Current, previous and potentially future office holders from the Tampa Bay area gave their thoughts to Spectrum Bay News 9 about the mob violence that took place at the Capitol by Donald Trump supporters on Wednesday.

St. Petersburg Democratic state Senator Darryl Rouson called it “shameful” and “disgraceful” and said it gave a clear picture of how divided the country is.

“Trumpism is responsible,” he said. “You know, the hypocritical nature of his words: do as I say, not as I do, just doesn’t resonate with people. His continuing to lie, and mislead the facts. Not telling people the truth. All of those things are incendiary and would incite people to do what happened yesterday. I think that he does bear responsibility.”

Former Hillsborough Republican County Commissioner Mark Sharpe said, in addition to the shock and disbelief to viewing the images that Americans saw on Wednesday of rioters breaking into the Capitol, he was proud of how the ten living former secretaries of Defense spoke out earlier this week about the obligation to the rule of law and to the orderly transfer of power.

Sharpe comes from a military family: he served in the U.S. Navy for years; his father served 28 years in the Air Force and his son is in the U.S. Army.

“We believe in our nation. We believe in service. And whether you’re serving in the military or you’re serving in government, you should serve. I was telling my daughter that last night. She’s a student. I was telling her, if you are concerned, then you need to get involved, not just throw rocks and stones, but get involved. But also recognize that in a democracy we have an obligation to sometimes step up and tamp down the rhetoric.”

St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman’s feud with Donald Trump goes back to December of 2015. Shortly after Trump proposed a ban on Muslim immigration while campaigning for the Republican nomination for president, Kriseman sent out a tweet banning him from St. Pete.

“The thing that has always separated our country from so many places in the world is the peaceful transition of power. And when you saw what happened yesterday, it didn’t look like America. It looked like a third world country,” Kriseman said Thursday.

When asked if he believes the tension in the country right now will go away when Trump leaves the White House in two weeks, Kriseman says that will only happen if more Republicans denounce his actions.

“There’s been too many elected officials – too many Republicans who have sat back and said nothing – or have supported him. And as long as they continue to do that, that’ll continue. They have to step forward and say ‘enough. This is not who we are as a country, and we’re not tolerating that.’”

Amanda Makki worked for a decade on Capitol Hill as a staffer before she made a bid for the Republican nomination for Congress in Pinellas County’s 13^thCongressional District last year. She disagreed that Trump solely owns the responsibility for the mayhem that took place on Wednesday. 

“Seventy percent of Republicans, and thirty percent of Democrats believe that the elections weren’t free and fair,” said Makki, who volunteered as an attorney representing the Trump campaign in Wisconsin (polls do show that 70% of Republicans don’t trust the election results, but most polls don’t show that high a percentage of Democrats not believing in the results). “And you saw people act out on that. And I think that obviously President Trump believes that the elections were not free and fair. It was a culmination of those things that I think brought people to peacefully protest and express their views. Then you had some people that completely lost it. And I can’t pin the blame on any one person.”

When asked if Trump’s exit will tamp down the hot tensions, Makki said that’s dependent on Joe Biden and how he handles the progressive wing of the Democratic Party.

“They’re going to have every lever of government in Washington. If they promote a radical agenda, if they tack so far to the left and try packing the court, defund the police and the likes of those kinds of things that the Democrats are pushing, you are absolutely going to see revolt. And so they really need to be really mindful of that … and that’s on Joe Biden now.”

Hillsborough County Democratic state Representative Fentrice Driskell says she was shocked by what took place in Washington – but definitely not surprised. 

“This really was the culmination of four years of reality show politics and the outgoing president inciting his supporters to violence, which is something that I think we all could see coming just based on the way that the rhetoric has been so charged for the past four years. So it wasn’t a surprise, but it certainly was shocking.”

And Driskell, Rouson and Kriseman all reacted to how the Capitol Police handled the rioters on Wednesday versus when Black Lives Matter protesters marched in Washington back in June.

“What we saw yesterday also touches on race relations in this country because you had protesters who were violent, who were armed, who were able to breach the Capitol, when just six months earlier there were diverse coalitions of people protesting in support of Black Lives Matter, and they were tear gassed and pinned down for far less,” said Driskell.

“The perception is there was a double standard being issued yesterday, and that it would have been different if it had been Black Lives Matter,” said Rouson. “But it’s my understanding that the police were overwhelmed. But how could you be overwhelmed if you have good reconnaissance, if you have good information that people are being invited that includes groups like the Proud Boys?”

“If the people marching into the Capitol were Black or brown, what would have happened to them?” asked Kriseman. “They certainly would have been tear gassed or shot with rubber bullets or worse ... Yet Capitol Police taking selfies (with protesters)? There’s some serious questions that have to be asked about what happened yesterday.”