General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIncreasingly, right-wing agitators are calling for violent overthrow of the government.
August 30, 2021
Heather Cox Richardson from Letters from an American
"...Yesterday, in an event hosted by the Macon County Republican Party, Representative Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) insisted that the January 6 rioters are political hostages and said he wanted to bust them out. When someone in the audience asked When are you going to call us to Washington again? he said, We are actively working on that one
. We have a few plans in motion that I cant make public right now. He called for removing Biden from office under the 25th Amendment and added, when Kamala Harris inevitably screws up, we will take them down, one at a time. He concluded by saying: The Second Amendment was not written so that we can go hunting or we can shoot sporting clays
. The Second Amendment was written so that we can fight against tyranny.
Today in Pennsylvania, Steve Lynch, a candidate for Northampton County executive, said: Forget going into these school boards with freaking data. You go into these school boards to remove them. Im going in with 20 strong men and Im gonna give them an optionthey can leave or they can be removed.
At a protest in Santa Monica yesterday before a vote on a mask mandate, a man held a sign with the names and home addresses of each Los Angeles City Council member and said protesters would go to the homes of anyone who voted for the mandate and, if it passed, Civil War is coming! Get your guns!
This sort of street-level violence is known for radicalizing individuals as they get swept up in it and then later embrace the larger political arguments behind it. It also forces more reasonable individuals out of government positions as they conclude that their position on a school board, for example, is not worth threats against their families and their lives.
Far from trying to tamp down this violence, right-wing leaders are egging it on. Tonight, on the Fox News Channel, personality Tucker Carlson told his audience that no leader had apologized for these terrible decisions in Afghanistan. This cant go on, he said. When leaders refuse to hold themselves accountable, over time, people revolt
. We need to change course immediately
or else the consequences will be awful.
The images on the screen behind Carlson were of President Biden, Secretary of State Blinken, Defense Secretary Austin, and Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Milley. Carlson often tries to undermine the current leadership of the military, suggesting that he would welcome its replacement by officers he finds less objectionable..."
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/august-30-2021?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email&utm_source=copy
Lovie777
(12,222 posts)with the support of republican congresscritters and republicans across the country. Apparently, while suppressing the votes for POCs and taking away civil rights, women rights, 1st amendment (to name a few) in red states, they want bloodshed as well alongwith suffering and dying from COVID.
Chainfire
(17,515 posts)stopdiggin
(11,285 posts)(and the tide of demographics) - has them staring into a void. They cannot win the honest game - so it falls to bullying and terror tactics.
johnthewoodworker
(694 posts)roamer65
(36,745 posts)Baitball Blogger
(46,697 posts)We just have to respond by cleaning law enforcement of their kind, and hope we have a strong infra-structure to beat them.
Dan
(3,541 posts)Everything else being equal.
Lonestarblue
(9,958 posts)Im talking about the Proud Boys, the Bugaloo Bois, the 3 Percenters, the citizen militias, and all the other white supremacist/anti-government groups. We are a hopelessly divided country, and until these groups are either wiped out or convinced that they cannot win their war, maybe its time to call their bluff. At the least, they need to be deemed domestic terrorist organizations and arrested the minute they break a law. And maybe we need new laws that target them, just as drug laws targeted black people. As an armchair observer, I readily admit that this might not work, but Im fed up with these people and Republicans are not going to change. They will just continue to sink to lower and lower levels.
We are foolish if we think there are still some sane Republicans left. They have long since left the party and become independents. Now all we have left are the kooks, the conspiracy theorists, the ignorant anti-science wing nuts, and the religious right who will put up with anything so long as they can make the decisions about womens bodies and force them to have babies they dont want, cant support, or are causing life-threatening pregnancies.
Marius25
(3,213 posts)You're assuming the military will side with Biden and Democrats.
wnylib
(21,417 posts)Also agree that we cannot assume that all the military and police can be counted on to accept the leadership and command of the Commander-in-Chief.
But, with the increasing belligerence of the RW, and their total refusal to accept elections, follow laws, or be rational, I don't see how their movement can end except in violence. I fear that we are moving steadily toward a physical confrontation of some sort. They are pushing for it with fanatical dedication and won't stop unless they get their war and are defeated.
If there is another solution, I am definitely open to it because war IS hell, especially civil war. We could arrest them when they commit crimes, and we should. But that won't deter them. It will embolden them and their sympathizers to embrace the role of victim and martyr for a "cause." The act of arresting their leaders and spokespersons for inciting violence would not end it. More likely at this point it would be a catalyst toward a violent uprising.
I am NOT saying that we should not hold them accountable for their actions and incitements. We should. But I am saying that they have reached such a fever pitch of fanaticism that open, violent confrontation is unlikely to be deterred by trying to hold them accountable.
Marius25
(3,213 posts)Inciting terrorism or violence is not protected by free speech. Why isn't Madison Cawthorn being arrested? Why are all the 1/6 insurrectionists getting slaps on the wrist and even a Judge is condemning the DoJ for asking for such light punishments.
I had more hopes for Garland, but seems like he wasn't a good choice for this.
KS Toronado
(17,178 posts)And to them it's "Patriots vs Libs"
lpbk2713
(42,750 posts)They'll do it every time.
bucolic_frolic
(43,111 posts)BlueIdaho
(13,582 posts)They want a war, lets let the US Government give them one.
bucolic_frolic
(43,111 posts)MyMission
(1,849 posts)Try try again.
Looks like they're trying (to reinstate 45)?
This time feds are paying attention, and tracking the would be insurrectionists.
Progressive Jones
(6,011 posts)calimary
(81,179 posts)GoCubsGo
(32,078 posts)He has been playing this game for a long time, and he knows exactly where that line is, and how to stay on the legal side of it, where he can continue to sucker the rubes into doing his dirty work for him. I hope he will soon prove me wrong, but I'm not counting on it. I will say that I am hoping some of those rubes will turn on him, however.
Progressive Jones
(6,011 posts)his handlers and FOX lawyers will pull him back.