This post was originally published on this site
American Dreams
Jeramiah Caplinger was your average American before January 6. He had humble beginnings, came from your average family, and was relatively apolitical. Like many in the modern United States, he endured hardship yet persevered. At one point becoming homeless, it was under President Trump’s economy that Jeramiah was able to rapidly improve his station in life. He had work, a home, and became a father with a family of four. Jeramiah pulled himself up by the bootstraps and lived the American dream. He worked tirelessly in automotive plants to provide a future for his family.
TIM: I’d like to share with the public your motivations for going to DC on January 6, but I’d also like you to talk about who you really are. What should people know about you as an American?
JERAMIAH: I’m literally just a regular guy. Beforehand, I was never really a political person. I just focused on, you know, my life as it was, slowly building it up. For a long time, I was homeless. I couldn’t actually get stable housing and get things in order. I was eventually able to turn it all around. And all of that was under Trump, because my life greatly improved under Trump. Things got cheaper under Trump. Things got better under Trump. I was able to, in one year, I was able to go from being homeless to getting ready to purchase a house. I was proud to say that I got my house before my daughter was born. I had her room set up, diapers, wipes for an entire year, everything.
And then COVID happened, and then my girlfriend lost the opportunity to even have her baby shower. I had never been political before. I knew nothing really about it. All I knew is everyone screaming about Trump is bad and Trump is this and Trump is that. But out on the ground, it’s like, things are getting better. Gas is cheap. I’m making a lot of money. I was able to afford a car. I was pretty over the moon about that. Then the pandemic hits, and then I get called from work saying, “Hey, you can’t come into work. Everything’s getting shut down.” And it was the weirdest thing I’ve ever had been told.
***Please help Jeramiah here.***
January 6, Ray Epps & Trump’s Speech
Jeramiah was frustrated by the same things as millions of other Americans. He was skeptical of the 2020 election, distraught over the Covid lockdowns, and believed that his country was headed in the wrong direction. When he heard there would be a gathering in Washington, DC for President Trump’s election challenges he made sure to show up.
JERAMIAH: Trump a while later tweets out about an event on January 6. It’s like, I saw that tweet and it’s like, “Well, why not?” I was like, okay, I’ve never been to DC before. Trump’s still president. It’s an opportunity to see him. I’ll get to see the Washington Monument, the Ellipse and all this other stuff. I’ll go. So I started making my preparations. I rented a vehicle, took time off of work because I had the PTO time, made sure my girlfriend and kids were all set. I started at like 1pm on January 5th. I drove 8 hours straight from Michigan all the way to DC. I got there about 9:30pm, somewhere around then.
And the ironic thing about it is when I was there, that piece of sh*t Ray-f*cking-Epps was there screaming people needed to go into the Capitol! I was literally right there when he was screaming that. He’s sitting there saying, “Everyone needs to go into the Capitol.” Everyone’s sitting there telling him, “No.” I’m just sitting there behind him, everyone’s sitting there talking about the election, “Stop the steal”, and this guy over here is just screaming. Obviously, I didn’t know he was Ray Epps at the time, but all I see is this dude, this tall older man with a red hat on, talking about we need to go into the Capitol.
Then the next day, woke up around 8 o’clock, 7:30. January 6th. I started driving toward the Ellipse to find somewhere to park and go hear the speeches. I’m seeing South Vietnam flags, all kinds of different Trump flags, American flags, the Betsy Ross. Don’t Tread on Me flags, all that good stuff. I’m seeing An Appeal to Heaven flags, some of the state flags from Texas, Michigan, Ohio. A bunch of stuff. Talk about real diversity! I walked around to find a good spot to listen to the speech but not bump shoulders with people because everyone’s trying to cram in to see Trump.
As I’m walking, here’s this Ray Epps guy again! He’s sitting there asking people with bullhorns to bullhorn people to go toward the Capitol building. It’s like, the speeches haven’t even started yet, what are you talking about? He’s like, “I just want you guys to use that bullhorn. I’m trying to get people to go toward the Capitol building.” Yeah, okay, whatever. I ended up walking closer to the Ellipse. I ended up breaking off to go look at the Washington Monument. I’d never seen it before. I wanted to get a good look at it. Then I sat there and then watched all the speeches from beginning to end. As Trump was getting ready to speak, I moved myself as close to hear as I could. People were already leaving when Trump started talking about how we’re going to “peacefully and patriotically” march down to the Capitol.
***Please help Jeramiah here.***
Climbing the Capitol
Jeramiah would stay for Trump’s speech and arrive long after Ray Epps and others initiated the initial breaches of the Capitol grounds perimeter. He became somewhat famous for being recorded climbing up the side of a staircase leading towards the Capitol building. Most might find it humorous, but the government and media portrayed it as an attack on democracy.
JERAMIAH: We’re gonna march down to the Capitol. It’s like, yeah, I feel something in my bones. I’m just so excited. I’m just over the moon for it. So [Trump] concludes his speech. I ended up going with a giant crowd of people that were marching with a giant American flag. Like a really, really big one. Like, it took a hundred people to hold up. And I got my American flag, my Trump flag, helping to prop it up. I was sitting there marching down. And by the time I got down to the Capitol building, there was already an ocean of people on the lawn and going up. I asked like four to six people, “What is going on?” And I kept getting told the same thing. “Didn’t you hear? Capitol police are letting people in. Go that way.” I was like, “Okay.”
JERAMIAH: And there’s already a vast amount of people. There’s so many people on the stairs. In my mind, it’s like, “Well, I don’t want to be trapped shoulder to shoulder like a sardine. I don’t want to follow a crowd.” My mistake was, I was like, “Well, I’ll climb the wall.” There was already a bunch of other people doing it. So I had a lapse in judgment and climbed the wall. Oops.
TIM: You know, it’s funny. The feds had my roommate wear a wire to get me to incriminate myself. And one of the things he said was, “Were you one of those psychopaths climbing the walls?” I was like, “No. That’s unnecessary.” I didn’t even know people were doing that until I saw the video on the news or whatever. They tried to make it seem like it was some war scene. People were scaling the walls of a medieval city or something.
JERAMIAH: They’re acting like this is the Greeks mounting the walls of Troy.
TIM: Hah!
Jeramiah entered the Capitol building like thousands of others. He had seen cops standing back outside the building, and he had heard repeatedly that the Capitol was open to the public.