We know that tensions have been running high between the Trump administration and California.
Between the White House and Democratic politicians.
Between immigrant advocates and the president’s appointed cabinet.
But did push really have to come to shove?
Shoved to the ground and handcuffed is what it came to for California Sen. Alex Padilla Thursday morning in Los Angeles after he abruptly interrupted a news conference held by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. He yelled out that he had “questions for the secretary,” and immediately was grabbed by FBI agents and other security and hustled out of the room.
It was a perhaps inappropriate and certainly impassioned move for the senator to blurt out his wish to convey some queries — though pressers are all about responding to questions.
But it was also after Padilla had identified himself to the uniformed officers as a United States senator that they shoved him to the ground, handcuffed him and tried to block a person with a camera from taking video of what they were doing, saying that “there is no recording allowed in here.”
No recording at a press conference?
What Padilla, an uninvited guest at the news conference who had been awaiting another meeting down the hall from the secretary’s event, did was provocative.
What Noem’s security did was outrageous, an unwarranted assault on another federal official who had clearly made the fact that he is a senator known and still was roughhoused like a common criminal.
Yet Noem, instead of even half-heartedly apologizing for what she could have claimed was a misunderstanding, pretended like she had the high moral ground.
Before the incident, she was already on the offensive against California. “We are staying here to liberate this city from the socialists and the burdensome leadership that this governor and this mayor have placed on this country,” said Noem.
After the incident, she downplayed the significance of what happened. “I think everyone in America will agree that wasn’t appropriate,” she said of Padilla’s earlier interruption. “I don’t even know the senator, he did not request a meeting with me or to speak with me,” Noem said.
Well, actually, he did request to speak with her, but we’ll let that one go.
And she, misspoke: She claimed officers started to handcuff him but stopped after they were made aware of who he was. Anyone who has seen the video knows that he was fully handcuffed after having been manhandled to the ground.
Inevitably, Democratic colleagues in the Senate showed their displeasure. “This is actually happening. A United States senator was manhandled, shoved to the ground and cuffed,” said Senator Brian Schatz, a Democrat from Hawaii.
But so did Republicans. “It looks like he is being manhandled and physically removed. It is hard to imagine a justification for that,” said Sen. Susan Collins of Maine.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, told reporters that she was shocked after seeing the video. “It’s not the America I know.”
Tensions are high. We need our public officials to rise above their respective partisan posturing and stop things from escalating any further.
