General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Oath Keepers will tell a jury they really believed Donald Trump would turn them into his own, pe
Full title:
The Oath Keepers will tell a jury they really believed Donald Trump would turn them into his own, personal militia on Jan. 6
They'll be told that the far-right extremists believed President Donald Trump would invoke the Insurrection Act as they gathered at the Capitol, 100 strong in their camo-colored tactical gear and turn them into his own, ultra-loyal federal militia.
snip
Reason one: They were an invited security force for rally planners and participants, including Roger Stone, Ali Alexander, Latinos for Trump and Virginia Women for Trump.
Reason two: They were awaiting Trump's orders.
When those orders failed to come, Rhodes' lawyers will argue, the Oath Keepers left the Capitol. They had dinner at Olive Garden, and then collected the weapons and provisions they'd stashed at the ready but never used in their rooms at a Comfort Inn in Arlington, VA. Then they went home.
https://www.businessinsider.com/oath-keepers-to-tell-jury-they-believed-trump-would-federalize-them-2022-6
Buns_of_Fire
(17,181 posts)That's full-blown, delusional crazy! (Not that Elmer Rhodes had an excess of marbles to start with.)
Thomas Hurt
(13,903 posts)Nevilledog
(51,120 posts)Johnny2X2X
(19,066 posts)Trump told them, "And I will be with you." So they thought anything they did wouldn't be illegal, they thought the president was giving them a lawful order to murder Democrats and Mike Pence.
Lonestarblue
(10,011 posts)Had Trump led the group, the Capitol police would have let him in, along with all his followers, and they would then have proceeded to commit mayhem while the Secret Service whisked Trump to safety. Members of Congress would have had almost no warning of the mob and the insurrection, and many would have found themselves confronting people who wanted to kill them. Pelosi, Schumer, and Pence probably would have been quickly taken to safety, but we recall those scenes of Pence barely escaping the mob because of the officer who led it away from him.
This might have been the plan all along and would explain why Trump was so angry at being denied going to the Capitol.
Alice Kramden
(2,166 posts)It was terrible, and it could've been even more terrible
wyn borkins
(1,109 posts)"Bang Zoom...You're Going To The Moon!"
Alice Kramden
(2,166 posts)I want to stay far from Elon Musk
wnylib
(21,485 posts)with a mob? I am doubtful. The mob was angry. Some carried pitchforks.
Achilles Skye
(24 posts)if he could have walked that far.
The Bopper
(185 posts)To be successful or they would get a pardon. The fact they believed Donnie Dumbazz really cared show they really willingly were taken in and would have done anything for him. Cults are like that.
Effete Snob
(8,387 posts)A hearty dinner being necessary for the drive back home, the right to receive and eat endless breadsticks shall not be infringed.
Efilroft Sul
(3,579 posts)PatSeg
(47,496 posts)Captain Zero
(6,806 posts)nt
samnsara
(17,622 posts)...according to the film maker with them..maybe they ditched him and they all went and had soup, salad and breadsticks
Deminpenn
(15,286 posts)nt
Bristlecone
(10,129 posts)Effete Snob
(8,387 posts)not fooled
(5,801 posts)Once I was given a gift card to Olive Garden. Some of the worst food I've ever eaten, right down there with "Mexican" food from a restaurant in Oklahoma City.
aeromanKC
(3,324 posts)Carb overload!!
reACTIONary
(5,770 posts)Effete Snob
(8,387 posts)"Latinos for Trump" consists of something like three or four people - two of whom were involved in transporting weapons to the vicinity of the Philadelphia Convention Center during the ballot count in Pennsylvania.
ToxMarz
(2,169 posts)they can really fill a room!
Effete Snob
(8,387 posts)ProfessorGAC
(65,067 posts)Of course, since lots of people wouldn't want to eat next to armed losers, the whole place might just be available.
Escurumbele
(3,395 posts)dixiechiken1
(2,113 posts)malaise
(269,049 posts)in that Jan 6 speech
underpants
(182,826 posts)These stories remind back in my dope smoking days. The conversation would start somewhere and end up in a whole other place fueled by inside jokes and random ideas.
These people must have spent hours spinning themselves into wild Nazi fantasies.
cloudboy07
(351 posts)Timewas
(2,195 posts)we were there to take over the government and make t-rump the dictator...With and army of 100..LOL
kentuck
(111,102 posts)Like Emperor Augustus did.
Walleye
(31,028 posts)Biophilic
(3,665 posts)Sedition is sedition just because someone believes something doesnt make it true or legal.
Biophilic
(3,665 posts)plimsoll
(1,670 posts)Then we tell the judge that we didn't think it would be seditious conspiracy because we believed the President would stage a coup to support us.
cloudboy07
(351 posts)spanone
(135,844 posts)Bernardo de La Paz
(49,002 posts)ShazzieB
(16,414 posts)I can easily believe they were and are that stupid. But convincing a jury is another matter.
And I agree that stupidity definitely does not = an exemption from obeying the law!
dchill
(38,502 posts)Captain Zero
(6,806 posts)SleeplessinSoCal
(9,123 posts)These days the law is merely a suggestion. We've gone from a "Nation of Laws" to Failed State in the blink of an eye.
plimsoll
(1,670 posts)Why stop now.
Raven123
(4,847 posts)thesquanderer
(11,989 posts)EYESORE 9001
(25,941 posts)and it fucking well better not work for these traitorous oaf creepers either.
LuvJoesPartner
(89 posts)Nothing but a bunch of home-grown terrorists and bullies.
Grins
(7,218 posts)And that's why they had those spiffy shirts and hats, bought more defensive/offensive gear, trained, did reconnaissance, set up comm, and executed.
I can accept this - if they directly implicate Trump.
"It wasn't my fault, it's the way the Insurrection act was WRITTEN!"
As if any of these idiots read a word of the Act! (Rhodes excepted.)
Video clip for the NRA Convention in Houston after the slaughter of 4th graders. Man-in-the-street type interviews:
Interviewer says the 2nd Amend. is all of ONE sentence - "Say it."
An astonishing number of members could NOT.
All they could mutter was "keep and bear arms."
And then they laughed at their own stew-pud!
Captain Zero
(6,806 posts)they had directly or indirectly with Trump, including their communications with the group at the Willard Hotel which should include but is not limited to: Roger Stone, Steve Bannon, Rudy, Ginny, Stephen Miller and that former General Traitor. We need it all.
Joinfortmill
(14,428 posts)Mr. Scorpio
(73,631 posts)They might have been somewhat less enthusiastic to score that militia gig.
Alice Kramden
(2,166 posts)Brownshirts is a better description
H2O Man
(73,559 posts)That is correct -- they had been led to believe that Trump would declare martial law, and empower them to "keep the peace." This will also come out in one of the next J6 hearings.
ShazzieB
(16,414 posts)I mean, that would be delightful, and that's what this defense sounds like. If they've really gone fom being devoted sycophants to butthurt finger pointers, this trial is going to be very entertaining.
Many of them recognize that Trump betrayed them.
Demobrat
(8,980 posts)Hes sitting fat and happy on the beach, stuffing his face with burgers. That might piss some of them off a little.
people
(625 posts)We really don't know exactly what Trump intended to do. We know he wanted to lead them into the capitol but that's about the limit of what we know. Are their beliefs crazy? None of us knows that yet and perhaps we never will. And even if their beliefs were sincere and even if what they believed was actually true, it is no defense to their actions. These are stupid, angry, racist people with visions of glory.
not fooled
(5,801 posts)Even though these guys aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer, they probably weren't delusional enough to act based only on their fantasies. Sounds as though they received some sort of specific communication to convince them that they would become red don's personal militia. Did someone from red don's maladministration or otherwise in an official position within the federal government give them that information?
Enoki33
(1,587 posts)these domestic terrorists are now even more dangerous because of what the failed insurrection has taught them. Many are ex military and police with solid training and organizational skills. And they have been emboldened.
They were led to believe this by three individuals -- Flynn, Bannon, and Stone -- who were in close communication with Meadows right up to the night before the insurrection. This will be documented in a J6 hearing this month.
Takket
(21,575 posts)What world is this where you try to overthrow the US government and when it doesnt work out, you go have dinner at the Olive Garden.
I mean, what did they say when the waitperson asked how their day was going? Oh not good. Tried to commit insurrection and it didnt work out. Hey how is the lasagna?
ARE YOU KIDDING ME??!
LiberalFighter
(50,943 posts)Considering that them as private militia was not approved legislatively. And the insurrectionist act was intended to stop them. Not create them.
Hassler
(3,379 posts)GoodRaisin
(8,924 posts)wherever they go. Hope the jury will keep that point in mind as they deliberate.
malaise
(269,049 posts)Its proof that they are dumb assholes with no knowledge of the Constitution or civics
Gore1FL
(21,132 posts)I am not sure how that excuses them premeditatively assaulting Police and invading and rioting in the Capitol, all while trying to overthrow the government of the United States.
Beartracks
(12,816 posts)... are supposedly okay, they say, just because the coup failed? That sounds like the driver of a get-away car saying he's innocent because the *real* bank robber never showed up with the loot.
And that "stashed but never used" bit seems really important to rightwing defenders. Like Hannity's "none of the 'tourists' fired their weapons in the capitol" schtick.
=============
rockfordfile
(8,704 posts)FakeNoose
(32,645 posts)This is malpractice, and they're obviously grasping at straws.
ecstatic
(32,707 posts)by taking whiney baby tfg home. Thank goodness. Wow.
LudwigPastorius
(9,155 posts)The Oath Keepers were just the Prom Queen runners up.
czarjak
(11,278 posts)The one Obama could have imposed because of Russian meddling?
Aussie105
(5,401 posts)Throw out individual standards of decency and morality (if they had any to start with) out the window for group-think.
Normal laws and consequences just don't exist to them.
'Trump made me do it' and 'the rest of the group said it was OK', add in 'We will be seen as heroes!', and you have a bunch of thugs who will believe anything and do anything.
Easy to explain Jan 6.
The clean-up and preventing it from happening again, well, that's a much harder thing.
Evolve Dammit
(16,738 posts)Served on a Grand Jury and advanced cases (indictments) that were crimes committed one to three months prior?
The Jungle 1
(4,552 posts)Turbineguy
(37,342 posts)Confession!