A man dances barefoot on the street, megaphone in hand, wearing the red robe and gold crown of a king. Across from him, a bald head peers over the walls of a makeshift cardboard fort to yell threats.
It’s just another night on Freedom Corner outside the DC Jail, where January 6th supporters battle counterprotestors in a chaotic war of light, sound and insults.
Hundreds of people watch the struggle on YouTube, tuned in to live streamers from both sides. Absurd moments from the fight are clipped, remixed and parodied:
The Festering of Freedom Corner sometimes seems like a scene straight out of a classic sitcom.
Is this a glaring glitch in the simulation? 💀 pic.twitter.com/RKsRo7DaSC
— Baldy Banks (@BaldyBanks) March 30, 2023
Freedom Corner has freed no one, despite meeting with Kevin McCarthy, Marjorie Taylor Green and others. The much vaunted January 6th tapes released to Tucker Carlson changed nothing. Even the support of Donald Trump didn’t change a thing. The “machine” as the J6ers calls the court, grinds on, finer and finer, as insurrectionists are caught, prosecuted and punished.
No matter. The grift continues, a nightly cash cow, as live streamers beg for money online. Donations roll in through YouTube, Cash app and Grift Send Go. How much Freedom Corner collects and what the dollars are used for is unknown. These are “charities” that don’t file any of the required paperwork with the IRS.
Interrupting this grift are counterprotestors, who honed their skills mocking the 1776 Restoration Movement. They relentlessly home in on the weaknesses and embarrassing moments of Freedom Corner in a comedic assault.
The Music of Freedom Corner
Music is a key weapon. In addition to being traitors, the J6ers are homophobes. To disrupt their vigil, the counterprotestors like to blast Ram Ranch, which begins:
18 naked cowboys in the showers at Ram Ranch
And goes downhill (or uphill, depending on your preference) from there.
Both sides have portable speakers to drown out each other. The J6ers like playing traditional country and some terrible right-wing rap (which I don’t think they actually like).
But there is one song that rules all others. A cardboard wall cannot keep out its infectious beat. Ironically, this dirty ditty was recorded by one of the vigil-goers before she found Jesus and Trump.
Do not listen to this, unless you want the obscene chorus in your head:
By popular demand, here‘s our dance mix of Corinnge’s live performance on Chud Corner last night.
Praise Jesus & clap along! 👏#FreedomPussy on #FreedomCorner pic.twitter.com/c90jXkQbCt
— Baldy Banks (@BaldyBanks) April 1, 2023
Damnation Drive-In
Baldy Banks and Sam Singe do more than just create funny videos. Viewers can’t get enough their mockery so they created Damnation Drive-In, which is like the Daily Show of Freedom Corner, as well as being a live watch show where people can view and comment on livestreams.
If you’re new to Freedom Corner, none of this will make any sense at all, sort of like tuning into Game of Thrones mid-season. But for devoted followers of this comedy of insurrectionist incompetence, it’s must-see TV:
The Street Art
Freedom Corner has a doxxing problem. They like “exposing” agitators, i.e., the counterprotestors. Unfortunately, they are terrible at it and keep doxxing the wrong people, exposing innocent families to harassment.
One of the people that they tried and failed to dox was the counterprotester known as Biketifa. They call him that because he rides a bike (originality is not their strong suit). They “researched” him and “uncovered” his true identity as a lawyer with an inactive license in Northern Virginia.
Because they’re not good with details, words or spelling they called Biketifa a “bard lawyer” which prompted visions of a poet/attorney solving cases and writing poems.
Biketifa may not be a poet or a lawyer (or maybe he is) but he is an excellent street artist. In response to the failed doxxing, he covered the streets around Freedom Corner with posters detailing the crimes of the J6 supporters.
The J6 supporters got some fresh décor this bright, sunny day.#freedomcorner pic.twitter.com/33xbGM4R6d
— OfNone (@HerbalCrone) April 7, 2023
And he does chalk art:
Pass it around before Chud dumps all his water on it bahahahaha pic.twitter.com/8Eyzzz3Twb
— Biketifa Esq. (@BIKETIFA) April 13, 2023
Biketifa is having so much fun mocking the J6ers that he even opened his own eBay store selling chud art.
J6 Comedy
You may wonder: have the J6ers of Freedom Corner done anything funny? Not deliberately. Their attempts at humor are crass and unfunny, like putting up posters calling a counterprotester a $5 whore or crude MS Paint jobs of people dressed as clowns. That’s it. That’s the funny on their side.
Humor Works
Mockery works since it’s deflating, taking a serious issue and turning it into a joke.
And the humor has crept over the cardboard walls of Freedom Corner and into the heads of the J6ers.
For example, one of the J6ers was nicknamed Chud by the counterprotestors, a name that goes back to the 1776 Restoration Movement, when he shambled around DC like a slow-moving, art-hating Sasquatch.
The name has been used with so much frequency that even the J6ers refer to their comrade as, “Chud.” They’ve been caught on tape using the name that counterprotestors coined rather than the Chudster’s real one. He is Chud now, to both sides of the street.
That’s when you know you’ve won.
Freedom Corner is a joke.