Read Part 2 here
Originally tweeted by Laura Jedeed (Misanthrophile) (@1misanthrophile) on November 15, 2020.
I’m heading back downtown and things are not off to a great start. A Portlander who shall remain nameless is yelling at me every time I emerge from my DC hotel. I took a picture and that’s when the trouble started
As I walked away they heckled me, which, whatever
Then a couple of them started following me
I showed the gentleman that the truck picture, posted above, has no identifying information. This wasn’t good enough
Things got a bit tense. I am glad they decided to let me go
Some of y’all didn’t love my self-flagellation from earlier so I’m gonna balance it by saying I’m real proud of how I handled that encounter
You can stay safer by shifting the frame to where they’d be going against their stated values if they hurt you
(I have no idea what’s up with the “Antifa shooting up hotels” thing but I’ll, um, provide updates if I see that happening?)
That blob in the distance is the White House. As a lifelong fan of dystopian fiction I’m pretty here for this. As a person who lives in America, a bit less so
Speaking of dystopian, I just realized how comfortable I now am with empty streets are 8:30 PM on a Saturday night in a major city
I arrive at a small group of Trump supporters hanging out outside a hotel. In the distance, two large groups of cops wait in the shadows
Toby Keith’s “Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue” plays, which feels fitting. I have a…complicated historical relationship with that song
I’m wandering around trying to link up with @Johnnthelefty (who has been recording scuffles between the Proud Boys and counter-protesters when I come across a small march
They chant “USA!” and “Whose streets? Our streets!”
And of course that perennial fave: “FUCK ANTIFA!”
The cops, who seem to be escorting the Trump supporters, cross the street and remove their helmets
Is it because I’m in DC? Is it because it’s the far right? What is this “remove our helmets”?
Extremely enjoying this thing where no one knows me and I can just watch and tweet again
The march debates where to go next. It’s nice that leftist marches don’t have a monopoly on that sort of thing
I just saw something amazing and I only got the second half
The first half, which I missed, was this Black dude yelling “if you didn’t vote for Trump, you ain’t Black!” Massive cheers
The second part, below, is where he goes back to his merch table and gets himself some cash
The march is on the move again. Between 200 and 300 people, which now feels small to me
At the tail end of the march, bike cops follow. Cops line the street. One of the (maskless) Trump supporters jokes around with one of them–didn’t get that on film
I am using that sweet sweet privilege to chill behind the cops and film the many different varieties on duty this evening
I have received word that there is a small group of BLM protesters who could use food, water, and support by Lafayette Square. They have been surrounded and boxed in by cops. Have not seen this with my own eyes but heading that direction now
Oh wow senpai noticed me
As I walk I would like to remind everyone that quietly filming people in public and then uploading footage to social media with commentary is actually completely fine EVEN IF your coverage is critical and EVEN IF you has political beliefs the people being filmed don’t care for
I’ve arrived at Lafayette Square and the area appears cordoned off and empty
Things seem pretty quiet right now. I linked up with @Johnnthelefty again, who got some footage of an earlier brawl that y’all should go check out
Hooting and hollering in the distance
The hooting and hollering is from Harry’s, that cop bar I mentioned in an earlier thread
They have a very large Blue Lives Matter flag with “Trump” on it and are doing…this
We ponder how much air one could get if one jumped on it
Look I know they’re saying “Trump” and not “Jump” but I really wanna
(Calm down far right followers, it’s what us degenerates call a ‘joke’)
They are now moving the flag back and forth like some sort of massive crab
A great sign by a lone counter-protester
The sign is ripped, and I am told that Trump supporters who did not appreciate the artistry did the ripping
We’ve walked around a bit and things seem to be mellowing out. 10 seems early for things to slow down but here we are
Taking a breather and planning next steps
A crowd of maybe 50 people in fancy dress march by. I think they’re chanting “What do we want? Hookah! When do we want it? Now!” But I’m not 100%
Surreal
Wandering the mostly-empty streets and pass someone in bloc but also a Skrewdriver hoodie
I get the back of it
Skrewdriver, if you weren’t aware, is a Nazi band, for Nazis
The freaks come out at night and so do the Groypers
Correlation does not equal causation
I do apologize for the radio silence. @Johnnthelefty and I are fine but I think we almost weren’t
I’ll tweet video and am explanation shortly but I’m afraid my hands are shaking a bit. Let’s say it’s the cold, shall we?
I am back safe in my hotel room. Well, safe-ish, since some of the people who surrounded us to scream in our faces for 15 minutes suggested they know what room I’m in
Do they really? Who knows! Always happy to file a noise complaint if they’d like to make this a thing
So here’s what happened:
John and I are filming the Groypers. He’s engaging in conversation, I’m just filming whatever is going on. Like I do, you know?
Wow for some reason my phone is just…refusing to upload video. I don’t understand. I am in a hotel. I should be able to do this
Whatever. I’m gonna tell you the story and I’ll do a whole other fucking thread with video when everything isn’t falling apart
Right, so I’m filming and not saying anything when suddenly someone recognizes me, screams that I’m a doxxer, and gets extremely in my face
I’m quickly surrounded by furious maskless screaming people. One of them suggests that something bad will happen when I return to my hotel
Let’s talk about this doxxing thing real quick. It’s simply not correct
Specifically, they seem to be talking about a tweet I sent earlier this morning:
In this tweet, I mention a Portland activist by name and remark that we’re staying in the same hotel
I used her first name, so I didn’t reveal her identity to the world. Everyone knows which Audra I’m talking about, of course…because her info is already out there and not because of me.
“But you told everyone what hotel she was staying at!” I definitely did not. I never told the goddamn Internet what hotel I’m staying at. Why would I do that?
If anything, I doxxed myself, which is why I won’t be sleeping tonight. They know exactly what hotel I’m in
Tim seems to think that I’m responsible for doxxing him. This is also untrue. Tim has approached me multiple times, I have filmed him every time. I have never approached Tim
Some people put Tim’s identity together from my videos. That wasn’t me. I never so much as retweeted it
There’s also this idea that I have summoned Antifa by…reporting on events that the far right puts on in public?Like, they show up at the Portland Justice Center at 3, I go “hey, there are some Blue Lives Matter protesters at the JC for an event,” and that’s evil somehow
It’s important to me that people understand that all I do–literally ALL I DO–is describe stuff, film stuff, speak when spoken to, and post footage with commentary
All of that is OK. Even if I was literally Joseph Stalin come down to earth again, that would all be OK
Anyway, there I am just absolutely surrounded by people screaming at me from every direction, shining light at my camera so I can’t film, going on at length about how I’m violating their rights, bumping into me, and telling me to back up
I can’t back up because I am surrounded
@Johnnthelefty sees what’s happening and moves to my back which, holy shit, I appreciate more than I can even begin to say
And now we’re both just getting fucking reamed. John asks the Groypers about their white supremacist ties and they don’t like that at all
Just own it, boys
Anyway this goes on for 20 minutes and I know because I filmed the whole fucking thing, not that it matters since I can’t seem to upload anything
It’s a lot. A whole lot of maskless bellowing directly into my face
I was double-masked and I hope that’s enough but I don’t know
They keep asking me questions and I give them one to two word answers so they can tell me what a dumb cunt I am some more. Really quite a lot of that. They point out that I’m shaking and must be scared, and I get Chandler Pappas to admit he likes scaring women so…score?
Eventually the guy who called me a stupid bitch at the beginning decides he wants a conversation and I say, DM me on Twitter and we can talk about whatever you want. He says, let’s have it here and I say no. He says, let’s go somewhere and I say no, I’m feeling pretty intimidated
He asks if I would like to leave and I say yes, I would, so he works on making a hole through the crowd and eventually they let me through. Once that happens the crowd starts to disperse. John is still in the thick of it though, so I go back towards him to continue to film
At this point a fellow I haven’t spoken to yet starts trying to have a conversation about social media censorship with me. It feels like the wrong time and place for this but I do my best to engage. John starts engaging as well, he’s much better at this than I am
As though in a microcosm of everything wrong with the far right, as this man is assuring us that no one wants to hurt us here, they’re just angry about free speech violations and etc, two dudes come up and tell John he has 5 seconds to leave or they’re gonna kick his ass
So John is just like……..really? and they count down and the guy trying to have a conversation is like guys, no, bad optics, we’re not like this
“We’re not like this.” They say it EVERY TIME, and they are ALWAYS being EXACTLY “like this”
Finally John is like “do you wanna just talk over there?” and the guy is like “sure” and we walk over there and the two guys trying to pick the fight are like “yeah get out of here, pussy! faggot” etc
So we talk to the guy for a while and then walk away
John very kindly walked me to my hotel room. Two people standing outside the hotel yelled at me but no actual violence
Apparently the rest of them came in as he was leaving but it’s been quiet so far
I will now take a shower, attempt to sleep, and prepare to return to Portland in the morning
I promise to supply a video of everything I just described, it’s pretty goddamn epic honestly. I’m sad I can’t share it tonight, but I think you’ll find it as advertised plus extra
I’m sure you’ve all heard about the stabbings tonight here in DC. About the rolling fights. The random violence. The chaos
The far right isn’t going away. They won’t melt into the ether. You cannot go to brunch. I’m sorry. I like mimosas too
Solidarity to everyone, everywhere.
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