Politically Motivated Violence in America
Politically Motivated Violence in America
Calling for the execution of political opponents is now routine
Washington DC 21 June 2022
It was not so long ago that the GOP was a mainstream political party that had ideas about how to run the country. It valued free markets and laissez-faire economics; civil liberties under the rule of law with an emphasis on limited government, economic freedom, political freedom, personal responsibility, and support for democracy everywhere. Electoral politics was a competition in the marketplace of ideas to attract adherents to these values. Legislative governance was the resolution of disagreement and difference through persuasion and compromise between competing political parties. A political opponent was an American citizen with equal rights to think and act according to their conscience (within the law). Legions of Americans have fought and died to protect this principle - the free exercise of rights by their fellow citizens, regardless of whether they shared the same political party, race, creed, country of origin, or any other identifier.
In 2022, this description of American democracy sounds archaic. Today, conservatives label all political opponents (including members of their own party) as public enemies - ‘traitors’ and/or ‘groomers’. These very specific labels are chosen deliberately to remove any human qualities from the individuals or groups targeted. What was once a fellow American who just happened to see the world differently, has been transfigured into the embodiment of pure evil. There is a purpose to this rhetorical trick - evil does not deserve any rights. On the contrary, the only treatment traitors deserve is the gallows. As we will see, the gallows is now a commonplace in right wing political discourse. This is not even news anymore. It has been completely normalized.
Democrat Traitors need to be Executed
The clearest example of the genre is this OAN (One America News Network) editorial calling for mass executions of democrats. It follows the fascist propaganda plan to the letter. It projects fascist culpability for rigging the election (fake slates etc) on the democrats, it explains that ‘radical’ democrats conducted a coup (absurd on its face) and are therefore ‘traitors’, and concludes by stating that these traitors should be executed. The days of “lock her up” are long gone.
This is completely indefensible and a threat to national security. It is a call to mass violence for a political purpose. But it is hardly an outlier. Conservative political messaging based in extremist violence is now mainstream with over 100 political ads in 2022 featuring firearms - often shooting at various representations of political opponents.
In the ads, the text is protection of the second amendment (which is not threatened), but the subtext is terror - to ‘own the libs’. The message is clear - the only way to negotiate with a ‘radical democrat’ (there is no other kind) is down the barrel of a gun. Directly or indirectly, violence is the central message of the GOP. It is so common that it hardly rates a mention any more. There is a technical term for this phenomena - normalization of political violence. In other words, terrorism.
“But he did not literally say kill all democrats”
Extremists are literalists when it suits them. They will excuse all manner of thinly veiled and implied extremism such as the OAN execution video by saying “he didn’t directly say kill democrats”. Yet when The Leader is forced to ‘denounce’ his militia (during a Presidential debate no less), and ambiguously tells them to “stand back” (then counter-programs that response by quickly adding “and stand by”), they immediately know his meaning perfectly well.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Would you say that Proud Boys' numbers increased after the stand back, stand by comment?
JEREMY BERTINO: Exponentially. I'd say triple probably.
So let us dispense with literalist fictions and gamesmanship about the true meanings of their propaganda and accept that veiled and implied threats are fully known and understood on both sides. Why else use them? As Ruth Ben-Ghiat has observed
Savvy politicians know that ideas prepare the psychological terrain for future actions. That’s why anti-democratic rulers have always “tested” allies, the public, and the media as they consolidate their power, saying things that “push the envelope” against democratic norms to the point of raising the idea of extralegal or irregular actions. Talking.. is a form of action..[it is] a key factor in the formation of authoritarian climates: the leader’s comments can little by little instill a new vision of what might be possible and acceptable.
Undermining norms of civil discourse and replacing them with visions of killing fellow American citizens with whom one disagrees goes way beyond imagery involving firearms. As the OAN video shows, executions are now the top solution to political disagreement. As we will see, this includes disagreement within the GOP.
GOP ‘Leaders’ call for Executions
In the video below, Pastor Mark Burns, supposedly a man of God, who was running in a GOP primary in SC outlines his plan to re-establish the House Un-American Activities Committee that will decide who is a traitor and order them executed. [This is of course absurd but that does not matter to the viewers most likely to be influenced by this extremism].
Burns is not the only one who wants executions. It is the go-to solution for the GOP mainstream now. Here is a selection of radical GOP extremist propaganda:
“Conservative radio host G. Gordon Liddy in 1994 told listeners that if federal agents try to disarm them, “go for a head shot” and “kill the sons of bitches.” Other hosts, and GOP membersof Congress, warned of federal agents in “black helicopters” planning “a paramilitary style attack against Americans” and the need for an “armed revolution” to resist a “New World Order,” and Gingrich and other Republicans spoke supportively of antigovernment militias”. Dana Milbank
“VP Nominee Palin, urging supporters “don’t retreat, instead — RELOAD!,” in 2010 promoted a map of 20 Democratic-held congressional districts in target crosshairs. A GOP Senate nominee spoke of using “Second Amendment remedies.” Threats and vandalism against Democratic lawmakers spread, and, in 2011, Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.), one of those listed in Palin’s map, was shot in the head by a gunman who killed six others”. Dana Milbank
“Stretch the rope” cries out podcaster turned politician, Joe Oltmann of Colorado “Pretty soon we’ll have gallows being built all over the country. We can take care of all these traitors to our nation”.
Nevada GOP attorney general nominee said their Democrat opponent 'should be hanging from a f*cking crane'
“We need to build more gallows, make an example of these traitors who’ve betrayed our country” said sitting Arizona State Senator and former USAF officer Wendy Rogers. She routinely calls for gallows and executions to the cheers of crowds. In fact, she is so extreme that even the GOP controlled Senate in Arizona sanctioned her, prompting her to promise she will redouble her efforts to push her extremist agenda.
This week, a candidate for the US Senate, Eric Greitens of Missouri, a former Navy SEAL, literally declared war (aka ‘hunting season’ - ‘no bag or tag limit’) on members of his own party! Even staunch literalists would find it hard to argue that Greitens is not calling for the execution of political opponents. [Greitens is focusing on republicans whom he deems have strayed from the true path. Why he gets to decide who constitutes a ‘true Republican’ or a ‘Republican in name only’ (RINO) is not explained. That the former Governor is a controversial candidate is well known. No doubt he has many scores to settle with those who questioned or opposed him in the past from within his own party. More important, he also knows he will face future criticism. Accordingly, he has decided to join forces with the extremist bullies in the party who protect their own regardless of accusations (Matt Gaetz, Roy Moore, Denny Hastert, Lauren Boebert and so on) in exchange for complete loyalty and outrage-inducing displays of idiocy that conveniently distract from serious issues like Congressional investigations into the attempted Coup.] See for yourself:
A new ad has just aired where a black conservative politician claims he needs an AR-15 to defend himself against a Klan mob attacking his home. Keen readers will wonder why the Klan would attack a conservative given the KKK is a key part of the Trump support network. Easy! He contends that these are democrat Klan members. This is another example of things being so absurd that they no longer need to have any basis in fact for whole classes of believers to completely accept them at face value.
Update - Yet more calls to war
Republican congressional nominee J.R. Majewski shows him walking through a dilapidated factory, holding a semiautomatic weapon, warning that Democrats will “destroy our economy” with purposefully bad policies. “Their agenda is bringing America to its knees, and I am willing to do whatever it takes,” says Majewski.
“Radical liberals are behaving like terrorists, calling for a summer of rage,” says a narrator in a new ad from Catholic Vote, a conservative group spending $3 million this month to target vulnerable Democratic members of the House. “An assassination attempt on a Supreme Court justice. Domestic terrorists calling it ‘open season.’ ”
Former President Donald Trump Routinely Calls for Executions
The Leader himself has fully embraced the QAnon solution for anyone who disagrees with him. He correctly believed that his evacuation to the bunker due to peaceful protests in front of the White House made him look weak. Irate, he ordered the execution of the person who leaked the story. This is not a one off. The former President told participants in a White House meeting that Jocelyn Benson, Michigan’s top election official, should be arrested for treason and executed. He has called on the military to shoot protestors. He asked on numerous occasions for migrants to be shot.
His use of violence goes all the way back. In the 2016 election he said second amendment people would sort out Hillary Clinton if she won election. He called for her execution for spying on him (a junk allegation). He constantly attacked Michigan governor Whitmer in speeches and tweets. “Liberate Michigan” was a classic example. Liberate it from what? Its duly elected representatives. After his constant incitement, a plot to kill the governor was discovered and armed maga protestors took over the state house in a dry run for Jan 6. Whitmer responded by explaining Trump’s role in motivating terrorists to target her and her family
Hate groups heard the president’s words not as a rebuke, but as a rallying cry, as a call to action. When our leaders meet with, encourage, or fraternize with domestic terrorists, they legitimize their actions and they are complicit. When they stoke and contribute to hate speech, they are complicit.
As prosecutors in DC, GA and NY closed in on him, he raged at a campaign rally in Jan 2022 that his supporters should mount the biggest riots ever seen Washington DC, Atlanta and New York. As an incentive, he added that he would pardon all people who used violence to restore him to power. He desperately wants the Presidency again to settle scores, but most importantly for the executive privilege protection from prosecution. In return, he will use the pardon power to absolve all domestic terrorists for their violent acts to get him there.
This incitement to terrorism in support of his plans to regain power at all costs, almost on the anniversary of his incitement of the Jan 6 insurrection, barely caused a ripple because his fascism had become so common place.
There are many other examples of The Leader’s incitement to violence. Too many to list here but this article and this article captures some of the key moments.
Death to the Vice President!
The Leader sent a mob to the Capitol to stop the official confirmation of the election. When his Vice President did not do his bidding - by initiating his part in the fake elector scheme - The Leader tweeted to the mob that Pence was a legitimate target because he failed to do the Leaders bidding.
Their response? The crowd became enraged and started searching the halls of Congress chanting “hang Mike Pence”. When this immanent threat to the Vice President (who had a nuclear football and codes) was reported to The Leader by the White House chief of staff, The Leader responded “maybe Mr. Pence should be hung.” In a subsequent interview with journalist Jonathan Karl, Trump doubled down defending those who he sent to kill Pence saying their rage was a “common sense” reaction to Pence’s action to defend the constitution from Trump’s illegal coup. Again, barely a stir. A President initiated the assassination of his Vice President and there was a national shrug! If that is not proof of normalization of political violence - aka terrorism - I don’t know what is?
Dehumanization is the essential first step to mass killings
When you dehumanize people, when you see them as vermin, it becomes permissible to exterminate them. With sufficient encouragement, especially from those in authority, extermination becomes imperative. Untermenschen — subhumans — were excluded from the system of moral rights and obligations that bind humankind together. To the Nazis, all the Jews, Gypsies and others were rats: dangerous, disease-carrying rats.
Rats were a common symbol in interwar Germany to depict Jews. The Eternal Jew an influential and popular German propaganda film continued this tradition. In a key scene, as hundreds of rats were desperately crawling all over each other, the narrator says “whenever rats turn up they carry destruction to the land just as the Jews do among mankind”.
In a typical meme of its day, a mighty oak is depicted with cultural achievements (like the composer Handel) adorning its limbs. The tree is being saved from an infestation of rats by a stormtrooper wielding an extermination canister and pump with “Nuremberg” on its side. The most common pesticide used to kill vermin at the time was Zyclon B. The caption reads “when the vermin are dead, the German oak will again flourish."
America 2016-2022
If you think this has no bearing on modern America you might want to hold off judgement for a moment. When the President and an entire media eco-system (manipulated by active foreign influences) conduct a mass propaganda onslaught on those who do not agree with them by labeling them as vermin, subhuman, and the worst label of them all: traitors; there will be consequences.
The late Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-MD) was chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee when it started investigating the Trump Administration in 2019. Trump responded by labelling Rep Cummings ’s district (and not so subtly by inference the man himself) a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess.” This was not an accident. Trump commonly refers to his ‘enemies’ in these terms. Immigrants are “animals” who like there rats in the nazi propaganda film “pour into and infest our Country”. He famously dismissed a black female aide (and other women he hates) as a “dog” - a media tested substitute for ‘bitch’.
This was not an isolated case. In 2017 a study was conducted among American ‘alt-right’ extremists. Given an illustration of the ‘evolution of man’ from a hunched ape on the left growing through stages to an upright figure on the right, participants are asked to rate where certain groups fall on this scale from 0 to 100. Zero is not human at all; 100 is fully human. On average, alt-righters saw other groups as hunched-over proto-humans. On average, they rated Muslims at 55.4, Feminists at 57, Journalists at 58.6, Democrats at 60.4, Black people at 64.7, Mexicans at 67.7, and Jews at 73 percent of a full human being. In other words, these groups appear subhumans to American ‘alt-right’ extremists.
Right wing social media is chock-full of fascist memes. This poison has reached think tanks. The Claremont Institute published a warning that “most people living in the United States today — certainly more than half — are not Americans in any meaningful sense of the term.” Unsaid ‘only our half - those that think like we do’ are the true Americans worthy of rights and respect. Proud Boy Ethan echoes this sentiment “You start to kind of develop this feeling that these people are no longer Americans per se but they are kind of anti-American.”
They get these ideas from Fox and OAN. The highest rating show on the highest rating cable tv news network projected the ‘alt-right’ replacement trope. Remember Charlottsville? “The Jews will not replace us”? Tucker Carlson [who admitted to being a professional liar in federal court] wailed that the Democratic Party was “trying to replace the current electorate” in the U.S. with “new people, more obedient voters from the Third World.” He neglected to mention their turn out for Trump had experienced a major surge. “Every time they import a new voter, I become disenfranchised as a current voter.” He continued “I have less political power because they are importing a brand new electorate.” The biggest mouthpiece on the right has less power because of immigrants? His power is growing due to his attacks on them.
'L'etat c'est moi’
In the wake of World War II, psychologists wanted to understand how the genocide had happened. Stanley Milgram’s infamous electroshock experiment showed how quickly people cave to authority. There was also Philip Zimbardo’s “prison experiment,” which showed how easily people in positions of power can abuse others. At Stanford, Albert Bandura, showed that when participants overhear an experimenter call another study subject “an animal,” they’re more likely to give that subject a painful shock. If you think of murder and torture as universally taboo, then dehumanization of the “other” is a psychological loophole that can justify them.
“Nikita Khrushchev, in his memoirs, observed that Joseph Stalin referred to “everyone who didn’t agree with him as an ‘enemy of the people.’ ” Hitler and Mao were fond of the statement too. So was Louis XIV. When 'L'etat c'est moi’ (translation ‘I am the Nation’) your enemy is, ipso facto, an enemy of the people. When Trump says something is bad for America he means it is bad for him. When he criticizes people for crossing him - he is targeting them for attack. It should come as no surprise that US hate crimes are soaring and members and witnesses to the Jan 6 Committee are receiving escalating death threats warranting close personal protection security details.
In a 1927 Supreme Court opinion, Justice Louis Brandeis cautioned that: “Those who won our independence believed … that fear breeds repression; that repression breeds hate; that hate menaces stable government.” In Federalist 63, James Madison warned of the danger the “infection of [the] violent passions” stoked by “the artful misrepresentations of interested men” posed to the future of the Republic.
The United States of America is facing a fascist threat from within that uses terror to attain its goals. As I have argued in January 2022, Trump and his crime syndicate should be classified as a domestic terrorist threat. There is a rapidly closing widow of opportunity between constitutional America and dictatorship. On one side the J6C is doing a superb job of alerting the public to the threat. But on the other side, the fascists are pushing a bottom-up strategy to ensure that they have apparatchiks in place in positions of authority over all local and state election machinery. Regardless of the vote at coming elections, the result desired by the right will be delivered by these people - as almost happened in 2020 save for a handful of individuals who stood between democracy and dictatorship at great personal cost.
Supported by violent mobs whom he has promised to pardon, Trump’s only way to save himself from prosecution is now to retake power at all costs. The race is on between the fascists and the Jan 6 Committee / the DOJ. If the fascists win there will be no cavalry to ride to America’s rescue. There will be no “New World, with all its power and might, [to step] forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.” America will be alone. Once they have control returning to democracy may be impossible.
Notes
In case it needs to be said, the AZ ‘audit’, had no factual base whatsoever. Despite being paid for by the Trump syndicate, having nothing to do with official audits (3 of which were conducted in AZ that found no fraud), and run by a private firm with no experience in electoral matters; the AZ ‘audit’ actually found that Biden won. As a component strategy for overthrowing the will of the people, the audit approach was studied by other states before being junked in the face of the AZ failure. The fake elector and other schemes were prioritized over the failed ‘audit’ strategy.
Update 18 July 2022
The mainstream media are catching up with Civil War II's analysis above.
Update 20 July 2022
Rep Jamie Raskin responds to the Gaetz theory addressed above, that the second amendment is all about the right to attack the government.
Update 21 MAR 2023 Shock jock calls for Obama to be shot
"And ultimately, we demand, we absolutely demand that the criminals, the criminals in this country, if you want them held accountable, the criminals are Barack Obama, Eric Holder, Susan Rice," he continued. "This entire criminal cabal that came about as a result of the murder of John F. Kennedy, the people that perpetrated the murder of John F. Kennedy, rise up to that."
"Military, join us and put all of them up against a concrete wall...and do what we must do to save not just our country, the entire world," he pleaded.
The context is the law is finally catching up with Trump. Regardless, this is a direct threat to the life of a former president. It will be interesting to see if the compromised US Secret Service takes any real action.
It would be a mistake to discount the impact this will have on psychologically vulnerable people who feel cornered along with their leader.
There will likely be little protest in NY. However, Wako TX is an entirely different matter. Read about how Trump and his media psyop machine are using Waco’s 30th anniversary of a stand off between a cult and federal authorities to draw in his most vulnerable supporters for a final stand. Trump is not going to set up camp in Waco but he will draw on all the symbolism to make his supporters take the stand for him. Its a repeat of "And after this, we're going to walk down to the Capitol — and I'll be there with you" It remains to be seen his supporters will take the bait. He abandoned the J6 terrorists - then back tracked later saying he would pardon them. This is intended to give license to all who want to use violence to defend Trump. It is just an extension of his earliest rallies where he said he would pay for anyone who followed his order to punch the lights out of protestors.