Bay Area Republicans call siege of US Capitol 'disgusting,' President's reaction appropriate
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Bay Area Republicans are weighing on the violence that occurred Wednesday in the U.S. Capitol, calling it "shocking and disgraceful."
"Good people across the political spectrum need to stand up and say 'enough,' it's got to stop now because if not we're really going to face much more serious challenges going forward," said John Dennis, chairman of the San Francisco Republican party.
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Harmeet Dhillon, a prominent San Francisco lawyer and Trump supporter tweeted, "This scene at the US Capitol is shocking and disgraceful. The mob violence that the left has habitually engaged in these past years is despicable but in no way excuses these crimes."
"There are people there that made the choice to go act this way, it's really really disgusting and again this is not the American way," Chairman of the Contra Costa Republican Party Matt Shupe said.
Dennis and Shupe both said they don't blame the President for what happened, instead pointing to the division in the country that has been escalating all year.
"I think he could've probably come out sooner and been more clear and that people should leave. I think some of the rhetoric of the election, it's probably time to stop that," said Shupe.
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"We made a big mistake in this country when we let people take over sections of Seattle, when we let them riot in Minneapolis, and no one really firmly condemned it. Joe Biden didn't condemn it until August," said Dennis.
"There needs to be a coming together. Again, the rhetoric from the left is just as vitriolic as they claim it on the right, and there needs to come to a point where we need to realize that we're all Americans and we're all in this together," said Shupe.
"You're hearing Republican leaders across the board saying this is not the way to go and to stop what they're doing but the Republican party didn't organize this event, so the Republican party has no culpability whatsoever," said Dennis.
WATCH: Social media videos show chaos, violence on frontlines of US Capitol clashes
