Sen. Barrasso reacts to Pelosi statue destruction response: ‘She has surrendered to the mob’
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declines to admonish protesters who pulled down a statue of Christopher Columbus; reaction and analysis from Wyoming Senator John Barrasso on ‘America’s Newsroom.’
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has "surrendered" to the radical left "mob" by declining to admonish protesters tearing down historical statues and defacing monuments, Wyoming Republican Sen. John Barrasso said Friday.
In an interview on "America's Newsroom," Barrasso told host Jon Scott that the Democratic Party has become extremely "radical," "dangerous," and "out of touch" under the control of a coalition with socialists, Marxists, and anarchists.
PELOSI ON CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS STATUE DESTRUCTION: 'PEOPLE WILL DO WHAT THEY WILL DO'
"People will do what they do," Pelosi, D-Calif., said during a news conference Thursday at the Capitol.
In her native city of Baltimore. Md. -- where her father served as the mayor from 1947 to 1959 and her brother Thomas D'Alesandro III also led the city from 1967 to 1971 -- protesters pulled down a statue of Christopher Columbus and then tossed the monument into the city’s Inner Harbor.
Oct. 9, 1984: President Ronald Reagan addresses a ceremony in Baltimore, to unveil a statue of Christopher Columbus. Baltimore protesters pulled down the statue of Christopher Columbus and threw it into the city's Inner Harbor, Saturday, July 4, 2020. (AP Photo/Lana Harris)
"It's up to the communities to decide what statues they want to see," Pelosi said, adding that taking down the Columbus monument "doesn't diminish [her] pride in [her] Italian American heritage."
However, the city's Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young had harsh words for the protesters who destroyed the statue near Little Italy over the Fourth of July, saying he wouldn't tolerate the destruction of property. Young said the toppling was unacceptable and the perpetrators, if identified, "will be brought to justice," The Baltimore Sun reported.
Pelosi said Thursday she's most concerned about looking ahead and she's not wedded to physical monuments and tokens of the past, noting she didn't "even have [her] grandmother's earrings."
"This is a city, Baltimore, where Nancy Pelosi's father was the mayor and he likely contributed money and time to the putting up of that statue to Christopher Columbus. Now she’s fine with tearing it down," Barrasso said.
"But, Jon," he said, addressing Scott, "it's not just about the statue. It’s about the whole effort to cancel a culture of this whole movement to the far, far dangerous left for our country. People [who] want to cancel and defund the police, want to go after the churches, want to go after free speech: all of those things are being attacked and she’s willing to stand by and let it happen."
Barrasso pointed out that the "entire" party was heading in that direction at the expense of the rest of the country.
"And, the type of things that they want to do, to change America permanently, and what I believe for the worst, with taking away free speech, canceling who we are, where we've come from…We ought to be taking a look and talking about the future," he said. "She's not doing that.
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"I think that what she is doing is ignoring the reality of what's happening. And, what I’m seeing here in Wyoming, talking to people who are absolutely offended by this approach of the mob…and Nancy Pelosi has surrendered to them," Barrasso concluded.
Fox News' Marisa Schultz and Dom Calicchio contributed to this report.
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