Million MAGA March Part 2: Supreme Court and the Afternoon Streets

Read Part 1 here

Originally tweeted by Laura Jedeed (Misanthrophile) (@1misanthrophile) on November 14, 2020.

Hi there, still live from DC, starting a new thread for the Supreme Court portion of the day

I’ve linked up with @Johnnthelefty, who has some great footage of conversations with Trumpers and Groypers. Fun for the whole family

Proud Boy’s going the wrong way, as they often do

The American Guard is here. These are actual Nazis

• 

• 

The crowd is crushing. No one can go anywhere

Luckily I’m in a great spot, hanging out with the Groypers again

Sorry for the radio silence, these speeches are incredible and I have to record every second

(Not in a good way)

Ok it’s over. Nick Fuentes gave a 20 minute speech and it was just…

Well let me put it this way. If there were dogs here they’d be barking on account of the whistling

I’ll upload it all to YouTube later

Highlights for me:

*Much talk of “heritage” and how only Trump can protect it

*Am aggressive, fist-pumping chant of “Christ is King”

*Statement that the enemy is not the liberals or the Democrats but the satanic global conspiracy, big tech, and of course George Soros

Also, the Groypers threaten to “destroy the GOP” if they don’t stop the steal

Rumors of counter-protesters: we’re trying to find them. Wherever they are, they’re hideously outnumbered

We didn’t find them, but we did find Nick Fuentes again. They’re walking away from the bigger rally. I’m just gonna stick with them for now

Here’s a sign from back at the rally

‘riggers’ is a dog whistle that refers to people who supposedly rigged the election and…well…you know

No idea what a Jannie is and when we asked we got laughed at so 🤷

As we wander down Constitution avenue with more Trump people than most people predicted would show up to this whole rally, we pass OAN preparing to do a segment

Some street preachers here talking about how Christians are more persecuted than the gays

It’s like a farmer’s market for far right bullshit

@Johnnthelefty doing God’s work and convincing Groypers to put on masks with his camera

A MAGA woman takes issue with the preachers’ condemnation of homosexuality

CW: ABSOLUTELY FOUL

the street preachers tells her she must repent or God might break her vibrator while she’s using it and get battery acid in her vagina

I’m not trying to kink-shame but fucking yikes

Enough people wandering down the street that I have to assume the main rally is winding down

Here’s where things can get interesting. They’re all hyped up and it’s only 3:00. What happens next?

Found the Proud Boys

Tarrio leads the Proud Boys in chanting their “I am a Western chauvinist and refuse to apologize for creating the modern world” thing, and then they walk off down the street

Maybe 50 of them now. Still super weird to see them out of body armor without any guns

The main body of the march seems to be headed back to Freedom Plaza but the Proudest Boys are headed elsewhere

A helicopter drones overhead

Seems they’re headed to Harriet’s Family Restaurant and/or Hotel Harrington and/or Harry’s bar

We were told last night that Harry’s bar is their bar. Also a cop bar. Weird how that works

A terrible picture but it’s Melania’s coat

We are noticed

They really don’t like my IWW press pass but they get over it eventually

Mostly

And then, around the corner, we hear their favorite chant: “Fuck Antifa!”

We eventually figure out that all this was for a single dude with an American flag

No violence but they do seem to be looking for an enemy

The Proud Boys next surround a Black woman with a small child who dared criticize them

“Take your kid and go!” they yell as they surround her and cut off all exits

“At least the kid doesn’t seem scared,” John remarks

“That’s how they grow up to be thugs,” a passing woman says

The woman is having none of this shit and lets the Proud Boys know exactly what she thinks of them

When the crowd parts, she stays to continue to tell them

Eventually the cops intervene while the Proud Boys chant “back the blue”

I feel a bit ill

A couple fine people from Portland have an issue with John and also me. I fly across the country and can’t escape them

Meanwhile, bike cops form up between this strange mob and the direction the Black women left in

Audra keeps trying to talk to me and I don’t know why

I’m amused at how little anyone gives a shit about what Audra and her friend are saying about me. It’s nice. Means I can stick around.

John engaging in very silly conversations with very silly people. I’m exhausted just watching

Tim is putting a camera in my face for some reason. This is so boring

Their excuse to be mad at me today, by the way, is that I “doxxed” Audra by mentioning we’re all staying at the same hotel

That’s right. I mentioned a first name and now she’s doxxed. That’s definitely how it works, it’s all very sad

John asking the real questions

Someone gives Tim and Audra a bit of a talking to. I make the mistake of trying to get a pic over the flag and suddenly my I’m getting screamed at for touching a flag

Wish I hadn’t. Oh well. It’s hard not to touch flags when they’re moving them in front of your camera

They’ve surrounded us and are doing that thing where they just yell

And we’ve walked away

Mostly I’m mad at myself for the flag incident. I was trying to get my camera around the edge, but I know how they use that sort of thing as an excuse and I really should know better.

All ego. I so wanted a pic of Tim getting yelled at

Im completely out of space on my camera so I’m gonna quick go to the hotel and then head back out

The hotel whose name I haven’t mentioned, by the way

Which makes the doxxing-Audra claim really confusing

Boy howdy is it hard to get around this city with the White House blocked off like it is

They cops are now blocking access to that road across from Lafayette Square where the BLM signs are/were

People pushed farther and farther from the White House. It feels symbolic

The sunset is beautiful. I free up enough space to get a picture

I really, really enjoyed covering this rally as myself, unnoticed in a crowd of thousands, just observing the story

I didn’t realize how much I was enjoying that or how much I’d missed it until I was recognized

I’m mad at myself for engaging at all. I feel like I lost something beautiful the minute I did

Or maybe it just reminded me that this shit is real. Tens of thousands of people who showed up in a week’s notice because they really believe the media stabbed them in the back

I can distance myself when I’m invisible. I inhabit the sociopathy of the academic: how interesting these dog whistles are, how fascinating these Groypers, how intriguing these Proud Boys

It’s a luxury some people never get to enjoy

It all makes me sad

Nothing has been solved. We just have new problems now. Shit piling upon shit, the weight of history only increasing. Farther and farther from a solution

Biden’s gonna get sworn in, but the future is still extremely grim

Epilogue: a kind and knowledgeable soul has informed me that “jannies” is short for “janitors” and refers to moderators or other forces who delete comments that go against community standards

Also, I got this delightful message in response, I assume, to the same sign

Read Part 3 here