel Hodges, who participated in the defense of the Capitol last year and was among those physically assaulted by rioters, tore into Trump and his goons in the GOP.

“I was just looking at [Trump] on the TV before I walked in here, and I was thinking, there’s really no redeeming value to that man,” Hodges told host Andrea Mitchell. “And I don’t know how he’s managed to con so many American people into siding with him and defending him. It’s mind-blowing.” It’s also prominent Republicans like House GOP leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy who are on Trump’s side, having apparently let themselves become stooges for the con operation.

Asked about members of the public who might be described as disinterested in the continuing effort to sketch out the truth surrounding what happened, Hodges discussed how the threat hasn’t really gone away. People involved in and behind the original violence, are, in some cases, still committed. Although Hodges didn’t bring it up, Trump said just this Thursday that “January 6th was not simply a protest, it represented the greatest movement in the history of our Country to Make America Great Again.” The excusing of deadly violence, the willful disconnection from reality regarding democratic elections in the U.S., and the stoking of virulent animosity on the basis of lies — it all continues.

And as for the Republican leaders who’ve taken a dismissive stance towards the riot committee’s work, Hodges was similarly aghast. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) recently tweeted: “Instead of focusing on $5 gas,6000 illegal immigrants a day,record fentanyl deaths,or the violent criminals terrorizing America democrats use taxpayer money on a TV producer for the prime time political infomercial from the Jan 6th circus” — the U.S. Capitol building was attacked. Let’s imagine if literally any other interest group on the entire planet had carried out the attack. How freaked out would Republicans be? (Also, Rubio’s antagonistic references to issues facing Americans obscures how government can — get this — work on more than one thing at once.) Referring to Republicans dismissive of the riot investigation like Rubio, Hodges said:

‘I don’t know how they sleep at night. It’s incredibly transparent what they’re trying to do. They have to know how important this is. They have to know. But they’re just trying to — I don’t know. I don’t know what they value. Is it their jobs? Is it money? What makes you so — what makes you want to keep the truth from coming to light so badly that you’re willing to just put bold-faced lies out there all the time, constantly, and mislead the people? I don’t get it. I don’t. So, I hope that they don’t get their way. That’s about all I can say about that… Looking at the Capitol building right now, I don’t know how they can go there every day and do the job they do and experience what happened on January 6 and then turn around and tell the American people that oh no, this isn’t important, this doesn’t matter.’

Check out the officer’s remarks below: