It is not a monolith, but generally police officers support the Republican party. So what happens when supporters of the party savagely attack cops? The answer, so far, has been a whole lot of nothing.
During a recent interview, Capitol officer Michael Fanone said that he is yet to hear from the Fraternal Order of Police. Jake Tapperpressed FOP Head, Patrick Yoes, about the matter on Wednesday.
The CNN host asked, “Do you feel, because FOP endorsed Donald Trump and because so many members of FOP are Trump supporters, do you feel as though you can’t — as publicly, as vocally as you want to, as you otherwise would — express support for the officers who defended the Capitol that day for fear of running afoul of Trump supporter FOP members who actually side with the insurrectionists as opposed to the police officers who protected the Capitol that day?”
Yoes essentially declined to answer the question, saying that the union supports officers on both sides of the political aisle.
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Tapper followed, “I just don’t see FOP out there decrying it in a way I think you would be if it was, for instance, somebody on MSNBC attacking a police officer. Do you feel that you cannot be as supportive of the Capitol Police officers, of the Metropolitan Police Department officers, as you would want to be because Trump supporters make up most of your union?”
Tapper: FOP regularly defends police officers. That’s your job.. I don’t see you doing it publicly.. Laura Ingraham was giving out fake academy awards accusing your police officers of acting…
Yoes: …I stopped watching the news
Tapper: That’s not news pic.twitter.com/cTbym2gibx— Acyn (@Acyn) July 28, 2021
The FOP answered, “I don’t think there’s been a week that has gone by since January 6th that we have not been engaged in meaningful discussion and actions on behalf of that incident on that day. So to suggest that somehow we’re ignoring it is not true.”
Considering that 140 officers were inured on 1/6, the silence of the union speaks volumes.
Todd Neikirk is a New Jersey based politics and technology writer. His work has been featured in psfk.com, foxsports.com and hillreporter.com. He enjoys sports, politics, comic books and spending time at the shore with his family.
