Ray Epps, Supposed Agent Provocateur, Sentenced for his Participation in Jan. 6th Riot.

Ray Epps on Jan. 6 at the Capitol

by Rod Williams, Jan. 9, 2024- I continue to be amazed and mystified that previously sane Republicans could go so full-scale hardcore Trump cultist, believing the most improbable of things. It seems the more evidence is presented that the election was not stolen, the deeper they will dig in to justify believing it was.  Trumpism is like a religious faith. It is like The Emperor has No Clothes. The mindset of many Republicans is "my mind is made up; don't confuse me with facts." Qanon and Alex Jones stuff is now often Republican mainstream. Some people may use terms like "the deep state" to mean bureaucracies have too much autonomy and have become overbearing, but others use the term to express that we are living a Matrix movie. Trump Republicans, which unfortunately are most Republicans, are capable of believing the most unbelievable things. They can believe six impossible things before breakfast.

One of the theories to explain away the January 6th insurrection to prevent the peaceful transfer of power is that it was really not Trump supporters who organized and executed the attack on the Capitol, but it was agents of the government to make Trump supporters look bad. I know that is nuts, but that is what many Trump supporters claim. 

The theory that says the attack on the Capitol was a false flag operation often focuses on a guy named Ray Epps. According to Trump cultist, Epps was an undercover government agent who helped incite the Capitol attack to entrap Trump supporters. When the word spread naming Epps as the government agent leading all of these innocent Trump supporters into the Capitol, he became a target of Trumpinista hatred. His life was threatened, and he had to sell his home and close his business and go into seclusion and keep a low profile. 

Epps was a Trump supporter who says he went to Washington to peacefully protest the certification of the election. Maybe his original intention was peaceful protest, but he engaged in the attack on the Capitol. Epps was at one time a leader of a chapter of the Oath Keepers.  I have not seen anything that would cause one to think he was an FBI agent provocateur. Even after Epps was charged by the Justice Department for participating in the Jan. 6 attack on the capitol, the right-wing allegation that he was a FBI provocateur continued. 

Today Epps was sentenced to a year of probation for disorderly conduct on restricted grounds. Will this cause Trumpinistas to conclude he really wasn't a agent provocateur? I would be surprised if it did. They will claim the deep state is just really good at hiding its misdeeds. They will say he got a lesser sentence than some other people who attacked the Capitol. The slap on the wrist proves he really was a government agent, the argument will go.  

When confronted with facts that don't conform to their theory, Trump cultist just dig deeper into their delusion. 

For more on this story see the AP website at this link. 

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