On January 6th, 2021, Trump summoned tens of thousands of his supporters for the “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington, DC.
Five years later, less than a hundred showed up for the January 6th reunion. Despite the size of the group, one thing remained a constant: the violence. The day began with an assault and ended with threats to hang police officers.
This year’s rally was supposed to begin at 11:45 AM on the Ellipse, the massive park south of the White House.
Yet, when I rolled up, almost no one was there, except for a couple of elderly fangirls and a few journalists.
Also, the Ellipse was closed. No one was allowed on it. The J6ers claimed that they had a permit for this massive park south of the White House. They lied.
In fact, the organizers and the marchers were holding an impromptu press conference outside the Willard Hotel. I don’t think the hotel knew anything about it.
Half the press was in one location while half was in another. Brilliant work, guys.
The “Peaceful” Protest
As J6ers stood on the sidewalk and aired their grievances, local activist Patricia Eguino crashed the event with her bullhorn, yelling, “Insurrectionist losers!”
In their materials promoting the event, the organizers said that it would be a peaceful demonstration. That didn’t last five minutes.
The J6ers surrounded Eguino and attacked her, ripping her shirt and stealing her megaphone, a Chinese-American woman leading the hair-pulling assault. A viral moment that made TMZ and defined the day. Surprise: January 6ers are still violent.
The mob abandoned their own press conference and followed Eguino down the street until they got to 15th Street, where there is a Secret Service guardhouse near the ruins of the East Wing of the White House.
The Secret Service detained Eguino, thinking that she was the aggressor. They put her in handcuffs as the mob chanted, “USA! USA! USA!”
Flush with victory over the “demon,” they then marched to their rally. But, being idiots, they marched right past the Ellipse (how do you miss that?) and across Constitution Avenue. After realizing their mistake, they turned around, their banners rotating on the sidewalk and the whole crowd of January 6th rioters, fangirls, livestreamers and media marched to the Ellipse, which had reopened.
Poor planning again on the insurrectionists. Their little group was barely noticeable in the vast open space of the Ellipse (see above). For more than an hour, they stood and speechified on the dead grass. No chairs, no podium, no stage. Just people standing around in a circle.
Unbroken, Unbowed
Meanwhile, Eguino was sitting on the ground in cuffs. A mysterious figure with purple hair then arrived and showed the Secret Service video of what actually happened outside the Willard. The attack had been livestreamed by chuds, who can’t stop filming their own crimes. Eguino was released.
She was shaken up. Her shirt was ripped. Rioters had posted pictures of her megaphone like it was a war trophy.
Eguino wanted to go back to show that she was unbowed. Unbeaten.
I’m her friend. I’ve known her since the days of trolling the weird J6 cult vigil known as Freedom Corner.
Not wanting her to get hurt, I suggested she stand by the police on Constitution Avenue. When the J6ers marched to the Capitol, they would see that she was free.
Finally, the march began actually marching. And the first person they saw was Patricia Eguino.
She didn’t need a megaphone to make her voice heard.
“I am free and you will never be free from me!” she shouted. Someone needs to make this into a dance remix.
January 6th rioters cannot tolerate dissent, even if it’s just a lone woman.
They surged towards us, a whole mob of livestreaming idiots and cultists in MAGA hats and shirts.
Metropolitan Police Department officers on bikes formed a perimeter around us.
I took photos of the MAGA mob as they shouted at Eguino. They were so fixated on her, that I don’t think they even noticed me.
chud logic: making the dumbest possible choice in any given situation
Chud logic then kicked in. The Chinese-American woman who attacked Eguino earlier tried to fight her way through the police line for another round. This happened right in front of a couple of senior MPD officers.
The woman was arrested and I got a lovely photo of her absolute shock at this development – they think they are above the law. She was at the January 6th riot, but never charged, and is part of a Chinese-American “patriot” group from Virginia.
They were big mad, cursing the police as their friend was handcuffed, loaded into a van and driven away to the DC Jail.
Earlier in the day, they had bragged about the attack on a livestream (chud logic) and said that the Chinese were tougher than “the whites” because they would fight. They got awfully quiet after the arrest.
The FLARE Gauntlet
The march went on and they met people who really wanted to fight: FLARE, which has a 24/7 vigil against the fascist regime. They have a tent on Constitution Avenue and a continuous presence in front of the US Court House where so many J6ers were convicted.
This wasn’t a petite woman with a megaphone. This was a group of men and women who had been looking forward to this moment. “Fuck Donald Trump in the neck hole!” a man shouted over an incredibly loud sound system that could be heard for blocks.
The march paused before they passed FLARE, so that the police would protect them. They were scared.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, the MPD kept the two groups separate with a line of officers on bikes. No one is better at crowd control.
After running the FLARE gauntlet, the insurrectionists gathered in a grassy area near the Capitol for more speechifying that no one could hear before a small group was allowed to lay flowers in honor of Ashli Babbitt.
J6ers Threaten to Hang Police Officers
But this wasn’t enough for the January 6th rioters who received pardons but still want blood. They made overt, violent threats against police officers, who they blame for the death of Babbitt and others. Threatening to hang MPD officers was Jake Lang, last seen leading a failed crusader march against Muslims and Jews.
This isn’t unusual. J6ers and their supporters from have repeatedly called for hangings of Nancy Pelosi and others.
These officers had to babysit the insurrectionists as they returned to their cars near the Ellipse, marching down Pennsylvania Avenue, as they argued with bystanders and yelled at federal office buildings, like the FBI.
With the election of Donald Trump, they expected the arrests of James Comey, Anthony Fauci and hundreds of others – they have a list. They don’t understand why Biden’s DOJ had a 99% conviction rate in January 6 cases while Pam Bondi and Judge Box o’ Wine Pirro couldn’t even convict Sandwich Guy.
A caravan of police cars and officers on foot and bikes escorted the dregs of the march as the day drew to a close. I rolled by the crowd and a crazed woman in MAGA gear was shouting across the street at the National Guard, demanding that they arrest the Metropolitan Police Department.
Violent, dumb and disorganized, this January 6th was a perfect distillation of the state of the MAGA movement. Preoccupied with grievances and torn apart by contradiction, they are out of ideas, energy and time.
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