Yesterday the predicted next assault on the Capitol was at best a dud.
Some predictions were there would be thousands of protesters showing up and instead they got hundreds…..
Demonstrators who met in Washington on Saturday to decry the jailing of compatriots in the attack on the Capitol received a far different reception than the rioters did in January. The building was empty this time. The crowd could see the Capitol but was unable to get near it this time; the grounds were surrounded by fencing and heavy dump trucks. There were hundreds of police officers, who easily outnumbered the protesters, Reuters reports, and counterprotesters also were in town. There also may have been more journalists watching than “Justice for J6” rally participants, per the Hill.
The crowd didn’t top 200, well short of the 700 attendees organizers had predicted, but allied leaders had said that the event was a trap and that protesters would be arrested. The Proud Boys had told its members not to go, per the Washington Post. Other rumors warned that opposition activists would come dressed as supporters of former President Trump and disrupt the event. The rally included speakers who repeatedly told the crowd that the people arrested, jailed and charged in the January riot are “political prisoners.” Matt Braynard, the main organizer, said, “This is about justice and disparate treatment.” The protesters sporadically chanted: “Let them go, let them go.”
It was over by midafternoon. Police reported two arrests, both involving weapons violations, per the Post. There were a few confrontations, mostly shouting matches between protesters and counterprotesters, that police broke up. One demonstrator, Eugene Sibick, said his son is jailed in DC, facing charges in the Jan. 6 insurrection. Investigators say Thomas Sibick tore DC police officer Michael Fanone’s badge off him and stole his police radio, then buried the badge in his backyard. His father said that Sibick complains about the jail food and that his jailing is “a disgrace to this country.” He added: “There were things that happened last summer in Seattle and Portland that were more egregious than what happened here, and those people were let out.”
Not what the idiots had wanted.
Could those embers of insurrection becoming cold?
Is the Trump-ite alt-Right losing its luster?
Personally I do not think it is over yet…..just slowing the burn.
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
Without any element of ‘surprise’, they are wasting their time. I can imagine that the focus may shift from DC to somewhere less protected by the authorities.
Best wishes, Pete.
State capitols come to mind……especially blue states. chuq
This could suggest any number of things. If you noticed.. there was nearly zero Trump paraphernalia being displayed.. not MAGA hat to be seen.
Also.. word got out on the Internet that Right Wing Trump supporters/insurrectionists said not to go because the FBI was trying to trap them (all the fencing and “boxing in” looking like a cage trap apparently).
One might also tend to read into this small crowd that the Right Wing doesn’t really care about “Ashley Babbitt as Martyr” as much as they want us to believe.
I was left thinking after seeing that big fizzle that if I were wanting to create another insurrectionist-type affair similar to Jan 6th I would most certainly want Congress in session.. and either schedule the event in secret (could be difficult to do given all the intel now watching for such things), or obtain a permit for some less confrontational demonstration… some abortion group perhaps wanting to demonstrate at the Supreme Court as a diversion… not requiring police fencing preparations.
The dud heard around the world, LOL chuq
Ha! Yes!
😎