Welcome to Pushback. I'm Aaron Mate. Joining me is Max Blumenthal, the editor of the Grey Zone and author of

the Management of Savagery. Max, welcome to pushback. Great to be here, Aaron. You have been on the ground

covering the Stop the Steel riot and its aftermath.

You were there that day on January 6th.

You've also been covering what the response has been, including this military lockdown of the Capitol.

Just talk to us first about your impressions about what you're seeing on the streets of DC right now and the aftermath of the riot?

Yeah, I've been on the ground because I pretty much live there.

I live across Santa Costa River from Capitol Hill, so it's not very hard for me to get up there and see what's taking place.

And it's been pretty striking to witness events since January 6th and even in the days leading up to it.

By the time this is published, there should be a piece by me on the Grey Zone on the YouTube channel video package about what is effectively a military occupation of

Central DC. I went to the federal center area which is a little bit south of the

National Mall. It is flanked with military vehicles, police cars and then as you move

closer to the Capitol there are

there are blocks and blocks and blocks of instantly erected 12-foot non-scalable

fencing with thousands of National Guard troops behind them milling around

aimlessly with lethal weapons which they were authorized to possess

inside DC and to use. That's the red zone. The red zone is forbidden to all non-official traffic,

including foot traffic. And I was walking in the green zone, which is an area where local

residents can walk, businesses can be open,

but vehicle traffic is essentially forbidden except for official vehicles which are swept for weapons.

And obviously the red zone is closer to the public building, the federal buildings, the

national mall where the inaugural ceremony is to be held.

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