Rep. Cori Bush on GOP attacks: ‘None of them can match my energy’
EXCLUSIVE: Congresswoman Cori Bush recalls the harrowing moments during the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection: 'They're coming for Democrats'
The constant threats from far-right extremists over the last four years was a culmination of sorts and became a grim reality on Jan. 6 when the United States Capitol was attacked by an angry Trump mob.
Read More: As Trump prosecutor, Rep. Stacey Plaskett gets her say on impeachment
“To support a person, a personality … to fight for the honor of someone who lied to them — being the former president of the United States, Donald Trump — so many people felt like this was their moment,” Missouri Congresswoman Cori Bush tells theGrio of last month’s deadly Capitol insurrection.
“There are so many people in this country right now [who] feel like [it’s] their duty … to speak up about racist lies, misinformation.”
The harrowing moments of Jan. 6 were recalled on Tuesday by impeachment manager Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who became emotional when he spoke of his daughter on the Hill that day and how she did not want to come back to the Capitol after being on hand to witness the deadly insurrection with the danger and histrionics in earshot.
House impeachment managers used video of that day, including former President Trump’s own words, to argue their case that Trump incited the deadly attack.
Their premise evidenced itself after a rally on the Ellipse near the White House on Jan. 6. At that rally, Trump said the word fight 20 times and was at one point punching the air when he was talking about congressional lawmakers on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue.
Read More: Trump falsely claimed election was ‘rigged’ or ‘stolen’ over 100 times: report
Trump’s defense attorney, Bruce Castor Jr., did not argue against the video but instead argued against the constitutionality of the trial.
Castor said that “the real reason” for the historic second impeachment trial of Donald Trump was because House members don’t want to face Trump politically in the future.
Meanwhile, Congresswoman Cori Bush disagrees with the premise that has been floating around for weeks that the second impeachment isn’t constitutional. The freshman U.S. representative said that while she sat in the House gallery during the Capitol siege, all she could think about to herself was, “They’re coming for Democrats.”
“We’re also talking about white supremacists. So they’re coming for the folks that look like me, they’re coming for folks that are melanin-rich. You know we’re at the top of the list [because] we are Black women,” says Bush.
Republicans members of Congress — and the party as a whole — have apparently decided it is better to have Trump support their candidates in 2022 and support Trump’s run for office again than have him on the sidelines.
No matter the outcome, Congresswoman Cori Bush continues to fight the racist and political ignorance she has and continues to face on the Hill — including her fellow Republican colleague Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.
Read More: Cori Bush says Greene didn’t ‘regret’ lies spread about her
But Bush says, regardless, she is focused on why her constituents elected her.
“I’m going to call it out. And I’m also going to remember why I’m here. I’m in Congress to work for the people of St. Louis to make sure all of my folks, starting with those of us who have the very least, get what we need and get it now as fast as we can bring that home,” Bush says.
“While they put their mouths on me … while they say all the crazy things that they say about me, all the racist extremist things, all the tropes that they try to throw at me, none of them can match my energy. There is not one of them that has put their lives on the line for their people,” adds the St. Louis congresswoman.
Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts says no matter what happens she too is committed to the work for the people.
“I seek to honor every day that the people closest to the pain should be the closest to the power, driving and informing the policymaking,” Pressley tells theGrio.
Have you subscribed to theGrio’s podcast “Dear Culture”? Download our newest episodes now!
TheGrio is now on Apple TV, Amazon Fire, and Roku. Download theGrio today!
