The Washington Post defended a mob of leftist protesters, who under the cover of night yelled through a megaphone and trespassed at the home of Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., while Hawley was away and his wife and children, including a newborn, were inside.
“Tonight while I was in Missouri, Antifa scumbags came to our place in DC and threatened my wife and newborn daughter, who can’t travel,” Hawley wrote on Twitter. “They screamed threats, vandalized, and tried to pound open our door.”
Tonight while I was in Missouri, Antifa scumbags came to our place in DC and threatened my wife and newborn daughter, who can’t travel. They screamed threats, vandalized, and tried to pound open our door. Let me be clear: My family & I will not be intimidated by leftwing violence
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) January 5, 2021
The Washington Post, however, insisted that the protest outside the congressman’s house was just a “peaceful vigil.”
“The activists said they had staged a peaceful vigil on Monday night to protest a GOP plan to object to Congress’s certification of the presidential electoral vote this week,” the Post wrote. “On the sidewalk in a Northern Virginia suburb, a group of 15 people chanted while holding candles and signs saying, ‘Protect democracy.’”
Admitting that police in Vienna, Virginia, did not respond to a request for comment, the Washington Post proceeded to downplay the protesters’ actions:
Demonstrators with ShutDownDC, which organized the protest, told The Washington Post that they did not engage in vandalism or even knock on Hawley’s door. A 50-minute video shared by the group shows protesters writing in chalk on the sidewalk, chanting through a megaphone and at one point leaving a copy of the Constitution on Hawley’s doorstep.
“This was not threatening behavior,” said Patrick Young, a ShutDownDC organizer. “This is people engaging in democracy and engaging in civil discourse. … This was a pretty tame and peaceful visit to his house.”
Police in Vienna, Va., who responded to the protest, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Post late Monday. The group’s video shows several officers asking protesters to quiet down, but then standing by as the crowd continued with its demonstration.
The demonstrators did not simply stand quietly outside Hawley’s home with candles, however. Video shows several protesters used megaphones to shout at Hawley’s family inside, trespassed on Hawley’s yard, went straight up to his front door, and argued with neighbors who asked them to be quiet.
https://twitter.com/KBoomhauer/status/1346312800231067648?s=20
Hawley fired back at the Post, writing on Twitter:
.@washingtonpost this morning printing outright lies from the Antifa group who now describe themselves as sweet angels. BS. You screamed through bullhorns, shouted down my wife when she asked you to leave, vandalized property, pounded on our door, and terrorized neighbors
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) January 5, 2021
Contrary to what you’ll hear from the Post, it is always threatening when protesters show up at a politician’s home, whether the target is a Democrat or a Republican. When the mayor of Olympia, Washington, Democrat Cheryl Selby, saw her house vandalized during Black Lives Matter riots, of which she was formally supportive, she called it “domestic terrorism.”
Democrat Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot banned protests on the block where she lives, citing concerns for her safety. “I have a right to make sure that my home is secure,” she said.
Democrat Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan, who was also overwhelmingly supportive of the BLM riots, called for an investigation into socialist Councilwoman Kshama Sawant, who led a protest outside Durkan’s home. Durkan accused Sawant of “recklessly undermin[ing] the safety of others, all for political theatre.”
Given the violent riots that took place this summer, Hawley’s wife, like the aforementioned Democratic politicians, would understandably feel threatened while protesters yelled outside her home, especially since she was alone with a newborn. Since protests outside personal addresses are threatening and the Post hadn’t heard from the local police, the corrupt publication shouldn’t have run with the story, excusing the protesters’ behavior for political points.
