It's Not Both Sides - The Triad
By: Jonathan V. Last
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Political violence is now part of conservative/Republican ideology, from the grassroots, to the intellectual elites, to the elected politicians.
Last week Charlie wrote about the right's fascination with political violence and today he unpacked more of it, with Trump talking about Mitch McConnell having a "death wish" and Marjorie Taylor Greene's claim that Democrats have "started killing" Republicans.
I want to keep hammering this subject, though, because the infatuation with violence truly does extend throughout the entire Republican/conservative vertical.
Grassroots
At the grassroots level we have the Michigan militia guys storming the state capitol with long guns. Remember that? And then the Michigan guys plotting to kidnap the governor. And it wasn't just Michigan. Here's the AP:
In Wisconsin, about a dozen men, several wearing camouflage, carried what appeared to be assault rifles and other long guns and stood around a makeshift guillotine at a protest attended by about 1,500 people. In Arizona, a group of men armed with rifles were among hundreds of protesters who demonstrated at the Capitol last month demanding Republican Gov. Doug Ducey lift his stay-home order. Many in the crowd also carried holstered pistols.
And then there are the randos making death threats:
Kinzinger shared a compilation of threatening messages his office has received in response to his work on the committee investigating the attack on the Capitol.
"We know where your family is, and we're going to get you you little (expletive)," another said.
"Gonna get your wife. Gonna get your kids," one threat said.
Death threats are a part of political life. There will always be unbalanced and/or evil people in the world. But what has happened over the last six years is entirely different. It has turned the affect of the unhinged rando into a major mode of expression.
Go look at this multi-part investigation by Reuters at the wave of death threats washing over low-level election officials all across the country.
Elite Influencers
At the professional level, you have think tankers ranging from Michael Anton arguing that violent revolution is an important part of the American tradition to Julie Kelly claiming that police provoked the insurrectionists on January 6, to the Claremont Institute's attempt to co-opt sheriffs into selectively enforcing laws.
Elected Politicians
Then there are the actual Republican politicians dancing around the glorification of violence. You remember the Eric Greitens ad, right? Where he and armed men breach a house "hunting" for RINOS?
That's not a one-off. The Center for American Progress has been keeping track of violence in campaign ads this cycle:
[A] new analysis from the Center for American Progress Action Fund finds at least 104 political ads from Republican candidates running for U.S. Congress, governor, or attorney general this year that display and feature firearms or weapons. Many even include implicit or explicit threats against political opponents or the government. This list excludes ads that only include law enforcement with firearms or pictures from a candidate's time in the armed services unless they make explicit references to the displayed guns. . . .
Of the 104 identified ads:
More than half feature sniper rifles, blowtorches, or assault weapons similar to those used in the Uvalde, Texas; Highland Park, Illinois; and Buffalo, New York, shootings.
Roughly a quarter include threats of various kinds. (In this analysis, an ad was considered as making a threat if a candidate metaphorically targeted individuals, political affiliations, institutions, or agendas with their weapons and/or if they displayed a firearm while declaring their willingness to do anything to "fight" their opponents.)
At least 11 level threats against the government.
Five promote an AR-15, "Tommy" gun, or .50-caliber sniper rifle giveaway.
Four feature minors with guns.
Now maybe you don't buy that every one of the ads CAP flags really counts as a flirtation with violence, let alone a violent threat.
Still—many of them are. More than enough to be more than coincidence.
Then there are the elected Republicans who sent out Christmas cards picturing the entire family—ma and pa and all the chillins', too—brandishing their freedoms.1
Lauren Boebert @laurenboebertThe Boeberts have your six, @RepThomasMassie! (No spare ammo for you, though)
December 8th 2021
3,315 Retweets29,176 Likes
And it's not just lib-owning fun. On a podcast last March, Arizona Senate candidate Blake Masters was asked on a podcast to name a "subversive" thinker he admired. He chose Ted Kaczynski—the American terrorist known as the Unabomber.
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We need EVERYONE to see and admit there is something wrong with the Republican Party, not just "leftists" or liberals.
Didn't a Democrat just rundown a Republican and kill him, maybe you should look in the mirror.
A loyal left wing terrorist did this.....
You aren't supposed to remember stuff like this.
Random and isolated events by a few fringe groups or radical right wingers does not a movement make.
Very few people are buying into these wacky theories and unsupported opinions
No way can the left white wash it's long time history of violence and hate.
Some leftists think fringe groups like the proud boys are a significant threat to this country, even though they can't come up with any significant event where they were a majority player, where it is VERY easy to point out many events where ANTIFA and BLM were major, if not only, players.
Well timed article. After a leftist tried to assassinate a Supreme court Justice, a liberal ran over and killed a conservative, an elected Democrat killed a reporter who was exposing his misdeeds and amidst an ongoing terrorist campaign against pregnancy centers left wing media continues to gaslight and stoke fears about right wing violence.
Comedy.
But, But, But, an unarmed man in a Buffalo costume tried to overthrow the government.
To all of the Trumpsters replying to this article - I think its pretty specific and detailed.
It is, but targeted the wrong ideology.
And completely misleading as it doesn't discuss any thing like what Sean mentioned in 2 above.
Just more partisan BULLSHIT.
The domestic terrorist group Janes revenge has attack 17 pro-life facilities. How many have the proud boys fire bombed?
Also....almost all the mass shooters have been leftist misfts
Remember when that proud boy shot those police officers at the BLM rally in Dallas? Or the white supremist shot the Republican congressman.
Our "outside agitator" friend is missing, but I wonder if she remembers the proud boys burning and looting all of those businesses and killing those dozens of people, or even injuring the thousands of police officers during the 2020 summer of love.
The straw that broke the camel’s back was when the white supremacy groups set up an autonomous zone declaring themselves independent like the confederacy did.
"Carrillo admitted that on May 29, 2020, he posted social media comments referring to the ongoing protests over the killing of George Floyd, and he made plans to travel to an area in Oakland where protests were expected that night. Carrillo admitted that he went to the protests with another individual, and Carrillo brought firearms and incendiary devices in a van driven by the other individual. After observing the protests, federal building and courthouse, and surrounding area, at approximately 9:44 p.m., while the other individual drove the van, Carrillo fired approximately 19 shots at the two security officers"
" Carrillo, 34 of Ben Lomond, pleaded guilty to the federal charges on February 11, 2022. According to the plea agreement Carrillo admitted that he intended to kill the two officers and acted with premeditation by firing on the officers from a van driven by another individual. Carrillo agreed that his killing of Officer Underwood was first degree murder as defined by the federal statute at 18 U.S.C. § 1111. Carrillo also admitted that during the months before the shooting, he aligned himself with an anti-government ideology and wanted to carry out violent acts against federal law enforcement , in particular."
Steven Carrillo Sentenced to 41 Years in Prison for Murder and Attempted Murder for Role in Drive-By Shooting at Federal Courthouse in Oakland | USAO-NDCA | Department of Justice
" During the 2020 shootout with Santa Cruz sheriff’s deputies, Carrillo used his own blood to write Boogaloo phrases on a vehicle he allegedly carjacked while trying to flee, Anderson said, describing evidence found in the case."
Steven Carrillo, allegedly linked to Boogaloo movement, pleads guilty to 2020 fatal shooting of federal guard | CNN
The boogaloo movement , whose adherents are often referred to as boogaloo boys or boogaloo bois , is a loosely organized far-right anti-government extremist movement in the United States. It has also been described as a militia . Adherents say they are preparing for, or seek to incite, a second American Civil War or second American Revolution which they call "the boogaloo" or "the boog".
Boogaloo movement - Wikipedia
Was he a Proud Boy? No, but he clearly aligned himself with far-right wing extremist ideology and another right wing militia group determined to start a 2nd civil war.
The fact that you accept that as true shows only how much you believe in right wing conspiracy theories.
The fact that you say that indicates that you don't realize that most mass shooters are loners, incapable of any real conspiracy.
“…almost all the mass shooters have been leftist misfts…”
Mass shooters are not politically motivated.
But they somehow still are allowed access to the weaponry for them to carry out their evil deeds.
(Not intended to open up that can of worms, just one rather obvious observation)
And if existing gun laws were actually being enforced, it would have prevented a lot of deaths.
"It's interesting that so many of these people that commit the mass murders end up being Democrats" - Republican congresswoman Claudia Tenney
Mass shooters are rarely motivated by a political agenda, experts told us.
Mass shootings are often perpetrated by young men who are socially isolated or have a mental illness, experience a trauma or conflict that sends them reeling emotionally, and have easy access to guns, said Alan Lipman, professor at George Washington University Medical Center and founder of the Center for the Study of Violence.
"Their motives are almost always, without exception, nonpolitical. And they don’t describe themselves as having a particular political motivation," Lipman said.
Some — like Dylann Roof, who killed nine people at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015 — might channel their rage at a specific group of people, said James Alan Fox, criminologist at Northeastern University and author of "Extreme Killing: Understanding Serial and Mass Murder." But that doesn’t mean they’re acting on a Republican or Democratic mission, he said.
"Very few are motivated by any sort of political agenda in terms in parties. They might be anti-gay or anti-black or anti-white. You could argue those are political, I guess," he said.
PolitiFact | Do many mass shooters 'end up being Democrats', as Rep. Tenney said? No
One thing we can be certain of? Republican leaders lying about the political motivations of mass shooters and their apparently gullible constituents who believe them.