by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
I did not go up to Washington D.C. on January 6th for one reason: it was too cold.
Now, I wasn’t going to go up there to participate in anything, I just wanted to be around in case anything big happened — which, of course it did. But once you get past being hysterical about the idea of me being near the Insurrection, any idea that I would have been arrested in some sort dragnet falls apart.
First, I wasn’t going up there with my old digital camera. All I would have had is my smartphone and my access to being able to recharge it would have been limited or non-existent. So, it’s very possible that I would have gone to the Stop The Steal rally near the Capitol and simply come home because I didn’t feel I could cover the event anymore.
Next, if I go up to D.C. for a daytrip, I start heading home as soon as it starts to get dark. I have reasons to be at home in the evening and I just can’t see any way I wouldn’t have left really early relative to the actual attack on the Capitol.
The only way I could see myself actually being around the actual attack on the Capitol would be if, in the heat of the moment, I followed the crowd inside. Again, this is where if you’re simply hysterical about the idea that I would be anywhere near the situation, I just can’t help you.
While, yes, there would have been the possibility that I would have gotten so wrapped up in covering the situation that I would have go in with the mob, that’s a very unlikely scenario given what was going on otherwise. And, again, if you just calm down long enough, I would have not be considered a member of the Insurrection itself because I would have been there to cover it, not be a part of it.
I feel it’s safe to say that all that would have happened if I had gone to DC on January 6th is I would have gone up there, my phone would have died just about when Trump finished speaking (because of what time it was) and my regret would be that I was on my way home when the event itself happened.
