Kunze says trip far different than what he expected it to be
Rob Kunze of Aurora has no regrets after making a trip to Washington D.C. for what turned out to be an historic, chaotic day in the nation’s capital. It was not, however, the trip he expected.
A strong supporter of President Donald Trump, Kunze planned his trip to Washington about two weeks in advance of the Jan. 6 rally, hoping and expecting to hear new information about contested election results. Nine days after the fact, Kunze shared his experience, and perspective, about what happened instead.
“Honestly, I went out there because I was expecting Trump to say something in his speech, something new, something original that we hadn’t heard before,” said Kunze, a 42-year-old Army veteran who has lived in Aurora for approximately seven years. “Most of it, if you’ve watched any of the rallies, was the same stuff; the whole Russia thing was a witch hunt and now this rigged election, yada, yada, yada. He jumped back and forth on topics and at first I was kind of disappointed because I was expecting something different and we didn’t get that.”
Kunze made the trip with an owner/operator from Kansas (and his wife) whom he works with in the trucking industry. With his wife staying home to take care of their 3-year-old twins, the Palmer area native ventured to Washington for the first time since a high school trip in 1996, excited to be on hand for what he thought would be a memorable day.
“I just hoped he might give us some idea of what he might have, physical evidence, to prove that there was election interference, but that didn’t materialize,” he said. “As it turned out, it was not the trip I expected.”
Kunze recalled waiting more than an hour for President Trump to appear at the Ellipse, located near the White House, where he said the atmosphere was one of excited anticipation.
“We were just standing around as a group and it was no big deal,” he described of a large crowd of Trump supporters. “Everybody was very friendly and conversational so we had a good time.”
After Trump’s speech ended, Kunze said he had a different feeling about the whole event.
“It just seemed like he was just kind of filling time and the more evidence comes out I’ve been hearing reports that the FBI had intelligence that there were people who were intending to breach the Capitol,” he said during a Friday phone interview. “Of course we hadn’t heard anything about that until the last couple of days,” he continued. “I’ve been seeing a lot of videos. There is a gentleman by the name of John Sullivan who has ties to Black Lives Matter and Antifa and he was in the Capitol. I think he’s in a world of trouble because it’s just blowing up on social media.”
Asked if he, personally, has been contacted by the authorities since going public with his story, Kunze said he has not.
“I was kind of expecting it because there are plenty of people on Facebook posting on there and they are linking me to the FBI saying he was there,” he said. “I was on the radio (Omaha station KFAB), I’ve said my name, I’ve been picked up by a couple of different newspapers so I think the FBI has figured out who I am and the fact that I was there. I have no regrets, so if somebody wants to come and talk to me I don’t have a problem with that.”
Nothing to stop the mob
Reflecting back on what he saw happen after the Trump rally, Kunze said the group started walking toward the Capitol. It was a peaceful walk, though he said the atmosphere started to change as they reached the steps of the Capitol.
“There were no obstructions whatsoever to stop this giant, for lack of a better word, mob of people going forward,” he said. “Once you have a group of people moving forward they are going to keep going until there is something to stop them. Once we got to the Capitol, there was a lot of pushing to get up onto the steps.”
At that point the Army veteran, who was deployed to Afghanistan during a 10-year military career, noticed something was off.
“Part way up the stairs we could hear tear gas canisters popping off and getting closer and closer I did start coughing because there was something in the air that I caught a little bit of,” he said. “It just gets in your sinuses and it’s a natural reflex.”
Kunze said he saw six men coming down the stairs, which he thought was odd. One of the men told Kunze and those around him that they had opened up the Capitol and to go on up, but he had no intention of crossing what he knew to be a dangerous line.
“There were people trying to break in in different locations, but 99.9 percent of the people had no intention, no intention whatsoever, of going in the building,” he said in an earlier interview. “I didn’t.”
Kunze said he and the two people he travelled with stayed around the Capitol for about two hours until around 4:30 p.m., knowing they wanted to be out of the area by nightfall. They eventually headed for home, where he later had a chance to watch coverage of the day’s events, concluding that being there felt much different that what’s being portrayed by the media.
“The problem is the media is such a powerful entity that whatever they want to suppress, a lot of people don’t ever hear about,” he said. “There are things happening so fast nowadays that it’s very easy to go on to the next big topic and pretend like it didn’t happen. That creates good cover for them, unfortunately.”
Asked about last week’s House impeachment vote, Kunze said he believes that was a political mistake.
“I think that was a really rushed, premature decision on their part that very well could come back to haunt them in my opinion as more information comes out.
“I don’t know if they see themselves as patriots or just that the United States is malleable enough that they can form it to whatever they want it to be and forget about our past history,” he continued. “I don’t understand their side. I try to talk to people online, but for the most part they don’t want to have conversation. They would rather just shut you down and that’s sad.”
With all eyes focused on Washington again this week for President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, Kunze said he is torn by the division he sees in America.
“I just hope we get through this tumultuous time peacefully and we can come back together,” he concluded. “It really bothers me. I never thought I’d see the day where people who love this country and are willing to fight for it and serve are being demonized. 911 was just 20 years ago and just how quickly this has reversed around onto us is pretty incredible to me.”