More than two and a half years after the gravest threat to democracy of our lifetime — and maybe of all time — Jan. 6 agitator Ray Epps has finally been charged. See? Justice is being served.
According to court documents, Epps was charged with a sole misdemeanor count of “Disorderly or Disruptive Conduct in a Restricted Building or Grounds” via an “information,” as opposed to an indictment, which NBC news says suggests “he plans to enter a plea deal.”
In other words, we’ll finally be able to rest — safe and sound and smug — knowing all the Tucker Carlson-fueled conspiracies about Epps being an FBI source or informant have been put to bed. Case closed. He was a wee bit disorderly. Let it go.
So why are rabid right-wingers foaming at the mouth and unable to accept the DOJ charges and media write-ups at face value? These are trusted institutions with an unblemished track record of ethics, honesty, and equal justice under the law. Turn off the Fox News and Truth Social already, and get your facts straight.
For instance, why are ultra-MAGA Republicans still asking about the multiple clips of Epps on both Jan. 5 and 6, 2021, rallying protesters to make their way from Trump’s speech not only up toward Capitol Hill but “into the Capitol”? Those conspiracists just can’t get over the fact that the demonstrators within earshot booed his suggestion and pegged him as a “Fed! Fed! Fed!” But what would they know? They’re insurrectionists.
And why are election deniers still bringing up that text Epps sent his nephew after the riot? “I was in front with a few others. I also orchestrated it.” He walked that back a while ago, remember? He was just “boasting to [his] nephew.” Never mind what he was boasting about.
How come Trump supporters are recirculating clips of a J6 demonstrator launching at the metal police barricade and helping to topple it immediately after Epps whispers into the then-apparently docile protester’s ear? Epps has already told the media he wasn’t agitating, telling CBS he said something like, “We’re not here for that. The police aren’t the enemy.” And why wouldn’t the media trust him — in keeping with their unbreakable standard of believing all white men?
And what’s the deal with obsessing over Epps having been on the FBI Wanted List and then suddenly removed? Just like the Biden family business scandal, there is “still absolutely zero evidence that Ray Epps was a federal agent.”
Why are radical conservatives like Julie Kelly all over Twitter droning on that Epps “was one of the first to breach exterior lines” and “interfered with security, and remained on restricted grounds for more than an hour”? Or yammering about Section 1512 — which covers anyone who “obstructs influences, or impedes any official proceeding, or attempts to do so” with fines or imprisonment — and how it’s been used to charge other J6 demonstrators? Don’t you get it? Epps has been charged.
On that note, Republicans can give it a rest already with the Proud Boys comparisons. So some guy who wasn’t even in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021, will serve a 22-year prison sentence for seditious conspiracy and “terrorism” while ringleading Epps gets a disorderly conduct misdemeanor no-no and probably a plea deal — what’s your point?!
How many times do the media need to tell you people Ray Epps isn’t a fed before you get it through your thick skulls? It’s a CONSPIRACY. Nothing to see here.
