Pennsylvania Republican legislators boo officers injured on 1/6
If saying the quiet parts loud about Jim Crow remains a niche among Republican elected officials, openly supporting the 1/6 seditionists is becoming orthodoxy:
Two former law enforcement officers who defended the U.S. Capitol from rioters during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection were jeered by state GOP lawmakers as they visited Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives on Wednesday, according to several Democratic lawmakers present.
Former U.S. Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn and former sergeant Aquilino Gonell were introduced on the floor Wednesday as “heroes” by House Speaker Joanna McClinton (D) for having “bravely defended democracy in the United States Capitol against rioters and insurrection on January 6.”
As the two men — both of whom were injured by rioters on Jan. 6 — were introduced, the House floor descended into chaos. According to Democratic lawmakers, several GOP lawmakers hissed and booed, with a number of Republicans walking out of the chamber in protest.
“I heard some hissing and I saw about eight to 10 of my Republican colleagues walk out angrily as they were announced as police officers from the U.S. Capitol on January 6,” state Rep. Arvind Venkat (D) said in a phone interview Thursday. “I was shocked and appalled,” he added. According to Venkat, the commotion lasted about five minutes. Fewer than 100 lawmakers, evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats, were present in the chamber before the chaotic scene unfolded, he said.
The Pennsylvania House has 203 members — 102 Democrats and 101 Republicans.
The Republicans’ loud rejection of the two officers in a keybattleground state underscores how polarizing the legacy of the Jan. 6 insurrection has become between the parties, to the extent that supporting law enforcement officers who defended the Capitol from violent rioters is seen as politically contentious by some lawmakers.
But Pennsylvania Republicans only started supporting violent sedition because Democrats made them (by running standard-issue negative ads accurately pointing out that the most likely Republican gubernatorial nominee supported violent sedition.)