Capitol rioters brought shame on themselves, the country
Rick Saccone finally made it to Congress Wednesday.
The former Republican state representative from the Elizabeth area who came within a whisker of winning the 2018 special election that sent U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb to Capitol Hill was there Wednesday, but not as a lawmaker. Rather, he was part of the foaming-at-the-mouth throng that laid siege to the Capitol during what should have been the routine and ceremonial certification of the electoral votes that will make Joe Biden and Kamala Harris president and vice president within days.
None of the hours of news footage of the mob ransacking the Capitol show Saccone among them, but he was at the very least a hugely enthusiastic cheerleader for the mayhem.
鈥淲e are storming the Capitol,鈥� Saccone exclaimed in a social media post that has since been deleted. He also stated, 鈥淥ur vanguard has broken through the barricades. We will save the nation. Are you with me?鈥�
That sounds like something you would read from a camo-wearing rebel seeking to overthrow a government in some far-off and supremely chaotic corner of the world. Instead it came from a 62-year-old man in a ski cap, who, of all things, taught a course on global terrorism at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe until he resigned Thursday.
Saccone also posted a video to social media, later deleted, where he stated that he and other members of the scrum were 鈥渢rying to run out all the evil people that are in there, and all the RINOs (Republicans in name only) who have betrayed (President Trump). We are going to run them out of their offices. We鈥檙e calling on Vice President (Mike) Pence to support our president.鈥�
In the video, he opined that 鈥渢he fake news media鈥� would not correctly report on the size of the crowd, which was there, in Saccone蘑菇视频 telling, to 鈥渟ave our nation.鈥�
There蘑菇视频 a lot to unpack here, particularly Saccone蘑菇视频 assertion that duly-elected representatives with whom he has disagreements are 鈥渆vil,鈥� and that following the rule of law and not the whims of the president is 鈥渁 betrayal.鈥� He later claimed they were all just figures of speech.
Saccone obviously should have known better, and so should a member of West Virginia鈥檃 House of Delegates who recorded himself as he stormed into the Capitol. The same goes for state Sen. Doug Mastriano, the Franklin County Republican who was there and has been mentioned as a possible gubernatorial candidate in 2022. To reach the positions they have held, they have presumably taken a civics class or two somewhere along the way, and they would know that, lo and behold, this is a democracy and the mob doesn鈥檛 rule. Our leaders are chosen through the ballot box, not coup d鈥檈tats.
The insurrectionist mob at the Capitol, driven to a frenzy by a blizzard of misinformation, was trying to thwart the workings of a government voted for by the people, and prevent a duly-elected president and vice president from taking office.
What kind of message are we sending around the world? What are we teaching young people about the democratic process? The people who were part of that mob may claim the mantle of patriotism and claim to love America, but they certainly don鈥檛 seem too enamored of its values. The values of autocrats like Vladimir Putin seem to animate them more.
Saccone, Mastriano, and everyone who participated in Wednesday蘑菇视频 mob scene at Capitol Hill should feel embarrassment and everlasting shame.
Observer-Reporter