Wednesday in Washington was Outrageous and Unacceptable

Not since 1954, when four Puerto Rican nationalists shot 30 semi-automatic rounds from the gallery of the U.S. House in support of independence for their homeland — injuring five — has chaos reigned in the U.S. Capitol building as it did Wednesday.

I have had the high honor of working in those halls for decades — particularly in the 1970s and 1980s but also since — and I have never seen anything remotely like that remarkable and despicable day.

I have always had great respect for the U.S. Capitol Police — notwithstanding the routine inconvenience of standing in line to pass through their metal detectors or other necessary security precautions I have often felt burdened by — and for their leadership and the Sergeants at Arms to whom they report. But Wednesday showed a different side to the Capitol police, as I watched them protect individual members of Congress, many of whom took cover under desks and chairs on the floor of the House or literally hid in their respective offices. Some members barricaded their doors — and who could blame them? It was all truly unbelievable, even for a Hill veteran.

I first came to Washington in the summer of 1975, having finished only one year of college, to work for my hometown Arizona congressman,  then the chair of the House Interior Committee and a former pro basketball player, a tall, lanky man, who was no doubt the single funniest member of Congress ever. I became his national youth coordinator at age 18, only to see him come in second in nearly every Democratic presidential primary to some Georgia peanut farmer.

After college, I returned to Washington to work for a string of more losing presidential candidates — my childhood friends called me “The Kiss of Death.” I could work on two or three losing campaigns in the same cycle: one in the primary and another in the general. But my luck changed when I worked for another non-Washingtonian — the sitting governor of Arkansas — in 1992, and I subsequently followed him to Washington as something of a combination press aide and ultimate advance person/image decisor.

Having worked on the other end of Pennsylvania Ave. for a time, I can tell you nothing like what happened Wednesday at the Capitol building could ever have happened at that big white house. Well, not something that didn’t also involve British troops, anyway. And that was WAY before I was born (not just three years before). You breach the fence there — you don’t get told to stop; you get shot.

In all my time in DC, I have never seen nor imagined anything such as Wednesday.

As for Wednesday’s criminal “protesters” — let’s call them what they really were: rioters. I have seen my share of terrible stuff in the 45 years I have been in Washington, including more than a few protests, a lot of behind-the-scenes security, plenty of the politics-of-strange-bedfellows and even self-described political crusades. But in all my time here, I have never seen nor imagined anything such as Wednesday. It was sickening, even for someone with a cast-iron stomach. Neither TV nor a bad movie could realistically have depicted such a scene.

I truly hope the rioters get the justice they deserve — soon, or maybe beginning in a couple of weeks — and for those who egged them on, you are who are. And for all whom they represent — denying the true results of November’s presidential election and trying to overturn it, seeking every possible recount and supporting every ridiculous court challenge, conspiracy theory and endless presidential lie — these are not just your compatriots and fellow countrymen; this is your reflection in the political mirror.

You must be very proud.

Steve Rabinowitz is founder and president of Bluelight Strategies, a Washington, DC public affairs firm, and a veteran of the national staffs of nine U.S. presidential campaigns. @steverabinowitz