It was all balderdash, a PsyOp aimed at delegitimizing support for Trump or questioning the integrity of the presidential election.

Even the Washington Post admitted there was nothing to it, calling the reports a "mirage."

This is too kind, for mirages are genuine phenomena, a product of the physics of light. This bogus warning was entirely the product of human intentions, not the result of impersonal natural forces. And it amounted to the worst sort of propaganda, intended to demonize a group based on lies, by fanning the flames of panic.

But Speaker Pelosi eagerly cancelled voting Thursday because of the bogus threat. This freed up Representative Al Green, a Democrat from the Houston area, to undertake a stunt of surpassing stupidity that was taken with deadpan seriousness by much of the media. The DC insider publication, The Hill, bought into the stunt:

Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) is sending a message to QAnon and right-wing extremist threats by sitting on the Capitol steps on Thursday, the date authorities warned militia groups were potentially planning another breach of the building.

"I want to make a statement to let people know, those who would threaten those of us who cherish this freedom that we have here that we refuse to allow those threats to negate our freedom," he told The Hill.