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DC Elite Used National Guard As Props, Questioned Their Loyalty, Then Made Them Sleep In Parking Garage

By: Jordan Boyd
4 min read
National Guard sleeps in parking garage

After 25,000 National Guardsman provide security in DC, politicians banished them from the Capitol, forcing them to sleep in parking garages.

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Shortly after they demanded that 25,000 members of the National Guard provide security for President Joe Biden’s inauguration, Washington, D.C. politicians quietly banished thousands of troops from the U.S. Capitol, forcing them to set up sleeping quarters in nearby parking garages on Thursday night.

While temperatures outside dropped to the low 40s, more than 5,000 Guardsmen, who didn’t experience any of the predicted violent clashes on Inauguration Day, were forced to share one electrical outlet, two restroom stalls, and rest their heads on the concrete, without an explanation.

“Yesterday dozens of senators and congressmen walked down our lines taking photos, shaking our hands, and thanking us for our service. Within 24 hours, they had no further use for us and banished us to the corner of a parking garage. We feel incredibly betrayed,” one Guardsman told Politico.

Multiple senators, representatives, and other government officials on both sides of the political aisle decried the decision. Some offered up their offices as sleeping quarters, others brought them food, and some called on Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and other congressional leaders to provide answers.

The National Guard did not respond to The Federalist’s calls, but told other outlets, “Guard leadership did not make the decision and were ‘doing their best to provide rest shelter for troops who are still on 12-hour shifts protecting the Capitol and congressional grounds.’”

While the troops were eventually allowed back into the Capitol complex, it is still unclear as to who ordered that the Guardsmen be removed from the historic building so swiftly and why. Some sources suggest that it was at the request of a Democratic lawmaker, possibly Rep. Bill Keating of Massachusetts, who was upset that some of the troops weren’t wearing masks. Keating denied that his complaint was what spurred the decision and other congressional leaders such as Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer did not respond to The Federalist’s request for comment.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott also directed their states’ troops that were present in D.C. to return home Thursday night, shortly after news broke of the sleeping arrangements.

“These folks are soldiers, not Nancy Pelosi’s servants,” DeSantis said on “Fox and Friends” Friday morning. “This is a half-cocked mission at this point and the appropriate thing is to bring them home,” he added.

Despite the virtue signaling from both the left and the right, the Guard’s deportation from the Capitol comes mere days after Democrats encouraged the vetting of National Guard members, especially those assigned to provide security in D.C. following the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, for ties to “extremism” and support for former President Donald Trump.

“When you have Guardsmen and women coming from all over the nation at this time, I do think that it is prudent to make sure that they are being vetted and that anybody who cannot pledge allegiance to their missions, and may be pulled by other views, needs not only to be removed from this duty, they need to be removed from the Guard,” D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said on Tuesday.

Just days before, Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., explained a similar concept to CNN’s Jim Sciutto, saying that even though “the Guard is 90-some-odd-percent male … only about 20 percent of white males voted for Biden.”

“You’ve got to figure that in the Guard, which is predominantly more conservative — I see that on my social media, and we know it. They’re probably not more than 25 percent of the people that are there protecting us who voted for Biden,” Cohen said. “The other 75 percent are in the class, the large class of folks, who might want to do something.”

Jordan Boyd is a staff writer at The Federalist and co-producer of The Federalist Radio Hour. Her work has also been featured in The Daily Wire, Fox News, and RealClearPolitics. Jordan graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow her on Twitter @jordanboydtx.

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