Appealing to the lunatic fringe of his base, 74-year-old President Donald Trump found out what happens when you take a deep dive into the murky side of life, something he knows little about. Apart of delivering campaign rallies to the hoi polloi, Trump lives in privileged circles, tapping into the nation’s disgruntled trailer-trash crowd, looking for sympathy for losing the 2020 presidential election. Trump said sheepishly at rallies he didn’t know what he’d do if he lost to “Sleepy Joe,” referring to President-elect Joe Biden as the worst presidential candidate in U.S. history. Well, the impossible happened, he was beaten, as “Sleep Joe” likes to say, like a drum, more related to Covid-19 and its devastating impact on the U.S. economy, tilting the election to Biden. Biden didn’t have to say-or-do much during the election to beat Trump in an election cycle where voters turned against the incumbent.
Trump was left to appeal of low-lifes like 33-year-old Qanon grand wizard or shaman Jacob Anthony Chansley AKA as Jake Angeli. Arrested today by the FBI for insurrection, malicious mischief, breaking-and-entering, violent entry, Angeli was no angel, wearing his red-white-and-blue face makeup and bearskin-and-horns headdress, making an easy target for federal agents. “It is alleged that Chansley was identified as the man seen in the media coverage who entered the Capitol building dressed in horns, a bearskin headdress, red, white and blue face paint, shirtless, and tan pants,” said federal agents. Chansley apparently copied his outfit from Elk’s Lodge and 1982 John Milius film “Conan the Barbarian,” staring former Calif. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger when he was fully ripped from his Mr. Olympia days. Whatever the getup, Chansley faces a raft of charges that could keep him locked up for some time.
Speaking to a massive crowd on Jan. 6 before a joint session of Congress was due to certify the Electoral College vote victory [306-232] for Biden, Trump had no clue that the crowd was filled with misanthropes, backers of various fringe groups, easily convinced they were there to “take back their government.” When Trump told the crowd at the end of his speech, lets all march to the Capitol, he had no ideal the QAnon conspiracy-nut crowd would break in, trespass, vandalize and trash Capitol Hill, letting the runaway group-think get the better of them. While it’s true that some pipe bombs and Molotov Cocktails were found by police, the crowd was not heavily armed with automatic weapons ready to for a coup d’etat. Lunatics like Chansley looked more like fugitives from “Game of Thrones,” ready to conquer some unspeakable enemy embodied in the U.S. government
Chansley was one of the most intimidating looking figures, carrying an American flag-tipped spear, like he was preparing for some Medieval battle. “The individuals carried a spear, approximately six feet in length, with an American flag tied below the blade,” FBI agents said. Now arrested from copious videos identifying Chansley, he faces federal charges “for entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, and with violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.” Chansley was quoted as describing his experience breaking into the Capitol. “The fact that we had a bunch or our traitors in office hunker down, put on their gas masks and retreat into their underground bunker, I consider that a win,” Chansley told NBC News after the riot. Sticking around to give interviews shows how far Chansley was gone from reality.
Chansley identifies himself as a QAnon shaman, part of a fringe group that thinks certain government officials are part of and organized pedophile ring. Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn’s 32-year-old son Michael Jr. promoted the myth in 2016 when he said former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton led the pedophile gang at Comet Ping Pong Pizzeria in Washington, D.C. Back then, a QAnon backer Edgar Maddison Welch shot up the pizzeria Dec. 4, 2016. Trump’s been pandering to QAnon seeking votes from the right wing conspiracy wackos. Trump pandered to the fringe group and got burned when hundreds of nutcases descended on the Capitol, breaking in and vandalizing both Houses of Congress. Charging up to 12 agitators, already, the FBI’s arrest list could rise in the next few days, including 36-year-old Adam Johnson who was pictured stealing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) lectern.
Whether Pelosi makes good on her promise to introduce new articles of impeachment on Monday for Trump inciting a riot Jan. 6, it’s doubtful Trump knew what the crowd planned to do. Whipping up the crowd with his belief that the 2020 election was stolen from him, a small fraction of his audience went over the deep end and invaded the Capitol. West Virginia lawmaker Derrick Evans also joined the madness, posting a video online standing outside the Capitol standing with Trump supporters, then entering the building. Arrested Jan 8, accused of violent entry and disorderly conduct, Evans shows what happens when ordinarily sane people are swept up in crowd dynamics. Democrats, led by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) plan to introduce articles of impeachment Monday, accusing Trump of “incitement of insurrection.” With Trump gone in 10 days, impeachment will probably not go to the Senate.
