This Incident May Be the One History Marks As the Nightfall Of Democracy

This is another dark day for democracy in what has been a month of dark days and it’s not coincidental that the darkness fell on January 20. We inch farther towards fascism on any given day with Trump back in office but today’s physical brutality towards a sitting senator was more like a grand jete in the direction of authoritarianism. We are no longer living in a normal bipartisan democracy. In that state of affairs, people agree to disagree, but people are not literal armed camps against one another and actively hating and acting out towards one another. Kristi Noem is one of the worst of the partisan shills. She has no business whatsoever doing partisan soundbites in the Oval Office, but she does just that. This video tells you everything you need to know. This is Alex Padilla (D-CA) being ganged up upon and wrestled to the floor for no reason whatsoever by Noem’s agents. And had there been just cause to approach the senator, this is not the way to do it.

While this is going on, you hear Kristi Noem droning on in the background as if everything was normal. This is not normal. This has to stop and now but unfortunately common sense dictates that this is only just getting started. Patty Murray had some choice words about this incident which every American needs to hear.

This afternoon, Washington Senator Patty Murray, who has been in the Senate for more than 32 years, rose to condemn the treatment of California Senator Alex Padilla, who was manhandled out of a press conference being held by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, after saying he had questions to ask and identifying himself as a United States Senator.

Noem said afterwards on Fox News that Padilla lunged toward the podium where she was speaking and failed to identify himself.

But the video doesn’t seem to reflect that, although it starts midway into the incident. Watch it from various angles and judge for yourself. This version is circulating on a number of senators’ accounts. This one starts a little earlier and is from a different perspective. In this video, agents shove Padilla to the ground and order him to put his hands behind his back before someone tells the person taking the video it isn’t allowed there.

DHS had this to say. You can watch the video and make up your own mind about whether this reflects what you see on tape.

Oh yes, the Secret Service had every reason to think that Alex Padilla was “an attacker” after he clearly stated who he was and his purpose in being in the room. How gracious of Secretary Noem to meet with the senator after having his ass kicked. Real noblesse oblige, that. Here are Senator Patty Murray’s words.

“Mr. President, I come to the floor this afternoon, to the United States Senate, a place where people are elected by their constituents to come here to be their voice, every one of us. Republican, Democrat, elected by the people who we represent, to come here and be their voice and to do the job.

What is that job? To make sure that we are being their voice and speaking out for them, and part of that has to be asking questions. Part of that has to be demanding accountability. That has to be getting information so we can do the best job possible.

It is unacceptable that a United States Senator, in his own home state, elected by millions of people, went to ask a question for his constituents, to get an answer, and was brutally thrown to the ground and handcuffed.

That is wrong, and I cannot believe that we don’t have Senators on both sides of the aisle calling this out as outrageous.

This is what a democracy is about, Mr. President. Mr. President, it is about us coming to the United States Senate, speaking out, asking questions, getting information, so we can be their voice.

What happens when that voice is stifled? What happens when that voice is thrown to the floor and handcuffed? Our democracy is lost.

Mr. President, I have been here more than 32 years. I have come to this floor often to speak out, to be angry, to be a voice for my people. I have never come this close to having tears in my eyes, as I speak to both sides of this aisle, about this horrendous incident that occurred.

We are a democracy, but we can lose that democracy. It can be gone, unless all of us speak out and forcibly reject what happened to a United States Senator.

And to send the message that in this democracy it is just, it is right, it is part of our responsibility to speak up, to ask questions, and to be able to have the knowledge we need to represent the people that we come here for.

We use our voices, Mr. President. We use our votes, Mr. President, to be a part of this democracy. Not violence.

When violence is done by someone representing this administration, in a forceful way, against a United States Senator, how does any one of us go home and tell our constituents that they can be part of a democracy, speak out about what they believe in?

This is so wrong. This is so wrong.

Mr. President, I hope others speak up and speak out, and as a voice we say we want our democracy to succeed, and in order to succeed we need to be able to use our voices and to use our votes and to ask questions without being forcibly thrown to the ground, without being arrested by speaking up.

I say to the entire country, we have a democracy. We will lose it if we can’t use our voices. We will lose this democracy. None of us should be silent. None of us.”

This is our “A republic — if you can keep it, moment.” There is no excuse for this. Noem is the lowest of the low to permit this on her watch. But then we can’t say this is surprising. This is a woman who showed up and did a photo op in front of caged prisoners in an El Salvadoran jail, wearing full stage makeup, a tight sweater and a $50K Rolex watch. This is all political theater to these people — so of course that’s what they accuse Senator Padilla of.

And I firmly believe that the fact that Padilla is a California senator weighed into this assault today. This is unforgivable.

Tomorrow is Friday the 13th. And then we have Trump’s $40 million birthday bash.

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