The “God’s Army” convoy was supposed to be a mighty force of 700,000 or more people from every corner of America. It wound up being maybe a couple hundred vehicles parked at a rural ranch in Quemado, Texas – basically a Trump rally without a Trump, but with plenty of
hucksters selling MAGA merch and grifting the easily grifted.
Some actually visited the border in nearby Eagle Pass, Texas, and were surprised to not witness the invasion they had been promised.
Convoy-goer
Misty Gregory told CNN: “It’s not what I expected, but then again I don’t know what I expected. I can tell you it’s not as bad as what I thought, so that’s kind of eye opening in itself.”
Abbott and about a dozen other pro-razor-wire GOP governors were in Eagle Pass on Sunday, hollering and whatnot.
Some residents said the recent invasion of Trump supporters from the convoy had been downright scary.
“We are constantly being told that we’re being invaded, and that never felt true until today, when the convoy came to town in anticipation of the Governors’ event,” Jessie F. Fuentes of Eagle Pass
told WOAI Channel 4. “This is political theater by outsiders. The reality is that it has brought dangerous, violent groups into our beautiful, peaceful city. Eagle Pass is safer than most cities in America if you look at crime statistics. This is just a fact. We don’t appreciate these staged events that dramatically misrepresent our reality on the border and that invite extremist groups that pose a real danger to people in our community.”
So God’s Army's foot soldiers came, in underwhelming numbers, and accomplished little beyond showing everyone how tragically gullible they are and making the locals twitchy. That’s MAGA in a nutshell:
loud, threatening and, in the end, impotent.
MAGA is and always has been a con to line the pockets of Trump and others who saw a swath of Americans waiting to be fleeced. The fact that our border is not now lined with big, strong, gun-toting patriots willing to defend America at all costs is not surprising.
It’s a comically disorganized and useless parade of con artists and the conned, drifting from one apocalyptic grievance to the next.