This Is Fascism: MAGA, Ashli Babbitt, and Derek Chauvin
Jonathan V. Last The Bulwark
Trump supporters clash with Capitol Police and other security forces as rioters storm the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. The insurrectionist mob breached security and entered the Capitol while Congress debated the 2020 presidential electoral vote certification. (photo: Brent Stirton/Getty Images)
The Trump cult loves police violence—except for when it doesn’t.
She was part of a mob attempting to break into the Speaker’s Lobby just outside the House chamber. Members of the U.S. Capitol Police were inside the room, guarding and evacuating members of Congress.
Some person or persons in Babbitt’s group broke the windows on the locked and barricaded doors to the Speaker’s Lobby. Babbitt attempted to climb through the shattered window to reach the police and members of Congress.
A Capitol Police officer had his weapon drawn and, according to one witness, issued verbal commands for Babbitt to stop her incursion: “Get back! Get down! Get out of the way!”
Babbitt did not comply. The officer discharged his weapon, hitting her in her left anterior shoulder. She later died of her wounds.
MAGA and Donald Trump have long claimed Babbitt as a martyr wrongly and unjustly murdered by police. Her estate had been in the process of filing a civil wrongful death suit against the government.2 On Friday, Trump’s Department of Justice reportedly reached a settlement with them. The payout is said to be $30 million.3
Trump’s dictum that police should “not be too nice” to alleged criminals evidently did not apply in this case.
This isn’t hypocrisy. It’s a coherent—and dangerous—worldview. So let’s talk about MAGA, Ashli Babbitt, and Derek Chauvin.
