When “Back the Blue” Was Convenient
Remember the teary speeches? The solemn press conferences? The endless cable news montages of Democrats hugging Capitol Police officers after January 6, proclaiming them “heroes of democracy”?
Fast-forward to October 2025 — and that compassion has mysteriously vanished.
This weekend, roughly 200 Capitol Police officers are working without pay, standing post under the D.C. sun to secure the very same activists now marching in the “No Kings” protest — a left-wing spectacle cheerleaded by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and bankrolled by groups tied to George Soros.
The same politicians who once wrapped themselves in blue ribbons and delivered overwrought speeches about “protecting our protectors” can’t even be bothered to fund their paychecks.
Why? Because the government shutdown — now entering its 18th day — continues, fueled by Democratic obstruction.
The irony is brutal. The same Democrats who spent years pretending to champion Capitol Police officers now expect them to work for free — to protect the very rallies those same Democrats are attending.
The Shutdown Nobody Needed
Let’s be clear about what’s happening: the government could reopen today.
The Senate needs 60 votes to fund operations and pay federal employees. Republicans have 53 votes ready to move on a bill that includes defense funding, law enforcement pay, and continued security at federal facilities.
Democrats are the holdouts.
Instead of supporting a clean funding resolution, Schumer and his caucus are demanding billions for “equity programs,” climate activism, and foreign NGO funding that have nothing to do with national operations.
That’s why the Capitol is still dark, federal workers are unpaid, and essential personnel — including law enforcement — are carrying the load without compensation.
Meanwhile, Schumer and company are outside chanting “No Kings” at a rally protected by the very officers their blockade is starving.
It’s Washington hypocrisy distilled to its purest form.
The Officers They Forgot
For Capitol Police officers, the shutdown isn’t theoretical — it’s personal.
They’re still required to show up. Still required to manage security checkpoints, crowd control, and emergency coordination. Still required to keep members of Congress safe — including the ones refusing to fund them.
As one Capitol Police sergeant told The Washington Free Beacon, “We’re protecting people who seem to forget we exist until it’s politically useful. It’s déjà vu all over again.”
The department’s leadership has scrambled to maintain morale, promising that back pay will eventually come — but many officers have bills due now. Some are dipping into savings, others leaning on overtime from previous pay cycles just to stay afloat.
And through it all, not a single Democrat senator has called for an emergency measure to ensure Capitol Police receive their checks during the impasse.
The silence is deafening.
The “No Kings” Hypocrisy
The “No Kings” rally — organized by Indivisible and Soros-funded affiliates — has drawn tens of thousands of left-wing protesters to Washington. Their stated goal is to oppose “authoritarian overreach” by President Trump’s administration.
In practice, it’s become a gathering of professional activists, union organizers, and anti-Trump influencers staging a mass tantrum in the nation’s capital.
And who’s keeping them safe? The very Capitol Police officers Democrats once claimed to revere.
These same lawmakers now march alongside demonstrators who hold signs calling federal officers “fascists” and “stormtroopers.” They nod along as speakers accuse law enforcement of “enabling dictatorship” — even as officers in uniform maintain order, unpaid and unthanked.
It’s a surreal image: cops defending politicians and protesters who loathe them, while those same politicians refuse to sign their paychecks.
Selective Outrage and Political Amnesia
Let’s rewind to 2021.
After January 6, Democrats couldn’t praise the Capitol Police loudly enough. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi publicly wept as she described officers “holding the line.” Schumer said the department had “saved American democracy.”
For months, “Back the Blue” was the rallying cry — not for police nationwide, of course, but just for the handful who stood between Democrats and the angry crowd on January 6.
Fast-forward to today, and that “support” has evaporated. When law enforcement serves Democrats’ narrative, they’re saints. When they stand in the way — or, heaven forbid, protect conservative events — they’re oppressors.
The double standard is stunning.
When activists blockade ICE offices or assault federal agents, Democrats call it “civil disobedience.” When Republicans question federal overreach, Democrats shriek about “threats to democracy.”
And now, when 200 Capitol Police officers work without pay to protect their protest, Democrats don’t even mention them.
Schumer’s Role in the Gridlock
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer could end this standoff with a single phone call.
As leader of the Democratic caucus, he has the votes necessary to move a bipartisan funding bill forward. Instead, he’s chosen political theater over governance — positioning himself as the face of the “resistance” rather than the responsible statesman his office demands.
While his staff coordinates with “No Kings” organizers and media surrogates, federal workers, TSA agents, and Capitol Police officers are going unpaid.
Schumer’s office issued a statement Friday blaming Republicans for “prioritizing Trump’s agenda over the needs of working Americans.”
But that argument collapses under basic arithmetic. Republicans have 53 votes ready to reopen the government. Democrats have 47 votes to keep it closed.
The math speaks for itself.
A Shutdown Built on Ego
This isn’t just gridlock — it’s ego.
Democrats can’t stomach the optics of giving Trump’s administration a legislative win, even on something as basic as paying government employees. They’d rather let the country grind to a halt than admit compromise is necessary.
It’s the same strategy they used during the 2018–2019 shutdown, when they blocked border wall funding for weeks — only to eventually cave under public pressure.
Now, the pattern repeats. The difference is, this time law enforcement is directly paying the price.
As one Capitol Police officer put it in frustration, “We’re pawns again — props when it suits them, forgotten when it doesn’t.”
What “Support” Really Means
Democrats have always defined “supporting law enforcement” situationally.
They supported Capitol Police when it helped them vilify Trump supporters. They abandoned border agents when it meant defending immigration enforcement. They denounced local police when the far-left called for “defunding.”
And now, they’ve left federal officers unpaid — even as they rely on their protection to hold anti-Trump protests in peace.
It’s not support. It’s exploitation.
The Bottom Line
The contrast couldn’t be clearer:
-
Republicans are voting to reopen the government, fund defense priorities, and pay law enforcement.
-
Democrats are marching in rallies guarded by unpaid officers, chanting about “No Kings” while refusing to govern.
The Capitol Police didn’t sign up to be political pawns. They signed up to protect the people’s house — including the ones inside who no longer seem to care about them.
And when the cameras pan across this weekend’s protests, remember the faces behind the barricades — the officers standing in uniform, unpaid, holding the line for a political class that long ago forgot their names.
Adrian Hawthorne is a celebrated author and dedicated archivist who finds inspiration in the hidden stories of the past. Educated at Oxford, he now works at the National Archives, where preserving history fuels his evocative writing. Balancing archival precision with creative storytelling, Adrian founded the Hawthorne Institute of Literary Arts to mentor emerging writers and honor the timeless art of narrative.