John Sullivan’s bizarre path

John Earle Sullivan made his first appearance in Utah federal court on Friday for participating in the violent riots on the U.S. Capitol.

There is not much doubt that he participated. He filmed it and posted it on social media – including spooky footage of a woman shot by Capitol Hill police trying to crawl through a shattered window – then posted later videos describing the experience.

The real question, in my mind, is: what was he doing there?

Trying to answer this big question sent me into a burrow of contradictions.

Let’s start with the basics: Sullivan was raised in a military family. His father was a lieutenant colonel, a staunch supporter of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who raised his boys in a conservative home and taught them to love the Constitution, his brother James said on the Tooele Happy Hour podcast this week (more on James later).

John worked as a successful salesperson, his brother said, earning over $ 200,000 in some years. He paid cash for a Mercedes and was building a house in Sandy, when his political views became radicalized.

“He was doing amazing things with his life and he came out and said capitalism is a cancer for black society, when capitalism literally gave him the Mercedes and the house he was building,” said James Sullivan.

In June 2020, John attended his first Black Lives Matter event, according to Lex Scott, the founder of the group’s Utah section. No one had seen him before or knew who he was. Sullivan also created his own group, Insurgence USA, in response to the murder of George Floyd and he organized his first protest in Provo.

“His very first protest he organized was when someone was shot,” she said.

Police said protesters blocked an SUV attempting to turn when one of the protesters fired a bullet through the window, hitting the driver in the arm. Sullivan was arrested days later on charges of riot, threatening violence and criminal mischief. Prosecution documents say Sullivan was with the shooter most of the day and did nothing to stop the act.

But Scott said he did something that was “just a big no-no”.

“On his second protest he invited the Proud Boys on stage, he invited the militias on stage and said, ‘We want to work with you, we want to be friends with you,” Scott said. “It was then that he was officially blackballed by the militant community.

Scott said Sullivan never attended any of the BLM meetings, never worked on any of their initiatives, never helped push for police reform.

“This guy is an influence hunter, someone who is only there for the fame or the money or someone who just needs attention,” she said. “It’s a thorn in my side.”

In addition to being banned from Black Lives Matters events in Utah and shunned by groups in other cities, he is also accused of profiting from the cause.

On his Insurgence website, he knuckles face blankets, gas masks, bulletproof vests, spear knives, T-shirts and jogging pants. And he tirelessly promotes himself on a network of social media accounts.

But how did he find himself not only among a group of Trump supporters who trashed the Capitol, but also on the crest of the wave?

Sullivan said in a video recorded after the riots that he did not support either Trump or President-elect Joe Biden. He’s not with BLM or Antifa. But he knew, based on the social media posts, that there would be an effort to invade the Capitol and he wanted to be there to film what was going on as a citizen journalist.

“Was I an agent provocateur? Was I there to invite violence? I can tell you no, ”Sullivan said in the video. “I was there to document events and be part of history.”

But he did more than document. In one video, he can be heard shouting, “Let’s go! This shit is ours! … We accomplished this shit! We did this together… let’s burn this shit!

He is seen climbing through a broken window, he confronts law enforcement and tells them to go home, then walks into an office and – it seems and the federal charges against him allege – smashed a window overlooking the square.

Eventually, he and the crowd arrive at the barricaded doors of the President’s Lobby where he films Ashli ​​Babbitt trying to climb through a broken window before being shot by a police officer. Sullivan then shared the video with news outlets and it recorded more than 18,000 views on Friday.

His participation in the riot is seen as proof by Trump supporters that the events were brought about by leftist infiltrators. The main one is Sullivan’s brother, James.

James Sullivan launched Civilized Awakening which aligns with the “patriot movement” and is staunchly pro-Trump. He spent 90 minutes on the Tooele Happy Hour podcast exchanging right-wing grievances with the hosts and claiming that his brother had been “brainwashed into radical socialist ideology.”

“The only way for me to see him have a way out is to go to jail to be completely honest. He won’t stop. He won’t listen to anyone, ”said James Sullivan. “He’s so brainwashed, he’s devoid of logic.

The two brothers are the subject of a documentary in the works and, after not speaking for months, have been put in the same room for the shooting. The producer asked John what he would do if James was stabbed and had a phone. Would he call an ambulance? James said John’s response was, “I would walk on his face and let him bleed.”

Ultimately, I’m not sure all of this gives us any better understanding of Sullivan’s motives. It seems to me that I thirst for chaos and violence more than a philosophy or a coherent program.

“He instigated violence,” his brother said, “people got hurt, and he stepped back and looked at it on camera.

But at some level, it doesn’t matter. The idea that Antifa made good people do bad things is patently absurd. Everyone who participated in the Capitol Riot is responsible for their own actions and must be held accountable.

I hope they will – and that goes for John Sullivan as well.