Concerned locals formed their own groups to fight back online, and Lewis himself is currently fighting criminal charges. The remains of his group, however, are still in Arizona, where they’re locked in a vicious feud with other right-wing groups over the best spots to live-stream the Mexican border.
Related: Dumb Conspiracy Theories With Awful Real-World Consequences
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A Rollerskating Rink Had To Disconnect Its Phone After People Became Convinced It Staged A False-Flag Sword Fight
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A Rollerskating Rink Had To Disconnect Its Phone After People Became Convinced It Staged A False-Flag Sword Fight
David Miles is the founder of the Church of Eight Wheels, a popular San Francisco roller rink that was involved in an unfortunate incident earlier this year. Apparently a patron was enjoying a nice skate while wearing a MAGA hat and carrying a large sword, as one does, whereupon he was approached by another skater who knocked the hat off his head. This angered the man, who immediately drew his sword, sliced the guy’s hand in half, and bravely fled, pursued by the victim, who wasn’t about to let a little dismemberment end the duel.
The incident was shocking for the CoEW staff, who suddenly found themselves as background extras in some kind of Trump-era remake of The Warriors. But things were about to get much worse. An early news report wrongly stated that the victim, not the sword guy, was wearing the MAGA hat. Although this was quickly corrected, the discrepancy was seized on by conspiracy theorists on social media, who decided that the whole thing was a false flag staged by the deep state to make Trump supporters look bad.
That sounds hilarious, but it had genuine consequences for poor David Miles, who had posted on Facebook about the attack, and even included a picture of bloodstains and the dropped MAGA hat. This caused the conspiracy theorists to fixate on him, claiming that he had staged the photo as part of a fake news campaign to defame honest sword-wielding American idiots.
David Miles/FacebookThe post is still public, if you want to read a thousand comments praising hat-based dismemberment.
