A reporter for the Washington Post has promoted “peaceful” Black Lives Matter protests for months but now contests pro-Trump protests for their purported “threats of violence.”
A reporter for the Washington Post has promoted "peaceful" Black Lives Matter protests for months but now contests pro-Trump rallies for their purported "threats of violence."
"Protests planned in #DC on Jan. 6 are multiplying by the week. One rally has become four. Threats of violence, ploys to smuggle guns into the city & calls to set up an 'armed encampment' on the Mall have proliferated in online chats," Washington Post reporter Marissa J. Lang tweeted on Dec. 30, linking her latest article on this week's rallies planned in support of President Donald Trump.
Protests planned in #DC on Jan. 6 are multiplying by the week. One rally has become four. Threats of violence, ploys to smuggle guns into the city & calls to set up an “armed encampment” on the Mall have proliferated in online chats. More info here ?? https://t.co/bXnFuVixgB
— Marissa J. Lang (@Marissa_Jae)
The gatherings are scheduled on the same day Congress is set to convene to certify Electoral College votes, declaring presumptive President-elect Joe Biden the victor. Conservatives are pouring to the nation's capitol to demand that Congress overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election that they allege are illegitimate due to widespread voter fraud claims squashed in federal court.
The events will be headlined by Trump's most ardent supporters—much to the begrudged left's agitation—including pardoned former campaign aide George Papadopoulos, a foreign policy adviser who pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to the FBI about his alleged contacts connected to top Russian officials. Longtime ally Roger Stone will also join the cause, named among Trump's second series of presidential pardons weeks ago.
While formal crowds will draw right-wing demonstrators to the Washington Monument, Freedom Plaza and the Capitol, Lang reported that online forums and encrypted chat messages established by far-right groups "indicate a number of demonstrators might be planning more than chanting and waving signs."
Then Lang claimed that "[t]hreats of violence, ploys to smuggle guns into the District and calls to set up an 'armed encampment' on the Mall" have burgeoned, pointing to the Proud Boys in addition to so-called conspiracy theorists and white supremacists who have pledged to attend.
Lang hinted at her discontent that "Trump, meanwhile, has continued to issue calls to supporters to converge on D.C."
"JANUARY SIXTH, SEE YOU IN DC!" the president tweeted last Wednesday.
JANUARY SIXTH, SEE YOU IN DC!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
Incoming DC police chief Robert J. Contee III, slated to take over the Metropolitan Police Department on Saturday, said authorities are prepared to facilitate peaceful protests but "violence will not be tolerated," Lang noted. Officials have not commented on the city's plans to "address concerns of violence," she added.
Lang emphasized that "anti-fascist" activists for weeks have called on city officials and businesses to do more to crack down on Trump supporters "who largely flout coronavirus restrictions, such as mask mandates."
A campaign urging downtown hotels to shut their doors to rally-goers is ongoing, although largely unsuccessful. The Holiday Inn Alexandria at Carlisle, Holiday Inn Capitol, and the Hyatt Place White House on K Street are sold out on the nights around Jan. 6, although managers noted that it is not atypical for area hotels to be full this time of year.
However, the Hotel Harrington—where the Proud Boys have gathered over the past two months, supposedly "unnerving some guests and workers"—announced that the go-to establishment would close from Jan. 4 through Jan. 6, refunding prepaid reservations.
The hotel's in-house bar, Harry's, has been cited three times for violating social distancing and mask regulations in the past three months, Lang raised issue. The violations transpired on weekends when large numbers of Proud Boys appeared in-town, she poked at the correlations.
Back in June before Lang suggested the suppression of expanding conservative rallies before they even occur, she praised the growth of George Floyd protests.
The movement for black lives is not new. Police use of force is not new. Racism is sure as hell not new. And protest against all of it has existed for years.
So why does it seem like non-black folks have suddenly noticed & taken to the street? My latest: https://t.co/oQnS7HYZe8
— Marissa J. Lang (@Marissa_Jae)
Although, Lang did admit that "a backlash to citywide vandalism" contributed to the proliferation of left-wing protests. University of Maryland sociology professor Dana Fisher described "being arrested, holding sit-ins and blocking traffic" as the on-the-rise "disruptive tactics" employed by social justice crusaders to convey their messages.
After the 2016 presidential election happened, Lang claimed that a "new era of protesting began." She recounted how hundreds of thousands flocked to Washington to "voice their opposition" the day after Trump was inaugurated, referring to the 2017 Women's March that outsized protests—besides the annual March for Life—since the anti-Vietnam War uprisings.
Lang retold the moment Attorney General William Barr ordered the removal of BLM protesters near the White House on June 1 as officers launched riot-control munitions at "peaceful demonstrators" before Trump strolled through an empty Lafayette Square.
Barr has since defended his decision to use force to disperse the crowd. Lang failed to mention Barr's testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on July 28 for the first time since he took office in February 2019.
Libby’s Desk
Commentary and must-reads from Libby’s desk, straight to your inbox.
TPM Newsletter
The Post Millennial’s top stories, delivered to your inbox.
"St. John's Church was set on fire; bricks were thrown at the police repeatedly, they took crowbars and pried up the pavers at Lafayette Park and threw those at the police; balloons of caustic liquid were thrown," he said during the five-hour hearing, adding that around 90 officers were injured.
Several of these "peaceful demonstrators" told Lang they wanted to show the government and the media, "which replayed images of vandals setting fires and shattering storefronts," that the protests were "overwhelmingly peaceful" and "most wanted no part in violence."
The movement even self-patrolled, she maintained. Those who stepped out of line to toss water bottles at police or shake the tall fence erected around Lafayette Square were "shouted down" by "peaceful protest" chants. One man, who ripped the 16th Street NW street sign from the top of a lamp post, was booed by the crowd and carried off by yelling protesters. "Get out of here" and "Don't give [police] a reason!" were shouted in response, Lang wrote.
Every now and then, a handful of protesters start to shake the fence separating riot police and protesters. And every time, they have been called off by fellow protesters chanting “peaceful protest!” Or warning of the police, “don’t give them a reason.” #DCprotests pic.twitter.com/KFgtd6a4PH
— Marissa J. Lang (@Marissa_Jae)
Lang covers breaking news, features, and "hard-to-find" stories in the DC metro area that "reflect the personality and people of the region," her biography reads.
In September, she argued that "[w]hat were once considered obvious markers of troublemakers looking to break things have become muddled as demonstrators scramble to protect themselves."
She normalized the the crafting of homemade shields—in anticipation of rubber bullets and stinging pepper ball pellets fired by police force to mitigate riots—that utilize plywood, foam pool noodles, trash can lids, and other household items.
"Their tools, their tactics and their tolerance for behavior once decried as antithetical to peaceful protest have shifted," Lang said of these "peaceful protesters."
Lang conceded that such marches have "grown more confrontational" by "cornering politicians in their homes" and "heckling strangers as they go about their lives."
"Since protests began in late May, public officials have sought to draw clear distinctions among groups of people: The good protesters and bad protesters; the looters, the vandals and the peaceful demonstrators—but it has never been that simple," she contended.
As the story points out, plenty of objectively peaceful protesters have been tear gassed, hit with rubber bullets and pepper sprayed since these demonstrations began. As a result, everyday people going to protest have begun to wear more elaborate gear.
— Marissa J. Lang (@Marissa_Jae)
"As the story points out, plenty of objectively peaceful protesters have been tear gassed, hit with rubber bullets and pepper sprayed since these demonstrations began," Lang tweeted in response to critics. "As a result, everyday people going to protest have begun to wear more elaborate gear."
Trump has intensified his efforts to "demonize" Antifa militants for escalating demonstrations into riots, committing property damage, and spreading violence in Democrat-run cities, Lang wrote.
Rutgers University historian and former organizer of the Occupy Wall Street movement Mark Bray told Lang that as demonstrators "broaden the definition of what it means and looks like to protest," the public's "idea of what constitutes acceptable resistance has also changed."
"Prior to this decade, I'd say that for most Americans, acceptable protest was holding a sign or voting. The center of gravity has been shifted by pushing protest tactics in a more militant direction," Bray said.
Lang even sympathized with the Portland-based "Snack Van" owner known for distributing supplies and food at riots around the country.
27-year-old Jeremy "JeVa" Vajko who operates the graffiti-covered vehicle was accused later in September of "predatory behavior" such as stalking women.
A viral "community safety" notice from a pseudonymous "concerned comrade" alerted the Antifa following about Vajko's alleged sexual "predatory behavior," claiming that the former Microsoft software engineer manipulated sexual scenarios, appeared at the homes of victims, contacted them through alternate phone numbers, threatened self-harm, and expressed "bi-phobia."
After leaving a job in the tech sector this year, Vajko cashed out his retirement savings and spent $50,000 to maintain the van, "which has been attacked by white nationalist armed groups and targeted by police," Lang reported. More than once, the windows were shattered and the van shot at with less-lethal rounds. The inside was bear-maced once, ruining heaps of food and contaminating supplies.
"I don't show up to create violence. I show up to help people," Vajko told Lang. "Obviously, the solution to all this is not for me to just show up with food everywhere, but it feels like it’s something I can do to help right now."
Vajko was taken into custody in the nation's capital for reckless driving. According to the Daily Mail, the Metropolitan Police Department reported that he drove "into a crowd of over one hundred individuals" near the Hay Adams hotel. Vajko spent the night in jail and was let go the next day. He was not charged.
Lang has not responded to The Post Millennial's request for comment by the time of publication.
