You know, I’m an avid reader, and personally, I think that the greatest title for a book that I’ve ever seen is that of long time GOP strategist Rick Wilson, who penned the tome Everything Trump touches dies.
Because it’s true. Just look at his history. Trump has killed his businesses, he has killed contractors and sub contractors who worked for him. And if you think that Trump doesn’t kill careers, just ask the army of current and recent White House staffers and aides who are now busily handing out their resumes like guys on street corners with department store sales flyers. And now, in the final days of his presidency, he has just signed the death warrant for the far right wing militia and white supremacy movement.
Far right militias are nothing new in this country, they’ve been around forever. They are a bunch of social misfits who believe in a warped and perverted interpretation of the United states Constitution the way that Islamic terrorist subscribe to a warped and perverted interpretation of the Koran. And therein lies both their problem, as well as their salvation. Because they all have their own, personal interpretation, they remain fractured and localized. They don’t play well in the sandbox with others.
These militias have long been a pain in the ass. Usually to local and county officials, but occasionally to state law enforcement as well. They like to flex their muscles with a show of armed force in controlled settings, but when pressed tend to fade, loathe to expose themselves to a superior, better equipped and trained force.
The federal government has also long been aware of them, as well as the threat they pose. But since these militias tend to stay within their own confines, not breaking interstate law, and breaking no applicable federal laws, keeping eyes on the ringleaders, and trying to snoop around to find out what they’re up to is about all the federal government can do.
But last week, El Pendejo Presidente just changed that equation. One of the saving graces of these militias were that they operated locally, breaking no federal laws, and in so doing, basically hamstringing any kind of a unified federal response to them.
But in a desperate attempt to save his flailing presidency, Donald Trump irrevocably changed all of that. Because he called them all together in Washington DC. And then he turned them loose in an attempted insurrection against the United States. And in dong so, he made them all members of an interstate conspiracy to overthrow the government of the United States.
In 5 days, there will be a new administration in Washington DC, and a new Attorney General. The FBI is already making arrests, and as they continue the investigation, you can count on hundreds more arrests being made. And the links to these widely isolated state militias will be made. But they’re not widely isolated anymore they are part of a multi state conspiracy to subvert the United States government.
The nation as a whole was sickened and outraged at the travesty that occurred at the United States Capitol last week. And they want justice. And thanks to Trump bringing all of these various militias together in the capitol, and turning them loose on the Capitol building, he has given the federal government free rein to go to war. And if these morons want to know what’s in store for them, then just go ahead and ask the Dons of the old La Cosa Nostra how things tend to go when the federal government takes a personal interest in you. Or some of those Mexican and Colombian drug cartel lords.
Thanks to Trump’s idiotic carnage, national outrage is going to spark a renewed interest in coming up with domestic terrorism laws that will give federal law enforcement better tools with which to monitor and combat far right domestic extremism. And the GOP is going to be too worried about their own image to object to common sense solutions.
Everything Trump touches dies. These militias cruised along for decades by staying beneath the radar, and staying interesting to nobody but themselves. But then the Great Pumpkin activated them, and he brought them all together for a day of carnage. And now the proverbial Sword of Damocles is about to fall on their heads. Good riddance.
If you enjoyed this article, you might also like to check out President Evil, nd the sequel, President Evil II, A Clodwork Orange . They comprise a pretty much daily report from the front of the 2016 GOP primaries, as well as the general election
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The problem lies a lot deeper than the formation of the militias. The mob was formed out of the huge socio-economic divide in the US — too much discontent, too much inequality, education that is so prohibitively expensive, a just as expensive health care structure, too many signs of the wrong kind of status quo. The wrong kind of ‘social’ mentality. The mob is not dead. It will, however, most likely go underground, where it will become even more dangerous. Trump might be gone but this will not change many of those things that need to be changed. Biden has his work cut out and I wish him strength.
The people lacking education, jobs & healthcare aren’t the ones joining militias — that’s a foundational — and false — Bernie myth that’s been parroted by the media. This has nothing to do with “economic anxiety” — it’s solely based on belief in the sovereignty of white male power and the fear of losing it, not on the cost of education or health care.
Can I just say how glad I am to hear this as opposed to the ongoing supervillain narrative that everyone has had since that joke of a coup on the 6th, Murf? For every scary story about how many bombs were planted, how well-armed they were and how much inside help they had, I keep asking the same question: so why did they fail? That little dissertation on militias may well be a piece of the answer.
I essentially agree, but this was no ‘joke’. 5 dead, many injured, thousands of traitors walked after the event to no charges & most won’t be. Yes, it is almost impossible to overthrow the largest & oldest democracy, but if frump could pull this off given his stupidity, can you imagine someone really smart & devious getting into power? I hope the fact since this joke failed, they had their day, now they wont have superior numbers & firepower. They are doomed.
I’ve said this many times, Scott. I don’t play “what if”, just “what now”. And right now, everybody’s too busy spinning various doomsday scenarios to bother asking why this one crapped out so hard. Also, DO keep in mind that the asshole who fermented this crap is still in charge and likely why more have yet to be charged as yet. Plus, if there WERE other players involved (see Republican State Attorney Generals for some of the financing of these people), they may well be wanting to run all that down.
With all that said, one thing they’re never getting back is the element of surprise. They pull any repeats in DC, they will be cut down.
True. The one thing they really suck at is self awareness & reflection. Frump always doubled down, which is why he never learns a damn thing. Thank God.
You should play “what-if” in order to formulate contingency plans. All strategists play what if in order to stay ahead of and be well-prepared for “what now.” A “what now” only approach means accepting a perennial position behind the eight ball.
I agree with you Scott. This was no joke. Possibly a warm up as they were told not to bring guns with them this time, to save that for later. I’m encouraged that there is a nationwide search for the asshats involved and a great deal of citizen participation in outing the terrorists.
Which is a whole other area of concern, that the insurrectionists created a situation that increases surveillance, law enforcement presence and the need to inform on our guilty neighbors, things that I’m sure the right wing decries unless used on the left. One other thing that doesn’t get enough explicit emphasis is that tRump deliberately incited this attack to undermine another branch of government and harm the members of that branch. He’s been a despot throughout his term, choosing to act unilaterally, whether it be using Executive Orders or naming ‘acting’ directors rather than sending nominees through the approval process in the Senate. He’s never wanted anyone else having any say regarding his decisions, which has left us with the mess we have now. No one ever stood up to him.
Well, actually, we have Obama to blame–at least in part–for the Feds letting these idiots get to the point where Trump could “activate” them the way he did.
Cliven Bundy (remember him?) was let off FAR too easy by the Obama administration during that “standoff” over Bundy’s YEARS of failing to pay federal fees for his cattle to graze on PUBLIC (ie, Federal) lands. The man and his supporters actually had high-powered rifles trained on Federal law enforcement. And what happened to him? Not a damn thing.
And then, of course, we had the Malheur NATIONAL Wildlife Refuge takeover by some of Bundy’s allies and supporters (Bundy was arrested while trying to travel to Oregon to take part) and, again, NOTHING HAPPENED.
In both cases, the Obama Administration let the WHITE DOMESTIC TERRORISTS off with barely a slap on the wrist; sure–in the Malheur case, some of the “small fish” served some prison time (most served barely a year and their actual sentences were basically off-set from the time they spent in jail awaiting trial) but the ringleaders (including Cliven Bundys son, Ammon) weren’t held accountable at all. And a big part of why Obama let these terrorists off was because he thought doing so would help “heal” the country even as the main reason these terrorists were so emboldened was their resentment of the “n—- in the White House” and a GOP Congress that was doing its best to demonize Obama to their white base.
It was these incidents that certainly helped stoke the fires that led to the past year’s “militias” doing what they’ve done (from marching on state capitals over the COVID shutdowns to threatening to kidnapping Michigan Governor Whitmer to the “counter demonstrating” over the BLM protests and Kyle Rittenhouse’s murdering innocent people to last week’s invading the Capitol.)
I’ve had similar thoughts about this. There is plenty of blame to go around and Obama does bear some. (As does Jim Comey who also remains blind to his own failings.)
It’s all well and good to want to Move On, or unify or heal, but there is no unifying with the viper in your bosom without death attaining. There is no moving on without Truth AND Consequences. Accountability. This is NOT a matter of vengeance despite its similar look perhaps to accountability. But there can be no “oh gee it’s over let’s move on” without demanding there be those held to account from top to bottom. I truly do not see how the GOP gets beyond this. Nor the Dems, if they do not hold the terrorists to account while defanging them.
You hit the nail on the head, Joe. Unless there is a big smack-down now, with full accountability, and justice delivered, tRump’s cult will be further emboldened.
Somebody on twitter and/or DK commented why folks call them “militias”. They call themselves militias to bring an aura of constitutional standing and legal “protection”. The late Ed Schultz of MSNBC and RT had a segment on these whackos. Noted the Klan after Civil War and Posse Comitatus . Now have also the Sovereign movement in Texas. Fools actually trying to say they are the real Republic of Texas. Funny how they all seem to know each other.
And not know a goddamn thing about history.
There were clearly two distinct groups at the Capitol: The Stupid and The Criminal. Members of the elected bodies aided and abetted The Criminals and must be deemed part of them. But I am curious about how so many radicals were able to afford to rush to D.C. to Answer the Call of the Wilding: Do they not have jobs? Who funds them, then? Who PAID for 10,000 rioters to travel cross-country? Who pays for their ammo and their weekend warrior trainings and their beer? Why do most of them not seem to have lives? (And THEN there are those who have lives and jobs and money and thought this was a good idea: that is a different criminal class and probably the more dangerous. Follow the Money! That has always been the key. )
This was so insightful and well done.
I’d like to add this–heard it from Beau of the Fifth Column:
He said, for crying out loud media folks, not you Murf, the MSM, stop talking about these yahoos as being hardened militia………and then he pointed out why this was a false story.
He said anyone who knows anything about the military knows damned well folks don’t put their right hand on the preceding shoulder and so on and so on unless all those yahoos are left-handed and thus shoot with the left hand. And then he laughed. And this guy knows whereof he speaks………….
Here is Beau in his own words. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXLe-XikgJs These yahoos are pretenders, but as we have seen lethally dangerous pretenders.
From somewhere but I neglected the attribution. Maybe DK but I read pretty widely.
“It’s been well established that “well regulated” means “well supplied”. The 2nd Amendment’s rationalization is that the USA needs people in militias to bring their own weapons for the militia to be well supplied. Because the USA when the Amendment was passed didn’t have much of a budget (prior to income tax etc) that might have been true, but we have obviously gone far beyond that. So the 2nd Amendment’s rationalization rendered invalid, the Amendment moot.
Besides, as noted in another comment in this discussion and widely elsewhere, “militia” is the National Guard. Which is very well supplied, its soldiers very well trained. So that completely moots the 2nd Amendment as well.
The 2nd Amendment should simply be repealed, as it’s used only to create major harm to public health and safety, even to “the security of a free state” itself lately. Since it takes a long time to repeal an Amendment, it should immediately be rendered irrelevant by a Federal law recognizing that it only applies when the Federal government cannot “well regulate, that is well supply” the National Guard.
And then repeal all the other laws depending on that void 2nd Amendment. Then legislate Federally to require every powered weapon is controlled at least as tightly as are cars. Which means registration and insurance to own or sell one, license to carry or operate one, regular competence exams, at least annual inspections, required safety features including locks and safes, criminalizing any reckless display, and clearly identifying marks like serial number particles in ammo. And jailtime proportional to the much worse value:risk ratio of guns than cars.”
“Well regulated” has a broader meaning than simply “well supplied” but that leads to the key point about which you’re correct. The U.S. had NO standing army at the time, so the right of white male citizens to keep guns in their homes & serve the function the National Guard serves now had to be protected. Where these “Second Amendment” zealots get it most wrong is why. They love to say it protects their right to own guns to defend themselves against “government tyranny.” That’s exactly backwards. It was to protect the ability of these citizens to DEFEND the government: against Indian raids, slave uprisings or the possibility of the British invading again.
Exactly. That is why the second amendment includes the words “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the SECURITY OF A FREE STATE, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” It is amazing how often the “originalist eight” rejects the original intent of the framers of the constitution.
I see some on the left going “Oh no, it’s terrible to go after them because they’ll use these same tools against the left.” That’s stupid because they already go after the left and it’s time the right felt some of the heat.
One of the essential problems is the rational, educated, relatively comfortable Americans never had to fight to defend this country. In the past, & now, the republicans are willing to do whatever evil was necessary to get, & maintain power. The usual democratic response? Let’s overlook the evil & be reasonable. You can’t reason with murderous cult members. Period. We didn’t stop the germans, italians, or the japanese by playing nice. Blood. Freedom has always required sacrifice because we ate not dealing with reason. We are dealing with delusional murderers.
As I recall the threat of militias & right wing domestic terrorism was first called out by Janet Napolitano when she headed Obama’s DHS. Unfortunately, the Republican Party erupted in such ire that the ever bipartisan Obama forced the retraction of the DHS report.