Photo from David Gordon
Remember and Never Forget.
Protect Democracy.
Reject Election Denialism and Political Violence.
Defeat political candidates like Donald 'I want to be dictator for a day' Trump that call insurrectionists "hostages" and "patriots."
Those are the messages and themes January 6 law enforcement heroes Sergeant Aquilino Gonell and Officer Harry Dunn conveyed at an event at the AFSCME 2960 Phoenix offices today (May 30, 2024) as they reminded people never to forget the MAGA-extremist, Domestic Insurrectionist-Terrorist attack on the Nation's Capitol on January 6, 2021, and the person (Trump) and his supporters that organized and enabled it.
The two Capitol Hill Police officers, who were attacked by the Trump-instigated MAGA mob at the Capitol on January 6, are crisscrossing battleground states Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New Hampshire to warn that a Trump return to the Oval Office would mean a death knell for Democracy, a permissiveness of election denialism, normalization of political violence, and the establishment of an American Dictatorship.
Veteran Aaron Marquez and Arizona Legislative District 12 Representative Stacey Travers gave introductory remarks before Gonell and Dunn spoke.
In his opening comments, Marquez relayed:
"I'm standing alongside them (Gonell and Dunn) to raise the alarm about Donald Trump's increasingly unhinged and dangerous quest for power. As a veteran I served our country to protect our Democratic institutions and at the very heart of our democracy is our right to vote for free and fair elections without the threat of political violence. But Donald Trump is leaning into political violence and dangerous attacks on our Democracy. He's making the violent January 6th attack on the capitol the Cornerstone of his 2024 campaign. Promising to Pardon rioters including those who attacked law enforcement. He's promising to be a dictator on day one if he is elected. He suggested termination of the Constitution to gain power and he's warning of a blood path if he loses in November...These police officers were attacked and injured on January 6th, 2021, and have witnessed the political violence Trump encourages firsthand. Their message is simple. Trump is threatening more political violence pledging to be a dictator on day one and warning of a blood bath if he loses. We have to stop him. Our Democracy is at stake."
Representative Travers continued on the same themes offered by Marquez, conveying:
"Today in the United States, every eligible voter has the right to have their voice heard in fair and free elections. Whether you consider it a privilege, a right, or a responsibility voting has been a foundation of what it is to be American since America's Inception. Currently, efforts abound to prevent citizens from voting and from counting those votes. This must be uncovered and stopped. This is imperative for the smooth functioning of our country. As a veteran, I served my country to protect the very freedoms that are now under threat. The right to women's bodily autonomy the right to feel safe out in public the right to have our say in who will represent us and our values in government...This fall we must protect the right to accessible voting opportunities for every eligible voter. This is particularly important in the presidential election. The last president (Trump) has shown time and time again that he values his own political power and revenge and retribution above our free and fair elections. He is a threat to the freedoms that I and others fought for and he's a threat to the future of our Democracy. Arizonans must understand Trump's connection to the attacks on our electoral system, the lasting damage of MAGA fake electors, and his embrace of political violence. A strong Arizona is vital to our democracy. The issues that we face as Arizonans are reflective of our country as a whole."
"Thomas Paine once wrote the strength and power of despotism consists solely in the fear of resistance. This fall Arizonans must show up for our democracy. We must show up to prevent America from becoming a dictatorship. We cannot risk the loss of law and order and accountability. We cannot risk more bloodshed. Our Democracy depends on Arizona voters coming out to protect America by voting for President Biden. So join me this fall to stop Donald Trump in the name of freedom and the spirit of democracy."
Sergeant Gonell, a veteran who served in Iraq before becoming a member of the Capitol Police, spoke next and movingly described the horrors of January 6, 2021, and how Donald Trump's enabling and reactions during and after the attempted coup make him a continued threat to Democracy and law and order.
In his remarks, he stated how the former President took the side of the MAGA supporters over the law enforcement officials fighting to protect Congressional members and staffers during the attempted insurrection, saying:
"As a veteran as a police officer. I know how dangerous Donald Trump is to our Democracy. He ended his inaugural speech by saying that he would end American Carnage and that's exactly what I encountered on January 6, 2021. I'm here today not just for myself, but as a voice for all men and women who put on a badge every day to keep our communities safe. I'm here for those who put their lives on the line to protect our Capital on January 6, 2021."
"Those of us in uniform were assaulted and beaten by the mob who believed Donald Trump's lie that the 2020 election was stolen. I was assaulted many times by more than 40 Rioters. Throughout the day, I was beaten, punched, kicked, and pushed with my own batons and with my own equipment. As they rushed and tried to crush my head with a police shield and my baton...Someone tried to drag me into the mob and beat me with the American flag still attached to it. The same flag that I swore to defend. I suffer permanent injuries. The most severe required 2 surgeries and although most of my physical injuries have healed discards of that. They are still seared in my memory. My PTSD and moral injury remain..."
"Donald Trump calls the people who injured me and my fellow officers in the attack on our Capitol hostages, patriots, and political prisoners as If they were the good guys on January 6."
Later, Sergeant Gonell chastised Trump and his supporters behavior at his rallies, stating:
"...He plays footage of the awful day. At the rally downplaying the attack...He says that there were there will be a blood bath if he's not elected. There's no longer a question of what he would do. If he wins, he's telling us what he's going to do. Donald Trump's failure to denounce the violence on January 6th is a slap in the face to every officer who put their life on the line that day. To every officer who risked everything like myself."
"He can't claim to back the blue in front of the plane of division and violence. He can't claim to support law and order at the same time supporting those who tried to upend our democracy. He can't claim to support law and order and stand attention to the made-up flag with his effigy on it. A desecrated flag and then play a modified national anthem that national anthem was written by a convicted felon who attacked my coworkers? ...That's not leadership. That's a betrayal to the sacrifices that we did on that day to keep everyone safe."
Gonell went on to remind the people that he and his brothers and sisters in the Capitol Police were fighting for their lives to protect both Republicans and Democrats, some of whom like the House and Senate leadership had to be taken to an undisclosed location for their safety while Mr. Trump (gleefully according to some accounts) watched the attempted insurrection and television without lifting a finger to help anyone.
After saying it was essential that "We had to defeat Donald Trump this November and elect President Biden to protect our democracy," Gonell held up a piece of glass from one of the Congressional entry doors that were shattered in the attack, Gonell thanked President Biden and Arizona Representative (and Senate Candidate) Ruben Gallego for their support and concluded his remarks by stating that current House Speaker Mike Johnson is too afraid to publicly display a plaque honoring Capitol Police heroism that day because he feared the blowback from Trump and the MAGA base.
Officer Dunn spoke last and repeated many of the same themes of Marquez, Travers, and Sergenant Gonell.
He started out by saying he and Gonell were on a "quest to save our Democracy to save our country."
He then honored his colleagues on the Metropolitan Police Force that served at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and "thanked them for their service."
Dunn then eviscerated Donald Trump, relaying:
"Donald Trump is the greatest threat to our democracy and the safety of communities across the country today. He has encouraged and continues to encourage...political violence He welcomes it. He encourages it and it's not acceptable. My fellow officers and I experienced that type of violence at the hands of a mob of MAGA extremists on January 6th. On that day I don't believe many of us while it was happening believe that we were fighting for Democracy and we were stopping an insurrection. We're fighting for our lives. We're fighting for each other. We wanted to go home to our loved ones.
... The fight didn't end on January 6th when the building was cleared. The fight still continues which is why me and the Sergeant are standing right here now three and a half years later."
"The fight for Democracy still continues. It still goes on. Donald Trump is still that threat. His deranged self-centered obsessive quest for power is the reason violent insurrectionists assaulted my co-workers and I. Officer Brian Sicknick lost his life the day after January 6th. His father Charles says it best. 'Trump is the reason my son is dead. Trump does whatever will get him votes and whatever helps Donald Trump.'"
"Trump has shown us who he is every day for years. He called the people who attacked our Capitol Patriots. He calls the men and women who died serving and protecting this country suckers and losers. He constantly echoes the words of dictators and invokes the language of Nazi Germany embracing political violence pledging to rule as a dictator on day one. Think about that. That's not that's not our words. But that's not a left new stations talking points... He said this."
Officer Dunn closed by offering:
"Americans need to wake up. This is not a drill. Donald Trump is the single greatest threat to the United States of America in a generation and we cannot let him anywhere near the Oval Office ever again. There is a clear choice right now and I'm so happy to be here supporting Joe Biden and the Biden Administration.
"Arizona can decide this election. It's a Battleground state. The swing state and we need everybody in Arizona to come out the choice could not be more clear who the person for the the right person for the job is and that is Joe Biden. It can't be more clear. We have to stop Donald Trump. We can't depend on these institutions like the Supreme Court or any Court to stop Donald Trump. It's going to come down to the people of America to reject him once and for all in November at the Ballot Box by voting for Joe Biden. Thank you.
When asked if voters still cared about what happened on January 6, 2021, Sergeant Gonell reminded everyone that Donald Trump was running on January 6, 2021. making it "his badge of honor."
He also said:
"I nearly died not just once but multiple times in that time. If you look at the footage in the west front, you find me battling the same people that listen to the same rhetoric that Donald Trump tells people to believe that It was right for them to attack the capitol. It was right for them to sacrifice our Democracy."
"I only see one candidate, Joe Biden telling us that we matter. He's telling us that Law and Order matters. He's not. telling people if you'll elect me, I'm going to Pardon you for committing crimes for assaulting police officers."
Dunn responded:
He (Trump) had sided with the people who attacked us. People that attacked Brian (Sicknick.) And that's a betrayer to the sacrifices that we did because we did put our lives on the line because of what he did to the United States. I don't hate Donald Trump. I hate what he did. Because he put our lives at risk. Not only our lives but our Democracy as well."
Remember and Never Forget January 6, 2021.
The people who encouraged and participated in the attempted coup are not hostages, patriots, political prisoners, or misguided souls.
They are domestic terrorists and criminals led by a twice-impaired individual who says he wants to exact revenge on his opponents and wants to be a dictator.
This nation does not need the return of Donald Trump or any of his blind supporters in Arizona Politics (like Kari Lake, Anthony K
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