Backlash After Washington Post’s ‘March 4 Threat from Militant Trump Supporters’ Story a ‘Mirage’

washington post
ERIC BARADAT/AFP via Getty Images
Joshua Klein

After warning to brace for violence at the Capitol by “QAnon crackpots” who believed former President Trump would return to power on March 4 (the country’s original Inauguration Day), with a militant group possibly plotting to breach the Capitol again, the Washington Post followed up by declaring the supposed threats a mere “mirage.”

“On the day when former president Donald Trump’s most delusional supporters swore he would return to power — and the House suspended its business because of supposed threats to the U.S. Capitol — Washington looked on Thursday morning much the way it has for the past two months,” the Post wrote on Thursday.

“National Guard members armed with M4 rifles braced for rebellion that never came. Razor wire lined miles of steel fencing that went unbreached. Trump remained in Florida, where it was 70 degrees and sunny,” it continued.

“I really expected to see more Trump people or something,” one individual present was quoted as saying. “It’s weird how quiet it is today.”

The overreaction included the National Guard being asked to remain in Washington, DC, for another 60 days, as reported by Breitbart News.

Republican lawmakers have blasted the continued deployment, which to date has cost nearly $500 million in American taxpayer funds.

On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner (D-VA) reacted to the U.S. House canceling its session on Thursday in response to the threats by stating the intelligence he’s seen is “a bit of an overabundance of caution, at least I’m hopeful,” and that “we’ve not seen any evidence of accumulation of crowds coming into the city, and this mostly seems to be internet chatter.”

Twitter users were quick to blast the Post’s politicized hype.

“The Washington Post’s story about nothing happening at the Capitol today has five bylines,” wrote David Rutz:

“Washington Post, 7:47am: ‘Ahead of another possible attack on the Capitol,’ the FBI wants to be allowed to break into American citizens’ encrypted communication. Washington Post, 2:00pm: That possible attack on the Capitol turned out to be a ‘mirage,’” wrote Omri Ceren, national security adviser to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX):

“I was told there was going to be an insurrection? Guys you’re making me feel kinda silly down here,” wrote journalist Christopher Bedford:

“‘Mirage’ We all know that what’s written on the internet is no evidence of fact, yet the media hyped a post mentioned on a blog as a credible imminent threat,” wrote the Reagan Battalion. “The @washingtonpost knows better, but hyping the threat advanced an agenda, although it was bad for the country”:

“Mirage is the right word here,” wrote conservative author and filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza. “A mirage is an oasis that is falsely perceived in the desert. The threat in this case is no more real than the oasis. Neither ever existed except in the fevered mind of the observer”:

“So what happened to the Insurrection??” asked Dr. Sebastian Gorka, a former senior aide to former President Donald Trump:

“As the old saying goes, one man’s mirage is another man’s corporate media hysteria designed to portray Trump supporters as extremists and anyone who questions the fairness of the election as traitors, even if it means credulously amping things no one really thinks will happen,” wrote journalist John Daniel Davidson.

“Mirage? Conspiracy theory? Delusion?” asked journalist Sharyl Attkisson:

“Looks like we dodged a viking horn on this one, America. Phew!” wrote Scott Adams, author of the popular comic strip Dilbert:

“This is political theater which has spilled into dangerous delusion,” wrote journalist Miranda Devine:

“WHAT?? NO!! I really thought that THIS time the credulous media, Democrat lawmakers, and anonymous LEOs were telling the truth and not obviously making stuff up for political reasons. I am just shocked to find out that this promised coup may have been ever-so-slightly oversold,” wrote author Mollie Hemingway:

“Libs make #QAnonCult trend because extremists were a no-show at the Capitol,” wrote conservative commentator Ian Miles Cheong:

“It was gaslighting and you willingly participated in it,” wrote Chris Barron:

“A mirage,” wrote podcaster Gerry Callahan. “I remember when they used to call them lies”:

“Hoax,” wrote author and journalist Mike Cernovich. “That’s the word you’re looking for”:

“How many other mirages have you reported on as if they were real?” wrote one Twitter user.

“A mirage that you created,” wrote another.

“It wasn’t a mirage ….. it was a tactic by the Dems to keep the image of danger from white supremacists and / or militia in the news as long as possible,” wrote yet another.

“A mirage? I would call it it a lie, propaganda, or an excuse to exert totalitarianism,” wrote another Twitter user.

A mirage.. you mean drummed up fear over something that was never planning to happen in the first place,” wrote yet another Twitter user.

The Post story comes as some Democrats and the liberal media continue to target conservatives and paint Trump supporters as domestic threats, despite earlier calls for “healing” and “unity.”

Last month, the Los Angeles Times published an op-ed addressing the struggle to “resist demands for unity” in the face of acts of “aggressive niceness” on the part of friendly Trump supporters who are compared to terror organizations who “offer protection and hospitality” and “polite” Nazis.

In a recent video created by left-wing novelist Don Winslow, citizens are called upon to become cyber detectives to monitor and report fellow citizen Trump supporters to authorities while comparing the work of this “army of citizens” to that which led to the capture of al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden.

The clip, which received over four million views, claims the greatest threat facing America today emanates from “radical extreme conservatives, also known as domestic terrorists” hidden among us.

In January, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) dubbed members of Congress who seek to protect themselves with firearms the “enemy.”

“We will probably need a supplemental for more security for members when the enemy is within the House of Representatives, in addition to what is happening outside,” she said.

Follow Joshua Klein on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.

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