Thousands of people wait outside the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Michael Greer, who retired from the film/TV industry to become a co-organizer of the Santa Monica Tea Party and the Los Angeles Tea Party, is a board member of the Civil Rights Coalition and a member of the Republican Committee. Greer attended the Jan. 6 rally in Washington, D.C. Here is her account in the article
What happened on Jan. 6
Let me start by saying that as a victim of violence, I abhor violence and condemn what happened on Jan. 6 inside the Capitol. I hope all those involved are prosecuted to the full extent of the law, and I despise those who broke into the Capitol and what they did, and the violence that has been happening to us all summer. But what is shocking is that you have given the left what they have been trying to get for decades.
Having led Tea Party operatives at the Capitol
I have some authority on the events of that day. This is the 7th time since 2009 that I have attended a protest in Washington, D.C. to defend conservatism. I know the people who attended the event, and no one paid for them to be there, no buses to transport them, and no one paid for their hotels. They came because they had to stand up for their values. The majority of the country used to believe in such values, to love this country, to believe in the rule of law, to believe in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights …… and to believe that they apply to all people regardless of their race or gender. We believe that we can work with facts and systems to prevent what we see happening now.
I’ve told this story before, but it bears repeating now. On the day the House was going to vote for Obamacare, we had a big Tea Party rally and I took about a hundred Tea Partiers into the tunnel that connects the Capitol to the office building and addressed members of Congress as they passed by. An officer came by and said that the capitol police captain wanted to speak to me. He introduced himself and asked us to lean against the wall and not block the hallway and told us to speak as quietly as possible because it would echo. I told him we would definitely do that. I also said if there was a problem just let me know and I would take care of it. He said, “Oh, I’m not worried about you. I’ve never arrested one of you, you cleaned up after yourselves.” I tell this story because the opposite happened this time.
Trust in the law and the system
When I got involved in politics, I believed in the rule of law, so I naively thought that if I pointed out something that was illegal, they would say, “Gee, you’re right, we can’t do that.” I thought that if we thought a law was unfair or ineffective, we could pass the system to repeal it, but I soon learned I was wrong. As an example, when Obama ran for office, he said he believed marriage was between a man and a woman, and early in his presidency he said the same thing (but later supported same-sex marriage). I was shocked when former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said he would not prosecute DOCA. I wondered where he got the authority to overturn a law passed by Congress, and I wondered why the media didn’t ask the same question.
Our protests have always been peaceful and we are basically hopeful and happy people no matter what the concerns are. I have attended hundreds of local Conservative Party rallies and protests in addition to the Washington, D.C. event. We had a great time, met new people, laughed, and we believed we could change (policy).
MAGA vs. ANTIFA
Now let me talk about January 6. When I’ve been to Washington before, I don’t know if anyone on the plane went to the same event. But this time, the plane was filled with MAGA hats, flag-emblazoned jackets, and chants of “USA, USA, USA” erupting from the cabin at regular intervals. Conservatives have been silenced so much (for a long time) that people are happy to be with like-minded people and we can say whatever we want. How can people in this country be afraid to speak freely?
When I arrived at the hotel, there were more MAGA (Make America Great Again) people in the lobby. Everyone was happy to see so many people. When I got into the room and turned on the TV, the news was reporting that Black Lives Matter and ANTIFA had attacked MAGA people, there was a woman’s bleeding face after being attacked by ANTIFA people, and people were saying not to go out at night, not to walk alone, but with a group of people. I think I would have met them the next day.
At conservative rallies in Washington, D.C. and locally, there were two things that were always there, the police and the opponents’ buses, I mean they were bused in. I noticed that when the bus arrived people would be checked (roster or head count) as they got off, they were wearing printed t-shirts, carrying printed signs, and cases of water and snacks. I even saw some of them on the street giving people money to join the event. In the past, the police would have placed roadblocks to keep those people away from us.
Why not let scrutiny of election fraud
Jess and I couldn’t sleep, so we decided to get in line early in the morning to hear President Trump‘s speech. The speech was held in a park across the street from the White House, and there were limits on the number of people who could get in and security checks. We arrived at 5:30 and the long line was already in the middle of the road towards the monument, so we joined the line. People were talking and laughing and sharing stories with each other. Three hours later, there were about 10 people in front of us at the security checkpoint, but they said they couldn’t let people in anymore, oh well, there were big screens to watch.
More and more people were coming, people right next to each other, people with walkers, people in wheelchairs, families with small children and strollers (I can’t imagine going into a crowd that dense with small children, but that’s me), young and old, but most people were over 60.
I began to suspect that BLM/ANTIFA or any of the opponents were there, they had harassed MAGA people the day and night before, and I also noticed that there were no police there, not one. And at the other rallies, mounted police rode through the crowd on horses and groups of police showed up everywhere; the police had known we were coming, but where were the police?
I decided to find a better place to watch the big screen, and I wove my way through the crowd, saying “Excuse me!” People let me through, no one objected, and everyone was very helpful, as I had experienced at other similar events. I was standing in a high place listening to President Trump’s speech and he was not inciting anyone to violence; he was repeating what he had said many times before, giving examples of how fraud is committed, and he had thousands of sworn signatures of people involved. He has evidence, but many people won’t look at it, and we expect it to be heard, but the courts and the media won’t look at it.
I heard a so-called “conservative” say that Trump lied to his supporters about election fraud and we were told there was no evidence, no, the president did not lie. If the election was fair and proof was provided, everyone I talked to could accept that Trump lost, but the problem is that there are so many things that are statistically impossible and, let’s be honest, the left knows that half the people in this country don’t believe the results right now and if they themselves believed that Biden really won, they would allow an investigation to end our continued distrust.
The experience in front of the Capitol
I left just after Trump’s speech because I wanted to get as close to the Capitol as possible. When I got there, the whole Capitol was blocked off so people couldn’t get close. People were standing behind barricades and shouting things like, “Stop stealing” and “This is our house (the Capitol). People were approaching, but there weren’t many police officers around. Then I saw some police officers take down part of the barricade to allow MAGA people access to the balcony in front of the Capitol building, which encouraged others to push down the barricade and people then filled the lawn and balcony.
I stood on the balcony and there were five rows of people in front of me and there was a scaffold in the middle and a lot of people climbed onto the scaffold and people were shouting slogans and trying to get the MPs inside to hear the people’s cries and we wanted to be heard by the MPs and that was it.
We suffered slander, malice and censorship, lost platforms and money, we lost jobs, lost business, were called racists, haters and xenophobes. This pandemic has given the left the opportunity to strike at the economic successes Trump has achieved, destroying the lowest unemployment rate in history; they have stripped us of our rights, banned people from going to church meetings and services, comforted them around sick loved ones, banned people from celebrating holidays, having birthday parties, weddings and funerals according to tradition, and gagged us with masks.
The leftists know this, and I believe they expect that if there is enough provocation against us, we will become violent (because leftist supporters will be inspired to violence).
But we just stood there shouting slogans, there was no violence, no one tried to break windows or climb walls. There was a string of people coming from the front and they passed me, several of them being led with their eyes closed and yellow liquid dripping from their faces, and the police shot pepper spray balls at them.
Shortly thereafter, a man dressed in black holding a police shield passed me forward, I don’t know if he supported Trump or not, but later saw from the video that he was the one who broke the glass, but (oddly) didn’t see any pictures of him among the published people who entered the building. I suspect Antifa or the Black Lives Matter people incited people to break into the building, but (they) didn’t get in, so only pictures of Trump supporters were taken inside.
We were there for about 15 minutes or so when the police started firing flash bombs into the crowd, producing a loud earth-shattering explosion and a lot of white smoke. After the first explosion, a man started yelling that he needed a doctor or nurse and he was waving a white handkerchief; a man had a heart attack and some MAGA people carried him out of the crowd (I later learned that he died).
Shortly after, the police started firing tear gas at us, and I have to say that I didn’t see any threatening behavior from our people that would justify the use of tear gas, pepper spray or flashbangs (by the police). The fact that they used tear gas on unarmed, non-threatening people sent a lot of people into an emotional frenzy …… I suspect their goal was to rile people up.
I remember how angry the media was when the BLM burned down the Centennial Church and tried to break down the fence around the White House when the media thought the Capitol Police would use tear gas on the BLM, but the police did not use tear gas. I felt the police were provoking Trump supporters and this is not where I want to be. The building was not breached as I was leaving.
Entering the building from behind
The Capitol was breached from the back and there were (surprisingly) no police present over there and people were able to break the windows and get into the building without any resistance. How is that possible? All entrances are guarded.
At a Tea Party event a few years ago, the congressman came out to tell us what was going on and about 30 police officers lined up to prevent us from stepping on the stairs or approaching the congressman. Where were the police on Wednesday? I don’t blame the police, they were following orders, but I believe they were told to let people into the Capitol. Someone opened a door and allowed people in, and I suspect many of the people who went in thought they were just going to watch the hearings (we’ve had that in the past) or just to let members of Congress know they were there. Those who were let in, I don’t blame them, I condemn those who broke in.
There are no coincidences, that’s what the left wants, they want to crush and insult Trump and his followers so that no one will dare to say “Make America Great Again”, they can’t imagine that the last picture of a Trump administration is a million people happy and laughing and chanting “We love Trump! “
I always knew that if there was violence at a Conservative event, the left would paint us all with a brush. …… They did. The lack of police there, the lack of ANTIFA and BLM presence (since they were in our midst), the police opening the barriers and allowing people in, and someone opening a gate from the inside to let people in were all very suspicious and a good calculation for the left.
The hatred of the left
For the past four years, the president and his supporters have been slandered and attacked 24/7 with lies about how evil they are; then there was a big squeeze on small businesses (many MAGA are small business owners) and isolation of them; then a questionable election where their concerns were dismissed and they were told to sit down and shut up. It’s no surprise that some people were pushed too far and took action, and the left knew this and took full advantage of it.
CNN news anchor Anderson Cooper told us yesterday how much the leftist elite loathe us. They don’t just disagree with us, they describe Trump supporters as eating at Olive Garden and staying at Holiday Inns. We are business owners, teachers, lawyers, students, contractors, truck drivers, grocery store clerks. We are your neighbors, your mothers, your fathers, your uncles, your cousins and your friends …… The left loathes us.
Most importantly, the mayor of Washington knew that most of the people coming were “seniors” and to further prove their purpose of provoking people, she closed all restaurants (even our hotel cafe was closed) and shut down all ground transportation for the day. We were unable to text or call anyone. I can’t imagine what those with walkers, in wheelchairs or children could do. It was so cold that my nose froze and my gloved hands froze. We found that the subway was still running and walked several blocks looking for a subway station. When we finally found a subway, it took us blocks away from the hotel.
Their anger at Trump is unjustified (but not necessarily, Trump is standing in the way of their almost achieved “New World Order”) and I kept thinking, what has Trump done to hurt anyone? He cut their taxes, gave them jobs, reduced regulations, and developed vaccines in record time. No wars, booming economy; lowest unemployment in history, best trade deals, signed NAFTA, moved embassies to Jerusalem, secured borders, stopped the caravan from coming in, dissuaded Ford from moving to Mexico, etc.
Now the left wants to impeach him 13 days before he leaves office, I don’t know how they feel about that, the Senate is now on recess and opens on January 19.
I couldn’t help but laugh this morning when I read that Trump (who the media says is going into political exile) has gone up in the “most admired” (score) instead of down, their dislike of Trump is so perverse and irrational that the more they try to hurt him the more we love him.
I spent 20 years trying to warn people of the left’s agenda in hopes of stopping it, but everything I warned about, everything I feared has now happened. The purge of conservative speakers and websites has begun and this is just the beginning. May God help us.
Recent Comments