Posted on 01/07/2021 9:35:42 AM PST by Kaslin
A little over a decade ago, I was tear-gassed for the first time. It was the first day of September in the Twin Cities, and the anti-globalist, anti-war protesters were milling about with giant papier-mache heads of the people they hated. Mark Hemingway was there. My future wife and mother of my child was inside. It was painful. Afterward, I left and set up my laptop at a nearby rooftop bar and had the best Guinness I’ve ever ordered in my life. The reports about the protesters were overwhelmingly sympathetic. These were justified because of the wars. The New York Times said so.
A few years later, I covered Occupy Wall Street, and the tone was similar. These people taking over public parks, shitting all over the place, yelling at each other in circles, and setting up occasional rape tents were to be accepted, because Wall Street exists and is a thing. The sympathy for them was even greater than for the war people because of a lot of guilt about how media is funded. Zephyr Teachout wrote a thing.
Around the same time, there was another form of protest, something very different, which emerged. It was called the Tea Party. It was, unlike the anti-war, anti-globalist, anti-Wall Street folks, a fundamentally dangerous and racist entity, bent on destruction and violence, that threatened the very foundations of representative government and only existed because people couldn’t accept a black president. They were basically the Klan. Alan Grayson said it.
It was odd. In all my years of covering the Tea Party, I never saw them be rude to a cop, even by accident. They were upper-middle-class people who drove up in SUVs. They had no designs on destruction or occupation. Their taxes paid for that park, so they would clean up after themselves. They took pride in it — that they weren’t like the dirty, filthy leftists who left graffiti and literal shit on the ground.
Of course, it was these people who were absolutely marauded by the media. Their shouting at politicians — confined of course to town halls — was an act of political sabotage that threatened everything we hold dear. They were basically terrorists. Mediocre politician Joe Biden literally called them “terrorists.” He can be a nice guy, but he’s also kind of an asshole that way. That’s Delaware for you.
Politics is interesting in America. There’s a repeated pattern that emerges when you look into it. Certain factors and elements rise up, and the media lies about them aggressively. They frame the new emerging development as something it is not — as the most extreme version of what it could be. And then the call engenders a response — the very thing the media frames this development as comes to fruition in a new and more virulent form.
This absolutely happened in response to the 2012 election. As I said a few years ago about Democratic attacks on the misogyny and heartlessness of Mitt Romney, if you cry wolf about extremism long enough, you lack the vocabulary when the actual beast shows up. The rise of Donald Trump is a piece of that — a takeover of the Republican Party by a politician who represents everything the media has framed a cliched view of the party as for decades: a rich, old, white racist who likes to fire people. Yeah? So suck on that. Go write a million pieces, they don’t care.
What happened yesterday didn’t depress me the way it seemed to depress other people. Maybe that’s because I don’t view the institution of the Capitol as sacred the way others do. As a former staffer, I’ve known too many stories about the nooks and crannies where Ted Kennedy did stuff to get too verklempt about it. And the invaders stayed inside the velvet ropes in Statuary Hall, which I actually care about. But it’s disturbing for a lot of reasons, two in particular that stick out.
The first is a comment from an apolitical friend who wandered into the room where the roiling crowd was on the screen in the early afternoon yesterday: “Is that Black Lives Matter?” No, it’s not — but also, it is. An apolitical viewer of the summer of 2020 would learn one distinct lesson: If you want to be heard, if you want to be listened to, you need to go into the streets, make a ruckus, set things on fire, and tear down icons of America. This disrespect will be welcomed, hailed, and supported if your cause is just and your motives are righteous.
Just about everyone who showed up on Capitol Hill yesterday believed that about why they were there. The only difference between the horned man standing in the Senate chair or the smiling man hauling the speaker’s podium out the door and the fellow who attempted to tear down Andrew Jackson’s statue or the criminal who set fire to St. John’s Church is a matter of jersey color.
The second is that blaming this on Donald Trump isn’t just too simplistic, it’s whistling past the graveyard of our norms. Of course, he egged on his crowd to go up to the Capitol and be loud and irritating. But he didn’t tell them to break down doors and crash the gates, and he didn’t need to. Blaming this on Trump assumes this type of attitude will go away when Trump himself does. That’s way too easy — it’s wishful thinking. The iconoclasm of the right is a real development, and it is here to stay. You’ll wish for the old man in the tricorn hat waving a Cato Constitution when you see the new right blasting statues with graffiti.
The crowd was not a Tea Party crowd. They brought their folding chairs and their canes. They drove more than they flew. They spat their dip on the ground. They peed on the trees. And they didn’t just disrespect the cops guarding the Capitol, they crushed past them.
Capitol Police are fine people. They’re nice and generally accommodating. But they’re also the TSA of Capitol Hill — mostly used to telling people to go back and get their badge, not deal with a security issue. They rarely train. Most of them would fail a basic fitness test. But that’s understandable because what’s typically required of them is not a major security conflagration, but removing some loud Code Pink lady from a hearing, or grabbing a jumper from the Gallery. The norms of politics prevent them from having to be more aggressive.
On the eve of the protests yesterday, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, who gives all the evidence of having a brain mostly composed of pudding, demurred on offers of extra law enforcement, saying they were unnecessary and would cause confusion. The result was a group of Capitol Police who seemed woefully unprepared for the crush of the massive crowd that showed up, without riot gear or moveable barriers or the equipment necessary to peacefully quell a potentially violent gathering.
The breach yesterday has been long in the making. Even as a young staffer I was shocked at how unsecure the Capitol was — there are numerous gaps in their security that you will easily witness if you spend any time there. It’s only the intimidating columns, the confusion about which door you can use, and the institutions and norms that keep people at bay. And those, alas, are now gone. They are dead, they are in the ground, and they are not coming back.
This same reality applies to the conservative movement. The obvious result of yesterday’s conflagration will be a feeble attempt at a purge by the Mitt Romneys, Liz Cheneys, and Adam Kinzingers (ha!) of the GOP. This will fail because their constituency is not just outnumbered, it is utterly dominated by the populist iconoclasts. A party of the right that rejects the mob of people who spent their hard-earned, working-class money to drive to Washington, D.C., and wave a flag as deplorables will never win, or deserve to, any more than a party of the left could reject naming something Black Lives Matter plaza.
What will happen next is obvious: A total crushing, anti-free speech effort that treats Trump-supporting groups like Branch Davidians. An effort to restore the fundamentally unserious neocons as the voice of reason in the room. A hardening of the bounds of the People’s House to keep people away from politicians. A use of any levers of government power — including audits, regulation, and lawfare — to harass conservatives now categorized as seditionists and terrorists by the incoming president who falsely claims to want to unite the country. And above all, a doubling down on all the policies and efforts put in place to crush exactly the type of people who showed up at the Capitol yesterday in a foolish, desperate attempt to make themselves heard.
The rioters failed in their effort and ensured their marginalization. But marginalization doesn’t mean evaporation. They’re still here. They’re still Americans. And they’re not going away. How our politicians handle that will dictate a lot about the next several years. And that shouldn’t give people a lot of hope, considering that four years after his election and two weeks before his departure, the only person they’ll apparently listen to is still Donald Trump.
I don’t see it as a tactical loss.
I see it as a tactical victory.
The politicians were running.
Smells like victory to me.
It didn’t have to be a big, planned operation.
The politicians showed their cowardice and ran.
Brave politicians, honest politicians, would have talked to the people.
Our cowardly politicians ran like chickens.
Absolute nonsense. We protested at the Capitol. The crowd was strong, loud and exuberant. The lack of preparation by the capitol police was stunning. They tossed flashbangs into the crowd and deployed teargas.
At one point a few people clambered up to the bleachers. When it got to about 100, a handful of cops came out and herded them to a lower level. By herded, it seemed they pointed and said “go down there.” I didn’t see any clubs or pepper spray used at that point. They did use lots of pepper spray at other times.
The video from inside seemed very sedate from most. Like the article writer said, they respected the velvet rope lines. They were careful not to wreck the artifacts. That’s not the actions of rioters.
Was the breach correct? Probably not. Was it a riot? Absolutely not.
I look at it this way, in the future, yesterday will be looked at as the “nice” protest.
Help requested for Declaration of removal of the Consent of the Governed.
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3922523/posts
The Declaration of the People of the States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, —That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.—Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present Federal Government of these United States of America is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over the People of the Sovereign States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
It has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
The Courts of the Federal Government have refused to hear the complaints of lawfully elected president regarding the fraudulent elections of certain States.
The Courts of the Federal Government have refused to hear the complaints of the States as to the fraudulent elections of other States.
The Courts of the Federal Government have refused to hear the complaints of the citizens of the States as to the fraudulent elections of certain States.
The Federal Government in violation of its constitutional duty to ensure a republican form of government to the States permitted certain states to conduct elections not in accordance with their own laws. When these violations were brought to the attention of said government it failed to act.
When presented with ample evidence of fraudulent votes, vote tampering, failure to follow the laws of the State in which the election was taking place and impeding lawful election observers. The Federal Government disregarded the evidence and failed to act to decertify these elections.
When presented with ample evidence of voting machines that were not designed and built to ensure fair elections and resistance to tampering the Federal Government failed to act to rectify the damaged elections or to preclude the use of these machines in subsequent elections.
The Federal Government failed to prevent an ineligible candidate from being placed before the people for election to the office of the Vice-President of the United States.
The Federal Government failed to prevent an ineligible candidate from being placed before the people for election to the office of the President of the United States.
The Courts of the United States when presented with evidence of ineligibility of the said candidates refused to hear the complaints of the people.
The Federal Government has erected a multitude of Federal Agencies, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance. The Federal Government has imposed on the citizens laws and regulations that force the people to act against their religious beliefs.
The Federal Government has, in times of peace, sent our Army to foreign lands without a declaration of war.
The Federal Government has created agencies independent of and superior to the State’s Civil power.
The Federal Government’s courts have struck down our States constitutions amendments, and dully passed legislation without just cause. For protecting Federal officers, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of a timely Trial by Jury:
For failing to enforce our boarders and ensure that aliens crossing our boarders are peaceful law-abiding individuals.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A government whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our elected officials. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their courts to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of our constitutional rights. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the People of the United States of America, in Good Conscience, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, withdraw our consent to be governed by the Federal Government of the United States of America.
Aggression and energy attract people.
What looks like fun and “the world turned upside down” attracts people - the silly furry viking dude in the Senate for instance, that is classic, even classically classic, a figure very like a Greco-Roman Sylvanus, say, in one of those festivals where the point is to get people not to take everything so seriously.
Bravery attracts people.
And above all martyrs attract people.
It was great fun until the people with sticks up their butts started shooting.
Not everyone folds as easily as you do. The Left and these elites are not going to like you no matter how hard you grovel at their feet. Grow a damn spine and stand up for the people who fought for all of us yesterday at the Capital, they are true Patriots.
Milquetoast pearl clutchers such as yourself are why Conservatism and the GOP constantly lose.
[I got flamed yesterday for posting that “the storming of the Capitol” was a terrible thing that would hurt MAGA and the president. So many Freepers were essentially fist pumping in support of this mob. Now they’re saying it was actually antifa posing as Trump people - an admission that I was right and it created a huge setback for MAGA and Trump
Apologies accepted]
I see the birth of a new, scrappier Republican Party. Ashli Babbit may have left us, but she will not be forgotten. Anyone who is not on board will be swept away. All we need are credible primary challengers.
>And if he thinks our marginalization isn’t ensured by the MSM/deep state techno-totalitarians no matter what he’s a moron.
That we have been marginalized for years is why yesterday happened.
Honestly even if it was Antifa doing the destruction, fact of the matter is that a bunch of MAGA supporters went along. And yes this put the cause back for years. There was no reason to go into the capital. If we had a fair media then maybe but we don’t and trump supporters know that.
Just terrible...We should instead wave our flags harder, write our Congressman and vote them out! Oh wait, how are you going to vote for a legitimate candidate when the elections are nothing but a fraud, produced and directed by professional political career criminals?
How's that working out for ya?
The author makes some mystifying statements that I simply don't think are accurate, but he has a way with words that is epic.
The crowd was not a Tea Party crowd. They brought their folding chairs and their canes. They drove more than they flew. They spat their dip on the ground. They peed on the trees. And they didn’t just disrespect the cops guarding the Capitol, they crushed past them.
Those who were the target of the protesters wrath yesterday should be grateful it was not the ghosts of all those aborted dead rising to mete out justice. That would have been a true moment of carnage.
You can really tell who the GOP establishment types are like Domenech because they carefully avoid the topic of the stolen election and the installation of a sham president over the country.
Domenech is more subtle than most, but he paints a false equivalency between BLM and MAGA which can only be posited if you avoid the elephant in the room, which is that the presidential election was rigged and the GOPe has chosen to stand with those who killed free and honest elections.
And the Neocons are not “unserious.” They are as serious as a Soviet gulag.
Why does Left-wing civil disobedience result in electoral wins while Right-wing civil disobedience result in “setbacks”? Until we get our minds right (and stop playing to the narrative foisted upon us) we’ll continue to be losers.
storming of the Capitol” was a terrible thing
Just terrible“
Yes. It has given the left and the GOPe the excuse to end Trumps presidency as of yesterday.
I got news for ya Ben. The kind of Republicans your father in law was, the kind you favor....RINO corporate shills, globalist country club surrender monkeys...them. Well, they’re dying. They’re on their way out. They don’t realize it yet, but rest assured, they are. You all simply don’t have enough people and the truth is that most people are just sick of you. They realize you are far too weak to ever stand up to the Left - and you don’t serve most Americans anyway.
The “Deplorables” - that is the middle and working class as well as nationalists and Patriots from the upper middle class are going to take over. We not only have the energy you lack, we also have the ability to reach out to others you can only dream of appealing to.
Get ready to watch a lot of your RINO icons go down in flames in the next few Republican primaries. All the bright and ambitious stars in the party - Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, Kristi Noem, Ron Desantis, they’re already with us. They can see which way the wind is blowing.
“Honestly even if it was Antifa doing the destruction, fact of the matter is that a bunch of MAGA supporters went along. And yes this put the cause back for years. There was no reason to go into the capital.”
Correct.
You will also see financial institutions going further in their policies restricting or outright banning certain businesses from having or accessing funds. You want to use your credit card to set up monthly donations to your church? Better not be one that speaks out against abortion.
No, the vast majority of those who were there to protest were NOT rioters. That is the issue here. A relative handful of people whose affiliations are yet to be documented, the actual rioters, succeeded in the marginalization of 75 million Americans.
As for the rest of those present sans rioters, note the author points out, "stayed within the velvet ropes." Other reports have a portion of the crowd trying to stop an obvious antifa type from breaking windows. Those are the archetypal protestors of the right, protestors who would clean up after themselves, leaving the site cleaner than it was found when they arrived.
Whether by design or by accident, look at how the left and never-Trump crowd is trying to capitalize on this situation. All that is missing now is the helicopter landing on the White House roof with a few staffers hanging off the skids.
We're screwed.
Why did you evade the questions?
Since ya can’t vote your way out of this, what are ya going to do? Please tell me!
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