There’s now a $1.8 billion federal fund for people who believe they were harmed by the “weaponization” of government over the last few years. According to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, there are “no limitations on the claims,” and the program isn’t just for Republicans or January 6 defendants.
Anybody can apply, and I’m starting to think maybe we should all file something. Whether you voted for Trump, voted against him, stopped watching the news entirely every American has been dragged through the psychological mud pit that the January 6 United States Capitol attack and 2020 election aftermath turned this country into.
No, we are obviously not the same as the people who stormed the Capitol but all of us have had to live inside the fallout ever since.
The pointless lawsuits, the press conferences in parking lots, the endless fundraising emails, the Facebook investigations conducted by people hiding behind anonymous profile pictures, the families split apart by conspiracy theories, and the friendships wrecked over politics.
And now, after all of that, the federal government may be opening up a taxpayer-funded compensation program tied to the whole mess.
There’s something almost perfectly American about it. We spent years arguing over whether the country was being torn apart by lies surrounding the election, and somehow the conclusion appears to be: fine, let’s all pay for it now.
That’s really the part that feels corrupt.
The country absorbed years of distrust and chaos over claims that never held up in court. Judges rejected them, audits rejected them, and election officials rejected them, but the story never really ended because somewhere along the way the story itself became more useful than the truth.
It fueled campaigns, built media empires and podcasts, launched political careers for people who probably have no business leading anybody, and created an entire economy of outrage where half the internet now seems financially dependent either on spreading these lies or screaming about them nonstop in response.
And now, somehow, it may evolve into an actual taxpayer-funded compensation structure with, according to Blanche himself, “no limitations on the claims,” which is probably a sentence that should concern people a lot more than it seems to.
Because once political grievance becomes something the government compensates financially, where exactly does it stop? Almost everybody in America thinks they’ve been screwed by politics over the last decade.
I’d like compensation for having to hear the phrase “civil war” recycled every six weeks by right wing propagandists who seemed determined to keep the country permanently terrified and angry. I’d like reimbursement for every march and protest people felt forced to attend because the Trump administration was doing something outrageous, cruel, or deliberately inflammatory yet again.
And I’d definitely like a small monthly stipend for surviving the stretch of American history where every Alex Jones wannabe with an internet connection suddenly became convinced they were uncovering a global conspiracy bigger than Watergate. Remember Pizzagate? Somehow that was only a few years ago.
At some point this cycle of lies, outrage, paranoia, and political theater has to end. But if the federal government is now handing out compensation for the emotional and institutional damage caused by the last six years, then maybe the rest of us should at least get something for living through it too.
Because January 6 didn’t just happen at the Capitol. It settled into the national psyche and worked its way into everyday American life, turning neighbors against each other, making people suspicious of elections, the media, public institutions, and eventually even one another.
The damage spread far beyond the people who broke windows and fought police officers that day because the story never really ended. It kept being fed to us, over and over, because outrage became politically useful and keeping people angry has become the business model.
Which is why this new compensation fund feels so stupid. It treats the aftermath of January 6 like a financial dispute to be settled instead of a national trauma the country still hasn’t fully processed because MAGA refuses to let it go. They need the anger and the grievance. They need the audience constantly afraid, exhausted, suspicious of one another, and emotionally trapped in the same argument year after year.
And now taxpayers may end up footing the bill for the emotional and political consequences of one of the most destructive lies in modern American history.
So yeah, in a dark and twisted way, maybe we really are all J6ers now. Not because we stormed the Capitol, but because every one of us got stuck living in the aftermath.
And if we’re all expected to keep carrying this thing around, maybe pay me too. Apparently that’s how America works now, which is a pretty depressing realization.
Oh, and buried underneath all this patriotic talk about “weaponization” and emotional trauma is the small detail that the agreement reportedly blocks future I.R.S. audits and claims involving Trump, parts of his family, and the Trump Organization after he leaves office.
Funny how these things always seem to circle back to protecting the people already holding the money.
Photo Hannah Tu
Support RVA Magazine. Support Independent Media in Richmond.
At a time when media ownership is increasingly concentrated among corporations and the uber wealthy, RVA Magazine has remained one of Richmond’s few independent voices. Since 2005, the magazine has provided grassroots coverage of the city’s artists, musicians, and communities, documenting the culture that defines Richmond beyond the headlines.
But we can’t do this without you. A small donation, even as little as $2, one-time or recurring, helps us continue to produce honest, local coverage free from outside interference. Every dollar makes a difference. Your support keeps us going and keeps RVA’s creative spirit alive. Thank you for standing with independent media. DONATE HERE.
We’ve got merch HERE
Subscribe to the Substack HERE
And Reddit HERE
And YouTube HERE
