Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) said during the January 6 Day of Remembrance and Action candlelight vigil, which Antifa partly organized, that Republicans are the “shrinking minority party standing with the most authoritarian, fascistic elements of the whole country.”
Raskin opened his speech at the candlelight vigil to claim that many pro-law enforcement Americans are “phony.”
The Maryland Democrat asked rhetorically, “And where are those phony defenders of law enforcement who only rear their ugly heads when some racist cop beats up an African-American citizen? We don’t hear from them about January 6, do we?”
Raskin backs the Justice in Policing Act, which would weaken law enforcement’s qualified immunity and make it harder for law enforcement to operate.
Raskin then proclaimed that most young Americans back the Democrat Party, while the Republican Party allegedly has backed the most “authoritarian” elements of America.
“The young people on our side. The new Americans are on our side. They are a shrinking minority party standing with the most authoritarian, fascistic elements of the whole country,” Raskin said.
Raskin then cheered Reps. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) and Liz Cheney (R-WY) for “standing up for Democracy.” Kinzinger and Cheney, two Never Trump Republicans, serve on Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) January 6 Select Committee and are frequent critics of the 45th president.
Raskin also said that Republicans have control over many levers of the anti-democratic power such as “gerrymandering” congressional districts, the filibuster, and voter integrity bills, which he called “voter suppression tactics.”
Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC), and Andy Kim (D-NJ) also spoke at the candlelight vigil.
More than 100 activist groups hosted the candlelight vigil, including ShutDown DC:
On January 6 we are rising up for democracy. Join us on the National Mall. https://t.co/aqTQjbyj1l
— ShutDownDC (@ShutDown_DC) December 29, 2021
ShutDown DC was founded in 2019 as an antifascist organization to “respond to the Youth Climate Strikes’ Call to Action. The group is committed to “anti-oppressive principles, transformative justice, and sustainable organizing.”
ShutDown DC organized a protest outside Sen. Josh Hawley’s (R-MO) home in January 2021, in which the Antifa group threatened his wife and children. Patrick Young, a ShutDown DC organizer, defended the group’s actions.
The group asked Hawley if the senator would be home on January 4 because they “were thinking of paying [him] a visit.”
.@HawleyMO are you going to be at your house in Virginia on January 4? We were thinking of paying you a visit but didn’t want to miss you again. https://t.co/tasmksG1dw
— ShutDownDC (@ShutDown_DC) December 23, 2021
ShutDown DC similarly harassed Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), White House chief of staff Ron Klain, and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC).
D.C. police arrested 24 ShutDown DC protesters outside Klain’s house in August 2021.
ShutDown DC protestors surrounded Graham’s house calling on him to oppose then-Supreme Court Justice nominee Amy Comey Barrett’s nomination in September 2020.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) wrote a letter to Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) calling on them to condemn the candlelight vigil.
He explained:
The organizers behind this event have a history of engaging in extremist tactics to interfere with workings of democracy. During a week where you have vociferously condemned those who tried to obstruct congressional proceedings last January 6th, you must also be similarly willing to call out leftist activists who have also engaged in criminal acts to interfere with democracy.
…
When it comes to political violence and criminal obstruction of government by the left, the silence by Democrats has been deafening. Democrats looked the other way when antifa rioters torched a federal courthouse in Portland. They did the same when left-wing rioters in Seattle seized power from a democratically elected government and tried to secede by creating a breakaway anarchist zone. And they did the same when hundreds unlawfully trespassed into the Senate to disrupt the nomination process of Justice Kavanaugh and then tried to breach the Supreme Court in an attempt to prevent Justice Kavanaugh from taking his oath.
“If in fact you truly believe that attempts to interfere with democracy should be condemned, then you must break from your past silence and begin condemning those actions when they are committed by the left,” Hawley concluded in his letter to Schumer and Pelosi. “It is imperative that you ask members of your caucus to shun groups like Shut Down DC and to cancel their plans to speak at their event.”
Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
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