Witness to what happened on January 6th 2021

By Michael Greer

Let me start by saying, having been a victim of violence, I abhor violence and condemn what happened at our Capitol January 6^th. I hope all involved will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.  To those who broke into the Capitol I despise what you did as much as I despise the violence across the country we witnesses all summer. But what is most egregious is that you gave the Left EXACTLY what they have worked decades for.  

I speak with some authority about the events of that day. This was the 7^th protest in defense of conservative values I’ve attended in Washington, DC since 2009. I know the people who turn out for these events.  No one paid them to be there. No one bused them in and paid for hotels. They came because they were compelled to stand in defense of their values. Values the majority of the country had once believed in. These are people who love this country, who believe in the rule of law, who believe in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights……and believe they apply to ALL regardless of race or gender. We believed we could use facts and work through the system to prevent what we now see happening.  

I’ve told this story before but it bares repeating at this time. The day the House was going to vote for Obamacare we had a huge Tea Party Rally. I took about a hundred Tea Partiers into the tunnels that connect the Capitol to the Office buildings to speak to members of Congress as they passed through. An officer approached me and said the Capitan of the Capitol police wanted to speak to me. He introduced himself and asked that I keep the people against the wall and not block the hallways and to try to keep our voices down because it echoes down there. I told him I certainly would. I told him to tell his officers to let me know if there was a problem and I’d handle it. He said, “Oh, I’m not worried about you. I’ve never had to arrest one of you and you clean up after yourselves”. I tell this story because what happened this time was the opposite.  

When I got involved in politics, because I believed in the Rule of Law, I naively believed if I pointed out something was against the law, they’d say, “Oops, you’re right, we can’t do that”.  I thought if we decided a law wasn’t fair or effective we had a system to repeal it. I quickly learned how wrong I was. As an example, when Obama ran for office he said he believed marriage was between a man and a woman. He said the same in the early days of his Presidency. Then Eric Holder came out and said he wasn’t going to prosecute DOCA. I was shocked. I wondered where he got the authority to overturn a law passed by Congress. I wondered why the media wasn’t asking the same question.  

Our protests were ALWAYS peaceful. Regardless of our concerns we were basically hopeful, happy people. In addition to the DC events I attended, I attended hundreds of local Conservative rallies and protests. We had fun, we met new friends, we laughed and joked, we believed we could effect change.  

Now let me get to January 6th. On my previous trips to DC I had no idea if anyone on the plane was going to the event. This time the plane was filled with MAGA hats, jackets with flags on them, etc. Every so often the chant, “USA, USA, USA” broke out in the cabin. Conservatives have been so oppressed we are so happy to be with like- minded people where we can speak freely. How is it even possible that people are afraid to speak freely in this country?  

When I arrived at my hotel there were more MAGA people in the lobby. Everyone happy to see so many of us.  When I got to my room and turned on the news they said BLM/ANTIFA were attacking MAGA people. There was a picture of a woman with a bloodied face. She had been hit by ANTIFA.  They said not to go out at night, not to walk alone, to go in groups. I expected to encounter them the next day.  

There are two things that were always present at Conservative rallies both in DC and locally. A police presence and counter protestors bused in. I point out that they were bused in because I witnessed it. Buses would arrive, people were checked off a clip board as they got off. They wore printed t-shirts and had printed signs. They had cases of water and snacks. I even saw their handlers walk down streets offering people money to join them.  The police in the past, erected barricades to keep the counter-protestors from us.  

My friend Jess and I couldn’t sleep so we decided to go get in line for Trump’s event.  

It was being held in the park across from the White House. A limited number of people can get in and they have to go through security. We got there at 5:30am. The line was already half way around the Washington Memorial. We joined the line. People were joking and laughing and sharing stories. Three hours later we were about ten people from the security check and they said no more could enter. Oh well, there was a big screen to watch. As more people arrived we became more crushed together. There were people with walkers, people in wheelchairs, families with little kids in strollers (I can’t imagine bringing a child into a crowd that thick, but that’s me). There were young and old but the majority of the crowd was over 60.  

I started to wonder where BLM/ANTIFA or any counter protestors were. They were harassing MAGA people the day and night before. I noticed there was no police presence. NONE AT ALL. At other rallies they had mounted police riding through the crowds. Police in groups all over the place. They knew we were coming. Where were they?  

I decided to get to a better spot to see the big screen. I weaved through the crowd. I said, “Excuse me” and people helped me through. No one objected, people were helpful. This was my experience at other events as well. I stood on higher ground and listened to Trump’s speech. He did NOT incite anyone to commit violence. He didn’t say anything he hasn’t said many times before. I heard a “conservative” pundit say Trump lied to his supporters about voter fraud. No, he didn’t. He gave examples of how fraud was committed and there are thousands of signed affidavits from people involved. We keep being told there is no evidence. There IS but no one will look at it. We expected the evidence to be heard but neither the courts nor the media will even look at it. Everyone I’ve talked to is willing to accept that Trump lost but there is SO much that is statistically impossible you need to prove it to them.  And let’s be honest, the Left knows half the country doesn’t trust the results and if they truly believed Biden won they would want to allow an investigation to end the distrust we will continue to have.  

I left the Trump rally just he finished speaking because I wanted to be as close to the Capitol as I could get.  When I got there the entire Capitol had been barricaded so we couldn’t get close. People were standing at the barricades and chanting things like, “Stop the Steal”, and, “This is OUR House”.  There weren’t many police around even though a wave of people were approaching. I then saw some police take down part of a section of the barricades allowing MAGA people to enter the veranda in front of the building. That encouraged others to knock down the barricades and fill up the lawn and veranda.  I went up on the veranda. I was about five rows behind the people in front. There was a scaffolding in the middle that a lot of men climbed up on. We were chanting slogans, we wanted to be heard inside. We wanted to be heard, period. We have been slandered, maligned, censored, de-platformed, de-monatized. We have lost jobs, lost our businesses, been called racists, haters, homophobes, xenophobes. The pandemic gave the Left the opportunity to tank Trump’s booming economy, tank the lowest unemployment in history, and take our rights away. They have prevented us from assembling, worshiping in our churches, comforting our loved ones as they are dying, practicing our traditions, celebrating our holidays, having birthday parties, weddings, funerals, and muzzled us with masks. The Left knows that too and I believe expected us to turn violent if they provoked us enough (because their supporters WOULD).  

There had been no violence at that point. We were just standing there chanting slogans. No one was trying to break windows or climb walls at that point. A string of men from the front came through the crowd right in front of me. They were leading several men out that had their eyes closed and a yellowish liquid dripping down their faces. The police had shot pepper spray balls at the men.  A short time later a man dressed in black passed by me holding a police shield. I knew he was not a Trump supporter. Later I saw video that he was the one breaking the windows with the shield…..BUT I didn’t see any pictures of him INSIDE the building. I suspect ANTIFA/BLM helped incite and break in but didn’t enter. Perhaps so the only ones photographed inside were Trump supporters?

Within the first 15 minutes of us being there the police started shooting flash bangs at us. They make a big startling bang and a lot of white smoke. Right after the first bang a man starting yelling for a doctor or nurse. He was waving a white handkerchief. A man had had a heart attack. Some of the MAGA people carried him out of the crowd (I understand he later died).  Soon after that they started shooting tear gas at us. I have to say at this point that I saw no threatening behavior from our people that justified tear gas, pepper spray or flash bangs. The fact that they were using tear gas on unarmed, nonthreatening people made many mad..….as I suspect was the purpose. I remembered how outraged the media had been when they thought the Capitol police had used tear gas (they hadn’t) on BLM when they were burning the church and trying to break down the fence around the White House.  I felt the police were trying to provoke the crowd and I decided this was not where I needed to be.  

When I left the building had not been breached.  It was breached on the back side. There was NO police presence. They were able to break the windows and enter the building without any resistance.  How is that possible? There are ALWAYS guards at all entrances. During a Tea Party event years ago Congressmen came out to tell us what was happening and about 30 police Officers formed a line to prevent us from stepping on the stairs or getting near the Congressmen. Where were they Wednesday? I don’t blame the police. This is what they were ordered to do. But I believe they were told to let people into the Capitol hoping there would be violence. Someone opened a door and allowed people in. I suspect many who entered thought they were just going to watch the hearings (we had in the past) or just make their presence known. The ones let in, I don’t blame. The ones who broke in, I condemn.  

There are no coincidences. This is what the Left wanted. They want to crush and humiliate Trump and his followers so that no one will dare to ‘Make America Great Again”. They couldn’t have the last image of the Trump administration being a million happy, laughing people chanting, “We love Trump”. 

I always knew if there was any violence at a Conservative event they would smear us ALL with the same brush….and they have. The lack of police presence, the lack of a BLM/ANTIFA presence (because they were among us), the police opening the barriers and letting people in as well as someone opening a big door from the inside to let people in is very suspicious. It was a good calculation for the Left. After four years of being slandered, lied to, attacked, being told 24/7 how evil the President and his supporters were, then the pandemic crushing small businesses (many MAGA are small business owners) and isolating them, followed by a questionable election where their concerns were dismissed and they were told to sit down and shut up it isn’t surprising that some felt pushed too far and acted out.  And the Left knew it and took complete advantage of it.  

Anderson Cooper told us yesterday just how much the elite Left loathes us. They don’t just disagree with us they LOATHE us. He described Trump supporters as ignorant bumpkins that eat at Olive Garden and stay at Holiday Inn. We are business owners, teachers, lawyers, students, contractors, truck drivers, grocery clerks. We are your neighbors, your mothers, fathers, uncles, cousins and your friends….and they LOATHE us.  

On top of it all, to demonstrate again their desire to incite people, the Mayor of DC, knowing most of the people coming were “senior citizens” she shut down all restaurants (even the coffee shop in our hotel was shut down) then in the middle of the day shut down all ground transportation. We also couldn’t text or call people. I don’t know what the people with walkers, wheelchairs or kids did. It was freezing cold. My nose was freezing and even with gloves on my hands were freezing too. We found out the subways were still working and walked around for blocks looking for one. When we finally found one it took us many blocks from our hotel.  

The RAGE against Trump is mystifying (yet not since he stood in the way of the NWO they were SO close to achieving). I keep asking what has Donald Trump done that harmed a single person? He cut their taxes, gave them jobs, and got regulations cut so that vaccines could be developed in record time. We’ve had no more wars, a booming economy, lowest unemployment in history, the best trade deals in memory. Every President promised to renegotiate NAFTA and move our embassy to Jerusalem but Trump DID IT. He secured our border, got Mexico to keep South American caravans in Mexico, he persuaded Ford not to move to Mexico, etc., etc.  

Now they say they are going to impeach him 13 days before he leaves office. I don’t know how they think their going to do that since they’re in recess until 1/19.  

I had to laugh this morning when I read that, Trump, the “MOST ADMIRED MAN” (more admired than their beloved Obama) the man  the media says will be sent into political exile is going UP in admiration NOT down.  Their loathing of Trump is SO unhinged, SO unreasonable the more they try to hurt him the more we love him.  

I’ve spent the last 20 years trying to warn people of what the Left was planning, hoping to stop it. Everything I warned about, everything I feared is now here. The purge of Conservative speakers, websites, is now happening. And that is just the beginning.  

God help us, PLEASE.  

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Citizens Journal

Michael Greer retired from the film/television industry and is the co-organizer of the Santa Monica Tea Party and the Los Angeles Tea Party, on the board of directors of the Citizens’ Alliance for Property Rights and was a member of the Republican Central Committee for the 41st Assembly District.  Her website is: http://madderthanhell.wordpress.com/