Three smartphone-wielding leftist activists followed Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema into a public restroom on the campus of Arizona State University Sunday afternoon. They proceeded to yell at her for not supporting a laundry list of liberal policies, including amnesty for illegal immigrants and President Joe Biden’s complete $3.5 trillion spending agenda.
For her part, Sinema calmly entered and exited a stall, washed her hands, and then exited without incident. She later issued a statement Monday saying that while Arizonans “love the First Amendment,” what the activists did was “not legitimate protest.”
“It is the duty of elected leaders to avoid fostering an environment in which honestly-held policy disagreements serve as the basis for vitriol — raising the temperature in political rhetoric and creating a permission structure for unacceptable behavior,” she concluded.
Unfortunately, Biden failed to live up to this duty. When asked Monday if what happened to Sinema crossed a line, Biden said, “It happens to everybody … It is part of the process.”
No, it most certainly is not.
It is not “part of the process” for legislators to be stalked and filmed as they try to use the bathroom. If this tactic “happens to everybody,” then where is the video of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez being chased into a restroom by conservatives upset with her voting record? No such video exists because any activist behaving in such a manner would be immediately arrested and universally condemned.
The invasion of Sinema’s privacy on Sunday was part of a larger campaign by the Left to cast her as an enemy of the people unworthy of decency and respect. New Republic magazine has labeled her a traitor. Saturday Night Live opened its show belittling Sinema as “a wine-drinking, bisexual triathlete.” And HBO’s John Oliver followed up, calling her a “Power Puff girl in the witness protection program.”
You wouldn’t realize from all this that Sinema is actually Arizona’s more popular U.S. senator, probably because the other one is expected to vote like a Biden clone. But leftists hope to change that by getting under her skin and undercutting her personal dignity with inappropriate, uncivil tactics that walk right up to the line of violence — and sometimes go right over it.
In 2017, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul was assaulted by his neighbor, who broke six of his ribs and injured his lung. That same year, a Bernie Sanders supporter who belonged to Facebook groups named “Terminate the Republican Party,” “The Road To Hell Is Paved With Republicans,” and “Donald Trump is not my President” sought out a Republican congressional baseball practice with his gun and opened fire. He injured two Capitol Police officers and left then-Majority Whip Steve Scalise in critical condition.
People have every right to criticize and even insult their lawmakers. They have a right to communicate, even to shout and scream. That’s the First Amendment in action. But when you start going to people’s homes and following them into restrooms, you are crossing the line.
Shame on President Biden for not condemning these radical liberal activists for their dangerous behavior. And shame on every Democrat who does not defend the privacy and safety of their colleague from Arizona.
