On January 6th, 2021, Trump summoned tens of thousands of his supporters for the “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington, DC.

Five years later, less than a hundred showed up for the January 6th reunion. Despite the size of the group, one thing remained a constant: the violence. The day began with an assault and ended with threats to hang police officers.

This year’s rally was supposed to begin at 11:45 AM on the Ellipse, the massive park south of the White House.

Yet, when I rolled up, almost no one was there, except for a couple of elderly fangirls and a few journalists.

Also, the Ellipse was closed. No one was allowed on it. The J6ers claimed that they had a permit for this massive park south of the White House. They lied.

In fact, the organizers and the marchers were holding an impromptu press conference outside the Willard Hotel. I don’t think the hotel knew anything about it.

Half the press was in one location while half was in another. Brilliant work, guys.

The “Peaceful” Protest

As J6ers stood on the sidewalk and aired their grievances, local activist Patricia Eguino crashed the event with her bullhorn, yelling, “Insurrectionist losers!”

In their materials promoting the event, the organizers said that it would be a peaceful demonstration. That didn’t last five minutes.

The J6ers surrounded Eguino and attacked her, ripping her shirt and stealing her megaphone, a Chinese-American woman leading the hair-pulling assault. A viral moment that made TMZ and defined the day. Surprise: January 6ers are still violent.

The mob abandoned their own press conference and followed Eguino down the street until they got to 15th Street, where there is a Secret Service guardhouse near the ruins of the East Wing of the White House.

The Secret Service detained Eguino, thinking that she was the aggressor. They put her in handcuffs as the mob chanted, “USA! USA! USA!” 

Flush with victory over the “demon,” they then marched to their rally. But, being idiots, they marched right past the Ellipse (how do you miss that?) and across Constitution Avenue. After realizing their mistake, they turned around, their banners rotating on the sidewalk and the whole crowd of January 6th rioters, fangirls, livestreamers and media marched to the Ellipse, which had reopened.

Poor planning again on the insurrectionists. Their little group was barely noticeable in the vast open space of the Ellipse (see above). For more than an hour, they stood and speechified on the dead grass. No chairs, no podium, no stage. Just people standing around in a circle.

Unbroken, Unbowed

Meanwhile, Eguino was sitting on the ground in cuffs. A mysterious figure with purple hair then arrived and showed the Secret Service video of what actually happened outside the Willard. The attack had been livestreamed by chuds, who can’t stop filming their own crimes. Eguino was released.

She was shaken up. Her shirt was ripped. Rioters had posted pictures of her megaphone like it was a war trophy.

Eguino wanted to go back to show that she was unbowed. Unbeaten.

I’m her friend. I’ve known her since the days of trolling the weird J6 cult vigil known as Freedom Corner.

Not wanting her to get hurt, I suggested she stand by the police on Constitution Avenue. When the J6ers marched to the Capitol, they would see that she was free.

Finally, the march began actually marching. And the first person they saw was Patricia Eguino. 

She didn’t need a megaphone to make her voice heard.

“I am free and you will never be free from me!” she shouted. Someone needs to make this into a dance remix.

January 6th rioters cannot tolerate dissent, even if it’s just a lone woman.

They surged towards us, a whole mob of livestreaming idiots and cultists in MAGA hats and shirts.

Metropolitan Police Department officers on bikes formed a perimeter around us.

I took photos of the MAGA mob as they shouted at Eguino. They were so fixated on her, that I don’t think they even noticed me.

chud logic: making the dumbest possible choice in any given situation 

Chud logic then kicked in. The Chinese-American woman who attacked Eguino earlier tried to fight her way through the police line for another round. This happened right in front of a couple of senior MPD officers.

The woman was arrested and I got a lovely photo of her absolute shock at this development – they think they are above the law. She was at the January 6th riot, but never charged, and is part of a Chinese-American “patriot” group from Virginia.

They were big mad, cursing the police as their friend was handcuffed, loaded into a van and driven away to the DC Jail.

Earlier in the day, they had bragged about the attack on a livestream (chud logic) and said that the Chinese were tougher than “the whites” because they would fight. They got awfully quiet after the arrest.

The FLARE Gauntlet

The march went on and they met people who really wanted to fight: FLARE, which has a 24/7 vigil against the fascist regime. They have a tent on Constitution Avenue and a continuous presence in front of the US Court House where so many J6ers were convicted.

This wasn’t a petite woman with a megaphone. This was a group of men and women who had been looking forward to this moment. “Fuck Donald Trump in the neck hole!” a man shouted over an incredibly loud sound system that could be heard for blocks.

The march paused before they passed FLARE, so that the police would protect them. They were scared.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, the MPD kept the two groups separate with a line of officers on bikes. No one is better at crowd control.

After running the FLARE gauntlet, the insurrectionists gathered in a grassy area near the Capitol for more speechifying that no one could hear before a small group was allowed to lay flowers in honor of Ashli Babbitt.

J6ers Threaten to Hang Police Officers

But this wasn’t enough for the January 6th rioters who received pardons but still want blood. They made overt, violent threats against police officers, who they blame for the death of Babbitt and others. Threatening to hang MPD officers was Jake Lang, last seen leading a failed crusader march against Muslims and Jews.

This isn’t unusual. J6ers and their supporters from have repeatedly called for hangings of Nancy Pelosi and others.

These officers had to babysit the insurrectionists as they returned to their cars near the Ellipse, marching down Pennsylvania Avenue, as they argued with bystanders and yelled at federal office buildings, like the FBI.

With the election of Donald Trump, they expected the arrests of James Comey, Anthony Fauci and hundreds of others – they have a list. They don’t understand why Biden’s DOJ had a 99% conviction rate in January 6 cases while Pam Bondi and Judge Box o’ Wine Pirro couldn’t even convict Sandwich Guy.

A caravan of police cars and officers on foot and bikes escorted the dregs of the march as the day drew to a close. I rolled by the crowd and a crazed woman in MAGA gear was shouting across the street at the National Guard, demanding that they arrest the Metropolitan Police Department.

Violent, dumb and disorganized, this January 6th was a perfect distillation of the state of the MAGA movement. Preoccupied with grievances and torn apart by contradiction, they are out of ideas, energy and time.

What do you do if you start a riot and no one shows up?

That was the case of Jake Lang and his so-called “Crusader March” outside of AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobbying group. Lang is a January 6th rioter who attacked the police with a baseball bat. Trump pardoned him and since then he’s gone around the country, trying to stir up trouble for internet clout and donations.

Twitter Isn’t Real Life

Lang promoted the march for weeks on Twitter. His posts got more than 500,000 views. It was even trending on the social media platform, with lots of commenters showing their support and vowing to be there.

But Twitter isn’t real life.

Ten people showed up for the crusade. All men, not a woman among them. And despite being a white power group, the numbers were filled out with a black man and a brown one. Immigrants continue to do the jobs that Americans won’t.

Lang wheeled his podium across Massachusetts Avenue and began his protest by hurling fake gold coins at the audience. Then he began ranting about a Jewish conspiracy to import Muslims for the “brownification of America.” He used the n-word and even threw up a couple of Nazi salutes.

He’s performed similar stunts in other cities, such as Dearborn, where he paraded outside a mosque with a pig’s head. This is the grifter business model: conflict is content. First you get the outrage, then you get the views, then you get the money.

I thought more people would be there, with the five-year anniversary of January 6th coming up on Tuesday. J6ers and their groupies are in town to march and celebrate the attack on the Capitol. 

But a lot of other J6ers think that Lang is a fed and that his “protests” are psy-ops to create division in this country. They also believe that January 6th was a “fedsurrection” instigated by the Deep State.

Cuck with a Podcast

This was illustrated in comical fashion by the appearance of Ivan Raiklin at the rally. Another January 6er, he accused Lang of working for the Washington Field Office of the FBI, which was just a couple blocks away from the protest.

Lang countered that Raiklin was a cuck with a podcast. The two men traded insults and the microphone back and forth like they were WWE wrestlers.

Raiklin is a conspiracy theorist, with a long list of enemies that he wants executed, but is not a racist. Is MAGA just for white people or is it open to fascists of all colors? This is how MAGA breaks.

From his mobile podium, Lang made various threats, including against members of Congress who took AIPAC money. “Treasonous traitors will be hanging from the gallows, rightfully and justly prosecuted and hung for treason,” he said.

Lang also vowed to break Tina Peters, the MAGA cause celebre, out of her Colorado prison with a mob of January 6ers.

Chuds vs Counterprotesters

While all this ranting was going on, counterprotester Patricia Eguino was across the street with a bullhorn, yelling at the Nazis with her trademark death metal screams.

The Metropolitan Police Department kept both sides separated, standing next to Patricia so that the “crusaders” wouldn’t attack her. Or perhaps protecting them from her.

A couple of people walking by got into shouting matches with the Nazis. The black guy in the crusade really set a man off by stating, “You Negroes just don’t understand.” A woman in a condo above the demonstration filmed, her mouth agape.

Protests are common in DC so most people just went around the group. The crusade barely occupied a street corner.

The only real conflict that occurred was when Lang discovered that Cory Cullington was in the crowd. He’s a photographer and Sedition Hunter who helped identify January 6th rioters back when we had a justice system.

Lang and his motley crew of masked weirdos and livestreamers surrounded Cullington in an attempt to intimidate him. This is a common chud tactic but Cullington just snapped away with his camera, amused by the kerfuffle. 

After less than an hour, it was over. Lang rolled his podium away and everyone left. 

I love books made by friends.

One of the prettiest I’ve ever received is the Book of Fringe, which documents the history of the Capital Fringe Festival. Written by Julianne Brienza, founder of the Capital Fringe Festival, it tells the story of artists who dared to do the impossible. They would bring theater to DC and everyone was welcome, not just to watch, but to participate as well.

Over its two-decade life, Capital Fringe brought experiences to the city that you could find nowhere else. This wasn’t the Kennedy Center or the Arena Stage. This was experimental theater put on by independent, uncensored artists.

I know because I was there. As a volunteer photographer, I saw more theater over a few short days than I had in years. Sitting in the front row, I experienced:

• A one-woman show about hoarding with a woman in a trash can (like Oscar the Grinch).
• A choose your own adventure version of Romeo and Juliet in which the audience selected a happy ending for the doomed lovers.
• Sword-swallowing and other circus feats.
• Dance featuring some (I think) fake blood.
• Rap, rock and everything in between on a DIY stage with church pew seating.

The venues were leased, most of them pre-gentrification buildings around Mt. Vernon Square. Creaky, old and stifling. So hot that I thought I was going to pass out at one performance – I don’t know how the actors did it.

But what I remember most was Fort Fringe. This was a bar and venue under a massive tent on New York Avenue which featured, believe it or not, Prosecco on tap.

From The Book of Fringe, I learned how difficult it was to set up that tent. The book includes lots of nuts and bolts detail about permits, funding, food service and real estate for anyone thinking about creating and running a theater festival.

Fort Fringe was where you went before and after shows. A hangout, where you would find performers, fringe fanatics, newcomers and people who just wandered in, attracted by the sense that something interesting was happening under the big white tent.

Because the Capital Fringe Festival wasn’t just about the shows. It was the impact they made upon the audience. As Julianne writes,

I have said for almost two decades now that what happens at the festival is not necessarily important. What is important is what Fringe inspires people to do outside of the festival.

The Book of Fringe is limited-edition, hardcover and on sale now.

Joe Flood
November 3, 2025

I can tell the story of 2025 in two short videos. A pair of brief viral moments that sum up this terrible year and the disastrous consequences of returning Donald Trump to office.

Chuds Get Their Comeuppance

The first is from January 6, 2025. The date is auspicious: it’s the anniversary of the attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters.

Three chuds in a car on their way to DC, not to mourn for the dead and injured, but to attend a celebration of the insurrection.

“God has cleared the way!” the driver exclaims as he speeds down an icy highway.

The trio in the car are die-hard Trump fans, people who were regulars at the Freedom Corner vigil in DC, where they chanted the names of January 6th felons and called them heroes. Throughout 2024, they had followed Trump around the country, from gibbering rally to gibbering rally, convinced that the incoherent mumblings of their orange god were divinely inspired.

Trump would save the nation, and save them as well. They had given their time and life savings for the cult and would soon get their reward. The inauguration was just days away. The best was yet to come!

They sing Trump’s version of YMCA, in a giddy mood, as they speed past other cars. What happens next is not a surprise.

The driver is going too fast. He hits an icy patch, loses control and crashes into the median.

God may not have been watching but Anarchy Princess was. The chuds have poor operational security and livestream everything they do. She captured this moment before they deleted it.

She posted the clip within minutes of the crash and it went viral, racking up millions of views and even making it to TMZ. 

If this was a novel, we’d call this foreshadowing, a hint of the disaster that was coming for Trumpkins, who would soon be hit with tariffs, inflation and spiraling health insurance prices.

Gilded Age Cruelty

The second video came later in the year. It’s a video that I think about nearly every day for it illustrates the Gilded Age cruelty of the regime.

Created by Ari Kuschnir, it uses AI to depict the grand opening of the Trump Ballroom with a rogues gallery of traitors and criminals, including Stephen Miller, Pete Hegseth and Alex Karp (the Palantir guy). 

My favorite moment is when we see Ghislaine Maxwell issue a sigh of relief as the Epstein files are locked up.

The video of Trump’s court drinking champagne and eating cake is contrasted with shots of his voters suffering from layoffs, evictions and omnipresent drone surveillance.

And then a mob begins to assemble outside the White House…

What’s happening today is eerily similar to the last days of Louis XVI, the last king of France before the revolution. But at least Louis had the decency to hide his corruption behind the walls of Versailles. Trump is building his golden ballroom right in front of us, as he cuts off food aid to the poor.

Two videos tell the story of 2025. In one, Trump supporters get their deserved punishment for voting for a traitor. In the other, a preview of what’s to come.

Joe Flood
October 28, 2025

Albert Pike does not deserve a statue in Washington, DC. He does not deserve a statue anywhere.

Despite this, the Trump administration has returned Pike to his plinth after it was torn down by Black Lives Matter demonstrators on Juneteenth in 2020.

They had good reason to yank Pike from his perch. He was a slaveholder, a Confederate General and helped start the Ku Klux Klan.

In the summer of 2020, I saw him on his back, defaced with graffiti and surrounded by crowds who were posing for photos with this fallen symbol. It seemed a fitting end to the old racist. (Read about those crazy times in How I Became Red Bike Guy.)

The statue had been erected in 1901, supposedly for his contributions to the Masons, but this was the era of Jim Crow, when the progress of Reconstruction was being rolled back across the country. By placing his statue in Judiciary Square, near the courthouse, they were sending an unmistakable message: white supremacy is back.

Even at this time, it was controversial to honor a Confederate in the Nation’s Capital. Union veterans objected.

Over time, it became more objectionable and from the 1990s onward, the DC city government appealed for its removal (it’s on federal land). Congress did nothing.

So, on the night of June 19th, 2020, the people took matters into their own hands and toppled Pike.

Five years later, he’s back, reinstalled by the Trump administration, despite the government shutdown.

When I went by on Monday, Pike was surrounded by a fence and protected by the Park Police. A statue gets 24/7 police protection in Washington, DC.

This regime spends a lot of time and effort on statues. Just a few weeks ago, they removed the Trump-Epstein statue, which mocked the close connections between the two men.

Statues matter. They send a message to future generations about what our elite class valued.

Albert Pike was a terrible general, whose Native American soldiers were routed during the Civil War and accused of atrocities. After the defeat, he stole the treasury, disobeyed orders and was jailed for fraud. Pike was considered a traitor in two countries – the USA and the Confederacy. And then he ripped off his fellow Masons to invent the rituals and organization of the KKK.

Incompetent, treasonous, an asshole. He’s the perfect symbol for the Trump administration. No wonder they were so anxious for his return.

Joe Flood
October 18, 2025

No Kings was too big to ignore. Happening across the country, even in the red areas, it highlighted the historic unpopularity of Trump and his deranged MAGA followers.

We hate you, the nation was saying to the red-hatted fools.

More than 7 million people rallied, in every state in the union and even overseas, the patriots of this nation rising with a clarion call: America has no kings and the power belongs to we the people.

I saw it in DC, where close to 100,000 people gathered. All those hysterical warnings from Speaker Mike Johnson, who called it the Hate America Rally, and here we were in the shadow of the Capitol that he has kept closed in anti-democratic act to protect Trump from the Epstein files.

It was peaceful, joyous and fun.

The crowd was so vast that I couldn’t get close to the stage at 3rd and Pennsylvania where Bernie Sanders and others spoke. I was blocks away with Pikachu, Cartman and other cartoon characters who mocked Johnson’s predictions of violence.

AI and Denial

Trump and his cult cannot deal with the sight of millions rallying against them nationwide so they have sunk into AI and denial.

Trump coped by making a video of himself wearing a crown as he dumped shit on the American people. If grandpa or grandma did this, you’d take away their computer. But this deranged daily display is normal for the Republican Party.

One of our local Freedom Corner chuds, GloryBeef, showed up at the No Kings rally in DC. With her fake press pass around her neck, she interviewed people who patiently explained to her that Trump was violating the Constitution by deploying troops on American soil, using the government to crush dissent and violating Congress’s power of the purse.

The vast crowds and the truthful words were too much for the Beef’s delicate brain to handle. So, this “independent journalist” made a video where you only hear her leading questions, but not the answers. She couldn’t handle the truth so she deleted it. And, since we live in an era of AI slop, she overlayed it all with a generic techno beat, as if the thump-thump-thump sound could abrogate the reality that surrounded her. She also labelled everyone Communists, the generic MAGA retort when the cognitive dissonance gets to be too much.

This is the state of Trump and MAGA, nine months into his rule. A retreat into computer-generated illusion rather than acknowledging the reality that millions of Americans hate them for destroying our democracy.

This Land is Your Land

For me, the most moving moment at the No Kings rally in DC was when a band in the crowd played, “This Land is Your Land.”

This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York island,
From the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters;
This land was made for you and me.

I remembered singing this Woody Guthrie song in elementary school, when were a normal country with a government that respected our rights.

This is the true America. We’re not greedy, hateful MAGA people slavishly worshiping a deranged tyrant. We’re Americans who believe in fairness, dignity and the rule of law.

This land is your land – it does not belong to billionaire tyrants like Bezos, Musk and Trump. This land is our land – there are no kings in America.