Naked Violinist Arrested for Storming the Capitol on January 6th

 

     The reason Governor Tim Walz's "weird" insult against Trump and his minions has stuck is perhaps due to how true it is, how well it encapsulates all the years of pent-up frustration at these Bananas Republicans. For all the violence and all the pain, January 6th, too, had a lot of weird people. There was a Florida man who stormed the Capitol dressed as a panda, a New Jersey Nazi and robber who stormed the Capitol with a binkie in his mouth, and so many other strange people.

     The latest arrest details perfectly another example of a weirdo arrested for storming the Capitol on January 6th. The details of his actions that day aside from the fact that he entered the Capitol are slim, as all that has been made public is his criminal complaint. However, a few public records searches give you ebough of a clue what type of person Oregon resident Matthew Mglej is. 

     Known to online sleuths as "#ScraggleTooth," Mglej was one of the first people to enter the Capitol through a broken window on January 6th and one of the first people sought by the FBI. Now, nearly 43 months later, he has been arrested. However, this is hardly Mglej's first run-in with the law, or even the first one that made the news.

    In 2014, Mglej was arrested after refusing to put clothes on when the police were called on him for playing violin naked on a public sidewalk. The charges were ultimately dismissed, but Mglej sued the city and Multnomah County, claiming officers had used excessive force and taunted him. (Why anyone would taunt a naked man playing violin on the sidewalk I can't imagine.) A judge dismissed most of Mglej's claims, and the rest went to trial, where a ruling was issued in favor of Portland and Multnomah County. 

     Mglej wasn't done getting himself into trouble just yet, though. In 2016, during the trial of Ammon Bundy, who occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Mglej was arrested outside the courthouse on felony and misdemeanor charges after police noticed him carrying a rifle that had been concealed by a towel. Those charges, too, were dismissed.

     That brings us to January 6th. This is a clear pattern. Matthew Mglej is a political extremist and a weirdo who sues the government like some kind of male Karen whenever he doesn't get his way. He believes the law doesn't apply to him, and he's willing to break it whenever he sees some kind of vague goal that allows him to be a hero in his own mind, a freedom fighter. Well, Mr. Freedom Fighter, there's a six-by-eight with your name on it.