Domestic Terrorism

GOP Domestic Terrorism Open Thread: ‘Violence in the Streets’

by Anne Laurie| September 5, 202210:23 pm| 57 Comments

This post is in: Domestic Terrorism, Repubs in Disarray!, Trumpery

Don't want to undersell the risk that Trump could just run and win in 2024, but a campaign that's laser focused on unhinged election conspiracies and "reminder when I did a failed coup?" is probably not going to unseat an incumbent.

— Joe (@JoePostingg) September 3, 2022

IMO, our best arguments for the moment are not about Trump’s MAGAt base voters; they’re about encouraging the better-hinged generic Republican voters to stay home on Election Day.

And TFG himself is doing the Democrats’ work now!

I don’t believe that there will be blood in the street if the grifting scrote is indicted and prosecuted. But if the price of a nation of laws is blood in the street then let it bleed. There’s no other choice for a republic. None.

— David Simon (@AoDespair) August 29, 2022

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I can’t be first. The woman trying to storm the Capitol was first. And that moron shooting at an FBI office was second. I imagine the third will be whichever insurrectionist next believes he/she needs to overthrow a republic that attempts to apply its laws to a grifting autocrat. https://t.co/NZq4lw1iM2

— David Simon (@AoDespair) August 30, 2022

This is an assurance that he will repay those who do violence to put him back in office. It’s not provable in a court of law, but this is treason in heart & soul https://t.co/Q5bFG4FJjp

— chatham harrison is tending his garden (@chathamharrison) September 1, 2022

Ok. Here we are.
Trump isn’t hinting anymore about violence as an extension of politics. But I also think it is important to note that while this radicalizes some (who can be dangerous), it also repels many who no longer can pretend that there is a “good” and “bad” Trump. 1/ https://t.co/9if2YrECuU

— Juliette Kayyem (@juliettekayyem) August 29, 2022

But terror and violent movements grow by the aura of a “win” and a capability to continue that myth. They also weaken when they can no longer convince new recruits or elites that there is anything but violence (in other words, they cannot moderate their stance). 3/

— Juliette Kayyem (@juliettekayyem) August 29, 2022

I hear you! You want him in jail. You want this over. I am no Pollyanna; it isn’t good in any sense. But it isn’t all bad. And we risk thinking all is futile if we don’t take an account of progress as well. @theatlantic 5/https://t.co/LUP7Hc5IIc

— Juliette Kayyem (@juliettekayyem) August 29, 2022

… Trump has a hold on a party that has been offered plenty of exit ramps from its relationship with him, but he is not Voldemort. He has been isolated and humiliated. Many of the individuals who used violence to support him on January 6 are now in jail. His audiences have dwindled. Even on the night of the FBI search, in the area of Florida that he now calls home, an impromptu roadside demonstration in support of him attracted “roughly two dozen” supporters, the Miami Herald reported. “Roughly two dozen” isn’t a revolution. It isn’t even a rally.

For many Americans who wish for a peaceful democracy and remain frustrated about Trump’s continuing influence in Republican primaries, hope springs eternal that someone or something—Robert Mueller, two impeachment drives, and now criminal investigators—will definitively erase his power. But expecting saviors to intervene is the wrong way to think about how the threat of violence from Trump’s supporters might dissipate. Rather, the danger will be over when violent MAGAism becomes a rallying cry for a limited pool of adherents whose online anger fizzles upon contact with the real world.

A win, at this stage, isn’t that Trump’s troops make an apology. It is that they remain an online threat, a cosplay movement, a pretend army that can’t deliver, whose greatest strength is in their heads rather than reality…

But allow me at least a glimmer of optimism. “Sometime they’ll give a war and nobody will come,” the poet and author Carl Sandburg famously wrote. And the decline of MAGA looks something like that—just a smattering of people respond to the overheated rhetoric of Trump and his allies. If Trump’s supporters only end up cosplaying a civil war, that itself is a small victory.

He’s been shedding voters since the day he didn’t concede.The Big Lie, the fake audits, 1/6, the hearings, and Espionage Act nvestigation are negatively impacting his brand/appeal.Some polls show at least 20% of his peak base is gone.May not seem like a lot but it counts.

— Samuel Seaborn Jr.🐶🍜⚽️🎥🇯🇵🇺🇸🇨🇦🇺🇦🏳️‍🌈 (@SSJR1011011001) August 29, 2022

The realistic baseline of a MAGA rebellion is the Malheur occupation. No glory, no purpose, no victory, just a lot of damage, bloodshed & jailtime. https://t.co/Cxq8Iz9KzE

— chatham harrison is tending his garden (@chathamharrison) August 31, 2022

Imagine wanting to overturn democracy for Donald Fucking Trump, who not only doesn't care about his supporters, he actively has contempt for them.

— Jort-Michel Connard ?? (@torriangray) August 26, 2022

GOP Domestic Terrorism Open Thread: <em> ‘Violence in the Streets’ </em>Post + Comments (57)

I Don’t Know How People Parent

by John Cole| August 5, 202210:05 am| 231 Comments

This post is in: Domestic Terrorism

Somewhat related to last night’s posts about teachers, I don’t know how parents and teachers do it.

I was having my morning coffee and a friend called, and she had a 4 year old daughter and a six year old son. We were having a conversation and in the background there was some blasty ass tv show blaring, one kid doing something, while the four year old was in a chair eating breakfast, banging her spoon off the highchair table, and screaming about sprinkles. My friend was going on like nothing was happening and I just blurted out “WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON ARE YOU IN A WAR ZONE ARE YOU CALLING ME FROM CHUCK E CHEESE?”

She just laughed and said “oh I don’t even hear anything” which I know was a lie because she was calmly responding to the screaming child. I finally just said “this is giving me anxiety I feel pressure in my chest I have to go.” I could feel my face and chest get flush and I felt like I was starting to have an anxiety attack.

I don’t know how breeders do it. And I certainly do not know how teachers go into a room with that x25 and deal with it. I’d have a heart attack in the first four hours.

I Don’t Know How People ParentPost + Comments (231)

Late Night Open Thread: Wouldn’t SCA / Larping Have Been More… Sensible?

by Anne Laurie| July 24, 20221:36 am| 62 Comments

This post is in: Domestic Terrorism, Open Threads

"Patriot front" incels training in Utah.
Where do I begin with this. My grandma hits harder.
you can see the rest of the clips on https://t.co/q8EetLwF5D pic.twitter.com/Dzoxiip3YQ

— ALT-immigration (@ALT_uscis) July 21, 2022

3/ if you ant to dive into the patriot front data leak. link below.
I spent to hours on it and I can't stop laughinghttps://t.co/oEHfWbpFcA

— ALT-immigration (@ALT_uscis) July 21, 2022

There are gaming stores in Utah, guys!

you laugh but this is why they need guns with high-capacity magazines https://t.co/wK4WkQfgP3

— Sen. Lemon Gogurt (I – Podcastia) (@Ugarles) July 21, 2022

If I didn't know better I'd think this was about current events. https://t.co/tVbItCQYCl

— K. Chen (@tznkai) July 21, 2022

Late Night Open Thread: Wouldn’t SCA / Larping Have Been More… Sensible?Post + Comments (62)

Repub Venality Open Thread: Steve Bannon, Would-Be Rasputin, Goes On Trial

by Anne Laurie| July 20, 20223:41 pm| 81 Comments

This post is in: Balloon Juice, Commentary, Domestic Terrorism, Grifters Gonna Grift, Open Threads, Republican Crime Syndicate

A federal prosecutor told jurors former Trump advisor Steve Bannon decided he was 'above the law,’ as his criminal contempt case for defying a congressional subpoena over the Jan. 6 Capitol riot began, following a jury selection https://t.co/OZVWzMpxaO pic.twitter.com/0ZYBHQVUWE

— Reuters (@Reuters) July 20, 2022

Yes, I had intended to post this yesterday, but {waves hand} so much news. Useful background reading:

A federal judge has again denied a request from Steve Bannon to delay his criminal contempt trial. The judge said he was confident a fair and impartial jury could be seated despite extensive media coverage of the onetime adviser to Donald Trump. https://t.co/BBYXZDcmBL

— The Associated Press (@AP) July 14, 2022

Took some looking, though…

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…and then there's folks like @eyokley. https://t.co/9SSm6fgtdW pic.twitter.com/UuwaRLN3xS

— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) July 19, 2022

After a long day of hearing exactly what fellow D.C. residents thought of him, Steve Bannon thanked potential jurors in his contempt of Congress trial for being “truthful and blunt.”

Many did not hold back on speaking their mind about the Trump ally who once served as a White House strategist.

One person said he wouldn’t be inclined to believe anything Bannon said because of who he’s associated with. Another who wasn’t selected for the jury recalled comments he had read in coverage of pretrial hearings, saying he didn’t know “what the defense would be.”…

Another individual, a retiree, said it would be a “challenge” to give a fair shake to a man who promoted the “lie that the election was stolen.”

“I do believe he’s guilty,” said the man, who said he’d been following news of the Jan. 6 committee closely, and that it was “preposterous” for Bannon to say he was going to turn this case into the “misdemeanor from hell.”

Eventually, the field was narrowed to 22 potential jurors following a grueling day of questioning and objections from the defense and prosecution. Each side will get to strike several of the qualified jurors on Tuesday, and 14 jurors will hear the case — 12 jurors and two alternates.

The nearly two-dozen qualified jurors mostly work outside of politics, and lead lives that aren’t consumed by political news. Among those in the final 22: a man who worked for an appliance company; a contractor for the city’s Covid testing program; a retired research director who listens to NPR and watches both PBS and Fox News; a technician at Georgetown University Hospital; an employee for a non-profit legal aid group; a D.C. Parks & Recreation worker; a driver who transports special needs students; a NASA photographer; an arts dealer; and a film festival juror…

Bannon was indicted last year after he refused to answer questions from the Jan. 6 committee. He unsuccessfully sought to delay the trial twice, arguing, in part, that there was too much pretrial publicity around the case, including the committee’s televised hearings. Last week, the committee presented evidence that Trump talked to Bannon on the phone twice on Jan. 5, the same day Bannon told his podcast audience “all hell is going to break loose tomorrow.”…

Bannon, who had stonewalled the committee since October, had a last-minute change of heart this month as he sought to delay the trial, a decision his lawyer attributed to a letter from Trump that waived a purported claim of executive privilege. The Justice Department maintains that Bannon’s offer to testify was nothing more than a “last-ditch attempt to avoid accountability.”

Pretrial hearings largely did not go Bannon’s way, and Nichols knocked out several potential defenses Bannon’s team had raised, leading his lawyer to ask the judge, “What is the point of going to trial here if there are no defenses?”

After the jury is seated on Tuesday, Bannon’s attorneys will likely lay out which of the limited defenses they intend to pursue.

Bonus reading: “Facing trial, Bannon vows to go ‘medieval,’ but judge says meh”

Politico:

… Bannon has repeatedly inveighed against the criminal case, vowing to make it “the misdemeanor from hell” for the White House and Justice Department, and he has vowed to punish Democrats for their roles leading to his prosecution for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the attack on the Capitol. Bannon has contended that his contacts with former President Donald Trump rendered him entirely immune from subpoena, a position the Jan. 6 committee and the Justice Department have argued is baseless…

The impending seating of a jury guarantees a high-profile trial for one of the Jan. 6 committee’s most significant holdouts. Bannon, who received a presidential pardon from Trump for unrelated conduct, was repeatedly in contact with Trump in the days and weeks preceding Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob of Trump supporters swarmed the Capitol and disrupted the transition of power, battering through police lines and sending lawmakers fleeing. Bannon was involved in a so-called war room at the Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C., where Trump allies oversaw a strategy to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election during a joint session of Congress that day.

The select committee subpoenaed Bannon last September, and the House held him in contempt of Congress a month later. The Justice Department charged him with two counts of contempt of Congress in early November: one for defying demands for documents, the other for refusing to testify. Each count carries a maximum of a year in prison…

Speaking to reporters outside the courthouse following Monday’s proceedings, Bannon lashed out at the Jan. 6 committee, calling its public hearings a “show trial” and saying he looked forward to his criminal trial beginning Tuesday. Asked whether he believed his jury could be fair, Bannon replied, “Yes, I do.”

Bannon, in recent days, indicated he would relent and cooperate with the select committee, but so far he has yet to provide documents or testimony to the panel…

Like calls to like:

(link)

Chekov’s Gun?

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