Senate Republicans weighed Tuesday in on the riots that have been occurring in Los Angeles, stressing support for law enforcement.
The protests in L.A. quickly morphed into outbreaks of violence against law enforcement, prompting President Donald Trump to send in the California National Guard and U.S. Marines.
A majority of registered voters support Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to quell the disturbance, according to a new poll conducted by RMG Research.
“I think when it comes to the issue of safety and security, all you have to do is look at what’s happening and has been happening in Los Angeles to realize that our law enforcement needs all the support that we could possibly give to them,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said at a Tuesday press conference.
“I was heartened to hear the mayor of Los Angeles say yesterday that her interaction with the American military, particularly the National Guard, has been one of collaboration, and to me, that’s how it ought to be,” Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in response to a reporter’s question about sending troops to L.A.
“It seems to most Americans that this is a very dangerous situation, and I really think the governor may be making a mistake there, politically, when the situation is fraught with the possibility of extreme violence,” Wicker continued.
In response to a reporter’s question regarding California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s contention that Trump’s federal deployment of troops was not needed in L.A., Wicker, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, contended that the governor of his state, Mississippi, would have been happy to have additional law enforcement personnel in his state.
“In similar situations, I would say the governor of Mississippi would be happy to have all the help he could get,” Wicker noted.
Thune said he thinks that the issue of the violence in Los Angeles comes down to the basic role of government.
“And I think that, as Sen. Wicker pointed out, it’s kind of a political imperative, honestly, because one of the most fundamental questions most people and most lawyers ask is: Is my family safe? Is my neighborhood safe? Is my community safe? Is my country safe?” the Senate majority leader explained.
“And [when] you can’t answer that in the affirmative, then you got a problem. And I think that’s what they ran into in L.A., which is why they needed some outside help,” Thune added.
“But at the end of the day, it was about preventing chaos and preserving law and order,” the South Dakota senator added.