She helped him flee a rally, then learned he was a right-wing provocateur

[IronLionZion]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2026/01/19/jake-lang-minneapolis-march/
Archive link https://archive.ph/hKpsP


Jake Lang, a pardoned Jan. 6 rioter, jumped into a stranger’s car after he was driven from his anti-immigrant march in Minneapolis by a large counterprotest.



Daye Gottsche let the stranger into the car without knowing he was a right-wing provocateur who had been leading a march to support President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

She didn’t realize that the demonstrators she saw on her drive had gathered at Minneapolis City Hall on Saturday to counterprotest — and were chasing him away, throwing punches at him. Gottsche did not recognize that this man was Jake Lang, who was charged with beating police officers with a baseball bat during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and jailed for four years before Trump pardoned him.

She saw only a man in need of rescue.

“Please help me,” Lang said, standing outside her friend’s car door, Gottsche told The Washington Post. “They hurt me bad.”

Gottsche saw a cut on his lip and scrapes on his face. From the driver’s side, her friend unlocked the doors. Lang jumped in the back seat.

As they waited for the stoplight to turn green, protesters swarmed them, shouting “That’s him!” according to video of the incident and interviews with Gottsche and Lang. People pried open the doors and kicked Lang. Some hit the car itself. Finally, Lang, Gottsche and her friend sped away.

There was an earlier thread and video showing a black man shielding this idiot from further violence. And then a trans woman and her nonwhite friend gave the white supremacist a ride to safety without knowing who he was. It's in our nature as liberals to assist a person in need without asking their political agenda. In this case it turned out to be a far right Jan6 provocateur. It's very telling that his own MAGA types didn't help him. hmmm...

[TheRickles]

1. It'll be interesting to see if Lang ever follows up with them, and what he says.

[MustLoveBeagles]

2. It's telling that his friends didn't help him

I don't condone violence but what did he expect?

[Prairie Gates]

3. Most of them were getting lumped up as well

The red-haired woman with Lang was pepper spraying the whole crowd, which is kind of what set things off.

By the way, another DUer was claiming that this car incident was "staged" the other day. I wonder what they say about it now?

[IronLionZion]

4. Conservatives often overestimate their support in these situations

[stopdiggin]

10. not really. Any 'friends' that were on the scene had plenty of their own

difficulties to deal with. (and their numbers were very scarce in the first place) So - nothing terribly 'notable' there.

You are however correct in your second statement. We shouldn't be condoning this kind of mob violence (any more than we countenance the overt thuggish behavior of Trump's storm troopers).

But ... If you insist on holding your Nazi gathering/demonstration in the middle of an antifascist enclave .....
Quelle surprise !!

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[IronLionZion]

5. Woman rescues Jake Lang from Minneapolis counter protesters

[progree]

6. Man reveals why he rescued right-wing influencer Jake Lang from crowd outside Minneapolis City HalL, Star Tribune,

1/19/26
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/man-reveals-why-he-rescued-right-wing-influencer-jake-lang-from-crowd-outside-minneapolis-city-hall/ar-AA1UxkQm

Isaiah Blackwell, 30, was the man dressed in black and wearing dark sunglasses who tucked himself in a City Hall window well Saturday next to Lang, who was in the city for his anti-Islam rally, which was scrapped before he could carry out his plan to burn a Quran and march to the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood, home to Minneapolis’ highest concentration of Somali American residents.

After being pulled down from the window ledge, Lang was pressed against the wall as the amped-up crowd closed in. Just a handful of Lang supporters showed up for the rally.

Only Blackwell, face-to-face, kept Lang from being fully engulfed by his detractors.

Blackwell soon led Lang away from City Hall, at times clutching him by one arm or guiding him from behind with hands on his shoulders.

. . .

Blackwell said he came to City Hall at that time because “God, my Father, told me to stop by. I just had to stop by.”

I found this heart-warming and inspiring, even though Lang is about the worst of the worst. I found it fitting to read on MLK day, I think he would have done the same. (the incident was Saturday, 2 days ago)

[LearnedHand]

7. Blackwell was there to "protest Islam" and burn a Quran?

Sounds like he’s one of them.

[IronLionZion]

8. No, that's Lang.

[LearnedHand]

9. Ah got it. Thanks.