Several things are moving at once as breaking news but there has been a bomb threat made to the organizers of the Principles First summit in Washington. The Principles First group is considered a center-right alternative to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), and, according to The Guardian, the organizers confirmed the bomb threat after they suddenly asked attendees to clear the room hosting the program. From the report in The Guardian:
“We have received a credible bomb threat from an account claiming to be ‘Enrique T.’ ‘To honor the J6 hostages.’ Yesterday, the recently pardoned leader of the Proud Boys who was sentenced to 22 years in prison for seditious conspiracy and the attack of January 6th came to the Summit and harassed the J6 police who were speaking,” organizers said in a social media post.
Note the link between this group and the January 6th officers because there was a confrontation between Proud Boy leader Enrique Tarrio and former Capitol Police Officer Michael Fanone. This video has been splashing all over social media and is almost surely linked to the bomb threat:
Watch as former leader of the Proud Boys Enrique Tarrio confronts former Capitol police officer Michael Fanone.
Remember, Officer Fanone LIED under oath during January 6th trials. His lies helped lead to the conviction & 22 years Enrique Tarrio was ultimately sentenced to. pic.twitter.com/3do0Gu9zT0
— Derrick Evans (@DerrickEvans4WV) February 22, 2025
To be sure, it is infinitely easier to pick up a phone and deliver a threat than to actually make a bomb and so some caution is warranted before anyone raises their fear to another level. But it is just as obvious that tensions are so high that no one would be surprised if violence began to spring up, though – so far, we have been able to avoid a pattern of violence as part of the government paradigm shift that is occurring as we speak. This gets plenty scary when considering that some unbalanced people may actually believe that anything they do in Trump’s name will be pardoned and must be warranted.
Jim Acosta, the former CNN host, posted a copy of the threatening message on social media. The message claimed that four pipe bombs had been deployed against political enemies of “Emperor Trump” who “all deserve to die”, including attenders at the conference, Michael Fanone, a former US Capitol police officer, Fanone’s mother and John Bolton, Donald Trump’s former national security adviser.
Setting aside the personal attack on Bolton, the very thought that many out there actually do believe that any resistance to Donald Trump in any way does deserve “death” can nearly paralyze a person if concentrated on. Those of us who have visibly opposed the administration’s plans feel it more acutely – it is real. And it really sticks with you.
It would be unbelievably tragic for this “war” to evolve to a point where political violence is justified by either or both sides. Here, we have Republicans – conservatives, who just happen to oppose Donald Trump, getting the same death threats that one supposes go out to Adam Schiff, or liberal writers with unusual last names. One can only hope to respond as bravely as did the organizers of the conference, to say nothing of the police officers who stood their ground at the Capitol, or the police officers who immediately moved to protect the people at the conference today:
Mayo commended the police officers and security officials who responded quickly to the threat, telling summit attendees: “We are not going to be cowed … It would have been easy to go home and write this off and let these threats win. But this is what America is all about, and America’s democracy – the way that our government works – cannot be cowed by threats like this or people like this.”
And yet at some point, if this continues, and if Donald Trump doesn’t stand up and say “No!” these won’t continue to always be mere threats. There will come a time when it is action and ugly. Resist all you can. Additionally, as if it need be said, it is the president’s responsibility to forcefully come out in opposition to this. Trump himself could go a long way in ensuring that violence is kept at bay by simply rejecting this entirely. We will see.
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“Trump himself could go a long way in ensuring that violence is kept at bay by simply rejecting this entirely. We will see.” We won’t! But we will hear subtle nudges, denial and distancing. “Stand by”.