While I confidently wrote the obituary of the 1776 Restoration Movement, it never actually ended!
Storming off saying, “I quit!” would be the end of most things but for cult leaders, it’s just another tool in the toolbox. Leaving or threatening to leave is a way to keep followers in line by forcing them to contemplate the bleak life that awaits them once the shared hysteria comes to an end. Better to stay in the security of the cult than risk a shattering return to reality.
The Christo-fascist 1776 Restoration Movement didn’t end but instead splintered and splintered again, growing progressively smaller and moving to increasingly remote locations, like the woods of a campground and their West Virginia basecamp/parking lot.
And after being evicted from the National Mall, cult members have drifted away, the leaders exiting with their ill-gotten loot while the followers try to regain their health after ingesting rat poop.
The dregs of the dregs have remained in the DC region, attaching themselves to new cults, like the vigil for January 6th insurrectionists at the DC Jail or just shouting at people from street corners.
#1776RestorationMovement update.
Santa is back at Bunker Hill, WV. Anti-#1776RM are outside doing the usual; police called, of course.
Screaming Steve is, of course, screaming. #Convoywatch #Cult pic.twitter.com/KmJUbxAM8r
— The Mayor McCheese (@tMayor_McCheese) August 23, 2022
The Revolution WILL Be Televised
There would not be a 1776 Restoration Movement without YouTube. Live-streaming is a way of life for the cult. They are 100% dependent on it to get their story out into the world, connect with followers and, most importantly, raise money.
To watch one of the 1776RM livestreams is like PBS pledge week, with constant appeals for “superchats” and “buy me a coffee.” except the money is going for gas and vape juice. Easy money if you’re a popular streamer. No wonder they are so attached to the grift.
It’s also a way of inflating their importance. During encounters with the police, the 1776ers would tell the officers, “I have 2000 people watching this right now. Do your job!”
Does YouTube care that they’re empowering civil war? No. Unless you’re violating copyright or doing something completely illegal you have free rein to livestream whatever you want.
The next insurrection will be televised. I can picture it now: thousands of livestreamers, iPhones aloft, storming the Capitol as YouTube profits from the end of democracy.
Protect Your Mental Health
The experience of having the 1776ers in my city made me a little nuts. I became obsessed with the wannabe insurrectionists, actively working toward their failure.
I was not alone. This was a Live Action Role Playing game (LARP) where you got to play a character in a titanic struggle of good against evil. The 1776ers were fighting to save the country while the counterprotesters were combating an evil, pedophile cult.
Talking to friends about this, I sounded like a fanatic, as I described the outlandish characters and ridiculous situations of this real-life soap opera.
“Remember, you have more to lose than they do,” a friend reminded me. Unlike the insurrectionists sleeping in their cars, I had indoor plumbing, air conditioning and cable TV.
I had to disengage because their cult craziness was contagious.
Also, I think the pandemic made everyone a little nuts. Telling people to stay inside and worry for close to two years did terrible things to this nation’s collective psyche. The loss of routine, relationships, sunlight and income unhinged this country.
Now that the plague is over, and people realize that they’re not going to die, everyone wants to fight, looking for payback for the things that they lost during the shutdown.
Or maybe just to feel human again, after so much time with only the digital world for company. Suddenly, people have a desire to connect, even if it’s only a fist connecting to a face.
Next: How Cults End: The 1776 Restoration Movement
