Saturday’s Justice For J6 Rally was supposed to be a repeat of the January 6th attack on Capitol Hill. Instead, it was a big, fat dud!
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The J6 Rally was designed to be a demonstration of support for those Trump/MAGA supporters who were arrested and charged for their participation in the January 6th Capitol riots. In fact, the rally was supposed to continue to propel the false narrative that not only did Trump win the election, but the original January event was nothing more than a peaceful gathering of patriots who were never violent and only hoped to protect election integrity. Yeah, right.
Weeks before the event, rally organizer and former Trump campaign staffer Matt Braynard bragged that prominent Republican members of Congress would speak at the event. He even hinted that Trump himself would likely make an appearance.
“It’s going to be huge… We’re going to push back against the phony narrative that there was an insurrection,” Braynard said during a July 30th interview with right-wing media outlet Real America’s Voice. “We’re going to have some very high-profile speakers there. We’re going to have members of Congress speak.”
In anticipation of the J6 Rally and in an effort to be overly prepared and extremely cautious, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the Washington, DC Police Department, the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and others all met and coordinated a response to protect the US Capitol and prevent a repeat of Trump’s January melee.
Fencing was once again erected around the perimeter of the Capitol. A handful of checkpoints with armed guards permitted entry to only essential authorized personnel. Police officers in riot gear carrying semi-automatic weapons were at the ready and strategically placed around the area. Officials were hell-bent to NOT allow the J6 Rally to become a repeat of January 6th.
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On July 30, Matt Braynard made the following announcement on Bannon’s show about today’s rally: “It’s going to be huge .. We’re going to have very high profile speakers there .. We’re going to have Members of Congress speak.” pic.twitter.com/meuFEZ7C7l
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) September 19, 2021
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However, in the end, it was all for naught.
Although J6 Rally organizers expected tens of thousands of Trump-loving participants to once again overtake Washington on behalf of their beloved “Dear Leader,” only about 400 people actually showed up.
The “Who’s Who” list of prominent congressional speakers turned out to be ZERO members of Congress in attendance. Only 3 Republican candidates planning to run for Congress bothered to show.
As for the teased appearance of Donald Trump himself, it was about as real as the alleged missing ballots Trump claims actually won him the 2020 election.
Not only did white supremacy groups and other QAnon/MAGA flunkies fear the wrath of the FBI and hope to avoid being hunted down and arrested like thousands of participants from January 6th, but literally NO elected Republican official dared associate themselves with the J6 Rally.
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“The very small crowd size at the #JusticeforJ6 traitorous rally shows the waning influence of the former President.” – Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA)
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Needless to say, the couple of hundred participants who actually bothered to travel to DC were not amused.
“Where’s [Republican House Minority Leader Kevin] McCarthy? Where’s [Republican Senate Minority Leader] McConnell? They’re all useless,” a few participants shouted from the crowd.
“They’re cowards because they’re not standing up for those constitutional rights. They’re supposed to be protected. I call them political animals who are afraid of bad media coverage,” Steve Merkel, of Baltimore, Maryland told members of the press.
“It’s really upsetting none of them came,” Casey Crawford of Missouri said.
“You see videos of Congresswoman [Marjorie Taylor] Greene who went to the jail cell and stood outside, saying she wanted to get in and make sure things were OK,” Crawford continued. “They put on these shows that they care… but don’t take the position that you want to stand up for people and then hide in an office.”
And so, once again, the Trump MAGA sycophants got tricked into giving their time, their money, and their effort in support of his cause — and once again, they got left stranded at the altar while holding the bag!
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NBC: The lack of attendance could be connected with conspiracy theories about the rally pushed by Trump and other right-wingers. Users on extremist forums on platforms like TheDonald and 4chan, NBC News reported, were warning potential attendees that they believed the event was a “false flag” or “honeypot” where federal agents will entrap Trump supporters into committing violence. In an interview with The Federalist on Thursday, the former president echoed conspiracy theories that the event was a “setup.” “On Saturday, that’s a setup,” Trump said. “If people don’t show up they’ll say, ‘Oh, it’s a lack of spirit.’ And if people do show up they’ll be harassed.” But immediately afterward, the former president also issued a statement saying: “Our hearts and minds are with the people being persecuted so unfairly relating to the January 6th protest concerning the Rigged Presidential Election. In addition to everything else, it has proven conclusively… Read more »