“Fuck the voting, let’s get right to the violence,” the longtime Trump ally can be heard saying in footage obtained by CNN. “Shoot to kill. See an Antifa? Shoot to kill. Fuck ’em. Done with this bullshit.”
Source: Video Shows Roger Stone Day Before 2020 Election: ‘Shoot To Kill’ | Crooks and Liars
If you are a political fanatic, you’ve surely heard the old saying that when fascism comes to America, it will come wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross. That’s been proven true in this fraught year of 2022 as Christian nationalism rises to our extreme right, but no one predicted this:
That U.S. authoritarianism would also come with a bat-guano crazy musical soundtrack—music that sounds like a Bible Belt altar riff but is actually tied to the weirdly popular QAnon conspiracy theory whose legion of followers believe there’s an elite global cabal of child-trafficking, baby-blood-drinking liberal politicians and movie stars.
This terrifying crossing of some kind of autocratic Rubicon happened—where else?—at a Donald Trump rally in Youngstown, Ohio, on Saturday night.
Trump also made clear, however, that he will not cease inciting the insurrectionist movement—whose animating lie, that the 2020 election was “stolen” through fraud, continues to stir threats of far-right extremist violence. According to a report from the Department of Homeland Security shared on January 3 with various US law enforcement and intelligence agencies, “threat actors will try to exploit” the January 6 anniversary “to promote or possibly commit violence.” The DHS report cites extremist material circulating online, including flyers calling for renewed attacks on the seat of American government: “This was just the beginning,” one says, featuring an image of rioters inside the Capitol Building a year ago, doctored with blood splatter. “Reunion on Capitol Hill January 6 2022,” it further reads.
Source: Trump Continues to Incite the Violent Extremist Movement of January 6 – Mother Jones
The growing drive by Trump’s hardcore allies has spurred election watchdog groups to voice alarm about the threat to democracy posed by Flynn and Bannon – and other Trump acolytes – as they combine debunked claims about election fraud and calls for further 2020 election audits with planning conservative takeovers of official positions that run US elections. The moves come a year after the attack on the Capitol in Washington when a pro-Trump mob invaded the building in an attempt to stop the certification of Biden’s election victory.
Insurrectionists carried concealed pistols, allegedly stockpiled weapons nearby, and called for overthrowing the US government.
This attempted political cover-up has hinged on another specific claim: that no one who stormed the Capitol brought guns.
Evidence of numerous firearms among January 6 perpetrators shows those claims to be false. A Mother Jones investigation drawing on public video footage, congressional testimony, and documents from more than a dozen federal criminal cases reveals that various Trump supporters descended on DC that day armed for battle with guns and other potentially lethal weapons. At least three people arrested in connection with the insurrection are facing charges for carrying firearms on Capitol grounds. At least eight others carried knives or tasers at the Capitol, including two defendants who allegedly committed assaults with tasers, according to FBI and court documents. Multiple others arrested downtown and in the vicinity of the Capitol had rifles, pistols, explosive materials, and large supplies of ammunition. And communications among numerous January 6 suspects detailed in court documents indicate that many of their fellow insurrectionists were armed with guns.
Source: Trump Extremists Brought Numerous Guns on January 6, Evidence Shows – Mother Jones
Meanwhile, thousands languish in jails across America for the possession of weed which is legal in 18 states
Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was sentenced Monday to more than five months in prison for burning a Black Lives Matter banner stolen from a church in Washington, D.C., and for carrying two high-capacity firearm magazines when he was arrested weeks later, the Department of Justice said. Tarrio pled guilty to one count of destruction of property and one count of attempted possession of a large-capacity ammunition feeding device in July. Tarrio said Monday that there was “no excuse” for his actions, adding that he made “a grave mistake” that day. “I’d like to profusely apologize,” he said, adding, “What I did was wrong.”
Source: Proud Boys leader sentenced to 5 months in prison on weapons and vandalism charges – CBS News
Making sure the coup never ends but keeps rolling on is probably Trump’s best chance to avoid going to jail for crimes ranging from rape to bank fraud, sedition and treason. Running for office gives him both some political and legal immunities and access to more cash, so he’s going to persist and amp up the volume of his efforts. But Trump’s neofascist coup is no longer limited to himself and his fellow DC insiders. State after state is being taken over from the ground up by Trump supporters who want to end multiracial democracy in America and turns us back into a white-supremacist ethnostate. From Oregon to Florida and all across states in between, local school boards are being seized by anti-American supporters of the former reality TV star. The world watches with horror and our actual president, Joe Biden, finds himself, along with Democrats in Congress, frustrated at every turn by Trump’s loyalists and a few Democratic senators who are taking money from the same billionaires who fund the GOP and empower Trump. Meanwhile, the coup rolls on.
Source: Trump’s Shadow Cabinet is Part of his Ongoing Coup | The Smirking Chimp
That’s what happens when you go to bat for a notoriously cheap, friendless, crappy businessman.
Source: Rudy Giuliani Is Reportedly Close to Broke—and Donald Trump Isn’t Taking His Calls – Mother Jones
I was acting as Trump and his minions do: free to say anything, no matter how ridiculous, with no basis in observable fact.
The Cape Cod Times reported that this woman was a well-respected teacher and an active member of her community. She spent the past several weeks of her life in a coma and on a ventilator. She refused to get vaccinated, contracting the virus while visiting family in maskless South Dakota.
Source: Anti-vaxxer Trump Supporter Dies From COVID | Crooks and Liars
It was a big week for former president Trump, who on Saturday held his first rally since January 6, which ended with the deadly riot at the US Capitol. And it was a big week for his loyalists, many of whom appear to be attempting to distance themselves from their former leader.
Source: A Parade of Trump Loyalists Are Having Second Thoughts – Mother Jones
Michael Flynn made some news this Memorial Day weekend. Not in a good way for a retired lieutenant general. Appearing at a “For God & Country” conference in Dallas that was associated with the nutty QAnon movement, Flynn was asked “why what happened in [Myanmar] can’t happen here.” The questioner, who called himself a “simple Marine,” was referring to the brutal military coup that overthrew the democratically elected government there in early February and and installed a junta that has killed over 800 people and detained thousands—and he was citing the Burmese coup as a positive example. People in the pro-Trump, Big Lie-embracing crowd cheered to show their desire for similar action in the United States. Flynn replied, “No reason. I mean, it should happen here.”
Former White House adviser Stephen Miller said on Sunday that he is suing the Biden administration to prevent Black people from having an unfair advantage over other races.
Source: Stephen Miller Is Suing Joe Biden On Behalf Of White People | Crooks and Liars
After he texted his brother about his accomplishments on that day, his brother shot back, “What the actual fuck is wrong with you?”, later telling a friend about his brother’s stupidity. The friend later tipped off the FBI.
Capitol Hill Rioter Bragged He Disguised Himself As ‘Antifa’, Fought ‘Bad Cops’ | Crooks and Liars
We can’t look away from this simple set of facts: All the evidence points to the conclusion not just that Trump recklessly whipped up a mob that went on to storm the Capitol, but also that he wanted that mob to succeed in finding and attacking those who stood in the way of his return to the presidency. Of course, nobody can know what exactly went on inside Trump’s mind that day, but his conversation with Tuberville, the subsequent tweet, and his conversation with McCarthy point in a very dark direction.
Let’s Be Honest About What Trump Wanted on January 6
Now that Donald Trump has gone, what will his ride-or-die supporters in Australian media do? How will they “own the libs” when the libs have their hand at the tiller? Whose ideas will they crib as US conservatism falls deeper into a post-Trump fugue? The recent output of high-profile Australian Trumpists suggests that the solution will be to gradually back away from Trump himself, even as they double down on aspects of the Trumpist movement. That’s necessary because, even for the diehards and the know-nothings, since the 6th of January, Trump the man has revealed himself to be a spectacularly toxic liability. He departed, according to Gallup’s numbers, as the least popular US president in the history of opinion polling: he had the lowest average approval rating over the life of his presidency and, unlike every other president since Roosevelt, he never enjoyed majority approval.
We shouldn’t forget which Australian commentators carried water for Trump | Donald Trump | The Guardian
Proud Boys leader Joe Biggs once dined with Lindsey Graham at Trump’s D.C. hotel. Now he’s under arrest
Wait, do blue lives matter? How Joe Biggs and the Proud Boys turned on the police | Salon.com
Lord Beaverbrook is at a cocktail party conversing with an attractive woman, and the conversation turns to ethics. He asks her if she would sleep with someone for a million pounds. She says that she would. He asks her, “Would you sleep with someone for five pounds?” She says, “Certainly not, what sort of woman do you think I am?” He observes drily, “Madame, we have already established that. Now we are just haggling about the price.” I have some questions for the resignees:
Dear Rats deserting Trump’s Sinking Ship: All those Times you didn’t Resign or Even criticize his Monstrous Deeds
What these folks are experiencing is actually more psychological than political. Their identities have been built on a foundation of supremacy—which is on a collision course with change. Unless they find it within themselves to adapt, a crash is inevitable. In fact, it is already underway.
Status Anxiety on the Right | Washington Monthly
Now the stance of the ordinary right-winger is that social responsibility, in and of itself, is a dreadful imposition that must be shunned. “Triggering” liberals is the only value left standing, and it remains the top priority even in the face of mass illness and death.
Trump lost the election — but his legacy of coronavirus denialism is here to stay | Salon.com
He spent over an hour claiming (falsely) he’d won the state and trashing the state’s Republican officials. He barely mentioned the candidates he’d come to support.
Trump has a taste for revenge and is hungry for more. It’s happened before
The violence following the November 14 “Million MAGA March” in Washington, D.C., helped establish a pattern for Proud Boys violence that’s now expanded to other American cities. By David Neiwert
Not Just ‘Standing By,’ Proud Boys Bring Politics Of Intimidation To Streets In Defense Of Trump | Crooks and Liars
“Lock her up! Lock her up!” The crowd said their prayer, their mantra at the Republican National Convention in 2016, and Lt. General Michael Flynn (Ret.) went right along with them from the podium. Even Trump has never gone quite that far. .”Lock her up. That’s right… I have called on Hillary Clinton to drop out of the race,” Flynn told the crowd. “If I did a tenth, a tenth of what she did, I would be in jail today.” O Sweet Gods of Irony, thank you. Flynn won’t be going to jail now that the president has pardoned him for lying to the FBI. On Wednesday, Trump tweeted, “It is my Great Honor to announce that General Michael T. Flynn has been granted a Full Pardon. Congratulations to @GenFlynn and his wonderful family. I know you will now have a truly fantastic Thanksgiving!”
Pardon Me: Michael Flynn’s Get-Out-of-Jail-Free Card Lands Face Up | Washington Monthly
Joe Hockey Joe Hockey is one of the most striking examples of someone who has put their neck on the line for Trump. The former ambassador and Trump golfing buddy has developed strong connections to the president’s administration through his DC lobbying outfit Bondi Partners. Hockey will have an interesting time trying to build bridges if he wants to secure a future as a lobbyist in the halls of a Biden White House. The most awkward conversations will no doubt be around Hockey’s recent support for Trump’s election fraud claims. He may need to rely on his partner, Alex Tureman, a former operative inside the Democrats, to help mend the relationship.
Joe Biden’s presidency will be a problem for Australia’s loudest Trump fans.
Several of the MAGA marchers who brought violence to downtown Washington, D.C., on Saturday night used their Trump flags as weapons.
Violence Breaks Out After Dark In D.C. As MAGA Marchers Bring Thug Tactics To The Capital | Crooks and Liars
Proud Boys rally in Portland, Oregon, stokes fears of renewed violence | US news | The Guardian
“This is a critical moment,” said Brown, a Democrat. “We have seen what happens when armed vigilantes take matters into their own hands. We’ve seen it in Charlottesville, we’ve seen it in Kenosha and, unfortunately, we have seen it in Portland.
Proud Boys rally in Portland, Oregon, stokes fears of renewed violence | US news | The Guardian
The Caravan of 600 Trump Praised PATRIOT PRAYER who are they? (ODT)
In the wake of the shooting death over the weekend of a supporter of the far-right group Patriot Prayer in Portland, Oregon, The New York Times, USA Today, and MSNBC are papering over the intrinsically violent nature of the group, its ties to white nationalism, and its history of staging armed confrontations against anti-fascist activists. This lapse is part of a larger pattern of mainstream media coverage that shies away from calling out right-wing extremism.
Mainstream media are whitewashing Patriot Prayer, a violent far-right group in Portland | Media Matters for America
When Tucker Carlson set off a firestorm of criticism on Wednesday — by describing a 17-year-old Trump supporter who opened fire on protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin on Tuesday, killing two, as a well-meaning kid who decided he “had to maintain order” in the Democrat-run state because “no one else would” — the Fox News host was surfacing an idea that had already spread widely on the far-right.
Trump supporters defend teen who killed protesters in Kenosha
Let me just underline that. One of our foremost epidemiologists, a man whose talents we desperately need during a pandemic, has been receiving death threats and his daughters have been harassed to the point of needing protection.
It is Americans on the far right and Trump supporters who have made these threats on the lives of innocents. Fauci has also been viciously attacked at Fox News, the Leni Riefenstahl of American Fascism.
So it turns out that a desire to murder innocents and savagery and anti-science fundamentalism are not absent from America, either.
ISIL thugs also issued death threats to a scientist, targeting Dr. Khaled al-Asaad, who headed the scientific mission at the fabled city of Palmyra in Syria’s eastern desert. It had a rich heritage of Near Eastern paganism and was then taken and ruled by Rome for centuries. The city is one of the world’s most precious archeological sites. Queen Zenobia launched her wideranging but ultimately unsuccessful bid to take the Near East from Rome from there in 270 A.D., for a brief moment ruling from Alexandria to Ankara.
In the past 4 years how often have we seen America protesting Trump? (ODT)
via Federal Crackdown in Portland Provokes Solidarity Protests Across the Country | Common Dreams News
Republicans that have spoken with Trump in recent days describe him as depressed and “down in the dumps.” “People around him think his heart’s not in it,” a Republican close to the White House said. Torn between the imperative to win suburban voters and his instincts to play to his base, Trump has complained to people that he’s in a political box with no obvious way out. According to the Republican, Trump called Tucker Carlson late last week and said, “what do I do? What do I do?”
An article published on Pew’s website this week explains: “Roughly seven in ten white evangelical Protestants, 72%, say they approve of the way Trump is handling his job, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted June 16-22. That is a 6 percentage point drop from 78% recorded in April, in line with the 5-point drop during that period among U.S. adults overall. The share of white evangelicals who say they ‘very strongly’ approve of Trump’s performance is now at 59%, down 8 points from 67% in April.”
Empty seats and Social Distancing at Trump’s 1 Million are coming rally, (ODT)
via After Weeks Of Anticipation, Trump Rally Crowd Underwhelms | HuffPost Australia
Nearly 200 appearances by vigilantes and far-right extremists have been counted at protests over the past few weeks.
via Armed Vigilantes Receive Warm Police Reception Amid Protests
This Alt-Right Trumpster ERIC STRIKER is in fear of becoming the New Black. In fact he suggests he already is the American victim of racism (ODT)
“The new normal of institutional racial tyranny in America is that any dispute between a white or a black, regardless of the circumstances, means the black will receive extra special treatment from the police while the white will be subject to draconian measures.”
The United States of South Africa, by Eric Striker – The Unz Review
Who is Eric Striker
Don really lives in the bunker of his own mind and shames America in the process.(ODT)
KKK left Blacks hanged in trees for the public to see. Now Trump posts tweets about how great it is to see his secret service boys and their dogs prepare for so much FUN with such eagerness.
via How Tear Gas Became the White Supremacist’s Favorite Poison – Mother Jones
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trumpism is a form of fascism, of course, but at its core is a whiny rebellion against the achievements of human and civil rights since the 1960s. Do the new norms after the Civil Rights Movement stop people from saying in public that African-Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, Asians and women are inferior? Then by God, Trump and Bob Mercer and Breitbart and Fox would go out of their way to put all those groups down.
These are the fans Trump claims he’s entertaining on his daily TV show for Trumpsters and others (ODT)
The coronavirus pandemic is defining for the globe what’s “essential” and what things we really can’t do without, even though we might not need them for survival.
In some US states, golf, guns and ganja have been ruled essential, raising eyebrows and – in the case of guns – a good deal of ire.
He’s Your President America- Quid Pro Quo Threat
President Donald Trump on Wednesday lashed out at the news media for accurately reporting his remarks about New York officials being nice to him as a prerequisite for getting help with the coronavirus pandemic.
During a Fox News town hall on Tuesday, Trump attacked New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who earlier in the day sharply criticized the federal government’s response to the pandemic.
“It’s a two-way street,” Trump said of helping out New York during the crisis. “They have to treat us well, too.”
The decision came shortly before Trump addressed the nation about the rapidly spiraling coronavirus, which has resulted in the infection of more than 1,200 people so far within the United States. The president said he was banning noncitizens from traveling to the U.S. from Europe for 30 days in an attempt to stave off more infections, but he failed to speak about the availability of testing across the country amid reports that not enough kits are available and that some hospitals are running out of supplies.
via Trump Cancels Travel To Nevada And Colorado This Week Amid Coronavirus Spread | HuffPost Australia
Trumpsters are Lower than a snake’s belly actively plotting the withholding of medicines from those they regard their scapegoats, enemies or simply unwanted by them (ODT)
via Hawkish Group Targets Medicine Sales to Iran Amid Coronavirus Crisis
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