Election anxiety has hit a fever pitch among Washington, D.C. residents, and the German-owned corporate media outlet POLITICO wants its readers to know all about it. In an all-too-long column, senior editor Michael Schaffer details the planned flight of several residents from the nation’s capital for election night over fears of chaos and violence. Most of those interviewed apparently confuse Election Day with the riots that occurred on January 6 while Congress took up the certification of the 2020 presidential election.
One of the Washington, D.C. residents interviewed is Shreya Tulsiani, a researcher with Truth Initiative. “January 6th was a very scary time. I used to live right off of North Capitol Street, so I could see the Capitol. There were Proud Boys petting my dog that day. I don’t want to be a part of it,” she told POLITICO. How she knew the individuals petting her dog were Proud Boys and not another protest group or just random people walking by is unclear.
Tulsiani tells Schaffer that she believes November 5 could be just as dangerous as January 6 in Washington, D.C. She says, “I feel like election week might be crazy too. I don’t know what’s planned but I don’t want to be near it.” She goes on to insinuate the protective measures taken—including military checkpoints and the deployment of National Guard troops across the capitol ahead of Joe Biden’s 2021 presidential inauguration—were just as frightening as the Capitol riots.
“I know that the response here is, like, let’s bring out the tanks, let’s bring out the people with guns. That doesn’t make me feel safe either,” Tulsiani says.
D.C. Councilwoman Brooke Pinto claims she’s already getting questions from businesses in her ward—which includes the posh Georgetown neighborhood—as to whether they should board up in anticipation of unrest on election night. It should be noted that Georgetown is around five miles from the U.S. Capitol—and about two-and-a-half miles from the White House, where revelers usually gather for presidential elections—and the neighborhood lacks Metro subway access, making it difficult to reach for those without their own transportation.
Schaffer goes on to insinuate that any election night conflicts would have been unthinkable prior to January 6, 2021. However, the POLITICO editor is evidently and conveniently unaware of the actual violence and rampant property destruction that broke out across the country in the wake of President Donald J. Trump’s 2016 election victory.
However, at least one Washington, D.C. resident is skeptical of any political violence on election night—the city’s Democrat mayor, Muriel Bowser. “People have certain risk tolerances, and I don’t think they should be boarding up their businesses, but we’re not going to give them that advice,” she said earlier this week in response to the pear-clutching panic among capital residents.
