Matt Braynard (photo, left), a veteran of Trump’s 2016 campaign, is organizing a Capitol rally to display solidarity with jailed January 6 rioters, whom he calls “political prisoners.” It’s supposed to happen on September 18, 2021. He’s promising “high profile” speakers and a “huge” crowd.
“We’re going to push back on the phony narrative that there was an insurrection,” he says. He blames the Capitol Police for the riot, asserting the crowd was “largely peaceful” until “egged on” by the cops; and claims Ashli Babbitt, the rioter shot by police, was “executed.” (Read story here.)
I tried to pick a photo of Braynard that makes him look like a doofus, because he is one. Or, as my Army drill instructor would say, he has his head up his ass. Not because he likes Trump, which is his right and privilege, but because of the stupid things he says.
To be clear: He plans to demonstrate against criminals being in jail. But that’s fine, he can do that. The January 6 rioters will be prosecuted anyway, as they should be.
This is still a free country, and if Braynard and his friends want to hold a jackass convention on the Capitol lawn, that’s their privilege. We should be grateful that people in this country still have the right to assemble and say whatever they want to, even if it’s ridiculous lies. Trump, you may recall, wasn’t a big fan of protests.
But it’s also important to hold the rioters accountable; no free ride for smashing things and hurting people. The lawyers who lied to courts and filed frivolous lawsuits should face professional discipline. Conspiracy theory peddlers who defamed election officials and voting machine suppliers should pay civil judgments. Trump is being investigated for violating election interference laws; if investigators find he committed crimes, prosecuting him isn’t political harassment or persecution, it’s law enforcement.
So let Braynard hold his whine-fest. Our tolerance for such things is part of what makes America great. But to be on the safe side, I’d surround the Capitol with National Guardsmen on September 18, out of an abundance of caution.