JASON RANTZ

WA GOP Chair: Inslee ‘gaslighting’ by saying CHAZ is peaceful

Jun 12, 2020, 12:26 PM | Updated: 4:44 pm

CHAZ, Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone...

People walk near what is being called the "No Cop Co-op" in the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

(AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Protesters decided to take a six-block radius in Seattle’s Capitol Hill next to the recently empty East Precinct. After initially claiming he hadn’t heard of it, Governor Inslee suggested it was mostly a peaceful gathering.

Washington GOP Chairman Caleb Heimlich joined the Jason Rantz Show to discuss the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ) and how it impacts the gubernatorial race.

“It’s been a bizarro world for the last three days. I mean the fact that the governor acted like he didn’t know what was happening in our largest city 48 hours after these events had all taken place … the fact that he only started addressing the situation in Seattle after the president tweeted about it — it just takes the cake.”

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Heimlich believes the media coverage of the CHAZ seems to bear no resemblance to what’s actually going on there.

“It’s absurd,” he said. “They’re acting like it’s a local beatnik festival and a walk in the park or a farmers’ market. When you have armed people setting up barricades, assaulting reporters, there’s video of people saying, ‘We’re the police now,’ as they assault the guy that was painting graffiti.”

“They’re allowing the governor to basically gaslight the state of Washington and say, ‘Oh, this is all peaceful. It’s under control, and Trump’s the real problem threatening violence,'” Heimlich added.

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He’s not entirely surprised by what’s happening, arguing that it’s the culmination of the approach local governments have taken toward homelessness and crime the past few years.

“This is the culmination of the last several years, as we’ve had a city government, a county government that refuses to enforce the law, that allows rampant homelessness, drug use, just total lawlessness and anarchy,” he said. “And now it’s culminating in people setting up their own country.”

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