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By William Kibler
bkibler@altoonamirror.com
Local Republicans condemned the storming of the nation's Capitol on Wednesday by supporters of President Donald Trump, an attack in which protestors overcame police, broke windows, roamed hallways, entered offices and a legislative chamber and interrupted debate on certifying Trump's recent electoral college loss, sending lawmakers scrambling for safety -- a mob scene that left a woman dead after being shot.
The march occurred after a rally at the nearby White House in which Trump called the election "rigged" by "radical Democrats" and the "fake news media," and suggested his listeners "walk down ... to the Capitol" to cheer on lawmakers planning to object to the election results while "we're probably not going to be cheering so much" for the others, wrote The Palm Beach Post.
"My initial reaction was rage," said State Rep. Lou Schmitt, R-Altoona, about Wednesday's invasion of the nation's legislative seat. "Then I felt an abject sadness."
The day's events represent the "lowest peacetime point" in the nation's history, Schmitt said. "A peacetime riot strikes at the very heart of our capital," he said. "The capital of the Western world."
While many commentators blamed Trump, Schmitt was more inclined to blame the individuals who went to Washington "with bad intentions," "looking for a fight," he said.
Those who did so were equally culpable with those who committed violence during the summer protests after the killing of George Floyd by police, Schmitt said.
"A riot is a riot," he said.
People tend to take democracy for granted, but republics are inherently "fragile," and can fail, like those in Athens and Rome, Schmitt said.
"I don't think we can take (ours) for granted anymore," he said.
Yet Wednesday's events are not themselves so much the problem as a symptom of the problem, which is that many people "are simply not happy with the state of their country" -- a disaffection inflamed by governmental "paralysis," especially at the federal level, Schmitt said.
The scene in Washington on Wednesday was "disturbing to watch," said State Rep. Jim Gregory, R-Hollidaysburg.
Gregory prayed that protesters "would find a way to make their voices heard peacefully," and that officers would be safe, he said. "(But) there were people who are just at a boiling point, and it boiled over."
"Clearly, there's been an incendiary atmosphere created," Gregory said. "All of us, including myself -- and it begins with the president -- need to self-reflect on our roles in the climate we find ourselves in."
But Trump's dissatisfaction with the results are not without merit, Gregory indicated.
While he can't speak for what happened in other states, "I have great difficulty understanding how the results in Pennsylvania ended up the way (they) did," Gregory said. "(Still), we have to move on," he said.
Everyone should "put down the guns, metaphorically speaking," Gregory said.
"My heart is really heavy," state Sen. Judy Ward, R-Blair, said about Wednesday's disorder. "Violence at the Capitol is not what we as Americans are about."
People are "frustrated," Ward said, when asked whether Trump is to blame.
She doesn't think Trump incited the crowd.
"The intent of the rally was (to be) a peaceful one, which is certainly something our Constitution affords," she said.
The president is following a "process" in challenging the election results, one that includes Wednesday's legislative objections, Ward said, when asked about Trump's stolen election claim.
"Everyone deserves due process," she said.
"I'm just sick about what happened," said Jim Foreman, chairman of the Blair County Republican Committee of Wednesday's events. "It's not indicative of Republican principles."
"I imagined that today would be bad," said Gillian Kratzler, chairwoman of the Blair County Democratic Committee. "I didn't imagine this."
She cited the adage about freedom of action that stops "at my nose."
It applies equally to Wednesday's mayhem as to the summer's Black Lives Matter protests, she said. But officers' responses to the BLM protests were often harsher than their response to Wednesday's protests, she suggested.
"Violent protest is always unacceptable," wrote U.S. Rep. John Joyce, R-13th District, who was part of the group that planned to object to the election results, in a prepared statement emailed by his spokeswoman.
Those responsible for security at the Capitol were clearly unprepared, and should be held responsible, Schmitt said.
People in the capitals of "enemy" nations are laughing at us," Schmitt said.
"Who looks like the Banana Republic tonight?" Schmitt asked rhetorically.
Trish Haight of Blair County organized a group to travel to Washington on Wednesday.
"We want to save the republic, because if we don't get the election right, with all this criminality and fraud, it's over," Haight said by phone on the way back from Washington. Outside the White House, Trump presented "a lot" of evidence that he'd won the election, Haight said.
The courts, which rejected all the many challenges to the results launched by the Trump campaign, didn't hear that evidence, Haight said.
"We have to fight for our rights or we are not going to have them anymore," she said.
"There were a lot of good people down here," Haight said.
"I barely have words," said Kratzer, the Democrat. "I'm so deeply ashamed of the way that at every turn, the Republican Party has gone along with this."
"This is an ugly night for our nation and everyone involved and for our party," Foreman said.
Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.