Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
DAVENPORT—A country glued to the news sat in stunned silence on Jan. 6, as a pro-President Donald Trump far-right extremist mob rushed the Capitol building as Congress and Vice President Mike Pence convened to read the results the electoral vote of Dec. 14 that certified the 2020 general election results confirming Democrats Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as president-elect and vice president-elect.
Rioters broke into the Senate rotunda, with one man famously dressed like a buffalo sitting in Pence’s seat. (The vice president and Senate and Congress members had evacuated the premises). Others raided Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s office. Chaos reigned inside what is expected to be the second-most secure building in the country, outside of the White House.
Five people, including a Capitol police officer, were killed. Officer Brian D. Sicknick died the day after the riot due to injuries suffered from being beaten by mobsters. One woman died of gunshot wounds, while three other rioters likely died of resulting medical conditions.
70 people had been charged with crimes as of press time. A motion by the House to hold an emergency session for a Trump impeachment trial was rejected by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Jan. 13. However, after press time, the House did move to impeach Trump for the second time in his presidency.
Pence declared Biden the winner of the election. Trump still did not concede, but promised an “orderly transition of power” the day after the riot.
The shocking events of the day made lasting impressions throughout the world, including on law enforcement here.
“It was concerning,” Lincoln County Sheriff Wade Magers said. “You don’t expect that from the conservative right.”
Reardan police chief Andy Manke also expressed his surprise that a pro-Trump crowd would turn violent, saying the right typically doesn’t resort to such behaviors.
“I was extremely shocked,” Manke said. “I’ve always known the conservative right to be (on) the law and order side of things.”
“I’m still speechless,” Manke, who considers himself a political independent with conservative values, added. “I don’t know what happened to my party and my people.”
The surprise of a riot by far-right extremists felt by Magers and Manke may be reflected in the highly conservative nature of Lincoln County. Over 73% of the county’s registered voters turned out in favor of Trump in the 2020 election. However, the Biden/Harris ticket won 13 counties in the state, including heavily populated King, Whatcom and Thurston counties, as well as Whitman County. The state’s 12 electoral votes went to the Democratic candidates convincingly.
Manke said conservatives feel like they’re getting “boxed in” by the far left and cited the recent social media censorship of Trump. The president’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media accounts were permanently suspended last week.
“That (being boxed in) must be what drove the far right to (riot),” he said.
Magers said as a person in law enforcement, he viewed the raid as a security breach and felt concern for the officials “holding down the line…” namely, Capitol Police, whose ranks lost a member, Sicknick, in the attack.
“After 9/11, it’s surprising that could even happen,” Magers said. “People may have learned how easy it is.”
“I was also concerned about the safety of people holding down the line…and had concern in how easily it happened,” he added. “It should’ve never happened, and never happened with the ease it occurred.”
Manke said that those on the right typically expect such behaviors from the far left, citing violence in 2020 around the country by suspected members of Antifa, which is defined by the FBI as an ideology and is short for “anti-fascist.”
“It’s such a double standard on both sides,” Manke said. “It’s really disheartening. We wonder what’s next.”
“We’re politically driven to the point of extremism on both sides,” Magers added, also referencing the protests-turned-riots last year and comparing them to the Capitol riot. “It’s not a good image we want our country to be seen (in) throughout the world.”
Drew Lawson is the editor of the Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.
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