The Sirens of January 6

“Siren” (si.ren), noun, she who lures men to their death with the sweetest of song.

In these three months, Kevin and I have been traveling the East Coast for book signings and grassroots opposition of two bills in Congress and the events of January 6. A surprising number of people have told us their personal stories of that day. Their interest in attending. The making of plans. And, right up to the moment of packing the car, deciding not to go. “Something didn’t feel right,” say those who trusted their gut. They tell these stories while looking off, somewhere else, recalling the feeling, and still having a chill.

In my own strange way, I have known since the images of January 6 started flashing across the TV that, at some point, my own journey into the research and analysis of the day would force me to listen to the song of the Sirens of January 6. I would have to listen to the voices of those who summoned people to the Capitol. By plane, by caravan, by automobile rideshare, by bus. Noises that, going into January 6, I tuned out as one lawsuit after another lawsuit (22 in all) was dismissed by federal judges examining claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election. I am a lawyer, after all.

I have spent these ten months pushing away the Sirens as a distraction. I have focused on my key defendants, the so-called “Oath Keeper” defendants, plus a few like the Molotov Man and heavy metal rocker Jon Schaeffer. The largest single prosecution in US history. The FBI’s role. The plea deals to turn four “Oath Keepers” into government informants. The settlement that puts Schaeffer into witness protection. The charges that never befell Molotov Man for anything having to do with January 6. Mr. Brown’s 2-hour interview about FBI psy ops going into January 6. The FBI dossier assembly on those who were at MAGA I, MAGA II, and January 6.

But this week I asked what drew so many to the Capitol in the first place. It feels surprising how few true “operatives” were among the Sirens. I laid out in yesterday’s blog a sampling of the many, many permitted and non-permitted rallies, protests, meet-ups, and counter-protests. And in that line-up two people stand out, namely, Amy Kremer and Ali Akbar (aka “Ali Alexander”). I leave it to you to Google these two individuals. Their stories and connections to movers-and-shakers is long. Their skills include large-scale events and publicity. And they appear to have gone head-to-head with each other to grab the spotlight on the eve of January 6.

As my research closed in on the Sirens, what also started popping up were subpoenas for Alexander/”Stop the Steal” and Kremer/”Women for America First” and those associated with their organizing of events for January 6. From the House Select Committee on January 6. As I started reading them, the name of one and only one “Oath Keeper” popped up – that of Kenneth Harrelson. Then an article on ProPublica popped up, containing remarks to a reporter by Harrelson’s wife, Angela, that Harrelson was supposedly working security for Ali Akbar on January 6.

Going into this blog are two full days of research, piled onto ten months of research post-January 6, glommed on to years of dedicated work as a Second Amendment attorney, wound backwards through now twenty years of examination and commentary on “domestic terrorism.”

I’m blogging letting you know, today, that this journey we are taking together into the events of January 6 looks like it’s going to be a Greek tragedy. An individual, who joins with other individuals, to help citizens where there’s natural disaster, wanders (or gravitates) into a role more traditionally called “private security” than “humanitarian outreach,” and those skills then become attractive to the powerful and the rich, and that same guy who started out with boots on the ground is now crashing upon the rocks, the Siren’s song still echoing in his ears.

The “Oath Keepers” chapter of the January 6 events is but one chapter of a much bigger story about cultural collisions of capitalism vs. political distortion, of anarchy vs. democracy.

The role, if any, of Oath Keepers on January 6 is the chapter you and I are going to have to study if we want to understand in 2021 what it means to “use the First Amendment to protect the Second.”

We’re not on the brink of civil war. Just look at this AP News run-down on Tuesday’s election results, which are thrilling on so many metrics.

My question since I first turned on the television was “What impact the Second Amendment Movement?”

The argument I laid out in my book was simple enough: while the “Oath Keepers” was not founded as, nor operating as, a Second Amendment organization, their open carry and general political philosophy was not contrary to the Second Amendment.

Sadly, my research, more and more, signals that the Oath Keepers, not unlike the Proud Boys, and even newer groups like 1APraetorian have positioned themselves in the space “military” recast as “homeland security for hire.” A state-side Blackwater, if you will, with Ali Akbar as the heir apparent to Karl Rove.

Let’s pause here for today with these two simple reminders. First, if you are grassroots, stay grassroots. If you have a Mission Statement, review it regularly with the Board, Officers, and Membership. Stay true to the core values through which your organization was founded.

Second, invest in the best sunglasses you can afford. When an outsider, parading as a big gun, enters the room, put on those sunglasses. Don’t be blinded by glitter like numbers of social media followers and bigger fish naming them in Tweets. Ask hard questions about experience and references and then call up those references. A man’s shoes don’t lie.

It took the convergence of multiple, powerful actors to create a January 6. It also resulted in hundreds of citizens’ lives permanently scarred and one death.