This year CPAC.
The CPAC conference is underway right now and
it features the usual rogue's gallery of bigots and grifters and fascists.
But the conference this year also features the strangest piece of performance
art that you've probably ever seen.
Let's take a look.
Okay, so what are we looking at here?
So Laura Jaded who is a reporter who is covering CPAC tweeted that.
So this exhibit that we are watching right here you are handed a basically
Bluetooth headphones, sort of like a silent disco.
But instead of dancing, you stand around and watch this guy cry and
while listening to these allegedly harrowing audio of people
who were arrested for their involvement in January six.
So let's put this tweet up next on the screen where Laura
tries to go into detail about what we are watching here.
So she says I need you to understand that I stood here for
about half an hour yesterday and this guy never broke character.
He wept sitting on the bench, he wept sitting on the floor.
He tallied days on a chalkboard set up for this purpose.
So who is this Maga Marina Abramovich?
We are looking at this performance art piece by someone named Brandon Straka.
So Brandon Straka founded this group called Walk Away which is
encouraging democrats to walk away from the Democratic Party.
And he was involved in the attacks on the Capitol on January six,
but he did not serve any prison time.
Thanks to what his attorneys described in their sentencing memos as
quote substantial cooperation with investigators.
I think we all know what that means.
It's a little thing called snitching.
So the Walk Away campaign, as I said, is an organization encouraging
people to leave the Democratic Party in favor of Trump.
And let's go a little bit more into Straka
who is the actor in this performance art piece.
Let's get into what he did during the January 6th riot.
So according to Buzzfeed News,
Straka had spoken at the stop the steal rally on January 5, 2021 and
then joined the mob that descended on the capital the following day, but
he did not enter the building or assault law enforcement.
Instead, he admitted to urging other rioters to steal an officer shield and
to enter the building.
So since then, since his involvement on that day, he has done a lot of snitching.
Straka provided information regarding stop the steal organizer,
Ali Alexander and members Amy Kremer, Kylie Kramer and
Cindy Chafian and this is in addition to a bunch of other people.
So here is ultimately what happened to him was that Straka
was sentenced in January to three months of home detention,
a $5000 fine and three years of probation for
one misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct and
then something like 19 months later, here we are and
here he is at CPAC in this quite thrilling piece of work.
So Straka describes himself as a former liberal actor, which I love so much and
I don't know, there's two things about this piece that I'd love to get into.
So it seems like he kind of is expressing guilt in a way of the fact that he
totally ratted out.
Like everyone who he knew had some involvement in the attacks on the capital,
but I'm also not convinced that he's totally done with Hollywood.
I think that he is trying to get on their good side again and
he's using this piece of truly harrowing performance art to I don't know,
JR you said in the last segment that all these people are just wannabe actors and
I think that that is very much the case with this.
>> Absolutely no, listen, this guy needs to have the spotlight apparently and
he needs to show off his skills.
I'm gonna get to what I'm gonna say, but I wanna hear what Dan,
here's a look on his face.
>> No, of course have a cynical funny take,
which is I'm happy to see a conservative who actually has talent [LAUGH]
Acting skills because I often reminisce to every major conservative,
you see right now has this back story where they tried to make it in
Hollywood and failed one of my favorite deep pieces of Law of all time.
So, if you can find this on the internet at some point later after show,
of course is Ben Shapiro being interviewed for
one of his books by an author who just destroy.
Because all of their ideas, they're just not really like they're not really good at
this like talent, Hollywood thing being compelling in this case.
I mean it looked like college graduate student level performance art,
I mean you had some detail there, you had some dedication there.
I think that it is very much a performance because you look at the very light deal he
got on for playing a little bit of rap snitch conditions over there for the feds.
It looks like he is having a interesting maybe go of it.
I do like what you're saying, Caroline looks he's having an interesting go of it
and trying to maybe make another crack in Hollywood.
Because after this stuff either you continue grifting to right wingers which
is a very lucrative enterprise or maybe you make that pivot with some
of your other talents which are above average.
They're definitely class leading on the right way.
>> I need to see how long he went that what was the woman's name who
tweeted this out the first time, Laura Jaded.
>> Laura Jaded yeah.
>> She sat there for about a half an hour and watched I am fully weep to himself for
30 minutes and what I did, I read like a couple of articles specifically what was
in everyone's ears, the sounds of people groaning in prison.
Is that the idea?
>> No. Yeah, so
it's people who I believe who had jail time or in custody for
their role in January six, just like describing that time in jail.
Yeah, so it's like stories yeah.
>> Because they've never heard of anyone going to prison and
having to deal with anything that's neck, especially based off of something and
maybe they shouldn't be there for, cuz that's the whole point here.
First of many conservatives, damn near all.
Now have this weird victim fetish and it's like, my God, I wanna be a victim.
No, no, no, no persecute me, but let me act like it's persecution,
let me act like I'm a victim so
that I can continue to pull the veil over everyone's eyes, I guess a small number of
people to make it seem like I'm always the government's coming after me.
Look at these ragtag leaders always coming from my rights, and while they're building
militias, organizing this insurrection attempt on the capitol on January 6th.
They're burning buildings, killing people and then as all this happens,
they're still going with that, but they're coming for me.
I thought you guys the law and order party, did they break the law?
Did they break the law?
Is it okay that maybe january 7th the next groups were coming and try and
raid the capitol?
And then by January 10th with the third group coming and
raid the capitol because there's nothing illegal about this right?
Except on the day that it happened.
They were saying it was Antifa, they were saying that it was a BLM if no,
not just the day of they said it for days and weeks and months and
probably up till now are still saying it and those folks need to go to jail.
There's there's crisis actors as FBI, the CIA, they got involved,
look how fake they all are.
Well shouldn't they be in jail?
Is that illegal stuff they were doing?
How about this guy?
He said he was part of it, he snitched on all of his buddies and
now he's crying in a prison cell at CPAC acting like it's a really,
really tough situation he was involved in.
It's there's so many conflicting principles and
points of views that these folks have, It makes your head spin, but
that's the design supposed to make your head spin.
In fact, it's supposed to make that their supporters head spin and go,
everybody's coming for me, everybody's coming for me, I can't think what's up or
down as long as I'm a victim.
But instead, let's ignore the real victims, let's ignore people who had
false prison sentences and unfair sentencing throughout our judicial system.
Who cares, don't do the crime then you won't have to do the time.
Always hear that until it's them.
>> Exactly, yeah.
And yeah and wrapping up, I think that's a really important point about how
post January 6th, like, right, in the aftermath of January 6th,
it was all it wasn't us, it's not our side, it was Antifa it was BLM etc.
And then once, those harrowing images and more proof came out, just
exactly how much right wing republican involvement there was in January 6th.
They've totally shifted the narrative because they know that everyone is still
disgusted by those events.
They have shifted it from this thing, that they were like, it didn't have,
it wasn't a big deal, it wasn't even us to now,
they are making into their making it into this story, trying to, like,
val arise these people and, you know, I can I agree.
I actually, I I do kind of think this art pieces, like you said it amazingly, like,
M F A grad school level, like, great, but I do think that it displays this like,
very troubling trend that the right is doing with january 6th, but
now that they know that it acts actually was a really big deal for the country, and
we're not just going to move past it, they're totally trying to shape
the narrative around it and paint them as being yes, victims, as people who really
care about our country and, you know, have suffered in jail and suffered jail time.
So it's completely ridiculous, but, you know,
the right does art, I guess now they're artists.