The various interpretations of the actions of Ray Epps on January 6 have made him a target of conspiracy theories that, on the far right, portray him as an agent provocateur working for the federal government while trying to incite the Capitol riots.
A former Marine and Oath Keepers member, Epps was interviewed on 60 Minutes this week, saying he has become a victim of death threats and that he — on January 6, a serious MAGA man in a Trump hat — doesn’t understand how he has been cast as a “villain.”
That’s not to say Epps doesn’t have a theory as to why he’s won the villain role. Epps thinks it’s “to shift blame on somebody else. If you look at it, Fox News, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Ted Cruz, Gaetz, they’re all telling us before this thing that it was stolen. So you tell me, who has more impact on people, them or me?”
The dueling narratives are a case of MAGA having its cake and eating it too. Carlson has portrayed the events of the day as “peaceful” — mere tourism, using video footage given to him by Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy to reframe an alternate narrative of the Jan 6 events.
The logical challenge is that if January 6 was nothing more than a peaceful visit, then there was no riot for Ray Epps to have incited. But since both narratives are simultaneously being given room to breathe, Epps is on the hook, in Tucker Carlson’s world, both for inciting a riot and participating in a peaceful protest that was not a riot.
Epps told 60 Minutes of Carlson: “He’s obsessed with me. He’s going to any means possible to destroy my life and our lives.” Carlson has mention Epps on his show at least 20 times, according to CBS News.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Green just shared video footage of Epps on January 6, and the congresswoman slyly shared it without adding any commentary, encoding it with her silence.
Taylor-Greene knows her audience and understands they will see this footage as Epps leading a conspiracy designed by the feds. Any commentary by Taylor-Greene would be superfluous for the MAGA adherents who have targeted Epps — they know what she means.
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) April 23, 2023
A person unfamiliar with Epps’s story might momentarily think Greene was trying to show that the riots were violent and a “heinous attack” — as Donald Trump said shortly after they occurred. Yet those drinking from the same information flow as Greene understand instead that the video of Epps is being presented a condemnation of the federal government and its alleged “deep state” activities.
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