Justice for J6 Rally. Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021. Less than 200 attended the right-wing event.
I asked the question are we overreacting to J6 Rally two days ago. In it, I asserted putting up a fence around the Capitol was a declaration of fear.
Today's much anticipated right-wing rally was so small (maybe 200 people) the question becomes more loaded. It was a case of bringing a bazooka to a slingshot fight.
There were 20 cops/National Guards for every one protestor. The rally lasted less than 90 minutes after it began around 12 p.m. ET.
The highlight of the day happened 40 minutes into the rally when Capitol Police arrested a man who had a knife, for a weapons violation.
Other than that it could have just been another day in Portland, Oregon where protests never cease.
Takeaways:
--The potential for chaos made the rally politically toxic for leading Republicans, many of whom maintain the lie at the heart of the assault on the Capitol: that Trump's defeat was the result of election tampering.
--When none of the really crazy GOP senators or House members decided not to appear, or even promote the J6 rally, that was a big clue it wasn't going to be a massive crowd attending.
--Law authorities worked together to establish a game plan. Kudos for that.
--The world is wondering if American democracy can survive the domestic terrorists who've infiltered into the Republican party.
--The good news is protesting for domestic terrorists, and calling them patriots, was very low on everyone's list today.
The next time there's a rally at the Capitol, I hope we don't have to see that damn fence go up around it making it appear that our nation is under constant siege.