NBC: Pro-Trump Capitol rioters like the 'QAnon Shaman' looked ridiculous -- by design [View all]

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/amp/ncna1254010

When we interpret the T-shirts and symbols, especially given the history of groups like the Ku Klux Klan, the Capitol insurrectionists look a lot more menacing.

The fact that many of the outfits from the Capitol look comical is, historically, not a coincidence.

Snip

When the Ku Klux Klan started in the mid-1860s, Klansmen did not wear the white hoods and robes we imagine them in now. They had no uniform. As historian Elaine Frantz explains in her essay "Midnight Rangers: Costume and Performance in the Reconstruction-Era Ku Klux Klan," the early Klansmen wore something far more similar to the hodgepodge we saw on display at the Capitol last week: animal horns, fur, fake beards, homemade costumes that drew on traditions of carnival or Mardi Gras, masks, pointy hats, polka dots. For Frantz, who also wrote a book about the birth of the KKK, the parallels between the appearance of 19th century Klansmen and the Jan. 6 rioters were impossible to ignore.

"When I looked at this weirdo who was dressed as a Viking, I was like, 'Does he know what he's doing?'" Frantz tells NBC THINK about Angeli. "Is he aware of this tradition, or is it a coincidence? Or is it not just a coincidence and he's not aware, but it's something which travels through our culture in the background? Maybe he doesn't even know what he's doing, but he's doing exactly what he would have done in the 19th century."

Much more at link. Very interesting read which shows how invested these racist traitors are in their radacilized factions!

Like street gangs with their symbolism, in-group / out-group focus & radical agenda!

I am still gob smacked by these costumes and the fact that a prevailing theme was to take pictures / selfies & publicly brag about their illegal actions.

Someone must have assured them they would "win" and that they would not be prosecuted.