“Thank you, but fuck you for being there.”

That’s Washington DC Metropolitan police officer Michael Fanone in an interview with CNN. And that is exactly the right response to the Capitol rioters who were preparing to kill Fanone with his own gun, after yanking him into their mosh pit by his helmet. Fanone, a 40-year-old father of four who suffered a mild heart attack during the melee, wrestled for his life with the stormtroopers. “It was like a medieval battle scene,” said Fanone, one of the outnumbered riot cops who faced thousands of Trump attackers outside the Capitol on January 6. The desperate Fanone finally pleaded that “I have kids” — and a few of his tormentors took pity on him and escorted him back to police lines. So, yes, thank you — but fuck you.

I believe that our shattered U.S. democracy needs a strong dose of law and order now — or the next assault on our system of government will be even more catastrophic. So, yes, power to the FBI agents who are now rounding up the neo-Nazis, white supremacists, QAnon quacks and other fanatics who violently overran the Capitol building last week — some with murderous intent.

And all power to a righteously furious Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who announced yesterday that she not only intends to hold Trump accountable for incitement, but any members of Congress who were accomplices of the bloodthirsty mob. The snakes are clearly in the marble halls of Washington, not just swarming outside. And Congressional leaders need to impose law and order in their own building first and foremost. Any fanatic who whipped up the mob, gave them directions and targets, tries to carry firearms onto the floor of the House or in any other way defaces or disgraces democracy needs to be removed from Congress and prosecuted.

https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2021/01/15/dc-police-officers-capitol-riot-prokupecz-newday-vpx.cnn