Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) once again fanned the flames of insurrection on Thursday in his response to a domestic terrorist plot to bomb the Capitol.
Law enforcement successfully stopped the attempted bombing by coaxing the suspect— a Trump fan who spouts election lies and hates President Joe Biden— to surrender.
It’s the first attack on the Capitol since January 6th when a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to overthrow democracy and assassinate lawmakers.
Brooks, who helped incite that mob, expressed sympathy for the would-be bomber while inciting further violence.
“Although this terrorist’s motivation is not yet publicly known … generally speaking, I understand citizenry anger directed at dictatorial Socialism and its threat to liberty, freedom and the very fabric of American society,” Brooks said in a statement.
My statement on the Capitol bomb threat: pic.twitter.com/yCuTNTbJyP
— Mo Brooks (@RepMoBrooks) August 19, 2021
This is the kind of rhetoric that incites these very acts of violence. It is absolutely incorrect to label Democrats as “socialists.” Brooks likely doesn’t even know the meaning of the word. Rather than condemn this terrorist attack outright, Brooks sympathized with the perpetrator and seemed to welcome future attempts all while insisting that voting is the way to fight back even as he and his fellow Republicans continue to attack voting rights.
Democratic lawmakers blasted Brooks, as did Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), the only Republican with a spine.
I know it seems like hyperbole when we say that Republicans have become enemies of democracy, but here is a mainstream Republican
TAKING
THE
SIDE
OF
THE
BOMBER. https://t.co/O0VGgbJANI— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) August 19, 2021
— Adam Kinzinger (@AdamKinzinger) August 19, 2021
The GOP has a decision to make. Are we going to be the party that keeps stoking sympathy for domestic terrorists and pushes out truth, or finally take a stand for truth. I’ve made my decision, so has Mo. Now it’s up to GOP conference leadership to make theirs. https://t.co/RwbvKVWSE7
— Adam Kinzinger (@AdamKinzinger) August 19, 2021
Tell us you stand with the terrorist without telling us you stand with the terrorist. https://t.co/oORYT2ujPP
— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) August 19, 2021
What bothers so many of my @HouseDemocrats’ colleagues about this tweet is that we know if @RepMoBrooks wasn’t in Congress on January 6 he would have been on the other side of the chamber with the violent mob. https://t.co/tFXDVfMJAb
— Eric Swalwell (@ericswalwell) August 19, 2021
It is astonishing that this needs to be said but no one who serves in Congress should be expressing public sympathy with the views of a terrorist who threatened to blow up the U.S. Capitol. I would have thought we could all at least agree on that.
— Rep. Don Beyer (@RepDonBeyer) August 19, 2021
I introduced a resolution to investigate and expel insurrectionist members of Congress like Mo Brooks while in lockdown on January 6th.
We need to pass it. When we let white supremacists go unchecked, they’re only emboldened. pic.twitter.com/QWnKUyZ2Ww
— Cori Bush (@CoriBush) August 20, 2021
By all rights, Brooks should be arrested and expelled from Congress for inciting insurrection in many citizen’s view. He is just as much a threat to our democracy as the domestic terrorists he sympathizes with, according to them.
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