US Hero Harry Dunn Way Too Good For Congress, But Let's Elect Him Anyway
He's not going to let Republicans forget January 6.
Harry Dunn is an American hero. He bravely held the line against Donald Trump’s mob that attacked the Capitol as part of Trump’s last desperate effort to remain in power against the people’s will. This was neither a peaceful protest nor a tourist visit. It was a full-scale siege. Dunn describes the traumatic events in a CNN op-ed.
Those who took part in the assault against the Capitol used all kinds of weapons against the officers defending it: Flagpoles were used as pikes. Metal bike racks that they had torn apart became bludgeons. Flagpoles were used as pikes. Metal bike racks that they had torn apart became bludgeons.
Some of the police officers who fought alongside me were screaming in pain from the injuries they suffered while battling the attackers. Many officers were temporarily blinded and coughing from chemical irritants being sprayed in their faces. Police officers like myself who were Black were verbally assaulted with racial epithets, in addition to the physical blows we endured.
Dunn is an American hero, and now he’s running for Congress. We could use more heroes in Congress or at the very least people with moral character and evidence of a spine. They are in short supply.
Dunn shared his campaign launch video Friday on the generic social media site.
“On [January 6], my role was as a Capitol police officer,” Dunn says. “That meant putting aside who I am — a father, a Marylander, a Democrat — because I swore an oath to protect our Constitution, to protect our democracy. It’s what allowed me to protect some members of Congress who I knew were bigots, who helped fan the flames that started all of this. I put country before self.”
Dunn’s words and deeds are a stark contrast to Trump, who watched the Capitol attack from the comfort of the White House and failed to act for hours.
The Third District’s current representative, Democrat John Sarbanes, is retiring, and at least 15 other candidates are competing for the primary nomination. Dunn stands out, though, having become a national figure after his moving testimony to Congress about the January 6 attack.
However, while Dunn is an American hero, Republicans disagree. They’ve spent the past three years minimizing the insurrection, denying it even took place. Republicans leaders — now mostly indistinguishable from Marjorie Taylor Greene — ghoulishly refer to insurrectionists as “January 6 hostages.” Their shameful historical revision is why Dunn’s running for Congress. Republicans might’ve refused to watch Dunn’s testimony, but they can’t ignore him when he returns to the House next year as one of their peers — professionally speaking, not morally.
When Dunn and his fellow officers, including Michael Fanone, testified during the summer of 2021, Republicans had fully committed themselves to the insurrectionist in chief with a mere handful of politically doomed exceptions. Now, Trump is on a glide path to the Republican nomination against primary opponents who are too afraid to denounce him publicly on the most recent January 6. This rightly horrifies Dunn, who’d served in the force for 15 before stepping down a few weeks ago.
“It’s no exaggeration to say we are one election away from the extinction of our democracy as we know it right now,” he told CNN. “I wanna do everything in my power that I can do to fight back against [Trump]. As a congressman, that gives me a seat at the table now to hold him accountable.”
Dunn is an American hero, but only half the nation agrees. Nonetheless, the nation as a whole needs him.
[CNN]
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Generic Congressional Republican: "The gentleman from Maryland, Mr. Dunn, is pushing his socialist agenda!"
Harry Dunn: "I saved your unworthy ass on 1/6/21, so STFU."
It's nuts how the GOP is all in on "The Big Lie", now people locked up for trashing the capitol are "hostage heroes" to the party of traitors and minority rule. How is this not a bigger story than it's being made out to be? Trump promising to pardon all of his foot soldiers is a clear signal that he wants MORE political violence here, not less. Why aren't we discussing the GOP's slide into lawlessness on the evening news? Democracy dies in darkness? How about democracy dies in broad daylight when nobody deems it newsworthy that a criminal element is trying to take over the country?