Trump Jericho Marchers Part of Capitol Assault

Lots of finger pointing at antifa today by Christians who say Trump supporters didn’t storm the Capitol yesterday during the count of Electoral votes in Washington, DC.  Instead, they say antifa infiltrators did it.

First, no specific people have been offered as examples. One would think all of those Trump supporters would know a stranger in their midst. Second, Trump supporters all over the place are taking credit for the mayhem (see here, here, and here).

The third point in response is the subject of this post. Jericho Marchers, mostly Christian Trump supporters who believe the election was stolen posted video of themselves occupying the outside of the Capitol and are bragging about it. Look:

The marchers are on the Capitol steps and the bleachers set up for the Biden/Harris inauguration ceremony. According to news reports yesterday, these spaces were off limits to the public.  The whole area was barricaded but the marchers broke through.  Here they are singing the National Anthem after illegally breaking through the barricade and occupying the Capitol steps and plaza.

I watched this yesterday as it happened and I couldn’t believe the marchers just walked through the barricades. The marchers ignored instructions and warnings from Capitol Police and occupied the area.

Another way of looking at the people outside of the Capitol is that they provide cover for the mob inside the Capitol to loot and terrorize. They were not supposed to be there and it took a significant law enforcement build up to clear them from the area.

I will end this brief post with a Trump supporter asking “what did you think was going to happen?” Pardon the language but I think he asks Donald Trump an important question. Trump invited his most sincere followers to Washington to do something about the election. What did Trump think was going to happen? You can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube, Donald.

51 thoughts on “Trump Jericho Marchers Part of Capitol Assault”

    1. Well, it would appear from their own propaganda that they had entered a restricted area. Whether they caused criminal damage or posed a direct threat to people who working in the Capitol is perhaps another matter.

      I see you do now accept that there was violence on Wednesday (and indeed have sent me a video stream in which the President himself accepts that this was the case).

      Are you shocked and surprised by what happened on Wednesday? (I certainly think you are shocked, as are the rest of us here.)

      1. Of course, I am deeply shocked by the crime of vandalism that occurred on Wednesday, and I am more shaken by the killing of of 4 people as a result.

        It just appears to me that this post suggests that Jericho Marchers are somehow connected to Trump. If they entered an area that was indeed restricted but the police did not remove them, then it looked like he might have allowed them to come there.

        Even if it was true, I would not make a connection with actual violence, considering the fact that he publicly condemned it. Being present at the Capitol and expressing your personal belief that the current president is God anointed or something like that is one thing, causing damage to public property and stealing things is another.

        1. So if I were to enter a restricted area and the police were unable to remove me, then it would be just fine for me to be there? Is that in effect what you are suggesting?

          Of course, it is perfectly acceptable under the Constitution for people to express publically the view that Trump and Christ are one and the same, although they should not be surprised if others question their judgement (and maybe their mental health!).

          The body count is now five, by the way.

          I also asked if you were surprised by the violence on Wednesday. Were you?

          1. I am suggesting that the police did not bother to remove them at all. Either somebody gave them permission, or those Capitol cops are pretty lax at their jobs. I was greatly surprised by the violence besides being still strongly shaken by it. It’s not something I expect from those types of people.

          2. So you were surprised by the violence? I wasn’t. Shocked, yes, but not surprised.

            Maybe the cops were also surprised, and that was why the trespassers were not removed – the cops were not sufficiently prepared to remove them (safely).

            Let’s go back to Trump’s statement of yesterday. That was surely his greatest humiliation. He condemned the violence (and I am glad he did that, even if under duress*) but also disowned his own supporters, four of whom died for him (the fifth fatality was of a law enforcement officer).

            It is good that you are shaken; it shows that there is hope for you. Unlike being gay (for example), supporting Trump is lifestyle choice from which you can liberate yourself at any time. So why not shake yourself up, wake yourself up and make that lifestyle change? You can do it if you want to!

            *I just wonder if Trump’s about-turn and disowning of his supporters came after a phone call from the Vice President … (VP to Trump: “Condemn the violence and dump your friends, or it’s time for the 25th Amendment.”) I’m sure we’ll know eventually if that was how it happened.

          3. Like I said before, the election is over and if he ever decides to run in 2024, I will not vote for him because he would be too old by that time, hence whatever support I had for him is now a done deal. I don’t believe that Trump is responsible for the violence, as a matter of fact, I consider it’s a ploy to persecute anybody who is conservative evangelical. Trump is gone but there are still members of Congress (Ted Cruz and Matt Gaetz, for example) whom leftwing Democrats , like Cori Bush, want to purge out, based on baseless accusations that Trump incited the riots and they enabled him to do it. That’s what shakens me, that there is a threat from the upcoming administration to oppress and persecute conservative people by framing us on fraudulent charges. In other words, they want to turn America into a dictatorial socialist state. I promise you, if that ever happens, there’s going to be a huge uprising.

          4. I don’t think you need to worry about being persecuted, TV; provided you refrain from seditious activity, I am confident that you will left in peace to get on with your life. Maybe there are some extremist politicians who would be better ‘redeployed’ to ‘private life’ – but only by peaceful and constitutional means, of course.

            The notion that Trump at least promoted the kind of disorder the world witnessed on Wednesday is very far from being without foundation. We have all seen Trump’s MO over the past five years, and those of us whose eyes have been open from the beginning are in no doubt that there is a clear link between that MO and what happened on Wednesday.

            I doubt Trump will be in a position to run 2024, but obviously I am pleased that you are prepared to say that you no longer support him. I respect people who admit their errors and change their mind.

          5. Impeachment would preclude a 2024 run, which is one of the reasons why the Democrats are pursuing it. They’d probably be better off politically if they don’t — Trump’s run for the 2024 nomination would throw the Republican Party into chaos — but it’s far better for the country if he’s barred from ever talking public office again.

          6. Impeachment would preclude a 2024 run, which is one of the reasons why the Democrats are pursuing it. They’d probably be better off politically if they don’t — Trump’s run for the 2024 nomination would throw the Republican Party into chaos — but it’s far better for the country if he’s barred from ever talking public office again.

          7. Trump’s age? Of all the myriad reasons Trump is unfit for the office of president, you are concerned about his age?

          8. TV is a little shy, Ken. He’s edging his way towards sanity but finds it hard to say it all in one go. Let’s remember that he started out on Wednesday by saying he thought there had been no violence, so he has made progress.

          9. That’s because at that time, I just woke up and quickly turned on the news, didn’t have enough time to process all the information. Sorry about that.

          10. I don’t like to vote for someone who is close to 80, but let’s say, Matt Gaetz gets nominated, I will gladly vote for him. Richard, down below, might think that I’m still in error, probably.

          11. You are free to vote for whomever you please, and I am free to comment on your choice.

            As for Trump: well, he will, I gather, be facing some lawsuit once he loses his immunity from prosecution, so I rather doubt that you will have the opportunity to vote for him in 2024 even if you wanted to (which you have said you do not want to do).

            Let’s just go back to your contention that Trump had nothing to do with Wednesday’s riot and loss of life. If you are right, then it would appear that he made a very serious political miscalculation that surely amounts to gross, and deadly, incompetence? (You have expressed the fear that what happened on Wednesday could in some way rebound on you. I doubt it will, and indeed hope it doesn’t, assuming you do nothing unlawful or seditious; but if it does, then Trump is arguably to blame for any harm that might befall you.)

            So I suppose the choice is this: either Trump was the root cause (so treachery) or he was not (so incompetence). Your call!

          12. “I don’t believe Trump is responsible for violence. . .”

            Are you kidding me? There are videos of him and his family and Mark Meadows watching TV coverage of the crowd march to the Capitol after Trump himself told them to march to the Capitol. That’s not even a dotted line between his words and the mob’s actions – it’s a bold, solid, deadly line. Wake up from your delusions, sir.

          13. What do you mean they “didn’t bother to remove them”? Are you claiming the Capitol police never told them to leave? According to Angeli he was told to leave.

          14. I wasn’t there, so can’t testify on any conversations these protesters had with Capitol cops. I just remember from the news there were people walking inside the building past security and security were not using any force on them.

          15. How many people vs. how many security guards?

            If you are greatly outnumbered it is unwise to make the situation worse by using force.

            Additionally, force was used at one point, just ask the family of Ashli Babbit.

          16. Apparently, the Chief of Capitol Police has resigned, thus he admitted the failure of the police to handle the situation well.

        2. Just thinking about it logically: Christ died for his followers (and everyone else, of course), to save them; four of Trump’s followers die for him on Wednesday, then he disowns them. I wouldn’t wish to do it myself, but I can see a logical case for equating Trump with the ANTIChrist.

          1. What do you mean? The White House offered condolences to the families of those who died. They didn’t die because of Trump, but because of consequences of their stupid actions. I don’t see Trump being the Anti-Christ, as being the Satan himself, but I would expect Gregory Thornbury to teach this theory in one of his theology classes.

          2. I’m not asking you to see Trump as the Anti-Christ. I was merely applying a little logic to the situation.

            Yes, there were condolences expressed in the statement read out by that nervous young woman (who of course did not need tennis shoes, as there were no Trumpists in the room), but I think in his recorded messages, Trump has not himself expressed solidarity with those of his followers who lost their lives. He has, I gather, said something about the police officer who died this morning.

            I’ll say it again: I believe that Trump has back-peddled from his position before the rioting and killing because he was under intense pressure to do so. I do not for a moment believe his is sincere. It would be appear that Secretary Chao and Secretary DeVos take a similar view. I am sure that they are not alone among high profile Republicans (let us not forget that, in the US Senate, only six voted in objection to the Electoral College’s votes).

          3. It makes me wonder if this vandalism never took place, would those Republican Senators vote the other way?

          4. Yes, I suspect that if Trump’s supporters had not committed their crimes, more US senators would have sided with Trump. But those crimes were committed, and committed by Trump’s people, and a number of senators came to their senses and respected the EC vote.

        3. “Vandalism” “vandalism? Really? This was an out and out invasion of the Capitol, a near-sacred shrine of democracy. Yes, the Jericho Marchers are connected to Trump and they bear as much responsibility for the violent invasion (not mere vandalism) as Trump does.

    2. Whether Jericho Marchers were among the violent rioters or not is inconsequential. The fact is that Christians employed the biblical story of the Jericho March in which the walls of Jericho came “tumbling down” (as the old spiritual says). Words matter. Period. And those Christians are just as responsible for the invasion of the Capitol as Trump, whose words helped incite the invasion.

    1. We shouldn’t forget that there were evangelicals and others protestants (40% on aggregate according to exit polling) who did not vote for Trump. I personally know evangelicals who emphatically did not and do not support him. Warren Throckmorton is one of them.

      ‘Across the Tiber’, nearly half of American catholics voted for Trump, although the catholic vote mirrored almost exactly the national popular vote, so, on balance, catholics voted for Biden.

      1. Yes, it is important to remember that simply because they are the loudest christians, doesn’t mean they are all the christians. As the saying goes “The Moral Majority is neither.”

  1. So Dilley is intelligent enough to see what was going to happen in DC, but still foolish enough to believe the election was rigged.

  2. Thanks for this commentary and information, Warren.

    It is certainly useful to see a Trumpist blaming Trump for what happened!

    The fact that no evidence has been presented to back claims concerning Antifa should not surprise us.

    Incidentally I’ve just heard some commentary on a news programme suggesting that (the self-professed Christian) Ted Cruz might be looking to take up the Trumpist mantle once Trump has left the White House (and maybe the country?). It is perhaps fortunate for the United States that Cruz has about as much charisma as bowl of three-day-old cold grits …

    1. Both Cruz and Josh Hawley seem to be trying to position themselves as the next carriers of the Trump anointing.
      Which explains why Hawley has been making up ground quickly on Cruz’s current position as “biggest A-hole in the Senate”.
      I don’t actually know if Hawley professes to be a Christian — but I’m sure he would if he thought it would help him get more political power.

      1. From what I have read about him, Hawley appears to be a trumpvangelityrannical. So, yes, he claims to be a Christian.

          1. It’s a political problem, isn’t it? And among western nations it is perhaps unusual: in most western countries, politicians banging on about their religion is a massive turn-off.

          2. We’re getting closer to the same situation here in the US, young Americans are becoming less religious (though not necessarily less spiritual) generation after generation, and it’s not just liberals either.

            Ironically, Trump has proven once and for all it’s not about religion anyway. Evangelicals love him for his ability to tap into their political grievances and his combative rhetoric against the “political elites” (as if he isn’t one himself). They couldn’t care less that he’s functionally illiterate when it comes to Christianity and leads a life that’s the antithesis of conservative Christian values.

          3. I agree that it’s not really about religion, or even political philosophy (Trump is no conservative – fiscal responsibility doesn’t interest him, for example).

      2. Hawley is steaming right now because Simon & Schuster cancelled its plans to publish his book. He’s bleating about Orwellianism and threatening to sue in court. Obviously, a Yale Law School education was wasted on Hawley, because he has absolutely no case (outside of a contract). S&S can cancel his book for any or no reason at all (outside of any contractual provisions). It is not required to publish his seditionist garbage.

    2. It is the same old obfuscation that has been used to shield these people in the past. Drop a little doubt into an otherwise obvious situation and the “true believers” will grab it like a life preserver off a sinking ship.

      1. Well, at least these people will no longer have the White House machine backing them – in 12 days’ time in any case, or sooner if the 117th US Congress gets it act together (which might just happen as the Grahams and McConnells of this world scrabble desperately to redeem themselves).

          1. Well, I’m sure we all need to be ‘on our guard’ for some time to come. The far right is strong in the United States, and will continue to have friends in high places after Trump is out of White House. And they know that their time is running out as the demography of, and social attitudes in, the United States change …

          2. I think Republicans and Democrats have been working hard behind the scenes today to head off any chance of that happening. Pelosi has talked to the generals about preventing Trump from launching nukes — strange times indeed.

      2. Sowing doubt was the first step in the serpents temptation of Eve…

        “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

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