The Oath Keepers are using the "we were just kidding" white privilege defense

[Nevilledog]

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Amanda Marcotte
@AmandaMarcotte
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As the Oath Keepers trial goes into its third week, it's become clear that their lawyers are going with the "they were just joking" defense. And why not? The inability to take white violence seriously is how they hid their seditious plot in plain sight.

salon.com
The Oath Keepers are using the "we were just kidding" white privilege defense
The January 6 trials expose how white privilege allows domestic terrorists to hide their plots in plain sight
4:17 AM · Oct 24, 2022

https://www.salon.com/2022/10/24/the-oath-keepers-are-using-the-we-were-just-kidding-privilege-defense/

Jason Dolan was ready to die. As he texted his fellow Oath Keepers in the days before the January 6 attack on the Capitol, there was "no coming back" from what he planned to do, and he would be "lucky" if he got "a bullet" that day. "I think my biggest trouble is trying to convince myself to say good bye to my family," he wrote, having convinced himself that it was necessary to die to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Dolan did not die. Instead, he's turned state's witness in the prosecution of five of his fellow Oath Keepers, who are currently on trial. During his live testimony last week, Dolan, who already pleaded guilty to conspiracy, told the jury he "literally" meant those maudlin texts when he wrote them. Describing his thought process, he said he asked himself, "Is this all just going to be talk, or am I willing to back up my words with actions?"

That Dolan meant to storm the Capitol on January 6 seems, to most outside observers, self-evident. He was, after all, there that day, acting on weeks of planning his right wing paramilitary group had engaged in. But there's a reason the prosecution prompted Dolan to explain how deadly serious he was about this "overthrowing the government" business. The people he's testifying against, including Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes, are defending themselves by claiming their copious plotting was more fantasy role-play than a serious plan of action.

"Oath Keepers defense attorneys have contended that despite the tough talk in private messages, the group was primarily in Washington D.C. to act as security details for VIPs at a pro-Trump rally, and had no plan to enter the Capitol," Kyle Cheney, who has been covering the trial for Politico, wrote last week.

*snip*

[central scrutinizer]

1. Schrodinger's Douchebags

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[kairos12]

3. Stealing this. Thanks.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

2. What if they succeeded? Would it still be a joke?

Far too many insurrectionists have received slaps on the wrist for their participation. If the consequences of insurrection are not severe, it will be repeated.

Roe, Roe, Roe your vote
against theocracy!
Republicans revoke your rights
and kill democracy!

THESE are the races that will determine control of the House of Representatives:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217272559

Got post-its?
Stick 'em up for a blue wave: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217078977

[Solly Mack]

4. K&R

[gratuitous]

5. We were just there to provide security! Yeah, that's the ticket

Any of these purported VIPs acknowledge that they hired these oafs to provide security? Were they paying for it? How much? Were they licensed and bonded? By and with whom? Or was this an "out of the kindness of our hearts" service offered free-gratis?

[Genki Hikari]

6. Any real security group would have contracts

with a potential client, for liability issues, if nothing else. So much can go wrong with being private security that you have to protect yourself against the worst.

Even if the service was gratis, a legit security service would have had a contract.