The anger at McClintock was homegrown
President Donald Trump’s chaotic first weeks have generated wide and growing disapproval, and not all the protests have been entirely peaceful. But Rep. Tom McClintock needs to stop insisting the seniors, families and middle-aged picketers at his town hall this past weekend were an “anarchist element.”
As The Sacramento Bee’s Angela Hart reported Saturday, the unhappy crowd that greeted the Sierra Nevada’s man in Congress was anti-Trump and noisy. But McClintock’s claims to outside media afterward that “anarchists” had gathered to “disrupt” his meeting was true only if by “anarchists” you mean “neighbors and grandparents.”
Interviews revealed a lot of gray-haired retirees worried about Medicare and workers fearful of the Republican plan to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. Some said they had driven hours through the Sierra to hear the congressman speak in downtown Roseville (the biggest city in his sprawling district). Others said they had never demonstrated at any event before, but wanted to register their dismay at Trump’s ban on travel from seven Muslim-majority countries and his efforts to roll back environmental rules.
As someone whose district includes Yosemite National Park, and who gleefully embraced the tea party after the election of President Barack Obama, voters might think McClintock would be alert to environmental issues and savvy enough to recognize a gathering grass-roots firestorm. But no. He defended Trump’s executive order restricting refugee admissions – a ban 15 states including his own sued to overturn Monday. Then he spewed some double-speak on health insurance and claimed man-made global warming is up for “very vigorous debate” among scientists. (It isn’t, at least not among scientists who actually study the climate.)
After a dozen or so questions, McClintock scurried away, cowering theatrically behind a needless police escort. Maybe all those people shouting “Shame!” and “Vote him out!” really did hurt his sensitive ears and frighten him. Either way, there was no anarchy at this event; not even any disorder. Everyone was polite and the demonstrators applauded the police at the end of the protest. Occupy Roseville, this was not.
Order has been the tenor of most anti-Trump protests. From the massive women’s marches in January to the recent airport demonstrations, dissent has been overwhelmingly nonviolent.
The exception has been the reaction to Breitbart provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos, whose planned appearances at UC Berkeley, UC Davis and other campuses have incited vandalism. The culprits claim to be anarchists, though their all-black disguises make it hard to know who they are. Some have postulated that they might actually be planted by the right.
Anyone who destroys property is unwelcome and likely unnecessary. If Trump’s overreaches continue, and the GOP doesn’t check and balance him as they’re supposed to, regular democracy is going to keep them busy enough.
This story was originally published February 6, 2017 at 5:20 PM with the headline "The anger at McClintock was homegrown."