Marine Sgt. Travis Glosser insisted to investigators he “never had any intent to harm anyone.”
He never considered “selling, giving, or even showing anyone” the 13 lbs. C4 plastic explosive he stole. That’s enough to blow up three “antifa” buses (video below), but he denied having any militia ties.
Glosser simply was worried that America’s voters might elect Hillary Clinton instead of Donald Trump. “After Trump won, he buried the explosives.” (Where, in his backyard? The story here doesn’t say.) At the point, he evidently thought he wouldn’t need them.
He had been worried that if Clinton beat Trump in the fall election, “society might disintegrate.”
“I mean, you know how crazy the world is nowadays,” he later told the investigators. “I saw this country moving towards a scary unknown future. I had one thing on my mind and one thing only, I am protecting my family and my constitutional rights.”
From who? and what?
He mentioned “riots.” At the time, Black Lives Matters was peacefully protesting the police murder of George Floyd in many cities across the country. A handful of these protests were accompanied by disorders caused by tiny numbers of anarchists and troublemakers, and looting by opportunistic thieves. Most of the violence came from rightwing counter-protesters and the police.
He was also focused on “talk about seizing guns.” There were no bills pending in Congress or any state legislature to “seize” guns. In this country, you can’t even pass laws extending existing background checks to freewheeling, unregulated gun shows where anyone, including criminals, can buy guns off display tables.
He apparently wasn’t worried about Trump’s fanatical militia supporters brandishing guns in public buildings, threatening public officials, and openly talking about civil war. Somehow it flew over his head that all the craziness was coming from the Trump camp and the far right. (These people also think videos of buses blowing up are “cool.” I’ll probably have some kids salivating over this video, too, and passing it to their friends.)
Rightwing propaganda, which is permeated from top to bottom with lies, isn’t just innocent talk. It twists minds in dangerous ways, and can incite violence. Listening to it, and believing it, got this ex-Marine over a year in a military brig and a bad conduct discharge.
At the present time, 10 active-duty Air Force personnel are believed to have participated in, or been at, the Capitol riot (see story here). The military won’t identify them, or discuss their status, other than indicate that prosecuting them is being left to civilian authorities. But it doesn’t take much imagination to see what even misdemeanor convictions, probation, and small fines will do to their military career prospects. They’re finished in the military.
All of these people did this in fear of “liberals” who are no threat to them, and out of loyalty to Trump, who is a threat to military families. And his shredding of the Constitution and disdain for rule of law, the foundation of an orderly society, also completely flew over their heads.
So, what was he thinking, and what are they thinking? It’s impossible to believe they’re thinking at all. Every bit of this is knee-jerk stupidity.