They live streamed it. 

If anything, the Capitol riots confirmed my gut suspicion that live streaming is the future of political digital strategy. 

But still, those rabid hillbillies live streamed the most serious and the most pathetic attempt at sedition since The War of 1812. 

2021 has been gobsmacking. Wednesday was a whopper, I was physically taken aback by the emotional-political whiplash of the news cycle. We flipped the Senate! Fueled by the persistence, belief, and hard work of predominantly Black and brown women (I see you Stacy Abrams, LaTosha Brown, Nse Ufot and countless others), Georgia voters turned out in droves to elect John Lewis’ intern, the 33-year old sexy millennial Senator-Elect Jon Ossoff. One time, he woke me up at 5:30 AM by savaging email copy I wrote for his campaign via repeated Google doc Slackbot notifications. 

Not even mad about it anymore. 

Senator-elect Ossoff will be joining Reverend Raphael Warnock, professed puppy lover and Senior Pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church. He left Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s pulpit to read Kelly Loefler for filth and advocate for a woman’s right to choose. A pro-choice pastor — we well and truly love to see it. It doesn’t escape me that a Black man and a Jew won 57 years after James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman were murdered in Mississippi while trying to register Black voters and just 2 years after Stacy Abrams was robbed of the governorship by voter suppression and white supremacy.  Both of them ran bold, unapologetic progressive campaigns. Ossoff’s Tiktok fuckin’ slaps and Rev. Warnock’s puppy ad was the best thing I’ve seen all cycle. 

I am genuinely excited for both of their administrations and whispering the words “Senate Minority Leader Mitch Fucking McConnell” in my sleep like Arya Stark repeating her kill list like a small prayer or personal devotional. It was going to be a good day. The memes were supposed to be lit. 

And then he opened his fucking mouth. 

The current occupant of the White House incited a violent, chaotic, and all too predictable riot Wednesday afternoon because he’s butthurt that he lost. His passel of white extremists, literal actual goddamn Nazis, and entitled fucking morons split and head towards the White House. Instead of tiki torches, they had Facebook and Instagram livestreams and Confederate flags. It was the Facebook Putsch. It was Hawley’s Follies. It was Cruz’s Coup. It was a blistering display of white supremacy, anti-semetic bigotry, and the consequences of a diet of BANG energy drinks, gas station string cheese, and ranch flavored Corn Nuts. 

It was disgusting, upsetting, a shock to the gut, and all together unsurprising if you have been on the Internet or paying attention at all whatsoever. An unhinged brigade of morons stormed the Capitol and laid siege while wearing stupid outfits and smelling like Axe, prompting this response:

All of my meetings were cancelled. I did rapid response on behalf of a BLM-affiliated organization. Once I was able to press send, my ability to string together a sentence careened to an unceremonious halt. 

I’ve had to deal with a lot of tricky situations in my job. As a Democratic digital strategist, I am the person my client looks to and asks, “What should we say about this online?” Forever on my toes, I figure it out and deliver the agreed-upon message and call to action to thousands of Democrats, activists, and community-organizers online. And in the past few years, I’ve had to grapple with wildfires, school shootings, police lynchings, government shutdowns, a rapist and a moron being elected to the Supreme Court, kids in cages, and End of Quarter Federal Election Commission deadlines. (Some of these are admittedly more painful than others.) 

And this, admittedly, was my first coup. I watched insurrection and sedition happen from my cell phone screen in 9×16 specs with my jaw dropped. 

I still don’t know if I’ve emotionally processed last Wednesday’s events. I’ve written statements for it, certainly. But I haven’t digested that they desecrated those hallowed halls, that sacred chamber. Shots rang out in the Chamber. Members of Congress cowered like public school students in a school shooting drill, and yet 147 House Republicans and 7 GOP Senators still voted to overturn the election and the will of the American people. 

It’s as sociopathic and devoid of empathy as their Q-Anon hordes that overtook their offices. The irony of their seditious riot soon revealed itself via memes, Instagram stories, and vicious Twitter conversation. God bless the Internet. (This might be a good opportunity to uplift this story about this American Patriot that got trampled by rioters while wrapped in a Don’t Tread on Me flag) Cops were caught taking selfies with rioters and escorting them down the steps to safety. The hypocrisy was repulsive and rank. 

But, almost worse, was the ensuing online conversation and armchair punditry. It felt like digital malpractice the way people were unloading hot takes like a belt of bullets whirring through a machine gun. PEW! They were protestors defending their first amendment rights. PEW! It was antifa! PEW! You shouldn’t believe everything you read in mainstream media. PEW! PEW! PEW!

And while I’m grappling with my anger about white supremacists and idiots trying to rob my joy of a Democratic Senate during a ceremonial measure for what’s been true since November 3rd, it’s a special kind of disrespect to read what people believe about a field I’ve worked so ardently in for years. The dumbfuckery that was afoot, y’all. It was astounding the confidence that folks had airing their ignorance. Absolutely staggering. 

I haven’t come to a clean-cut conclusion about last Wednesday’s riots. There are no 280 characters that neatly sum up my opinion. I’m scared, upset, and hurt that rioters violated a building I believe in — I’ve walked in those halls and ducked in those bathrooms to readjust my tights. I’m alarmed that I have some truly ignorant motherfuckers in my personal network. I’m sick at the hypocrisy and bigotry of Capitol police. It deserves more discussion that Capitol police helped Nazis locate a Jewish person. They gave actual fucking Nazis directions to Senator Schumer’s office. Did they also give them a helpful handwritten note with landmarks circled and highlighted? 

Initially, I didn’t fight upon watching the footage of the riots. I didn’t fly. Once I finished my job — finished writing — I froze. 

Mostly, that the  fact that these pock-marked morons got even an inch of my newsfeed leaves me shook in the way only an all day migraine can. Because fuck these people. My anger is seething, bubbling, and real. At the same time, we’re able to hold two juxtaposing views at the same time. 

It is my job to have an opinion, a strategy, and the skills to execute it online at a very high level. I take my field seriously and my job swamps a large amount of my life. I’m proud of what I do. I believe in the overwhelming power of the Internet to foster important political conversations and I’m working to hold them with nuance and care and passion. 

So let me be of service to you. If you’re well-intentioned and want to get involved in activism, politics, social justice movements, and you don’t know what to say but you want to say the right thing? Let me help you. If you want to have a conversation about your values and act on something you believe in, but you’re a little bit scared? Let me help you. If you want more resources about civics education or the history of protest and social movements, please let me help you. This is a Big Tent Party and I want you to join. 

But if you want to continue using your limited social media platform to shoot off your mouth about some bullshit and continue relationally organizing on behalf of bigots, racists, and anti-semites under the guise of centrism, both sides, and wanting to have an opinion but not actually say anything? 

That’s gonna be a no for me, dawg. Fuck all that noise and know that me and whatever God you pray to are watching. And just know that one of us takes screenshots for receipts and future intern trainings.