Pop quiz: You’re a U.S. lawmaker and the Capitol just had to be evacuated because a man parked his truck outside the Library of Congress and delivered a tirade on Facebook Live assailing the president and other members of the Democratic Party, calling for a revolt against the government, and threatening to detonate a bomb just blocks from the scene of an insurrection earlier this year. The situation would have been terrifying enough on its own but was extra disturbing and scary given the events of January 6 and the violent sentiments expressed by supporters of the last president. Do you (a) denounce the actions of the individual and offer gratitude to the law enforcement agents who were on the scene (b) Insist that no matter one’s politics, violent rhetoric and behavior is never acceptable or (c) basically…side with the guy and say you fully understand where he’s coming from? If you’re a member of the Republican Party in the year 2021, the answer is a resounding C.
Just hours after Floyd Ray Roseberry was taken into custody, Rep. Mo Brooks released an absurd statement effectively sympathizing with what the guy was feeling when he, again, threatened to set off a bomb on Capitol Hill. Naturally, Brooks threw in a reference to socialism, likely knowing it’s the sort of red meat the conservative base absolutely eats up.
As historian Kevin Kruse commented on Twitter, it “seems like [Roseberry] was motivated by the irresponsible idiots who keep insisting the 2020 election was rigged—hey, do you know anyone who might fit that description?“ Brooks, of course, was one of the leading GOP voices spreading the lie that Joe Biden‘s 2020 win was illegitimate, saying all the way back in November, “There’s no way I’ll vote in the House to ratify the Electoral College votes of states where illegal votes distorted the will of the people in those states who voted legally.” Later, he gave a speech to the crowd at the “Stop the Steal” rally that preceded the deadly riot on Capitol Hill in which he directed Donald Trump’s supporters to “start taking down names and kicking ass.” (In July, the Department of Justice said it would not defend him against a lawsuit over his role inciting the violent mob.)
In his livestream, Roseberry said, among other things, “The revolution is on, it’s here, it’s today. America needs a voice. I’ll give it to them.”
Brooks’s statement was unsurprisingly met with disgust, which is the only correct response (though kicking him out of Congress would be a good idea too.)
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