I am deeply troubled and saddened by the events that followed the March on D.C. on January 6.  Notice that I said the events that followed the March.

Let me give you some backstory.  I went to Washington on January 6 to support my president.  I took Amtrak overnight from Providence with a friend.  A fellow Trump-supporter, he was happy to come along when I said I didn't feel great about going alone, as the media had tried their hardest to foment trouble beforehand.

We arrived in the Capitol at 7:00 A.M.  Another friend was meeting us who had arrived the night before and rented a suite.  We met at the hotel, freshened up, and headed out for the first part of the day, the rally at the Ellipse.  It was a fun, festive atmosphere.  Everyone seemed just happy to be there.  One of my friends is talkative, and he chatted up everyone he came in contact with.  NYC's Naked Cowboy was even there to liven up the crowd.  It was so much fun.  We sang along to Lee Greenwood and other great music and listened to all the various speakers leading up to President Trump's speech.  At one point, I made friends with some ladies perched on a pickup truck parked in the middle of this enormous crowd.  I really wanted to be able to see the crowd that was there and finally got invited up onto the tailgate.  It was exhilarating to look out over the massive crowd.  I have some great pictures.

Finally, we got to hear Trump speak.  Toward the end of his speech, I suggested we work our way out of the crowd if possible and head to the Capitol a little ahead of the hundreds of thousands on the Ellipse.  Even at the time, I knew that the mayor had made things as unpleasant as she could.  I had read about it.  She took away all but about five porta-potties for probably a million people.  There were no food trucks; indoor dining was prohibited; and of course, it was pretty cold for outdoor.  So I am sure all those people were a little pissed off.  I am pretty sure this was intentional. 

When we reached the Capitol, it was 1:05 P.M., and I noticed right away that there were people walking all around the grounds.  Some were on the bleachers set up for the inauguration, and many were just milling around.  Right away, I had the feeling that none of this felt right.  I thought there should have been some sort of perimeter protection.  There were some of those metal stands like what they use at a fair to guide people up to the ride they are waiting for.  Nothing that would keep even a resourceful child out.  There were no police or uniforms of any type in sight.  I told my friends I didn't think we should hang around; it just didn't feel right.  At 1:20 P.M., after I had taken several photos, we turned and headed back to our hotel.  We stopped for Chinese, met another friend at our room, and spent the rest of the night listening in horror to what was transpiring.  It was all so sad, and so predictable...and such a set-up! 

Everything I have seen in the past few days just reaffirms that suspicion.  One of my friends had mentioned how he had been to the Capitol, and you can't just walk in.  There are procedures, and I would be surprised if one can just walk in when Congress is in session.  Yet I saw the videos of the Capitol police opening some of the doors and letting marchers walk right in.  Who in his right mind doesn't find this suspicious?  Because the truth is hidden from us, and we are blatantly lied to these days, I doubt we will ever know who actually did the vandalizing and violence.  However, there is no doubt in my mind that it was mostly infiltrators, Antifa, and paid actors.  And then, out of the blue, they shoot an unarmed woman who was trying to climb through a window.  How was that necessary?

Needless to say, I was not at all surprised by the reaction from the left.  At this point, I could write their scripts, it is so predictable.  Yet I was once again stunned by the piling on of Republicans, of all stripes.  I don't know how I could have one shred of naïveté left after all the things that Trump has exposed, but they still got me on this one.  There is so little honor left among these swamp creatures.  There are monetary entanglements with lobbyists and donors, and truthfully, I think a lot of it may come down to just plain jealousy.  Not one living politician, and very few from history, can lay claim to even a fraction of the really significant accomplishments of Donald J. Trump.  And all of this against the backdrop of constant subterfuge, retaliation, and condemnation.

Trump is far from perfect, but the man is indefatigable and has done more for this country and the common man than any of them could ever dream of.  And here's the rub: they don't really even want to do most of this stuff for us!  Most of them are in it for themselves, they have proved it over and over again.

God bless Donald Trump.  Come back soon!

Image: Tyler Merbler via Flickr, CC BY 2.0.