Joe Flood

There was a tawdry preview of election violence on April 16 as the Supreme Court heard Fischer v. United States.

On April 16, the Court heard the case of Fischer v. United States. This was largely a technical matter dealing with the sentencing of some January 6th defendants. While it’s not a Get Out of Jail Free card, despite what J6 supporters may believe, it could reduce the sentences of the most violent J6ers.

More than fifty members of the public were in line for Fischer, including some of the Chuds of Freedom Corner, the listless, dead-end vigil for J6ers outside the DC Jail. They believe that the people convicted of attacking the Capitol Police on January 6th are “good men” who should be immediately released from prison.

Countering them was Anarchy Princess, bearing signs that spelled out the truth about these “good men” including:

• Brian Jackson, a member of a white supremacist prison gang and a literal Nazi covered in swastikas who pled guilty to assaulting federal officers on January 6th.
• Andrew Taake, who attacked officers with a metal whip and then bragged about it on Bumble. He was out on bond at the time of January 6th for felony offense of solicitation of a minor.
• Jake Lang, who attacked officers with a baseball bat  and then Instagrammed it.

Donald Trump, Elise Stefanik and the Republican Party call these men “hostages.”

Anarchy Princess was there with the truth, walking down the line of people waiting to enter the court, her sign spelling out the facts: these men are violent criminals.

Out of the thousands of cases that get submitted every year, the Supreme Court reached down and selected Fischer v. United States for review.

A Supreme Court appointed by the leader of an insurrection will decide whether insurrectionists were sentenced appropriately.

It’s a helluva country.

As if to highlight the absurd, comical, illegitimate nature of the performance before the Supreme Court, one of the insurrectionists was in the audience.

Bryan Betancur, a convicted January 6th rioter and aspiring school shooter was in line to get into the court.

Bryan Betancur, a January 6th rioter, aspiring school shooter and active stalker of women in the DC area, attended the Supreme Court hearing today #scotus #J6 pic.twitter.com/JMaITtrl2u

— Joe Flood (@joeflood) April 16, 2024

AP and I warned the Supreme Court police about him. She has an anti-stalking order against him which he has repeatedly violated.

Their response: “We’ll keep an eye on him.” Betancur walked into the court wearing an ankle monitor.

We can all see where this is going. Clarence Thomas, whose wife helped organize January 6th, tried to minimize the events of that day as he and other the justices searched for a way to reduce the sentences of these violent men. It’s the least that they can do for the Insurrectionist in Chief.

Trump supporters use violence to overthrow elections that they don’t like. And they use violence to suppress the free speech rights of others.

Being in front of the Supreme Court didn’t stop them.

As Anarchy Princess walked with her signs, she was surrounded by a black-clad mob of January 6th supporters. These are the women of Freedom Corner, the wives and girlfriends of January 6th prisoners, including the wife of Brian Jackson.

Ripping a sign out of her hands, one of them elbowed her hard in the side. All caught on camera directly in front of the marble columns of the Supreme Court as they heard a January 6th case.

Sure looks like a pre-planned assault by #FreedomCorner to me. I bet they didn’t think any angles like this existed after they rushed to have Rebecca delete her video. pic.twitter.com/fVR7v3Zj8I

— Justalazygamer (@justalazygaming) April 16, 2024

J6ers feel emboldened enough to commit violence once again in Washington, DC. An assault in the name of “good men” like Brian Jackson, Jake Lang and Andrew Taake, who they would see free and walking among us.

Next week, the Court will decide whether Trump is immune from prosecution. We settled this principle in 1776 when we ousted a king; the Court is determined to give us one again.

If Trump is immune, then his mob is too. January 6th prisoners are already planning for the day that Trump pardons them.

Those are the stakes in the next election. Do we reward violence or punish it? If Donald Trump gets elected, expect a wave of January 6th-style attacks across the country as his supporters pursue retribution against anyone who believes in democracy.

If Trump wins, there will be no limits. You won’t be safe; none of us will be.

We must win.

A fascist leader disputes the election results. He uses violence to intimidate opponents. His party never gets more than 50% of the vote. Despite this, he schemes his way into office and ends democracy.

America 2024 or Germany 1932?

The parallels are eerie in Takeover: Hitler’s final rise to power by Timothy Ryback.

In the summer of 1932, the New York Times declared Hitler to be finished. After he refused to join a coalition government in the slumping Weimar Republic, the Nazis lost at the polls. Having spent everything on the election, they now faced bankruptcy. The bankers deserted him and unpaid party members revolted.

Even worse, the Nazi Party faced the prospect of an internal schism. Gregor Strasser, from the socialist wing of the party, left the Nazis – and threatened to take a large chunk of his followers with him.

Behind all these machinations was Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher, who sought to peel off Hitler’s followers and build a right-wing, majority movement.

The situation was so dire that Hitler threatened to put a bullet in his head.

In a few short weeks, Hitler turned it around. Flying around the country, he rallied his followers and dismissed the threat of Strasser. He refilled the party coffers with money from wealthy industrialists.

And he lied, cheated and bluffed his way into power, telling every faction what they wanted to hear, until President Hindenburg appointed this “Bohemian corporal” as Chancellor.

Once in office, he quickly and violently disposed of his rivals until there was only one party in Germany: the Nazi Party.

Think it can’t happen here? Germany was a democracy with constitutional protections, much like our own. It had courts, laws and police.

But when confronted with an actor who didn’t abide by democratic norms, and was willing to use street mobs and assassinations to achieve results, it broke.

And Hitler had many willing accomplices, people who joined the Nazi Party to murder their enemies and restore order. To make Germany great again.

That’s what we often don’t get about Hitler – or Trump. They’re weak people who gain strength from a mob. And being part of that mob gives you license to indulge in your worst impulses.

I saw it on January 6th when white, middle-class rioters poured into my city. People who looked a lot like me seized by a cult-like devotion to a single man and freed from their inhibitions against violence.

I watched them march to the Capitol, and saw them return. They were happy. They fought for Trump and nearly succeeded in disenfranchising millions of voter to install a dictator.

It can happen here.

“Is that what’s it’s called? Freedom Corner?” Judge Chutkan asked, sounding incredulous.

The fantasy world of Freedom Corner, the insurrectionist vigil outside the DC Jail, met cold, harsh reality in the courtroom of Judge Chutkan, during the sentencing of Antony Vo, who stormed the Capitol with his mother on January 6th.

Judge Chutkan, who would’ve handled Donald Trump’s election interference case if the Supreme Court hadn’t bailed him out, rejected the premise of Freedom Corner and the idea that the violent J6ers held in the DC Jail were hostages.

Antony Vo had dragged out his trial and his sentencing for two years by constantly switching attorneys and, at one point, going on a cruise to Cancun.

In his Twitter bio, Vo said that he was a “J6 wrongful convict” who had been convicted by a “kangaroo court.”

He also visited Freedom Corner, despite his pre-trial agreement to stay away from it and avoid contact with other J6ers.

Freedom Corner is a livestreamed grift, broadcast on YouTube from outside the DC Jail, where fans of the insurrection take calls from prisoners.

Unsurprisingly, he was caught on one of their livestreams by Anarchy Princess, who loves to snitch on insurrectionists.

Consider yourself busted Antony Vo#freedomcorner pic.twitter.com/3X7s4THYoe

— Anarchy princess (@SatireAP) September 20, 2023

The above was mentioned in the prosecution’s sentencing  memo. Vo’s defense called it creepy that people reported him violating court orders. I’d call it idiotic. Charged with four misdemeanors, the court graciously let him out on pre-trial release, rather than locking him up in the DC Jail. He returned the favor by defying the court to appear at an insurrectionist meetup.

Chutkan cited his attendance at Freedom Corner as she sentenced him to nine months in jail.

More than 1,300 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Capitol riot. Only 15 of them, the most violent ones, are being held pre-trial.

Most J6 defendants listen to their lawyers, don’t tweet, and plead out.

Some people say that Freedom Corner hasn’t achieved anything.

I disagree.

There’s a reason that some in the J6 community call it “Fed Corner.” It’s a honeytrap that attracts the dumbest of the dumb, gets them to violate court orders or admit to crimes and captures it all on YouTube, which can be easily clipped and shared by viewers.

Antony Vo got a longer sentence due to his attendance at the “hostage” vigil outside the DC Jail.

Freedom Corner gets results.

When I first saw an eclipse in 2017, I hoped that this continent-wide event would bring Americans together in a collective epiphany. Awed by the power of the universe, we would put our differences aside and work together to build a better country.

Watching totality sweep over me, as I was surrounded by hundreds of college students, I felt a surge of hope, which was still possible in 2017. This was in the wake of the Unite the Right Rally, which brought violent white supremacists to the streets of Charlottesville. On my way back to DC, I stopped to see the flower-covered memorial to Heather Heyer, who was murdered by fascists during the rally.

Donald Trump said that there were good people on both sides. Clinging to the idea of American exceptionalism, I believed that my country would reject the idea that there were good Nazis, like we had done in the past.

How wrong I was. Four years later, Trump sent an armed mob to my city in an attempt to steal the election and become a dictator.

In 2024, another eclipse rolled around, the sun and the planets continuing to spin as this nation tore itself apart.

My naïveté is gone, realizing that no great epiphany is at hand, despite the sun growing dark for a few, brief moments. No celestial event can break the spell of people who have surrendered their free will.

We can’t negotiate with cultists who believe that the eclipse was cover for the government dousing them with “chemtrails” and other associated conspiracy theories.

I was wrong about the essential goodness of the American people; we’re no different than any other country. Fascism can happen here. Our institutions are not carved out of marble but made up of men and women who can be corrupted, intimidated and murdered.

There can be no bargaining with Trump and his movement. They’ve made their plans clear, through Project 2025, which seeks to make this country a Christo-fascist autocracy, with women deprived of their rights and migrants sent to detention camps (and the rest of us sent later). Trump would be a dictator, from day one, and term limits would be abolished so that he could rule for life.

And with the recent court ruling in Arizona, we now know what year Republicans seek to return us to: 1864. That is when America was great, they believe, a time when slavery was legal, women had no rights and Native Americans were being hunted to extinction.

The elimination of reproductive rights for women is just the start. Imagine what they can do without Democrats or the courts to stop them.

Unlike the first term, there will be no one to moderate the tyranny. Project 2025 is a comprehensive plan to wreck our weakened institutions and bring right-wing terror to every corner of America.

And for those thinking of fleeing the country, what makes you think anywhere else will be safe? If a dictator succeeds in America, democracies around the world will fall.

There is only one thing left to do: win.

I am cheered by the fact that Trump cannot draw a crowd. No supporters showed up for his recent court case in DC. Freedom Corner, the long-running January 6th vigil outside the DC Jail, struggles to attract more than six people, despite being endorsed by the Orange One.

His allies, too, can’t get people to show up. The Rage Against the War Machine rally for this year was cancelled due to lack of interest. This demonstration brought together a galaxy of left-right crazy, from the Putin simps of Code Pink to Proud Boys cosplayers, united temporarily against aid for Ukraine.

What happened? Trump drew followers by the thousands to DC for rallies “stop the steal” rallies in November 2020, December 2020 and, of course, January 6th. But not anymore.

MAGA is weak. Trump is broke and facing a gauntlet of court cases. The Republican Party is fracturing. The House GOP is hanging on to their majority by a thread. MAGA is a movement that is old and exhausted (much like Trump).

I like our chances, to quote the ever-hopeful Simon Rosenburg. Democrats are behind in the polls but they keep winning all the elections. And that’s all that matters.

Defeat is still possible. November is seven months away – a lifetime in politics. Trump won’t go peacefully. He’ll try to steal the election on the state level this time.

The eclipse that crossed this country in 2024 was a mere distraction in this momentous year.

We have much bigger worries, and opportunities. This is an election that we must win.

“Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” Donald Trump asks us as he and his deranged followers campaign for a repeat performance of his first term.

In March 2020, it seemed like the world had come to an end. Covid had arrived in America and with it, panic swept the nation.

The streets of Washington, DC, where I lived, were deserted. Seeing another person on the street was an occasion for fear, not happiness – could they be carrying the disease? Millions were out of work and a madman raged in the White House about injecting bleach while the dead stacked up in morgues.

That is the 2020 that Donald Trump would visit upon us.

It’s a tribute to the human capacity for forgetting that so few remember these bad times.

Why has 2020 been so willfully forgotten? Never did I imagine that my country would send an entire year down the memory hole but that is exactly what has happened.

No one wants to remember, which makes Trump’s calls so effective, as he compares the present to a past that never existed.

Were you better off four years ago?

Of course not.

Were you better off four years ago in your imagination?

Maybe, for the mind is capable of picking and choosing the sunniest of moments and bathing them in warm nostalgia. Four years ago, life was cheaper, you were younger and the nation was confident (in pretend land).

2020 is the year none of us want to remember, in its true horror.

2020: One City, Seven People, and the Year Everything Changed is a book that I picked my way through, some of the stories being too raw, even now, four years later, to read. 

Eric Klinenberg gives us a kind of oral history, showing the impact of covid on New York City through the eyes of seven very different people. He shows us the early days of the epidemic as educators grappled with the impact of covid upon poor students. Demonstrates the disparate effects of the pandemic on the laptop and working classes. Shares the hopelessness of young people who lost the most precious resource of all – time. And even profiles a bar owner who turns into a MAGA cause celebre when he defies covid restrictions and reopens his bar.

In my naïveté, I believed that the experience of going through an epidemic would lead to a European-style social safety net, so that getting sick wouldn’t mean becoming homeless. Instead, big business got bailed out while the poor were given a pittance.

Covid did not bring us together in a spirit of shared sacrifice. Instead, after a few short weeks, we began to tear each other apart based upon party lines, this division driven by Donald Trump for political advantage. Democrats wore masks, got vaccinated and believed in science; Republicans eschewed masks and attacked the Capitol.

And now, four years later, 2020 is still with us as we battle over the memory of the year. Was it an imaginary golden time as Trump and his supporters would have us believe?

No. This is an extension of the Big Lie, a fabric of falsehoods that the Fox News Industrial Complex seeks to throw over our memories. The election was stolen, Trump is a billionaire, you were better off four years ago. All things some people wish were true but are not.

I remember 2020, the memories suddenly triggered by seeing a faded “stand six feet apart” sign or spotting someone in a mask. A time-warping, disconcerting emotion fills me followed by reassurance that those times are over (we hope).

I remember other moments, too, like when I met a friend at the Smithsonian Castle during the summer of 2020. With all the museums closed, the National Mall was so quiet that we could hear people talking a block away. I’ve never seen the grass look better, too. Untrodden by tourists, it was so green to be nearly luminescent.

That’s the problem with 2020. Too much happened. Covid. A military crackdown in DC. The joy of Victory Day as we dumped Trump. And countless other snippets of time as ordinary life was upended.

It’s a year that figures largely in my memoir, How I Became Red Bike Guy. Cursed to live in interesting times, I was determined to document 2020 and the haywire history of this era.

Now, in 2024, we battle over the past, like we battle over everything else.

“Are you better off now than you were four years ago?”

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From Inauguration Day 2017 to a night in 2023 when I yelled at Trump,  How I Became Red Bike Guy is an account of what life in the nation’s capital during a tumultuous time period. Experiencing the rise of a wannabe tyrant, and seeing his followers sack the Capitol, radicalized me and turned me into the person who would mock fascists from a red Capital Bikeshare bike. Get your copy today!

Despite being endorsed by Donald Trump, Freedom Corner can’t draw a crowd.

Why?

The insurrectionist vigil recently marked 600 nights of fruitlessly chanting Ashli Babbitt’s name on a dead-end street outside the DC Jail. Due to their efforts, no J6 prisoners have been released. In fact, the vigil has acted as a honeypot for traitors, leading to pre-release violations and longer sentences for prisoners who call in to unrepentantly express their grievances.

It’s such a joke in the treason community that some call it “Fed Corner.”

Why can’t they get more than six people to show up?

DC is a city of joiners. With 700,000 within city limits, and millions more in the suburbs, there’s something for everyone. I see running groups with dozens jogging in the pre-dawn darkness. Knitting meetups in bookstores. Bar crawls of every variety.

For all the talk of post-covid urban decline, try getting lunch downtown on a Tuesday. Or getting dinner reservations on a Friday night. Or finding a free tennis court in Adams Morgan on a sunny Saturday.

It annoys me, when I’m at Peet’s with a cup of coffee and there’s no place to sit. Or when there’s a dozen people in line at Tatte. Or when I’m stuck behind a crowd of loud brunchgoers on 14th St.

People everywhere, except at Freedom Corner, the loneliest spot in DC.

Even if you compare it to to other chud groups, Freedom Corner is a failure. The trucker convoy of 2022 had hundreds of people criss-crossing the country. The 1776 Restoration Movement, a convoy spinoff, had dozens sleeping in their cars on the National Mall. The Take Our Border Back Convoy, a literal rolling scam, ended up with more than 100 people. Meanwhile, Freedom Corner strains to get into the double-digits.

You could say it’s because DC is liberal. But it’s not 100% Democratic. There are thousands of Republicans within the city that can’t be bothered with Freedom Corner and millions more in the outlying suburbs and West Virginia; a vast market that has ignored Trump’s call to support J6 “hostages” in the DC Jail.

The polls say that Donald Trump is running even with Joe Biden.

I don’t see it. Pro-Trump groups like Freedom Corner can’t get anyone to show up. J6 prisoners call in and ask if there’s a big crowd; the answer is always no.

Trump promoting Freedom Corner on Truth Social didn’t make a difference.    Out of the millions of people who heard his message (allegedly), not a single one went to Freedom Corner.

In 2020/21, Trump could get tens of thousands to show up in DC. Now, he can’t get more than a dozen. Even at his court appearance last summer, the only people that he could attract were misfits from Freedom Corner and other professional protestors.

The MAGA movement is far, far weaker than it appears. When the history of this year is written, that will be the surprise: how quickly the Trump cult fell apart.

You can see it in Freedom Corner and their inability get more than six people to show up at their nightly jailside vigil. This is a movement that is over.

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If you want to know more about the entertaining dysfunction of chuds and Freedom Corner, check out my new memoir, How I Became Red Bike Guy. It’s a funny read about life in DC during the Trump years and beyond.

I have a new book!

How I Became Red Bike Guy is a diary-style memoir of life in DC during the Trump years and beyond. In this book, I explain how I went from being a passive, deeply cynical Gen X observer of events to someone passionately committed to defending my city from Trump mobs.

Radicalized by the seeing the violence and cruelty of Trump rule in the nation’s capital, I became the person who would mock the Patriot Front in a viral moment seen around the world – that’s how I became red bike guy.

Starting with Inauguration Day 2017, I describe how the lies began from the very first day. Writing about the era of mass protest, covid times and January 6th, I provide a street-level account of what life in Washington, DC, felt like during those tumultuous years.

My memoir also includes work I published in The Washington Post, City Paper and elsewhere, as well as accounts of the comedic fail-theater of post-Trump groups like the 1776 Restoration Movement and Freedom Corner.

How I Became Red Bike Guy is available on Amazon. Get your copy today!

Artomatic is an overwhelming experience where you will find art to inspire your senses. More than that: it will change how you look at art, moving it from the realm of museums and galleries down to an approachable level where art can and should be made by everyone.

But as an event, Artomatic has its challenges.

Here’s what I experienced on opening night, March 8, 2024.

The Galleries

One of the things that makes Artomatic cool is that it’s reusing office space. They take buildings soon to be demolished, or newly constructed, and use them for temporary artist spaces.

As someone who spent most of his career working downtown in buildings just like the one at 2100 M St NW, it’s surreal and world-altering to see the familiar confines of white-collar life transformed into something bright and colorful where anything is possible in the next office.

Wandering down beige halls and peering into offices that are home to different artistic visions is like viewing a kaleidoscope of creativity. As The Washington Post described, you are destined to find something that you like. You will build a curatorial taste.

You will also get lost, which is part of the pleasure and pain of the Artomatic experience. It’s disorienting being in a maze that could be Office Space but instead is overflowing with people and paintings. I found it helpful to try to identify a landmark – a particular blue painting, two chairs in the lobby, the room with the giant Satan – to orient myself.

Luckily, the first gallery I visited, of my college roommate, Frank Mancino, was easily spotted once I got off the elevator.

The 8th Floor

Unlike the rest of the building, the 8th floor is massive and open, with concrete floors and big windows. There you will find the larger pieces of art, as well as the stage and the bar. It’s the coolest (literally, more on that later)  and most spacious area to visit.

While the line was long at the bar (only one was open), I managed to get myself a beer and see Flo Anito perform (after some sound issues).

Health and Safety

As a veteran of Artomatic, I knew what to expect: stairs. Office elevators aren’t meant for hundreds of people arriving all at once. I took a jammed elevator up but then used the stairs the rest of the night.

If you can’t do stairs, I’d visit during the off-hours.

Wandering the lower levels of the buildings, you will encounter hallways blocked-off with makeshift barricades. Also, some of the bathrooms are out of order and others are without water (don’t expect toilet paper).

The lower floors were stuffy, even with the temps outside in the 50s. Windows don’t open in modern office buildings.

A friend of mine wore a mask. I’m not really a mask person but after being in an enclosed space with hundreds of people (and some distressing coughs), I’m reconsidering. My work-from-home immune system wasn’t ready for this and I have a cold this morning.

The Stalker

My friend Biketifa has an exhibit in the show, featuring political protest art trolling the “chuds” i.e., January 6th supporters who hold a nightly vigil/YouTube griftathon called Freedom Corner outside the DC Jail.

It’s political protest art that is hard to explain to the uninitiated, but if you know the lore, then it’s hilarious. One of his pieces is a photo of an insurrectionist fangirl surrounded by a pentagram with a Latin inscription that reads, “Never going to give you up, never going to let you down…”

I contributed to the exhibit – some of Will’s (Biketifa) work is based upon photos I took – and Red Bike Guy gets a shoutout, along with Anarchy Princess and the Commish, all of us forming a little gang devoted to defending democracy against fascism in DC.

Anarchy Princess is being stalked by Bryan Betancur, a January 6th rioter and Freedom Corner regular who has expressed the desire to shoot up a school.

She has a protective order against him. He’s not supposed to get near her.

Yet, after seeing her talk about Artomatic on social media, he decided to show up:

Can’t go anywhere without getting stalked pic.twitter.com/HQFbV861Nl

— Anarchy princess (@SatireAP) March 9, 2024

Will, along with Artomatic security, quickly booted him from the building; Betancur fled before the police arrived.

If his purpose was to intimidate Anarchy Princess (or damage Biketifa’s art), he failed. She’s faced off against worse characters than this and has a network of people behind her (including me).

Conclusion

I was already overstimulated by the art, noise and crowds of Artomatic when I emerged from the building to see Anarchy Princess, Biketifa and the Commish talking to police officers.

It was barely 9 o’clock. All this had happened in less three hours of Artomatic. In 180 minutes, I had visited three floors, climbed twelve flights of stairs, drank one beer, posed with Satan, seen countless artists, run into a bunch of old friends, gotten lost, watched a concert, visited protest art that I inspired and put out a BOLO for a stalker.

Hopefully, your Artomatic visit won’t be as exciting. But if you go, be prepared for anything. Inspiring, uncomfortable and a little bit dangerous is Artomatic 2024. Open Wed-Sun until April 28. Free admission.

“He gave me a penis-shaped picture of my mom – and I took that!”

If you’re familiar with this moment, then you’re familiar with the work of Biketifa, the legendary troll of the 1776 Restoration Movement (1776RM).

Emerging during the summer of 2022, he relentlessly harassed the Christofascist cult with obscene stickers, chalk pentagrams and drive-by attacks on a bicycle (allegedly).

Creativity not being the strong suit of 1776RM, they called him Biketifa, since he was Antifa on a bike.

They tried to dox him and failed, identifying him as an Arlington attorney named Grant. How did they settle on this candidate? He rode a bike and lived in Arlington – it had to be him!

Supporters of 1776RM harassed Grant and his family, thinking it was Biketifa.

After 1776RM was driven out of DC by trolls (like Biketifa), a few remnants, the dregs of the dregs, joined a new right-wing cult: Freedom Corner. Led by Ashli Babbitt’s mom, they hold a nightly vigil outside the DC Jail where they demand freedom for January 6th insurrectionists and the hanging of Nancy Pelosi.

Biketifa turned his talents against this squalid little group, plastering the neighborhood around the DC Jail with posters mocking their nonstop grifting, boozing and incompetence.

He’s a multimedia artist, capable of working in numerous materials and forms. Along with the posters, he turned to chalk, covering the sidewalk by the jail and the US Courthouse with colorful curses, pentagrams and insults.

The chuds of Freedom Corner were outraged, complaining to the authorities  about the chalktifa witchcraft. But chalk can’t hurt you – or can it? While one of his curses was literally a Rickroll in Latin, it had results, with one of the Freedom Corner members dying under mysterious circumstances and another being arrested for assault.

Biketifa also works in video, mocking the chuds with music video creations featuring kickass soundtracks. But this is more than just comedy. One of his videos reveals the grubby truth about Freedom Corner: they’re all paid protesters, caught on camera receiving checks from a mysterious benefactor.

After nearly two years of digging, the chuds finally discovered the real name of Biketifa. They put it online, encouraging their followers to harass him. It’s what the right does. Doxxing means that the chuds will send him and his family death threats and try to get him fired.

But let me tell you who Biketifa really is:

• A kind and gentle father.
• Happily married to a trial attorney.
• Employed by nonprofit organization.
• An award-winning artist.
• Politically committed.
• Born in the Panama Canal Zone (like John McCain).

Biketifa is Will aka ArlingtonAF. Fighting fascists is just one part of his identify. He also advocates for safe streets in Arlington, sells his art in local shows and is involved in local politics. Check out his profile in ARNow, where he talks about how his hilarious anti-pickle ball posters were influenced by Soviet art nouveau (seriously).

Follow him on ArlingtonAF to get news on his upcoming art shows where you can buy an original Biketifa/Will/ArlingtonAF.

I did! I love to buy art made by friends. It’s a watercolor of Anarchy Princess, based upon a photo I took of her on Halloween. The frame is made of recycled wood. In this digital age, it’s very cool to own something made by hand.

And if you want to see more great chud trolling, cash him up at Venmo.

There is nothing more American than a road trip. Hitting the highway is a chance to leave your humdrum daily life behind and find new people and possibilities as you traverse the continent.

The Take Our Border Back Convoy (TOBB) generated real excitement in the right-wing universe for this reason. It was an opportunity to recapture some of the magic of the the People’s Convoy (TPC), which for a few brief days in 2022, looked like it might become a political movement before falling apart due to greed and infighting.

This time would be different and social media was soon flooded with the news that 700,000 trucks were headed for the border. Images of the trucker convoy from 2022 were recycled as the joyous misinformation spread that Americans were going to shut down the border, ending the flow of drugs and immigrants.

The band was getting back together, as TPC live-streaming grifters reemerged, with the prospect of a new rolling con exciting their empty bank accounts.

I watched the excitement bubble up on Freedom Corner, the pro-J6 vigil outside the DC Jail that had reached a dead end, literally and figuratively. It had become a home for TPC members who had lingered in the area, following the collapse of the convoy and its successor, the 1776 Restoration Movement.

The livestreamers of Freedom Corner abandoned the vigil for a convoy that was little more than a typo-ridden web site that was light on details.

Day One: Left Behind at Buc-ee’s

The convoy ran into trouble before it began. When the over-eager livestreamers of Freedom Corner arrived at the rally point, an outlet mall in Norfolk, they were kicked out by security. TOBB hadn’t gotten permission to use the parking lot.

TOBB was more than just a reunion of chuds; it also brought the troll community back together, those of us who had monitored, mocked and disrupted TPC, 1776RM and Freedom Corner. We were as excited as they were for this new season.

On the morning of January 29th, I tuned in to the livestreams to see…. nothing. The chuds were in a different parking lot. No trucks. Twenty cars. No organizers.

Eventually, the TOBB organizers arrived in a luxury RV (just like how the TPC organizers had traveled). After speechifying and praying, the convoy left, more than an hour late.

This would be a pattern.

Problems developed almost immediately, as the Zello channel used by TOBB was infiltrated by people shouting, “Howard Stern’s penis!”

The convoy rumbled slowly on. Their plan of reaching Jacksonville in nine hours was hopelessly optimistic; it would take them fifteen.

“Leave no man behind” is one of the credos of the patriot movement. Yet, at a Buc-ee’s in South Carolina, they did just that, stranding Daniel, a man that trolls had nicknamed “MAGA Super Mario” for his resemblance to the video game character. He was kicked out and left behind without his wallet or ID.

“Sorry things didn’t work out!” one of the livestreamers shouted as she drove off.

Day Two: Vehicular Mayhem

The convoy was again late. Again, they had lost their rally point, leading to a late-night relocation to a truck stop rather than their original destination (getting permission before parking overnight having never occurred to organizers).

On the TOBB web site, they had pledged to follow all traffic laws.

The convoy began the day, as they would all days, by rolling through red lights and blocking intersections in a display of selfish and dangerous driving. Being in a convoy means that the laws don’t apply to you.

This included cutting off working truckers, the people that they claim to support:

Finally back on the road #convoy #FreedomCorner #GetTheFuckOutOfTheWay #tailgunner #PizzaTrader #DeeplyUncool pic.twitter.com/si1swMWEG1

— Conald Rump (@realConaldRump) January 30, 2024

After another fifteen hour day of driving, more Zello infiltration and another Buc-ee’s stop (no one marooned this time), the convoy arrived in a Baton Rouge truck stop. Without any trucks.

Day Three: The Trolls Bite

Did I mention that the border convoy wasn’t going to the border? That was brought up by the organizers at the some point. 700,000 trucks were not going to the border (not that they had any trucks), instead they would have a rally outside Austin and then a religious revival at a ranch.

Did this matter to the livestreamers? No. It’s the journey, not the destination. The convoy was the point, at least as long as the donations flowed in, which they did through YouTube, Cash app and other methods.

And the trolls were getting to the convoy. They had discovered the “secret” Zello channel and were insulting the livestreamers. They made nasty comments in the chat. The memes were getting to them, leading to one grifter saying what they all thought: they were entitled to break the law because they were patriots!

I’m using @SapphirePatrio1‘s video to show her misquoting @Bossmoney8444‘s tweet. Nobody said shit about white privilege but you, Sherri. Imagined persecution is your favorite hobby. Deeply uncool pizza trader #convoy #FreedomCorner pic.twitter.com/8JkQvg77Yv

— Conald Rump (@realConaldRump) January 31, 2024

Day Four: Lone Star Lunacy

I’ve watched a lot of chud nonsense. I’ve heard sovereign citizen silliness from J6 prisoners calling in to Freedom Corner. Listened to 1776RM talk of a constitutional republic as code for ending democracy. Seen truckers threaten to citizens arrest the Mayor of DC because they peed their pants.

I speak chud. But the political rally held by TOBB on February 1 at a fascist-friendly Dripping Springs distillery was nearly incomprehensible to me. It began with one of the organizers reading a statement that all federal agents in the audience were required to identify themselves. “You been put on a notice,” he declared.

It went downhill from there.

The chuds were excited that Ted Nugent was scheduled to appear. Arriving in a helicopter, he played one song and left.

Sarah Palin got up and accused Joe Biden of treason. She’s a Texas resident now.

Then appeared Ivan Raiklin, a Michael Flynn goblin who is a regular presence at right-wing rallies in DC. Hobbling up on stage in crutches (he was injured in a toboggan accident), he vowed that he would be Trump’s “Secretary of Retribution” and that he had a list of Democrats, liberals and others who were targeted for assassination.

Several J6ers also took the stage, claiming that they had been targeted by the Deep State (despite taking plea deals where they admitted their guilt), and Lara Logan with her pneumatic boobs gave a surprisingly foul-mouthed speech threatening the media.

But that wasn’t even the craziest part. I was half-watching when I suddenly heard shouts of “Allah Akbar” erupt from my computer.

It was Michael Yon, a journalist. He yelled that the Jews were responsible for the immigration crisis at the border and that Muslims from the border were coming to kill them. It was so nuts that I had to rewind to make sure I heard it correctly.

Listen for yourself (turn down your speakers):

Here at the Take Our Borders Back rally, Michael Yon was just SCREAMING into the microphone about migrant terrorists being funded by Jewish money. He was sure to say “Jewish” several times. This was immediately after other speakers said they met with #txlege. Just listen. pic.twitter.com/ozdwhTN6HC

— Amanda 🐢 (@noturtlesoup17) February 2, 2024

Day Five: Groundhog Day

The border convoy was coming close to the end. On February 2, they drove from Dripping Springs to the Cornerstone Children’s Ranch in Quemodo, TX.

As they left, they were protested by Lori Arnold, who would also appear in a heartfelt video condemning the convoy.

This was a four-hour drive that would take them close to twelve due to weather and confusion.

With more than 100 vehicles now (and even a truck), they convoy had grown unwieldy and impossible to manage. Not everyone knew to blow through red lights.

They got split up and lost in San Antonio before eventually trying to reorganize at a Walmart.

The convoy was experiencing its own Groundhog Day, repeating the same cycle of highway chaos again and again.

Little D thinks everyone else is the problem, turns off his radio, and begins taking orders from his chat #convoy #idiot #traffic #IP2 #1776RM pic.twitter.com/sLekn5GWMG

— Conald Rump (@realConaldRump) February 2, 2024

The convoy had become a magnet for more than just grifters. Calling itself “God’s Army” it had attracted violent right-wing extremists.

Hours after dark, and after an assault by hail, the convoy trickled into the Cornerstone Children’s Ranch.

Day Sixth: February 3th

Was the Take Our Border Back Convoy nothing but a con? It lured hundreds of people to an isolated South Texas ranch for a religious revival and fundraiser.

Rather than taking back the border, the attendees listened to speech after speech under the hot sun and were baptized in a horse trough.

The “tell” that it was a con was there all along. It was in the banner that they used: February 3th.

They didn’t even bother to proof their own banner because they knew it didn’t matter. The call of the convoy was enough to get the MAGA crowd out and rolling. No more details were needed.

History repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce. But it’s been farcical since the first convoy got stuck in an endless loop on the Washington Beltway. After they dissolved in bitter recriminations, the 1776 Restoration Movement took up the grift, only to spectacularly implode after a month of being trolled in the nation’s capital. From them begat Freedom Corner, a non-moving convoy of lawn chairs and live-streamers that grows smaller and smaller in a vigil on a dead-end street in DC.

And if there’s one constant in the freedom movement, it’s the lawn chairs. They are essential to any right-wing gathering. Chuds don’t walk. They sit.

After a day of sitting near the border, but not reaching it, the Take Our Border Back Convoy has come to an end.

On February 3th.