Trump met with a "January Sixer" rioter. So did I.
Micki Larson-Olson drove from Abilene, Texas to see Trump's speech. She was in line beside me, so neither of us got in.
Then she got lucky.
I used a photograph of her in yesterday's blog post. I had no idea that she was all over the national news.
Mikki Larson-Olson did something smart when we were turned away from the speech. She guessed that Trump might make an unannounced drop-in at The Red Arrow diner. Stopping by that diner is a good luck gesture for candidates. She was right. She was there and ready when his entourage stopped by.
She had made a boisterous, flamboyant spectacle in line beside me, with her sequins and skin-tight bright blue lycra. She told me she needed to cover up her Q-oriented insignia but that she was "Q all the way." She was proud of having been a January 6 participant and proud of being found guilty and imprisoned. She said that the Representatives, Senators, and Vice President who stopped Trump from taking office were guilty of treason. They should all be publicly executed as traitors, she said. Hang Mike Pence? Absolutely.
I videotaped two 30-second clips of her, one expressing her support for Q, and the other in support of Trump and his stolen election claim. I did not expect to use them in my blog, and I was careful yesterday to include other people when publishing photos of people in line. I thought Republican readers of this blog would accuse me of cherry-picking kooks if I implied that Trump could be associated with people like her.
Well, I had that wrong.
She called out to him at the diner. She told him she was recently released from 161 days imprisonment for her actions at the Capitol on January 6. Trump came over to her, greeted her warmly, embraced her, signed her backpack, gave her his pen, and reassured her that she was a patriot.
Listen, you just hang in there. You guys are gonna be okay. You just take care of yourself. You’ve been through too much. You’re going to wind up being happy.
Then another coincidence. As I was typing the words above for this post, the attached news story came onto my TV. I began to realize that there were multiple national news stories about her encounter with Trump. I filmed my own hotel TV.
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| Washington Post |
Trump's public embrace of her has serious policy implications. There are two narratives about January 6. One is that it was a bad day for American democracy. Even Republicans, including Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy, Lindsay Graham, and my own U.S. Representative, Cliff Bentz, all said that climbing the walls and breaking through doors and windows to overthrow an election is wrong. Trump is promoting an opposite narrative. Trump approves of the January 6 insurrection and the people who carried it out. This includes even the people who were doing openly illegal and destructive acts and were convicted of those crimes. Trump calls the January 6 invaders patriots. They are on his team and he has their back.
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13 comments:
This is why they are a called a cult. The only things that that the 21st century Fuhrer cares about are: money, power and loyalty.
Well Trump is a criminal, probable rapist so it makes logical sense he would support other law breaking criminals. I knew many criminals who admired other very criminal people. In fact a very strong indicator of recidivism is if the inmate hangs out with other very criminal people. In prisons there are some choices who you befriend, the inmates who choose the most criminal, mostly come back to jail. Over a 30 year career I observed it many times.
Believe me I've tried to understand it, but absolutely nothing about this makes any sense, except for this:
Cruel and cynical exploitation of the mentally ill for money.
“Trump calls the January 6 invaders patriots. They are on his team and he has their back.”
As he does QAnon, militia groups and White supremacists. Not long ago, Rush Limbaugh was the face of the Republican Party. Now this. It just keeps getting uglier.
Sometimes, with close friends, when discussing a difficult issue, I will reference Jonathon Swift's satirical essay, "A Modest Proposal" and it's discussion of solving the "Irish problem" by eating Irish children.
I think even Swift would find it difficult to write satirically or metaphorically about these right wing loonies. They live in satire, and, sometimes, metaphor as if it were reality. While in the 19th century, a clever satirist could have written an entertaining essay about the president of the First National Bank of Northfield, Minnesota having dinner with Jesse James, yesterday's events would leave such a writer no place to go. Today, the person who wants to take the job to faithfully carry out the law hugs, congratulates and gives an autograph to one whose only achievement was to proudly break the law. Just another day in alternate reality.
Today's blog might appear to be satirical to a visitor from a tiny village in the Himalayas, but all you were doing, Peter, was reporting facts.
I think the best way to try to understand is to borrow a description from Rachel Maddow's reporting when she tells about such things and labels reality as "Earth 1" and the maga goofiness as "Earth 2." Kipling's observation of "Never the twain shall meet" seems somewhat quaint.
Thank you, Peter, for your efforts to bring this kind of event to us. Sometimes, I can barely stand to read about it, let alone, observe it.
I, too, appreciate the view from the far side of the world, but I know these things could actually be, as my mirror points out, "closer than they appear." Based upon two thoughts: one is the old quip that yes, we have "a republic...if we can keep it," and the other is that maybe at some point somebody told that young Micki Larson-Olson to "be the change you want to see in the world."
Wait a minute. You have video. Are you negotiating with MSNBC or Maddow?
These delusional people are not just a danger to our country, but also to our planet.
It's time they were treated like such, and not just "providing an alternative viewpoint."
This country has spent trillions of dollars protecting itself from foreign enemies. It needs to spend money protecting itself from domestic enemies who are doing the bidding of our adversaries.
Russia couldn't have picked a better partner than today's GOPee.
I'm sorry life has taken me away from your blog a bit, Peter. I can't help but count the insults in your comment thread today.
>GOPee
Amazing how some don't even seem to have read your posts, but just need the chance to throw some hate around.
Brian1. Just read my blog. Don’t get into the comments. My hope is that my blog adopts a civil, respectful tone—consistent with my having a point of view. I have discovered what cable news has long known and profited by bbas has Trump, Glenn beck, Rush Limbaugh, and most recently Marjorie Taylor Green. Strong partisan opinions is what drives likes, retweet, and new readers. People prefer cheerleaders, not dispassion. Or objectivity or civility. I keep the comment section so some readers can scan them to find out if people agree with them. People like seeing opinions they agree with. And they like seeing stuff that makes them angry. It is like eating a sour apple candy
As Peter states above, we commenters are part of the product, though I don't think I've seen any ads interrupting my reading. Thank you Google and Blogger.
The printed media and the broadcast/cable media are supported by benefactors, advertisers, and subscribers. The more eyeballs reading or watching, the higher the revenues.
Simple news reporting doesn't seem to get much funding these days.
Thank you Peter for thought-provoking posts each day. Brian1 does bring up a good point about the comments. For many, posting comments is cathartic.
“ I keep the comment section so some readers can scan them to find out if people agree with them. People like seeing opinions they agree with.”
I must have been fooling myself all this time, Peter. Here I was, thinking the purpose of the comments was rational discussions, which can be educational. I thought.
Quite disappointed…
You write good comments, Malcolm. But I don't expect them to adopt a fair-minded tone, and many do not. Readers find them interesting. Partisans find me frustrating.
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