As Twitchy reported, there were more reporters at Saturday’s #JusticeForJ6 rally than there were protesters, and probably half of those protesters were undercover feds. The Capitol Police, decked out in full riot gear, had a pretty easy day. Now they just need to take the fence back down from around the Capitol and Supreme Court.
Seriously, look at the line of heavy trucks they had forming a blockade. There were probably more trucks than protesters.
Crowd dispersing from Union Square after the conclusion of today’s ‘Justice for J6’ rally near the Capitol Building here in DC pic.twitter.com/3n1jzQJiLI
— Brendan Gutenschwager (@BGOnTheScene) September 18, 2021
We don’t have it on hand at the moment, but on Friday night, someone posted a collection of CNN chyrons describing the next day’s rally. Fortunately, Drew Holden is already on the case, taking a look back at the media’s buildup of the #JusticeForJ6 rally.
🧵Thread🧵
Today’s “Justice for J6” rally consisted mostly of reporters, cops & FBI agents, fizzling out in about an hour.
But in the last few days, the corporate press fearmongered constantly about it.
Will they follow up now that it, unsurprisingly, amounted to nothing? ⤵️
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 18, 2021
Perhaps the worst of it came from @CNN, who pushed nonsense for days leading up to the event.
“Renewed fears of political violence grip Capitol Hill” actually turned into “more press than protestors.”
Will CNN tell that story now? pic.twitter.com/Z7d08DCMSf
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 18, 2021
Bringing on a former FBI official who abused his power for political reasons to talk about this “rally” and why it should be taken “very seriously” is laying it on a little thick, don’t you think, @CNN? pic.twitter.com/HXJlTuTg2h
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 18, 2021
Just wall-to-wall fear porn from @CNN. pic.twitter.com/ojxsP8KKFa
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 18, 2021
Maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t that right wing media downplayed the rally, they just didn’t deceive their viewers into thinking the rally was going to amount to much of anything, unlike left-wing media, @brianstelter? pic.twitter.com/hLgdRMDu2g
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 18, 2021
But of course it wasn’t just CNN.@MSNBC gave the event wall-to-wall coverage in recent days. The “700” people estimated proved to be off by a factor of, oh, 7 or so, but who’s counting? pic.twitter.com/RxTvkLY2yO
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 18, 2021
They had their chief voices trying to convince their viewers that this was the second coming of January 6th, because that’s what gets people to tune in.
Here’s @maddow and @AriMelber, both breathlessly concerned about today’s nothingburger. pic.twitter.com/hIUU9umaZr
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 18, 2021
There was a terrorist attack that killed a Capitol Police officer (and almost killed another) two months after January 6th, but according to @NPR, a couple dozen losers showing up for a protest is the “biggest security test since Jan. 6”
Deranged. Absolutely deranged. pic.twitter.com/ZGH7FYbLSl
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 18, 2021
As someone who resides in the Capitol area, I promise you, @nytimes, people aren’t actually “on edge” and it’s now pretty clear that there was never going to be any “turmoil” pic.twitter.com/2eroBjdWXU
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 18, 2021
@nytimes probably did more to “valorize” January 6th by breathlessly covering today’s gathering of reporters than the handful of people who showed up today. pic.twitter.com/KN5mwqL4ao
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 18, 2021
In the days leading up to it we also had breathless coverage of Capitol Police’s prep for the non-event, like here from @nytimes and @ABC pic.twitter.com/JNnMNv5TNx
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 18, 2021
This opinion piece from @drsarahspeaks for @NBCNews presented without comment. pic.twitter.com/nEIWfcSCqs
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 18, 2021
“Police ready this time” @AP assured us, as if today’s protestors could’ve overwhelmed an internet chatroom. pic.twitter.com/UXkEiitqnm
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 18, 2021
@USATODAY snuck in “where protestors may arrive with weapons” completely absent evidence, just in case some of their readers weren’t sufficiently scared or fired up. pic.twitter.com/QGhf7xze23
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 18, 2021
Serious question: was there ever a reason to believe this, @ryanbort /@RollingStone? Doesn’t this sound a little hysterical in retrospect? pic.twitter.com/FqzcuUZNCT
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 18, 2021
I’ve written plenty about Jan 6 & why it was terrible (https://t.co/0GFigktZaA and https://t.co/yYlW2Zu9jn) but the way the media continues to torture the narrative around it to score clicks is really shameful.
And this is just the latest example of it. Surely we’ll have more.
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 18, 2021
What these outlets have done is exploit unfounded fears for clicks, and in so doing they’ve painted their political opponents – all Republicans – as anti patriotic lunatics for not being vocal enough about something that never mattered to begin with.
It’s shameful.
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 18, 2021
Will these outlets explain how they got this frightening predictions wrong, and why? And how they’ll avoid hyping up a “security threat” that isn’t in the future?
Something tells me that won’t happen.
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 18, 2021
Remember when Congress closed up shop early Wednesday and canceled Thursday’s session because of a credible threat of a militia group attacking the Capitol on March 4?
But the page will turn, there’ll be a new “outrage” tomorrow, and everyone will have forgotten how the media blew this completely out of proportion before the next time they pull this stunt again.
Stunning that these people have lost the trust of the American people, isn’t it?
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 18, 2021
And it’s interesting how this non story got so much more coverage than real problems, like the humanitarian crisis happening on our border.
A coincidence, surely. https://t.co/UhocV7WXsD
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 18, 2021
I wish with all my heart that we could hold these media malpractitioners responsible for cynical fear mongering and division.
You would not accept this from your neighbors or co-workers, yet @CNN, @NYTimes, @MSNBC and the rest of the trash media dump this into our living rooms. https://t.co/tcrVTjwVXm
— Cranky Gordon (@StillCrankyAF) September 18, 2021
Local news was pretty disappointed that there were no riots or deaths.
— Hunter Biden’s Life Coach (@Dave_AllRighty) September 18, 2021
Think about this for a second. Where did you hear about this from first…MSM. Nobody I know or follow heard anything about this till lefty media started talking about it. Someone on the left created this in hopes people would cause problems and so they can further fear monger.
— Joe 🇺🇸 (@J0ffensive) September 18, 2021
— Leviticus Fud (@FudLeviticus) September 18, 2021
Left wing commenters are still saying things like "this is heartbreaking we have to have the fencing" and "Trump should have to pay for the extra security today". SO stupid.
— A Biohazardous Unvaccinated Leper (@WinstonMontag77) September 18, 2021
If Pelosi saved her receipt maybe she could get her money back for the fence rental.
— bapa1 (@HirondelCCR) September 18, 2021
For what reason did the government put up all of that fencing and extra surveillance cameras? Were they just getting their info from the media or did their intelligence sources warn them this was going to be big?
Related:
Press outnumbered protesters in DC but video confirms Capitol Police were DEFINITELY ready just in case https://t.co/S0FIvERktV
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) September 18, 2021
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