The Capitol riot highlighted the need for DC statehood in tragic, terrifying relief. The 700,000 residents of DC watched as racist armed insurrectionists took over city streets, hotels, restaurants, Airbnbs, and peaceful neighborhoods before and after the Capitol attack, powerless to do anything about it.

DC Mayor Muriel Bowser was hamstrung in her attempt to send in critical backup to the Capitol as the attack was unfolding; because DC isn’t a state, she was barred from the normal power to send in National Guard troops afforded to every other state leader. Instead, Bowser had to rely on approval from the White House, which presented a deadly catch-22 that resulted in hours of havoc (and the Pentagon didn’t want to intervene, supposedly because of the “optics” – another creepy story too long for this post).  

DC residents pay taxes but have no say in the federal government that’s disrupted all of city life, and it’s a matter of justice – not politics – that we amend that by making DC a state.    (Hannah Giorgis, Patriotic Millionaires).

My comment:  it becomes increasingly clear that social media, lousy education, insecure employment, and the indecent gap between rich and poor (add other factors as you wish) have bred gangs of (mostly) ignorant young men who are susceptible to lies and wild distortions spread by Nazis and Fascists, a type resurrected after eighty odd years, complete with imaginary plots and hate speech, set on disrupting the ordered lives of the rest of us.  We can expect more of this, and we must not repeat the mistakes of the 1930s.   No appeasement!

Oh, and DC should be a state – it has a higher population than some Western states as it is.