Another pro-Trump event in D.C. apparently designed at least in part to showcase support for charged participants in last year’s Trump-incited Capitol riot flopped big time, per a new report from The Daily Beast. The outlet’s reporter Zachary Petrizzo noted just 27 attendees, a number that included a couple of hired security guards.
The low turnout mirrors what happened to the so-called People’s Convoy, which was the moniker for a group of truckers and their families who assembled in the D.C. area for the purpose of… something. Among the driving forces of that original protest effort were restrictions to target the spread of COVID-19, but there weren’t many left by March of this year. An August report from The Washington Post put those who remained from the convoy in the D.C. area in the dozens. Despite a lot of driving, in which members of the group attempted to make traffic so bad it annoyed leaders into action… or something, there is no policy change, at least on the national level, tied to their escapades.
As for the latest D.C. event with barely anyone there, it was on Friday afternoon. The few people who showed up included C-list celebrities in the world of MAGA, like Matt Braynard, who has repeatedly appeared on Steve Bannon’s podcast. There were about half a dozen counter-protesters who showed up, and Braynard was upset. “I want you to recognize something,” he told the crowd. “They are trying to interrupt. That’s why they’re blowing the whistle. To make it hard to hear us!” Duh. How long did he spend figuring that one out? He also complained about the supposed prospect of hearing damage among local police because of the whistling — which is ironic considering rioters fought police, clearly unconcerned for their safety. Braynard, who’s got over one hundred and forty-one thousand Twitter followers, promoted the event on Twitter. Obviously, that didn’t help.
Joseph McBride, an attorney for January 6 defendants, also appeared, referring to counter-protesters as “members of Antifa,” an obviously unsupported accusation. It must be strange to live in a world where every threat is Antifa. When he gets a sunburn, is the sun Antifa?
Andre Soriano, a Trump-supporting fashion designer, also spoke, and Petrizzo said Soriano was literally in tears at the end. He apparently complained about stimulus checks, the last batch of which were approved well over a year ago, meaning he’s late. Theories from people participating in the day’s show-and-tell about the gathering’s low attendance included that it’s too close to the election for conservative groups to have an easy go, email invitations went to spam folders, and people are concerned about something like January 6 — which in their minds consists of the government essentially rounding up protected protesters — possibly taking place again. Or maybe — just maybe — far-right extremism is less popular than these people think.
