In the lead up to the January 6^th certification of the Electoral College vote, “patriots” from around the country planned their Mecca-like pilgrimage to Washington DC.  Though the outcome had been known for weeks in advance, many people felt like their time and treasure was best spent rushing to the Nation’s Capital.  Hundreds of thousands showed up to “stop the steal.”  While again, I do believe that there were questionable vote trends during the election, the way that Team Trump handled the situation, from the people they put in charge, to the messaging, to the chaos that ensued as we never knew who was “authorized” or wasn’t. Somehow, these people felt that waving Trump flags and chanting was going to accomplish something that had been already discarded as fantasy.  That didn’t stop them, however, as they flooded the streets around the Capitol building, eventually raiding the halls of Congress to the demise of as many as 5 people.

I have seen so many videos on my various social media feeds, telling me how “successful” the event was and that they were proud to have participated.  Meanwhile, while they are proving their inefficiencies, Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff’s moving trucks are pulling into the Senate building parking lot.  The battle for the soul of our country didn’t lie in DC, but in Georgia, where just the day prior, there was a Runoff for Senate for the most coveted prize in Washington:  Control 2/3rds of our Federal Government.

For years I have been slamming the keyboard warriors and self-proclaimed “activists” who have never knocked a door or made a phone call in their lives.  They claim to be willing to dedicate their lives to the cause, but sending a ten-dollar check to a candidate never occurred.  When push came to shove, they chose spring break in Cancun over a week volunteering at their local charity.  Let’s face it…  Wednesday did nothing but hurt the conservative movement.  For the next several decades, the left and media will use conservative leaders’ behavior leading up to January the 6^th, as a purity test for office.  When Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio or Nikki Hailey or Kristi Noem decide to run for the White House in 2024, “Exhibit A” in the trial of the court of public opinion will forever be their reaction to January the 6^th, 2021.

Why was DC the wrong destination?  Because if every person who went to DC instead went to Georgia in the week prior, and every one of them had converted just one “stay at home” voter to a vote cast on Election Day, we would be sending two Conservatives, and their votes to stop a Biden Administration’s agenda, back to Washington.  Instead, we have two radical progressives, both of whom have played to that corner (meaning they have no qualms about being hard left, unlike Sinema and Manchin), and will do so as they cast votes in DC.  Imagine had Senators and Congressmen, from across the country, had seen millions of conservatives flocking to Georgia, delivering sizable victories for the party, and then turning their virtual focus on their elected officials.  The message could have been, “See what we did in Georgia?  We will be coming for you should you not support our ideals.”  Instead, the message they got was, if we don’t comply, we will become the left.

Again, all that would have required is just 1 vote, for every person who showed up in DC.  Instead of feeling good about themselves and “fighting” for something completely unconstitutional on the steps of the Capitol, now they will be fighting potentially unconstitutional orders and edicts from an unleashed Biden administration for the next (at least) two years.  Instead of locking the deadbolt, they opened up the front door and now must spend at least two years guarding it.   If there’s anything that a Trump Presidency has done, it’s put supporters in the place they feel that attending rallies and retweeting the President qualifies as activism.  Meanwhile, Democrats are flooding precincts and counties with walkers, callers, fundraisers, and ballot harvesting operations.  Should those “patriots” have spent a couple of days in DC escalating the situation or should they have spent a couple of days in Georgia knocking doors?  Should they have spent their money on hotels and airfare to DC, or should they have made a healthy contribution to those Senate candidates?  Should they have been using their phones to live feed on social media, or should they have been calling disillusioned Republican voters and telling them why they needed to turn out and vote?

And now, virtually any hope of a real investigation into the 2020 election, Hunter Biden, the origin of 2016’s Russiagate and others, is gone.  A Republican-controlled Senate could have launched their own investigations, subpoenaed different people and data, and really dug deep over the course of the next several years, the same as the left did into Trump.  Instead, the keys to the kingdom were handed over to Chuck Schumer.

That isn’t to say that the loss in Georgia falls squarely on their shoulders.  It doesn’t.  There was a lot of incompetence there from the party.  What it would have done though is send a message to the party that it takes the cooperation from the Trump-supporting right, to win.  Absent them, and their actual grassroots activism (not Astroturfed rallies) Georgia would fall to the Dems, and well, the result ended up being just that.  We can choose to stand and fight or hide behind the appearance that we are doing something.

Hopefully over the next couple of years, as special elections rise and opportunities present themselves, the Trump-supporting right will do more to support those candidates we need, instead of supporting an idea or ideal that borders on impossibility.