The incursion into the Capitol building two weeks ago was awful. It was wrong. The people responsible not only smeared all those who came to Washington to demonstrate peacefully, but they empowered the left to cast aspersions on all 75 million Americans who voted for Donald Trump and Mike Pence.

But I also don’t like what I am seeing in the nation’s capital today.

While every inauguration is a high security event, at least 25,000 troops have been deployed to Washington, DC, with the explanation being the fear of violence. But what they have effectively done is to shut down free speech and the right of assembly.

Washington, DC, looks like an occupied war zone. Entire blocks of the capital have been locked down and closed off. Just two areas, limited to 100 people, have been designated as “First Amendment zones,” an Orwellian term if there ever was one.

What a contrast to Donald Trump’s inauguration four years ago, which my wife and I experienced firsthand. The chaos on the streets was not pretty.

For weeks leading up to the inauguration, left-wing groups vowed major disruptions and protests. On the day itself, many entrances to the parade route were deliberately blocked and thousands of conservatives were blocked from attending the parade.

Throughout the day, there was violence in the streets of Washington, DC, as hundreds of leftists rioted. People leaving the inaugural balls were physically attacked. Few of the rioters were prosecuted.

I don’t like the apparent enthusiasm coming from the Pentagon for this unprecedented troop deployment in our capital, especially when there was a mini-revolt at the Pentagon when President Trump wanted to send troops to our border to stop people from illegally entering the country.

And, of course, just a few months ago, leftists laid siege to the White House and injured dozens of Secret Service agents as they attempted to breach the White House perimeter. It was difficult to get National Guard troops deployed then to defend the White House.

When Sen. Tom Cotton wrote a column in The New York Times suggesting more aggressive measures were necessary to save lives and livelihoods amid last summer’s rioting, the snowflakes at the Times revolted. His article was pulled, and at least two editors were forced to resign.

Monday, the country celebrated the life and legacy of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. After King was assassinated in April 1968, rioting broke out in virtually every major city, including Washington, DC. More than a thousand people were injured, and more than a dozen were killed in Washington. Whole sections of the city were burned down and not rebuilt for many years.

During all of that chaos, fewer than 14,000 federal and National Guard troops were deployed to Washington.

Cohen’s Bigotry

Rep. Steve Cohen used the occasion of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday to undercut everything King stood for. King’s dream was for every American to be judged based on the content of their character rather than the color of their skin. But Cohen did the exact opposite.

Cohen expressed his concern that large portions of the National Guard could not be trusted to keep Joe Biden and Kamala Harris safe. Why? Because the National Guard is mostly white and mostly male.

And because white men voted overwhelmingly for Donald Trump, Cohen asserts that as a group the National Guard is more likely to have among their members people who may want to harm the president-elect and vice president-elect.

This kind of racist and sexist poison will destroy our Republic. But it is increasingly the mindset of the left. And it is happening at a time when multiple commentators are demanding that Trump supporters be deprogrammed, reeducated, and cleansed.

In a nation that was functioning properly, Cohen would have to announce his resignation for his racism or deliver an abject apology for his stupidity. But neither will happen.

Biden’s Border Battles

A migrant caravan from Honduras, estimated to be at least 9,000 strong, crashed through the Guatemalan border this weekend on its way to the United States. Why? Because of Joe Biden’s repeated vows to undo President Trump’s border security policies and to grant amnesty to millions of illegal aliens.

You don’t have to take my word for it. That’s exactly what the migrant marchers are telling reporters.

Follow the Science?

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a mammoth bureaucracy with the largest budget of any federal agency and tremendous power over healthcare policy. It is about to come under the direction of ideological extremists.

As we have previously noted, Joe Biden has nominated California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to be HHS secretary. For the record, Becerra has no medical background. But this staunchly pro-abortion politician is about to take charge of our nation’s healthcare policy.

Assisting Becerra will be far-left transgender activist Dr. Rachel Levin, whom Biden has nominated to be the assistant secretary at HHS. While Levin may have a medical background, the doctor’s decisions during the COVID pandemic resulted in a major scandal that should be disqualifying.

But these appointments aren’t about following the science. They are about identity politics and forcing reality to bend to the left’s ideological demands.

Confronting Communist China

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is using every last moment of time he has to confront communist China and to call attention to the regime’s brutality.

Late Friday, the State Department released a fact sheet outlining some of the evidence for China’s culpability for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Yesterday, Secretary Pompeo issued a statement declaring that communist China’s oppression of Uyghur Muslims amounted to “crimes against humanity” and “genocide.”

Along with my fellow commissioner Nury Turkel, I have fought on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom to ensure that such a declaration against communist China’s atrocities was made public. I commend Secretary Pompeo for this important statement.

Now, members of Congress, corporate America, and the incoming Biden administration must come to grips with the shocking reality of what is taking place in China. We must never return to “business as usual” with communist China.