On the other side of the gap in the metal barricade I found myself in the street that went past the front of the Capitol. It was full of Trump supporters milling around, many with flags and signs. A tent had been erected on the grass by the sideway to tell Stop the Steal flags and other merchandise. It was the only vendor.
Some people were standing on the sidewalk. A few minutes after I arrived, someone said something about it was time to start walking, and it seemed that the movement was going forward, so I joined in the precession in stride, behind a Chinese man and his son. There were many Asians present, almost half as many as the white people. Some hand home made signs staying Stop the Steal in English and Chinese. A woman was handing out copies of the Epoch Times, which is a well-known pro-Trump newspaper published in Hong Kong and the U.S.
We came down to the end of the street. People were crowded in a small grassy area.It seems people were being forced through there by the line of Sacramento PD officers. There was enormous commotion past the bushes. Evidently a confrontation of some kind. People couldn't get through. I hung in the back of the crowd where a homeless black guy on the other side of the metal barricade chatted with some marchgoers in a friendly way.
After a few minutes the source of the commotion was made obvious. A small group of Antifa had attempted to start a skirmish. A few Proud Boys were walking around, describing the incident. One Proud Boy looked like a cop with. walking talkie on his vest, but a label clearly saying 'Proud Boy" in neat white letters. The cops were standing around frozen. Overhearing the Proud Boy talk about what he had seen, it was clear they saw their role here as protecting the marchers from assault by the other side, who were prone to violence.
Antifa went way when some mounted officers rode up toward them. It only took about five minutes for them to arrive.. The Antifa posse scurried across the street and down the street away from us in petulant retreat.. There were maybe five of them at most. One young woman had a sign saying FUCK TRUMP written with ugly graffiti script. They looked scrawny and insignificant, like play actors, It was a token response to our presence.
All this while the other cops were standing around, in black with black masks, saying nothing Male and female cops plenty. I did not feel menaced by them. I could not see wha their collective feeling was towards us. If any of them were in significant, they were forbidden to show it.
I figured the crowd jammed up on the grassy part by the building would begin passing through the narrow gap. I thought that was probably not my gig today, to follow that, so having marched in the march, and seen the enemy dispersed, I drifted back in the crowd an then walked back the way I come. More and more folks were arriving. Young couples, as if on a protest date. I passed by the tent on the way back and looked at the merchandise for sale. A tall young man flaming gay in hair style and feminine of gait was chatting up some of the people staffing the booth. He was carrying a big red flag saying "Fuck Antifa".
I went back through the gap in the gate and found that the trucks with Trump flags were pouring around the corner at a constant rate. Many people were cheering them on as the cops stood by.
I walked back along the road, then cut through the California arboretum again, wishing I could linger and look at the trees and the plaques giving the species. But I had miles to drive yet today. I could hear the honking of the horns of the trucks through the trees. Now and then a dissenter was heard, in the form of someone blasting the rap song "Fuck Donald Trump" from their car stereo. But the dissent felt week, as if it were just people making trouble, rather than having any substance.
That's what it felt like---the opposition had no substance to it. It was as their were no real opposition at all.
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