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January 6th and the Radicalization of America’s Veterans
Are the very men and women once sworn to protect this country now a threat to it? If so, why? How? And what do we do about that?
On a cold January morning in Washington, DC, a crowd simmering with discontent descended on the Capitol Building and boiled over. People scaled the facade, kicked in doors, smashed windows, and forced, or were led, into the building where they took the Senate floor, stole shit, and took selfies.
The riot reached a deadly fever pitch when Ashli Babbit, a 12-year Veteran of the United States Air Force, with deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan and serving 6 of those years in a unit whose mission was to protect the Capitol in the event of Civil Unrest, was shot in the neck and died while attempting to forcibly gain entry onto the Senate Floor.
Once a supporter of Barack Obama, Babbit would later become a registered Libertarian, then a Trump supporter, citing the difficulties of running a small business and the homeless problem in her new home in San Diego. In 2019, Babbit began Tweeting about Pizzagate, the Cabal, and espousing other Qanon beliefs.
As the dust settled at the Capital, Babbit was heralded as a martyr by one side. How could they shoot and kill a…
