Not The Way I Remember It

The Jan 6th clown posse probably thought Bundy Clan rules wld apply to them too. The fact they didn't is probably having an impact now. https://t.co/AyyCz9ewSi via @TPM

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) June 13, 2023

 And this got me thinking about the Bundy Clan.

Remember them? Patriach Cliven Bundy and large adult son Ammon. (COVID is Ammon’s latest racket, menacing hospitals and doctors in Idaho.) The militia-leading, federal subsidy-loving ranchers led a series of standoffs with federal authorities in which they were universally, comically handled with kid gloves. The Bundys first went national when they had their standoff at the family ranch in Nevada in 2014. Then in 2016 Ammon Bundy lead the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters in Harney County, Oregon. It went on for more than a month while Ammon and his clown posse wrecked the place, spouted off and generally engaged in your standard far-right militia performance art.

I'll accept the thesis:  that J6 criminals imagined they'd succeed as the Bundys did.  But this summation of what the Bundys did is a bit unfair. 

What I remember of the first "standoff" was a few government employees walking into an ambush of sorts, with gunmen (and not trained military, just idiots with guns) surrounding the area and pointing guns ready to shoot (one wonders how many Bundys would have been shot in the melee, had one started).  The government employees had no choice but to stand down (much as the ATF should have done at the Branch Davidian compound.  Say what you want about Koresh (and I'm NOT defending him), but the sheriff who said they should call Koresh and ask him to come to town to talk was, in retrospect, completely right.  ATF couldn't have screwed that situation up worse had they tried.).  They weren't "comically hand[ling]" the Bundys "with kid gloves," they were just not willing to commit suicide to enforce a relatively low-level trespass charge (well, not technically trespass, but that's an important point in what follows).  Cliven was basically guilty of a misdemeanor.  It wasn't like he was Public Enemy #1 and the FBI needed to send in SWAT teams to "take him out."

Ammon then went on to "occupy" the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge; and here's the distinction.  That national area is not the U.S. Capitol, or a Federal courthouse (for that matter).  If you'll recall, Bundy and his buddies weren't even charged with trespass, because you can't trespass on public property unless it's specifically a controlled area (like a military base, a federal courthouse, the U.S. Capitol and environs; or the White House, if you wish).  There was a feeble attempt at charges being filed, which failed, because the charges were so weak (among other reasons).  But strictly speaking, Ammon broke no laws by overstaying his welcome at the refuge.  He knew that going in. It's why he did it.  Same reason he's attacking hospitals with slander (not physical occupation).  He knows a soft target when he sees one.

So maybe the J6 clowns thought:  Bundy did it, I can do it?  I seriously doubt it, but it's not an irrefutable thesis. It just underlines that, again, people who think they know what happened, or what the law is, know neither.  Yes, the Capitol is a government building, but like the White House, it is not entirely open to the public.   That difference alone is why the J6 clowns weren't treated like the Bundys.

As ever: change the facts, change the outcome.