[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 115 (Tuesday, June 23, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3131-S3132]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                PROTESTS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, 2 weeks ago, I argued that civil 
discourse in America faces a crossroads.
  A major newspaper had buckled under pressure from the social media 
mob. They apologized profusely for publishing a policy argument from a 
U.S. Senator and made personnel changes to prove their penitence. I 
said that we could either recommit to our tradition of seasoned debate 
or let an angry mob run our culture.
  Recent days have reminded us that it is not just our present-day 
debates that far-left radicals want to overwhelm. They also want to 
rewrite the past.
  Back in 2017, when people wondered whether our important 
conversations over Confederate monuments would give the far left a 
broader taste for pulling down statues, major newspapers and media 
figures literally mocked that concern. They said there were obvious 
differences between rebel generals and our Nation's Founders. They said 
nobody would come gunning for Washington or Jefferson. Well, the far 
left missed the memo.
  A few days ago, in Portland, OR, a mob graffitied a statue of our 
first President, pulled it down, and burned an American flag over his 
head. This is George Washington.
  Another Washington statue was defaced in Baltimore. A statue of 
Thomas Jefferson was ripped down in Portland also. This is the general 
and first President who built our Nation and the author of the 
Declaration of Independence--genius statesmen who helped begin this 
grand experiment that has

[[Page S3132]]

brought freedom to hundreds of millions and saved the world a few times 
for good measure.
  Yet, a crazy fringe is treating their monuments like vanity statues 
of tinhorn tyrants. Our Founding Fathers are being roped to the ground 
like they were Saddam Hussein.
  The list goes on: Saint Junipero Serra, the missionary settler whom 
Pope Francis celebrated here in Washington a few years ago to 
bipartisan applause, sided with native people over soldiers; Ulysses S. 
Grant, the general who crushed the Confederacy, the President who used 
Federal force to fight the Klan. They, too, have been placed on the 
historical hit list for this new Red Guard that nobody elected. There 
are more monuments toppled up and down the west coast.
  There could be no clearer sign that these far-left radicals have 
severed any connection to the righteous cause of racial justice. They 
have literally tried to succeed where Robert E. Lee failed and bring 
General Grant to the ground.
  Like any cultural revolution, this far-left anger is sparing some 
heroes of their own. I understand that in Seattle, a large statue of 
Vladimir Lenin stands quite untouched. Apparently, people claim with a 
straight face that this Communist statue has survived because it is 
located--wait for it--on private property. So the Founding Father of 
the mass-murdering Soviet Union watches over Seattle streets, but our 
own Founding Fathers are dragged in the dirt.
  A small slice of our national elite has spent years cooking up 
highfalutin theories to justify the cheapest, basest forms of anti-
Americanism. The absurd claim that America's deepest founding principle 
is bigotry has escaped the ivory tower and begun seeping into society.
  The United States of America can and should have nuanced 
conversations about our complex past. We can and should have 
discussions about our future. We can and should have peaceful protests. 
But this lawlessness serves none of that. It is just an alliance of 
convenience between angry criminals who think it is fun to wreak havoc 
and a slice of elite society that profits off saying that our country 
is evil and deserves the abuse. Enough. Enough.
  The vast majority of Americans know full well that imperfect heroes 
are still heroes, that our imperfect Union is still the greatest Nation 
in world history. Americans know that our imperfect Framers built our 
Nation on moral truths that fueled improvement beyond anything their 
generation could have built themselves. The American people know this. 
They also know that we cannot let angry mobs carrying ropes act outside 
the rule of law.
  It was central to the 14th Amendment and the civil rights movement 
that law enforcement and local authorities may not do their jobs 
selectively. If ``equal protection of the laws'' means anything, it 
means mayors and Governors cannot selectively stand down because they 
would rather not pay the political price for confronting a particular 
mob. But that is precisely what we are seeing in Democratic-governed 
cities all across our country.
  In Seattle, for weeks now, a mayor has let bands of people ban police 
from several square blocks. People have been shot. A teenager has died. 
But, apparently, stopping this insanity has been deemed less 
politically correct than letting it continue. Night after night, 
Governors and mayors have stood down and watched criminals spray paint 
churches and topple statues. Public order is now totally optional and 
depends on the lawbreaker's politics.
  Here in Washington, last night, local police protected one monument 
from a memorial-hunting mob over near the White House. It is past time 
for that courage to be replicated in every city, every night, until 
Americans have the peace and the rule of law that all of our citizens 
deserve.
  It is no surprise that people who want to say our country is 
intrinsically evil are so frantic to erase history that they will break 
the law to do it. Erasing history is the only way their claims could 
carry any water.
  Americans know that an imperfect nation built by imperfect heroes is 
still the most perfect Union the world has ever seen. We are proud to 
build statues of the geniuses who fought to found this country. We are 
proud to build statues to the leaders who have preserved it. We are 
proud to build statues of prophetic civil rights leaders who made the 
country confront gross injustice. We thank God that all kinds of 
imperfect people have made us a more perfect Union.
  When the dust settles, it is never--never--the mobs or bullies whom 
we honor. It is the brave leaders who confront them

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