TRUMP’S DAMAGE TO OUR DEMOCRACY MAY NEVER BE RESOLVED

 

…It is estimated that over 10,000 misled Americans attended the Washington Capitol riots

 

The authorities are sifting through 40,000 leads on who were the Capitol rioters.

 

A 36-year-old West Texas florist and self-described “conservative die hard patriot” always took to Facebook when she had something to say.  So, just hours after Jenny Cudd and scores of fellow Trump supporters swarmed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday during a violent insurrection, she launched a live stream with a Trump flag draped over her shoulders.  She then boasted, “We did break down … Nancy Pelosi’s office door.”

Nearly 1,700 miles away in Midland, Tex., Heather Bredimus watched in disbelief.  She knew Ms. Cudd, quite well, in fact. The two women had bitterly feuded over mask ordinances during the coronavirus pandemic. In recent weeks, Bredimus had grown frightened for her personal safety after she said Cudd, an anti-masker, became increasingly obsessed with targeting those who supported mask ordinances.  Cudd had openly discussed buying ammunition and that there was a coming “revolution.”

Still, Bredimus says it has been truly stunning to see her “arch nemesis” on tape boldly claiming involvement in an attempted takeover of the fortress of American democracy.

“I didn’t think she would take it that far,” Bredimus said of watching the footage of Cudd in Washington. “You don’t think the people from your hometown are going to be the crazy ones on TV and in the news.” Cudd did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

Four days after the Capitol riot, similar realizations have unfolded in communities across the country.  All this as social media sleuths, local news accounts and, in some cases, newly filed court records have begun to fill in the identities of thousands of individuals who descended upon Washington.  They did so to trumpet their support for President Trump’s false and incendiary claims that the U.S. presidential election was rigged.

Those who made their way to the grounds of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday hail from at least 36 states, along with the District of Columbia and Canada.  This is according to a Washington Post list of over 100 people identified as being on the scene of the Capitol.  Their professions touch nearly every facet of American society: lawyers, local lawmakers, real estate agents, law enforcement officers, military veterans, construction workers, hair stylists and nurses.  Among the crowd were devout Christians who highlighted Bible verses, adherents of the QAnon conspiracy theory and members of documented hate groups, including white supremacists and militant right-wing organizations, such as the Proud Boys.

The list is just a limited cross section of the thousands of people who descended upon the area, yet some striking commonalities are hard to ignore. Almost all on the list whose race could be readily identified are White. Most are men, yet about one in six were women, also almost all White.

Many had left extensive social media documentation of their passions, ideologies and, in some cases, disillusionment and vendettas.

Their paths to the nation’s capital were largely fueled by long-standing grievances and distrust.  But they were planned in a spontaneous and ad-hoc fashion.  Several reported pulling together their travel funds and schedules in just a handful of days.  Some took a solitary journey, including flying from coast to coast alone, only to find a shared community upon their final destination in Washington.  Others traveled in buses that departed Wednesday at dawn, filled to the brim with other Trump supporters.

 

One of them was Ashli Babbitt, 35, an Air Force veteran, who was shot and killed by Capitol Police last Wednesday.

In the wake of the violent mob’s collective actions, four people have lost their lives along with  Ashli Babbitt was shot and killed by Capitol Police.  One Capitol Police officer was beaten to death, and three other individuals died due to medical emergencies from the riot.

Some of the most distinctive rioters captured in viral images quickly left the District, only to be taken into custody closer to home:

Authorities have charged Richard Barnett, the 60-year-old Arkansan pictured with his feet on a staffer’s desk in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office;

 

Jacob Anthony Chansley, a QAnon evangelizer from Arizona also known as Jake Angeli, who roamed the Capitol shirtless with a horned headdress. 

And Adam Johnson, a 36-year-old Florida man who held Pelosi’s lectern in photographs.  Before he was arrested, Chansley told the Washington Post that he had not committed any violent acts. Barnett told the New York Times that he had just been knocking on the door when he was pushed in by the crowd.

A handful of the most notorious rioters, including a man who carried a Confederate flag over his shoulder though the Capitol, have not yet had their identities publicly confirmed by law enforcement.  But the authorities are sifting through 40,000 leads, pics and videos and are identifying all those rioters one by one.

Dozens of people have been arrested, some for minor offenses like breaking curfew or unlawful entry, while others face more serious federal charges, including firearm possession, violent entry and disorderly conduct at the Capitol building.  The count is growing rapidly every day.  On Sunday morning, Michael Sherwin, the acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia told NPR that his staff is working around-the-clock to sort through “potentially thousands of people that may have information about crimes … meaning there could be hundreds of people charged.”

One of those whose actions have drawn law enforcement scrutiny is Cudd, the Midland florist who spoke on camera about breaking down Pelosi’s door.  Bredimus and her husband confirmed that FBI agents recently interviewed them about Cudd’s behavior.

The acrimony between Heather Bredimus and Jenny Cudd began in November, when Bredimus, a 37-year-old graphic designer, squared off against Cudd during a contentious city hall meeting debating the merits of a mask ordinance. They soon spearheaded rival mask groups: Bredimus, who is married to a hospital official, heads the pro-mask “Masks in Midland” club, and Cudd leads those opposed to masks.  By December, Bredimus said anti-maskers began circulating photos of her van and license plate number, leading to anonymous death threats.

Later that month, Bredimus says, Cudd stood outside of Bredimus’s residence, with Bredimus’s four children inside and home alone, and they began live-streaming to her followers.  Bredimus said she alerted the Midland Police Department to voice concerns over what she viewed as Cudd’s erratic and potentially threatening behavior.  But she was told there was nothing they could do.

Cudd denied wrongdoing in an interview on Friday with a Midland TV station saying she did not mean for it to be taken literally when she said “we broke into Pelosi’s office”.  She deleted her Facebook account late Saturday amid growing scrutiny of her digital footprint, which contained a Jan. 3 post that warned: “No matter what, Trump will be President for 4 more years. Enjoy the show.”

Such a purge became the norm over the weekend, as people who attended the Capitol event made largely fruitless attempts to scrub lives that were lived nearly entirely online.

At least 15 people who attended the rally have been fired or suspended from their jobs, or they preemptively resigned amid growing outrage.  This is according to a Washington Post tally.  One of the fired is 41-year-old laborer Doug Jensen of Des Moines.  Jensen is facing federal charges after he was captured in photos and videos leading rioters up a staircase as a police officer attempted to hold the crowd back.

Jensen’s boss, Dick Felice, who owns Forrest & Associate Masonry, said he terminated Jensen’s employment.

“He committed a crime as far as I’m concerned,” Felice said. Jensen could not be reached for comment.

Some participants pleaded for forgiveness.

“It was the single worst personal decision of my life,” Bradley Rukstales, CEO of a Chicago-area data analytics company, wrote in a public a statement.  Rukstales was fired from his job and faces two federal charges stemming from his actions inside the Capitol. He did not respond to a Post reporter’s requests for comment.

Others said they had been unfairly maligned.

Amilee Stuckey, a 55-year-old lawyer from central Florida, said she stayed put outside the Capitol for roughly two hours, wanting to bear witness to what transpired.  She said the resulting violence left her in tears, feeling “just appalled.” Still, she scoffed in the face of social media critics who have written that Stuckey’s law firm should fire her.  She does not reply to them, but takes a grim satisfaction in the fact that “I own the damn firm.”

A Huntington Beach, Calif., hair salon owner, 32-year-old Kristopher Drew Martin, said a viral video in which he claimed “we stormed” the Capitol has been taken out of context and that he did not personally storm the building.  He later said that those who entered the building were wrong.  Martin blamed “the left” and the media for the backlash to his video, which he says has included death threats and bad reviews online about his business.

“They enjoy hurting people, especially a Trump supporter,” he said. “It feels so good to watch me suffer right now, but I never wanted them to suffer.”

Most who were interviewed by The Post reporters remained resolute.

Glynnda White, a 58-year-old retired local government worker and Army veteran from Winter Haven, Fla., said she had no regrets about making the trip.

“We were invited by the president” to Washington, said White, who says she stood outside the Capitol but did not enter the building. “And we went away.”

It is now obvious how much damage this president has done and how many millions of Americans that the president’s lies has harmed.  Hopefully, time will help fix most of that damage.  But the longest surviving democracy will never be the same.

Copyright G. Ater 2021