Ray Epps Learns the Nature of the Pack

 Ray Epps is a 6'4" former marine who loved Donald Trump and believed in the gospel according to Fox News. He lived with his wife Robyn on five acres of land outside Phoenix, AZ. They owned and operated a successful event center which specialized in weddings and receptions. By all indications they were living the dream. 

It is unknown why Ray Epps became convinced Don Trump was the nation's savior and redeemer. In the interview with 60 Minutes he didn't explain it. We don't know if Brother Epps was a xenophobe who became convinced the democrats were turning the country over to brown skinned people and communists. Or whether. he, like El Donald, is a big fan of Vlad Putin. We don't even know if Ray Epps was convinced Hillary Clinton was a traitor because she allegedly had classified documents and therefore should be, "locked up," or not.

What we do know is Big Ray was convinced the 2020 election had been stolen by a vast cabal of conspirators who operated with unerring perfection in Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and beyond. We also know he showed up in Washington D.C. the first week of January 2021 to stand with his man, Donald Trump.

There is all sorts of video evidence showing what he did there on January 5th and 6th and every bit of it can be interpreted in different ways.

On the night of the 5th he is seen urging a barely under control mob to enter the capitol building the next day. He used the word peacefully almost as an afterthought. His message wasn't well received. Some chanted, "No, no, no." Others accused him of being a, "Fed." The next day he is seen telling the crowd that after Trump finishes speaking, "We're going to march to the capitol." Then he is shown at the front line of barricades. When they went down, taking a cop with them, he appears to try to calm the advancing mob. Later, in front of the capitol steps he is shown helping an injured demonstrator away from the increasingly violent action.

According to Ray Epps he was in Washington during those days to do his patriotic duty by peacefully protesting what he and others considered a stolen election. When he saw it wasn't going to be peaceful he stepped away. He now says he was duped by Fox News, Donald Trump, and others who said the election was a massive fraud. 

That was only the beginning of his problems though.

Within days after the failed coup, rightwing media personalities and others began to say the whole riot was some sort of FBI sting operation. Indeed, the events weren't caused by Donald Trump, who had been screeching for weeks the election was rigged and that day told the crowd they had to take back their country with strength, Or Rudy Giuliani who earlier had said, "We need a trial by combat." Or by Fox News who was busily defaming voting machine manufacturers day after day. 

No. There wouldn't have been any violence at all if FBI undercover people like Ray Epps hadn't fomented it. 

Fox, in general, and the now unemployed Tucker Carlson in particular fixated on Epps and began to blame him for everything up to and including the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. As usual they had absolutely no proof whatsoever, but it didn't matter. They had Mr. Epps on video saying and doing things which now seemed suspiciously contradictory. In addition weeks later the FBI had dropped his photo from their wanted poster, proving something, or other. What they didn't say was Epps photo had been deleted only after he had been interviewed by the agency and they couldn't pin anything on him. 

As these things do, the conspiracy began to run wild in right wing circles. Ray and Robyn began receiving death threats via mail and phone. Their business collapsed as yokels with guns hanging out their car windows began to cruise by their home. They found empty shell casings strewn across their driveway. 

The heat became so bad they sold their business and home and now live out of a RV somewhere in the Rockies. Robyn says she uses her maiden name when dealing with people so they won't know who she and her husband are. They are also suing Fox and Carlson for a bazillion dollars, thus proving anonymity isn't nearly as comforting as a big payday. 

The Epps' story re-ignited last week when some GOP congressmen, all of them Joe McCarthy wannabes, grilled FBI Director, Christopher Wray. The director had to explain to each and every one of them that no, Ray Epps wasn't a FBI special agent and he had never been a paid asset for the Bureau., nor was he an unpaid informant. As could be expected it didn't appear any of those savage clowns believed him.

The left wing media is now portraying Ray Epps as a poster boy for far right hysteria--a perfect example of how the Trumpists terrorizes their opponents. 

Perhaps. In this corner however it is also easy to believe Ray Epps as just another Trump cultist. The monsters might have turned on him, but up until that moment he was proudly one of them.

Hey, when you eat with the beasts, sometimes they feast on you. It is, after all, the nature of the pack.

7-17-23