Far Right Monitors Anxious About Lingering Possibility of Post-Election Violence

[marmar]

(Truthout) Despite much concern over far right armed rallies and voter intimidation, the election has unfolded relatively peacefully. But those who monitor the far right do not believe we are out of the woods yet. Trump’s false claims of widespread voter fraud have the potential to convince his base that Joe Biden’s election is illegitimate, and to energize Trumpists into further action.

Last week, Trumpist crowds gathered outside some voting count locations, such as in Maricopa County, Arizona. But Saturday, rallies which had been planned in advance became even more aggressive after the announcement of Biden’s victory. In several cities, Proud Boys appeared after their leader, Enrique Tarrio, announced that “we’re rolling out. Standby order has been rescinded.” (Trump has previously told the notoriously violent group to “stand back and stand by!”) Violence predictably followed as Proud Boys showed up to rallies in Salem, Oregon, and Sacramento, California. Armed militias also came to a rally of 2,000 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, which attempted to disrupt a pro-Biden gathering. But state authorities have intervened to stave off more serious violence. For example, in Philadelphia, which has been one of the contested hot spots, two men were arrested last week for possession of unpermitted firearms after police were tipped off about threats against the ballot-counting location.

How long this comparative level of calm will last, however, is not clear. According to a researcher using the Twitter pseudonym AntiFashGordon, antifascists monitoring far right communications have been paying attention to “Boogaloo Boys prowling outside the Convention Center in Detroit, where the votes are being counted, and militias threatening to mobilize as soon as they receive the signal, except that they’re not sure what the signal might be. Their rhetoric continues to be ‘self-defense,’ but they consider a Democratic electoral victory to be an attack.” ..........(more)

https://truthout.org/articles/far-right-monitors-anxious-about-lingering-possibility-of-post-election-violence/

[mr_lebowski]

1. US slips closer to a Banana Republic by the minute it seems (nt)

[Firestorm49]

2. Waiting for the signal? Probably a bat shadow cast upon the moon.

[Clearly fogged in]

3. Attrition weakened them to being easily managed now

At the peak of hype the sheer number of his followers was the highest. Once the bad elements among them became motivated protagonists in the grab for power, the fascist influence was the highest. It would be a matter of time until authoritarians would become toxic to the group and drive away the less adamant. It seems they had the timing down for affecting the coup with enough eager followers still in the fold. And they were at peak readiness on election day.

Could it be that TPTB prolonged the results intentionally to defuse a coup, knowing that both the readiness and strength of trump's followers would dwindle? Or maybe it was the virus.

opinion

[murielm99]

4. Truthout? Really?

Why post anything from this site when the owner has been banned from DU?