Right-wing influencers are attacking President Joe Biden over the construction of fencing around the U.S. Capitol in preparation for Tuesday night’s State of the Union address. They argue that the fencing shows that the president is contemptuous of the American people and are contrasting its use with past Democratic criticisms of former President Donald Trump’s border fence.
There’s just one problem: Biden played no official role in ordering the erection of the fencing, and the deciding vote to do so was actually cast by a Trump appointee.
Law enforcement have frequently erected fencing at the Capitol since January 6, 2021, when a riotous mob of Trump supporters bent on subverting the 2020 election assaulted scores of officers while storming the building.
The Capitol Police Board, a three-member body composed of the sergeants-at-arms of the House and Senate and the architect of the Capitol, makes the determination about whether to assemble the barriers. The sergeants-at-arms are selected by the leaders of their respected bodies, in this case, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), while the architect of the Capitol is a Senate-confirmed presidential appointee.
In preparation for the 2023 State of the Union, the board voted 2-1 to put up the fencing. Architect of the Capitol J. Brett Blanton and Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Karen Gibson voted in favor, while McCarthy’s pick, House Sergeant-at-Arms William McFarland, reportedly voted against because there was “no actionable intelligence to necessitate putting up a fence.”
Putting aside the wisdom of the decision, with the sergeants-at-arms split, Blanton cast the deciding vote to put up the fences. And Blanton was appointed to a 10-year term in 2019 by Trump.
Nonetheless, Donald Trump Jr., the former president’s son and a right-wing podcaster and media entrepreneur, responded to the news on Tuesday morning by tweeting, “When Biden starts talking about unity at the SOTU just remember he’s also putting up fencing around The Capitol because that’s how he really feels about the citizens he’s supposed to represent. What a joke.”
Carl Higbie, a former Trump administration official and current Newsmax host, responded to Trump Jr.’s tweet with “Yea… ur old man put the fence where it belonged… on the southern border!!!!!”
Salem Media Group radio host Andrew Wilkow added that Biden “will only build walls that keep citizens out.”
MAGA members of Congress have also gotten in on the action.
“The fence is back up around the Capitol for SOTU because Biden knows walls work on the ground,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) tweeted on Monday. “Joe Biden is more afraid of Americans visiting their Capitol than a Chinese Spy Balloon invading our air space that could have carried God only knows what.”
“They’ve reinstalled the fence around the Capitol. With no reports of increased threats, I can only assume it’s to ensure Biden doesn’t wander off after the SOTU,” added fellow QAnon caucus member Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO).
Zombie Newsweek credulously wrote up the Greene and Boebert tweets under the headline “Republicans Rip Biden for Fencing Off Capitol Before State of the Union.”
FoxNews.com, meanwhile, dedicated an article to the story, headlined “Fence built around Capitol ahead of State of Union to protect Congress, despite Dem claim walls ineffective.”
The piece did not address who ordered the construction of the fence.