Senator Alex Padilla crashing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s Thursday press conference, shouting over her about her “exaggerations,” and pushing against federal law enforcement officers exemplified the Democratic Party’s sudden preference for stunts over substance.
The party lacks leaders. It overflows with followers.
In the streets, activists engage in what amounts to group catharsis for show. They make gestures. Even the ones that involve violence seem primarily aimed at generating attention. Surely, more effective methods of inflicting harm exist than torching Waymos or Tom Brady-ing chunks of concrete. The injuries that ensue come as a cost, acceptable to the perpetrators, of achieving the main goal of ensuring a captive, cable-news audience for behavior expressing their outrage. (RELATED: Los Angeles Isn’t What’s Burning. The Democrat Party Might Well Be.)
Nobody throws the remnant of smashed-up cinderblocks in Congress — yet. When a party insists on the backasswards strategy of imitation of anonymous activists by elected leaders, one cannot dismiss the possibility of something akin to this happening in the near future.
In the near present, New York Democrat John Mannion screamed at New York Republican Mike Lawler on the floor of the House of Representatives. “Get on your f—ing side, Lawler,” he yelled Thursday afternoon. “This is f—ing madness, man. We’ve had enough.”
Earlier this week, a grand jury in New Jersey indicted Lamonica McIver, a House Democrat, on three counts of forcibly impeding and interfering with federal law enforcement officers. The raw video of the alleged criminal act appears to show a woman dressed in red who strongly resembles the congresswoman shoving uniformed federal personnel at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility.
Recall Rep. Al Green of Texas standing up, shaking his cane, and interrupting Donald Trump as he addressed a joint session of Congress in March. The sergeant-at-arms escorted him from the chamber. Rat...