Mark Steyn: Capitol riot response shows ‘post-constitutional’ U.S., ‘oxymoron’ of ‘federal justice’

Mark Steyn says the response by lawmakers to the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol has shined a giant spotlight on “post-constitutional America” and the double standards embraced by the “Emirs of Incumbistan.”

The conservative icon’s commentary on his official website came just days before the House passed a $1.9 billion security bill for the U.S. Capitol by a 213-212 vote.

“The biggest lie of January 6th was that the ’rioters’ were somehow responsible for multiple deaths that day,” Mr. Steyn wrote in a retort to those who call persistent questions about 2020 election integrity part of a “Big Lie” told by former President Trump.

“Very belatedly, the DC coroner confirmed that, aside from Ashli Babbitt, everybody dead had died of natural causes — including Officer Sicknick, whom most Americans still believe was murdered by Trump supporters bludgeoning him with a non-existent fire extinguisher. The Capitol Police, in both their formal statements and their leaks to media chums, helped advance that lie,” Mr. Steyn pointed out.

Mr. Steyn then focused on the glaring difference between how federal authorities appear to be treating person at the Capitol riot and the Antifa and Black Lives Matter activists who spent months rioting and looting in cities like Portland and Minneapolis.

“In post-constitutional America, there is no equality before the law,” the author said after recounting the criminal indictment against “Q Shaman” Jacob Chansley.

“If you riot violently in Minneapolis or Portland, you’ll be cheered on by the media and Democrats, and bailed out by Seth Rogen or a Kamala Harris staffer. If you’re let into the US Capitol by its so-called ’police’ and leave the statuary et al untouched, you’ll be charged with trespassing, and, despite having no criminal record, will languish in prison (for over four months so far) until trial begins,” Mr. Steyn said.

Mr. Steyn concluded with a warning that America was well on its way to becoming, for all intents and purposes, a banana republic.

“’Federal justice’ is an oxymoron — and, if you get a whiff that you’re attracting the attention of this dirty rotten stinkin’ evil system, flee the country,” he wrote. “Meanwhile, I’m thinking of making a complaint to the UN Human Rights Council about the detainees of January 6th: If nothing else, it’ll give the Cubans and Sudanese a laugh.”