"Rouzer's Indelible Stain," Brunswick Beacon, 01.20.22
They say nothing focuses the mind so wonderfully as a hanging. Last January, with cries of “hang Mike Pence” still echoing, Congressman David Rouzer gave wonderfully focused interviews to WECT-TV and WHQR. He said the violence “shocked” him, was “organized” and “planned in advance.” He called rioters “violent and criminal.” He said “they weren't just coming for Speaker Pelosi; they were coming for me!” He called it “a very dark day in American history…disgusting.” He blamed “white supremacist groups” and called President Trump’s speech “a contributing factor.” When asked what it meant for Trump’s legacy, he said “it's all stained by January the Sixth.” He called it “a modern-day political tragedy.”
In the year since, Rouzer hasn’t lost his focus. But now, like Macbeth, he’s focused instead on hiding the stain because it stains him, too.
Rouzer promoted Trump’s Big Lie of stolen elections by joining Texas’ lawsuit to overturn elections in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. The Supreme Court, with six conservative justices, threw it out.
Rouzer encouraged the insurrectionists by pledging to vote against certifying the election, even though Attorney General Barr’s investigation found no fraud “that could have effected a different outcome in the election.”
Immediately after the “violent criminals” were forced from the Capitol, Rouzer sided with them by voting to overturn elections in Arizona and Pennsylvania. He still tries to justify his vote by claiming those elections were “unconstitutional”, even though courts have rejected every lawsuit challenging them.
Rouzer voted against impeachment, despite evidence that caused seven Republican senators to convict Trump, including NC’s Richard Burr, who said: “The evidence is compelling that President Trump is guilty of inciting an insurrection.”
Rouzer voted against a Bipartisan Commission to investigate the insurrection, then voted against enforcing the Commission’s subpoenas of Steve Bannon and Mark Meadows.
This January Sixth came the ultimate disgrace: Rouzer went A.W.O.L. from the ceremony honoring Capitol police officers who fought and died to protect him from the mob he helped provoke and refuses to hold accountable.
That’s a stain he can never erase.
Vince Amoroso
Sunset Beach