Chaos agent: Right-wing blames US Capitol riot on notorious instigator banished by Black Lives Matter & John Sullivan Is Arrested

Chaos agent: Right-wing blames US Capitol riot on notorious instigator banished by Black Lives Matter

Many activists have characterized Sullivan as an agent provocateur, while others have speculated that he is a law enforcement asset. What all seem to agree on is that he thrives off of creating as much chaos as possible.

“John knew somehow that people were considering storming the Capitol,” Sacker told me. “He had had intelligence days before, and I didn’t believe him. I never thought that something like that would happen. And then when we showed up at the Capitol, there were thousands and thousands of people there. I didn’t think that we would be able to document what was going on. So when I said we did it, I was just shocked that we like got in there at all, and that we were on the front lines of being able to tell the story.”

“He’s just angry,” she reflected to me. “And he says it in a lot of his videos – ‘Fuck the system, burn it down.’ He doesn’t think it can be reformed. Like he kind of wants his civil war. He’s a bit of a provocateur and he wants to dismantle the system, and he believes in the value of civil disobedience. And because he is apolitical, I think he feels more a sense of allegiance to anyone who shares that the values of, I guess, chaos.”

Sean Michael Love, the BLM-affiliated journalist, offered a more jaded perspective on Sullivan’s motives: “I definitely think that mentally, he has some things he has to work out. But as far as him cooperating with the law enforcement, that has been our belief.”

Related:

John Earle Sullivan, Who Recorded Ashli Babbitt’s Shooting, Is Arrested

If he’s not an asset, how did he have intelligence about the storming of the Capitol and why did the FBI let him go?

DHS Head Chad Wolf Adopts Language of War in Threats Against Portland Protesters

DHS Head Chad Wolf Adopts Language of War in Threats Against Portland Protesters

While these are extreme events, the phrase “all options on the table” is largely used in politics as a code phrase conveying the most extreme violence imaginable, without having to explicitly state it. The phrase was famously used by President George W. Bush throughout his administration when discussing Iran and its supposed nuclear weapons program. When asked by a reporter if “all options” could mean a nuclear attack on Iran, Bush refused to answer, simply re-stating that “all options” were on the table.

The phrase, therefore, is continually used against foreign enemies of the U.S. government as a way of threatening war or even nuclear annihilation without having to explicitly state it, letting the threat pass under the radar of many, and allowing for plausible deniability if challenged. The fact that government officials are beginning to use that same rhetoric against the domestic population in Portland is not a positive sign for the future of the city or the country.

Appeals court temporarily halts protections for journalists, legal observers in Portland

Appeals court temporarily halts protections for journalists, legal observers in Portland

“Given the order’s breadth and lack of clarity, particularly in its non-exclusive indicia of who qualifies as “Journalists” and “Legal Observers,” appellants have also demonstrated that, in the absence of a stay, the order will cause irreparable harm to law enforcement efforts and personnel,” two of the three judges wrote. “This means that journalists could be subjected to the same physical force as that of the individuals participating.”