Congressman Andrew Clyde knows more about the 2nd Amendment and the IRS than most in Congress, or anywhere for that matter. Last week, he made headlines by referring to the rioters who breached the Capitol on January 6th as tourists. I talked to him about his comments, you can listen to it here. His basic defense was that the mainstream media was taking him out of context and that is true. They did not include his whole statement which called it a riot but not rising to the level of an insurrection.
However, I think it is important to note that he was describing one portion of video that was very tame and could have been characterized as a group of tourists. The video did not show the breaking into the Capitol, the destruction before and after the video he was referencing, the calls of harm to be done to the Vice President of the United States or Clyde’s own actions to protect his colleagues on that day, which were notable. So, I think it is fair to say that Rep. Clyde took that video out of context to put the event in a different light.
Make no mistake about it. Any forced entry, destruction of property, threats and other disruption of business is not a protest, it is a riot. I do not call it an insurrection, unless you call the takeover of a federal building and police precinct in Portland for weeks an insurrection, also. Words matter and context matters. It is time to take the temperature down and start talking to each other again, with respect.
