Scaros: Capitol Police Guided 'QAnon Shaman' on Jan. 6 - That Changes a Lot
I’m not one of those people who thought that the ends justified the means when it came to the few hundred people among the many tens of thousands in attendance who on Jan. 6, 2021, decided to enter the U.S. Capitol building without authorization.
It doesn’t matter if they thought they were in the right. Committing criminal trespass — anywhere, but especially in our sacred halls of Congress (regardless of whether we don’t like the people in charge at the moment) — isn’t really any different than using physical force to barge into an IRS office because you think it’s immoral and unconstitutional for your taxes to be as high as they are.
The behavior of people such as Jacob Chansley, the guy wearing Viking horns better known as the “QAnon shaman,” was particularly damaging.
Chansley became the face of Jan. 6, and for a long while was the gift that kept on giving to Democrats and Republican Never Trumpers, who falsely blame the riot on President Donald Trump, even though he specifically told those in attendance to go to the Capitol and “peacefully and patriotically” make their voices heard. Not to mention that many of the Capitol invaders planned their caper days and even weeks in advance of Trump’s speech that day.
But now there’s a new and supremely important twist to this tale: As it turns out, Chansley didn’t break his way into the Capitol at all. He entered with two Capitol Police officers following him a few steps behind and several more looking on as he passed them en route to the Senate chamber, where he even led a prayer for them, thanking them for their service.
Why on earth didn’t the Capitol Police stop him? I can only think of two plausible reasons, which are not mutually exclusive.
Perhaps the officers stood in solidarity with the protesters, also believing that the election was “rigged” and “stolen,” and weren’t about to offer resistance. Much like cops during the Prohibition era who thought the 18th Amendment was ludicrous and weren’t about to enforce it.
The other reason is that the Capitol Police, who are under the command of the speaker of the House of Representatives — who at the time was Democratic Trump-hater Nancy Pelosi — might have been commanded to bring in the clowns and let them parade around on national television.
Either way, it’s inexcusable and it’s professional malpractice.
Americans need to come together and demand answers. Here’s how we can all do our part:
In today’s polarized society, most people don’t have the stomach for daily arguments, so they tend to stick with their own political allies. But we should all reach beyond our comfort zone to others.
If you’re reading this publication, chances are you are conservative. You may even think the 2020 election really was stolen, that Trump really won, and that the Jan. 6 invaders are heroes.
Or, if you’re like me, you voted for Trump twice, and would vote for him again if he’s the GOP nominee, but were upset by the images of Trump supporters smashing through windows with MAGA hats and a Confederate flag. That type of behavior doesn’t help our side; it embarrasses it. And I think Trump could have handled the entire situation better.
Nonetheless, we’re all still on the same side — the “Trump side,” for lack of a better word. We need to reach out to the other side. Not to the unhinged leftist wackos who don’t care about honesty, dignity or country, but to the vast numbers of Democrats who aren’t woke radicals.
Right now, there are Democrats who think every Republican is a racist, sexist xenophobe and neo-Nazi who loves Trump the way the Germans loved Hitler.
But there are also Republicans who think every Democrat supports open borders, wants leftist indoctrination in schools so as to break up families and outlaw religion, and secretly wants China to rule the world.
It should be obvious to any sensible observer that both of these extremes are wildly inaccurate. Just as the vast majority of Republicans are reasonable, so are the vast majority of Democrats (except when it comes to their Trump Derangement Syndrome). Really, they are. The wacko woke are a small group of squeaky wheels who get all the attention.
Just like most Republicans aren’t evil, most Democrats aren’t, either — no matter what your favorite comfort food feeding trough disguised as a respectable news outlet might tell you.
Therefore, it’s up to us to reach out to the sane Democrats: They may be our neighbors, our coworkers, our friends, our family members. We need them to understand what the Capitol Police did. We need them to watch this video with their own eyes.
It doesn’t mean they’ll forget everything they hate about Trump, or even that they’ll stop blaming him for Jan. 6. But if they begin to see that their side is far from perfect, perhaps they’ll become a little more open-minded in general.
We can only hope.
The views expressed in this opinion article are those of their author and are not necessarily either shared or endorsed by the owners of this website. If you are interested in contributing an Op-Ed to The Western Journal, you can learn about our submission guidelines and process here.
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