You know what they say: “Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice ... well, you can’t get fooled again.”
The Hill reports that protesters who gathered Saturday in Washington D.C. for the “Justice for J6" rally in support of the several hundred right-wing extremists arrested and charged for their roles in the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol were vastly outnumbered by law enforcement there to prevent a rerun.
Organizers declined to guess how many people actually showed up for this thing, according to The Hill, but Capitol Police estimated that there were between 400 and 500 people in the crowd. That’s a pretty big drop from the Department of Homeland Security’s original estimate of 700 protesters.
Because they can’t take an L gracefully, former President Donald Trump and some of his most ardent supporters didn’t waste time spinning a baseless narrative that the rally–which was organized by Matt Braynard, a former Trump campaign staffer–was actually a sting operation set up by the feds.
From CBS affiliate WUSA in Washington:
No elected Republican officials attended the rally, and Trump himself told supporters not to go, calling it “a setup.” In public Telegram channels, members of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys – frequently attendees at other right-wing rallies around the country – condemned it as a “false flag” and “bait.” As a result, the modest crowd of actual rally attendees was greatly outnumbered by Capitol and D.C. Metropolitan Police officers and members of the media.
Altogether, Capitol Police estimated 400-450 people were inside the protest area on Saturday. Images posted to social media showed individual rallygoers flanked by dozens of journalists.
There were no reports of violence leading up to or during the rally. Capitol Police said they arrested one person on a weapons charge after he was discovered with a knife.
Keep in mind that if this thing turned out to be a massive event, Trump and Company likely would have pretended they didn’t say any of that and touted what a huge success it was. Dude really knows how to cover his ass like a pro.
According to WUSA, Braynard said that this was only the first of more “Justice for J6" rallies he’s got in the works. Apparently, there will be rallies at the state capitols for New Jersey, Georgia, Tennessee and both Carolinas on Sept. 25.