It hasn’t been a great 24 hours for Trump supporters.
Pro-Trump protesters watched as their January 6th jail protest “went up in smoke—literally,” on the same day that Donald Trump was federally indicted on serious charges relating to his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Smoke from a generator ruined the plans for the protest.
Watch here:
Rough night yesterday for pro-Trump protesters outside the DC jail as their protest went up in smoke—literally. pic.twitter.com/7BeQtziQMX
— Zachary Petrizzo (@ZTPetrizzo) August 2, 2023
Every night for the past year since August 1, 2022, pro-Trump protesters have gathered outside of the January 6th jail to show support for those inside. They are demanding the release of those who are serving time for their involvement in the January 6th insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Last night, on the one-year anniversary of the pro-Trump protests outside the jail, there were counter-protesters.
It just so happened that Trump got indicted for his part in the January 6th attack on the one-year anniversary of the “J6 prison” protests.
Pro-Trump “J6” supporters milled about the smoke outside of the DC correctional facility:
pro-Trump protesters J6 jail, image via screengrab from video posted by DJ Classic Rock/Zachary Petrizzo
Watch the counter-protesters here:
January 6 protesters outside the DC jail protesting those who remain in the jail and counter protesters across the street. They have been doing this for one year which is why there are counter protesters today @7NewsDC #TrumpIndictment pic.twitter.com/fZmc2hZYc4
— Caroline Patrickis (@Cpatrickis) August 1, 2023
Some Republican lawmakers like Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene have turned the accused/convicted into martyrs. Ms. Greene, who has visited the jail several times now, has been very concerned about the “conditions” of the jail, which doesn’t appear as of yet to be a harbinger of concern for others who are incarcerated, but rather just a one-off related only to Trump supporters.
In March of this year, members of the House Oversight Committee toured a D.C. jail where some 1/6 defendants were being held. However, the Democratic members did not see anything amiss, with Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), a former civil rights attorney and a former public defender, saying she “didn’t see anything that was alarming.”
NBC pointed out in that piece from March that “just three defendants at the D.C. jail haven’t been charged with physically assaulting law enforcement officers during the attack on the Capitol.”
So, these folks are protesting the fact that people accused of or convicted of assaulting the police are in jail.
Republicans have so embraced the January 6th defendants and convicted that there’s even a “J6 Prison Choir” with a single, “Justice for All,” featuring the lead defendant himself, Donald Trump, and other incarcerated men who have been convicted for their actions on 1/6/2021. Trump even started his Waco rally with a song by the “J6 Prison Choir.” The Justice for All song reached No. 1 on iTunes on March 11.
Take that, culture warriors.
If you’re keeping track, the current Republican front-runner for the 2024 election and multiple times criminal defendant is featured with other convicts in a prison choir protesting the arrests of people accused and or convicted of assaulting law enforcement, and this is a good thing in conservative circles.
What next? Will conservatives champion voting rights for felons given that they are now led by a man who might well be one soon? That could be a possible silver lining, except that it’s improbable that the concern being shown for people involved in the domestic terrorist attack on 1/6 will extend to anyone else. After all, this is the party that is so aghast at protests against the police for killing innocent Black people that they fly the “thin blue line” flag imagining themselves to be quite the LEO supporters and patriots… And yet are supporting those who assaulted law enforcement on January 6th.
It’s just another day in America: home to a front-runner in a major political party who might well be running for president from a jail cell, with the full support of the majority of his party.
Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.
Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Connect with Sarah on Post, Mastodon @PoliticusSarah@Journa.Host, & Twitter.
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