Washington Post Defends Protesters At Senator Josh Hawley’s Home: ‘Peaceful Vigil’

 The Washington Post provided cover for left-wing protesters who stood outside Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and yelled through a megaphone while his wife and newborn child were inside, insisting the demonstration was simply a “peaceful vigil.”

“The activists said they had staged a peaceful vigil on Monday night to protest a GOP plan to object to Congress’s certification of the presidential electoral vote this week. On the sidewalk in a Northern Virginia suburb, a group of 15 people chanted while holding candles and signs saying, ‘Protect democracy,’” the Post began its article before describing Hawley’s impression of the event.

“Tonight while I was in Missouri, Antifa scumbags came to our place in DC and threatened my wife and newborn daughter, who can’t travel,” Hawley wrote on Twitter Monday, as The Daily Wire’s Ryan Saavedra reported. “They screamed threats, vandalized, and tried to pound open our door. Let me be clear: My family & I will not be intimidated by left-wing violence.”

The Post then downplayed the protesters’ actions:

Demonstrators with ShutDownDC, which organized the protest, told The Washington Post that they did not engage in vandalism or even knock on Hawley’s door. A 50-minute video shared by the group shows protesters writing in chalk on the sidewalk, chanting through a megaphone and at one point leaving a copy of the Constitution on Hawley’s doorstep.

“This was not threatening behavior,” said Patrick Young, a ShutDownDC organizer. “This is people engaging in democracy and engaging in civil discourse. … This was a pretty tame and peaceful visit to his house.”

Police in Vienna, Va., who responded to the protest, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Post late Monday. The group’s video shows several officers asking protesters to quiet down, but then standing by as the crowd continued with its demonstration.

The protest may not have risen to the level of an Antifa riot, with Molotov cocktails thrown and windows broken, but given how often they have turned out that way, and the fact that Hawley was not home, but his wife and newborn were, the Post shouldn’t have tried to score political points by excusing the protesters’ behavior. They didn’t simply stand quietly outside Hawley’s home with candles, several used megaphones to shout at the home, argue with neighbors asking them to be quiet, and even went up to the Hawley’s front door. They may not have knocked on the door as they claim, but they did ring the doorbell. Those actions, late at night, could be considered frightening to a new mother, especially one who likely paid attention to the political riots this summer.

The Post pointed to other instances where protesters have shown up to politicians’ doorsteps. It is always seen as a threatening maneuver, whether the politician is a Democrat or a Republican. For Democrats, many who have called for defunding the police and supported local riots changed their tune once those demonstrators showed up at their door.

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