Ari Fleischer: 'We're having the summer of violence,' you're seeing one-sided lawlessness
'It's just rage,' says Ari Fleischer discussing protesters targeting statues across the U.S.
Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer called on presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden to condemn acts of mob violence and vandalism Wednesday, telling "The Daily Briefing" that demonstrators are "motivated by rage."
"Where is Joe Biden?" Fleischer asked host Dana Perino. "Where are the governors? Where are the mayors? Where are the police in these Democratic cities? If you let mobs run wild and rampage and take down that which they want and engage in violence, we have a lawless society."
Fleischer spoke one day after demonstrators in Madison, Wis. toppled statues, vandalized buildings and assaulted a Democratic state senator after daylong protests turned violent.
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During the chaos, a statue of prominent abolitionist and Union Army Col. Hans Christian Heg was torn down and removed from the grounds of the State Capitol. The statue was later recovered, but one of its legs had been removed.
"Mobs aren't typically known for their thoughtfulness, are they?" Fleischer asked before adding "the rage now has been taken out on pro-Union people who wanted to abolish slavery. They are not safe now, their statues.
"Look, this is lawlessness," he added. "And we're not having a summer of love, Dana. We are having a summer of violence. And people need to wake up and realize how threatening and how dangerous this is when the mob can do what it wants to do with impunity. I hope people stand up to them."
Host Dana Perino noted President Trump has been extremely vocal in speaking out against the statue vandals, recently invoking a 2003 law enacted by George W. Bush that provides for a maximum sentence of ten years in prison for vandalism of certain monuments.
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Fleischer recalled the period following the 2010 midterm elections, in which Republicans took back the House of Representatives on the strength of the nascent Tea Party movement.
"Did you see mob activities? Did you see people tearing things down? If they did, the media would have hounded them," he said. "You are seeing a lawlessness that's on one side. It's not on both sides. It's on one side. Exercise your anger at the ballot box. Do not do it in the streets."
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