County Judge Says Trump, Others Share Responsibility
Fayette County Judge Joe Weber condemned the acts of violence at the Nation’s Capitol last Wednesday, Jan. 6. Weber said President Donald Trump is not the only person to blame for the mob that breached the chambers of Congress in an attempt to stop the electoral vote count.
“I don’t think President Trump handled it correctly, but I don’t think he’s the one to blame all by himself,” Weber said.
“I think what happened yesterday is much bigger than one person, Donald Trump. I think this all started three or four years ago.”
Weber laid much of the blame on Congress.
“There’s a lot of people in this country very upset,” Weber said. “(Congress) has got to get in there and work together and calm things down, and not throw more fuel on the fire by what they do. Because if they don’t - if the polarization is there and they can’t work together – then this is just the beginning.
“They’re all guilty. It’s not the Democrats or the Republicans,” Weber continued. “You’ve got a Democrat out in California telling people that they’ve got to riot and push people around, because that’s the only way they’ll be heard. You’ve got a very powerful lady who is the Speaker of the House standing up in front of the nation tearing up a speech. Fuel on the fire. You’ve got the President – fuel on the fire. All of them. They’re all guilty.
“I’m upset at the 535 people who are sitting up there and are supposed to be running this country. The people have no confidence in them. The polls are in the toilet. I think a great many people think (Congress) is incapable of governing. They better get their act together. I don’t care what party you are. These two parties – I tell you what, I’m a conservative, but I’m not in any party right now. My party is the people I serve. These politicians need to start focusing on the people they serve instead of a blue party or a red party. That’s what the problem is. Man, I’m frustrated. I get emotional about this.”
Weber, a retired Marine Corps general, said he was not surprised to see a protest involving supporters of President Trump descend into violence, even though Trump often criticized violent protests from the left.
“It don’t matter whether you’re on the left or on the right, but it started on the left,” Weber said. “People go out there and protest, riot, tear things up, and (they said) it was justified. That was the only way they could be heard.
“It doesn’t make it right for the other side to do it,” Weber added. “But human nature, what would you expect? My gosh, we’ve been doing this for three or four years. No one snuffed it out and put an end to it. So, why should we be surprised that people on the right or someone else did that.”
Weber said the days of peaceful protests may be over in America.
“I don’t know if the American people can execute a peaceful demonstration anymore,” he said. “I don’t know if they know how to do that or know what that is anymore. Particularly when people inject themselves to stir up trouble. I’m all for peaceful demonstrations. I think that’s an important right we all need to have. But I’m not sure the American people are capable of carrying one out anymore.”
Furthermore, Weber said he was surprised at the lack of preparation by the Capitol Police.
“It seemed amazing to me, strange to me why they weren’t set up better to keep something like that from happening,” he said.
Weber said the attack will likely lead to more restrictions on visitors to the Capitol grounds.
“So the solution now will be they’ll build a great big old wall around the Capitol and no one will be able to visit it anymore,” he said.
Speaking of the event’s future political impacts, Weber commented on a map of the Country that showed Republican majorities in communities across much of the American landmass, with pockets of Democrat majorities in the major urban areas and along the coast. He said Republicans can no longer depend on rural votes to hold power because there are so many more urban voters in the Country today.
“We are a divided people: the rural and the inner city,” he said. “Politicians are going to have to learn how to deal with that to find votes.”
When asked how the unrest at the Nation’s Capitol might affect Fayette County, Weber said the recent events may encourage more people to leave cities and move to rural areas.
“I think you’re going to see people fleeing to areas like this County in the future,” Weber said. “They’re tired of it, and they don’t have to put up with it here. It’s not going to affect Fayette County today or tomorrow, but it’s going to affect us in the next five to ten years. These kind of shenanigans – not just in Washington, D.C., but it’s going on in other big metropolitan areas – people are going to get tired of that.”