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VIOLENCE5 BAK

BAK 12 25

four bak:

created 1/6/22

SEE VIOLENCE 5 POLITICAL 10 24

SEE DEMONIZATION POLARIZATION HYPE FEAR

SEE SELF DEFENSE KIRK SHOOT --> WAR

FOX? WATTERS? KILMEADE? GUTFELD

see violent rhetoric eg CPAC 8 22 cruz bannon

see death threat

MERRI OK

SEE DOMESTIC TERROR GORKA FAIL WHT SUPR NEO-NAZI

see border BS DEW space lasers

see trump gop

see trump 15 indict

SEE SPIRITUAL WAR

violence dog whistle? “The answer to 1984 is 1776,”

see radicalization

see big lie

SEE HYPE FEAR ALT FACT EARTH 2

SEE POLARIZATION / DEMONIZATION DEVIL TERMS enemy existential threat SUB-HUMAN INVASION

see student/ press suppression

see lie any means

see ali alex 1-3

see strict fr

see authoritarian fascism MARTIAL LAW MILITARIZATION POSSE COMM INSURRECTION

The four pillars of fascism that Finchelstein identifies in his book are xenophobia, propaganda [DISINFO] , political violence, and dictatorship.

see racism

SEE CONSPIRACY CRM ESCA FEVER SWAMP MONETIZATION

see radicalization soc med

see mass shooter domestic terror hate

see acceleration

SEE DEATH THREAT

SEE EXTRA JUDICIAL KILLING

see treason traitor execute firing squad

see qanon eg Jan 6 hang pence

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aha note that violence is always DEFENSIVE  // tucker "warnings"

roof,  turner diary defend white women from black rapists?

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united health ceo shot nyc

'Boiling cauldron': Experts say CEO shooting exposes deep national rage over denied claims

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an 10 25

Inside Trump's plan to have red attack blue states — using a 200-year-old law

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AN 12 25

George Bush speechwriter and podcaster Tim Miller says anti-gerrymandering Republicans in Indiana are catching increasing threats of violence as the party’s unpopular policies continue to sink it.

Indiana Republicans are making another push at mid-decade gerrymandering, unveiling a new congressional map that eliminates all of the state's Democratic seats, flipping the state's congressional map from a Republican advantage of 7-to-2 to 9-to-0. Meanwhile, the pressure on Indiana Republicans who oppose the power grab has escalated to include threats of violence, with nearly a dozen state lawmakers reporting that they have been the victims of SWAT or doxing attempts.

State Senator Jean Leising (R-Decatur), who opposes Trump's redistricting effort, says she was the target of a pipe bomb threat, but said the threat “will not stop me from serving my community to the best of my ability.”

Miller said threats of violence will likely get more common as the Republican Party gets more desperate to counter massive nationwide rejection of the party’s policies and President Donald Trump.

“I think that if this [Indiana gerrymandering plan] doesn't work, you will see an escalation of this, in part because they're getting desperate,” Miller told MS NOW anchor Nicole Wallace. “I mean, the fact that this much pressure is being put on Indiana over two seats shows how desperate they are.”

“I think that Republicans expected that this gerrymandering gambit in the mid-decade was going to end up netting them 10 or 15 seats when you look at Texas, Missouri, Indiana, Florida, etc. But it's backfired in a lot of places, thanks in part to … some Republicans that have decided that they don't want to go down with the ship with Donald Trump, and thanks in part to Abigail Spanberger winning in Virginia and being able to redistribute Virginia, and Gavin Newsom in California. A few things have happened to now make it so that maybe they'll net a couple seats, which likely won't be enough if the political environment stays as it is now.”

The escalation of threats is unfortunate, said Miller, because state lawmakers don’t have the benefit of protective resources like members of Congress.

“They have legitimate reasons to be afraid,” said Miller. “Obviously, we saw the death of the state legislator in Minnesota, the guy that came to her house. You don't have Secret Service. I think that this threat is real and I think using it as a political bludgeon is real. … It's a category difference from another huge problem we have in our country, which is a crazy person gets radicalized and has easy access to firearms and goes after a politician. We've seen a lot of that. And that's bad.”

See the Bulwark podcast at this link.

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Right-wing media praise Trump’s made-up excuses for war against Venezuela

Trump massively inflated threat from Venezuelan “narco-terrorists” smuggling fentanyl into the US

Written by Zachary Pleat

Research contributions from Jane Lee

Published 11/24/25

President Donald Trump and right-wing media have been quick to cite fentanyl interdiction as the supposed justification for the administration’s likely illegal strikes against vessels in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, which they have blamed on so-called “narco-terrorists” tied to the regime of President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela. But reporting has shown the Trump administration’s excuses are built on lies — with virtually no fentanyl arriving in the United States via routes currently being targeted by the military in a bombing campaign that has already claimed at least 83 lives.

This isn't the first time Trump and his media allies have used fentanyl as an excuse for his out-of-control policies, as it was used to justify his instigation of a trade war with Mexico and Canada earlier this year. The Trump administration’s military buildup also follows multiple actions that undermine efforts to combat fentanyl trafficking into the U.S.

Reporting based on government data makes clear that Venezuela is not the source of the fentanyl problem America faces

MMA //

  1. ### Fox parrots Trump's “drug war” justification for Canada/Mexico tariffs, even as he weakened fentanyl smuggling enforcement

03/05/25 2:56 PM EST

  1. ### Right-wing media outlets are claiming regime change in Venezuela would be easy. Evidence and history suggest otherwise.

10/29/25 4:26 PM EDT

  1. ### Fox praised and validated Trump's legally questionable boat strikes in the Caribbean

10/29/25 3:31 PM EDT

  1. ### Right-wing media's campaign for military intervention and regime change in Venezuela

09/05/25 6:34 PM EDT

  1. ### Right-wing media concoct their own legal justification for Trump’s extrajudicial strike on Venezuelan boat

09/05/25 10:00 AM EDT

  1. ### An intelligence report debunked MAGA media claims about Tren de Aragua and Venezuela. A Trump official is now under fire for reportedly ordering the report be redone.

05/28/25

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AHA INTERESTING TO CLOTHE IN STATE MONOP OF VIOLENCE; THEY OF COURSE HAVE BROUGHT THIS ON THEMSELVES THUS JUSTICE // mtg TRAITOR

ducks hang 6 traitors? ALL HAVE 24/7 PROTECTION

'They should be held accountable': Leavitt defends Trump's endorsement of hanging top Dems

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OMFG

an 11 25 day after pardon 77 trump coup liars

One participant in the January 6, 2021 siege of the U.S. Capitol is now calling on President Donald Trump to establish an armed vigilante squad that exclusively reports to the president.

During a recent appearance on the far-right Gateway Pundit podcast, Stewart Rhodes — who founded the "Oath Keepers" paramilitary group — told host Jim Hoft that not only was he relaunching the Oath Keepers, but issuing a direct call to Trump to deputize his loyal followers to enforce federal laws. Progressive group Media Matters for America noted that Rhodes explicitly urged Trump to use a power that the Constitution assigns to Congress.

"President Trump, as commander in chief, always has absolute authority to call all of us up as the militia ... if he sees it necessary, especially for three purposes: to repel invasions, to suppress insurrections and to execute the laws of the union," Rhodes said. "... So from the bottom, from down the rank and file, we can let President Trump know that we're ready to serve, encourage him to do that, call us up as a militia, order us all to come together in our counties under his command, which gives you complete legal sanction to do what you're doing."

Article I, Section 8, Clause 16 of the U.S. Constitution specifically stipulates that Congress – not the president — has the power "to provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress." It's unlikely that the federal judiciary would allow Trump to do what Rhodes asked, particularly after a judge ruled earlier this year that Trump's deployment of federal troops to Los Angeles violated the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 (which prohibits the military from being used as a domestic police force).

Rhodes' insistence that his group be used as a private army to serve at the pleasure of the president is particularly ironic given the Oath Keepers' history. George Washington University noted that Rhodes formed the Oath Keepers in 2009 "in response to a perceived conspiracy by the U.S. government to facilitate total economic collapse, thereby providing the pretext to imposing martial law and a system of totalitarian control." But if Trump granted Rhodes' request, the Oath Keepers would in fact be used to impose the same martial law his group ostensibly opposes.

In 2023, Rhodes and another Oath Keepers leader were each sentenced to 18 years in prison for seditious conspiracy for their role in the January 6 insurrection — the most serious charge given to all of the roughly 1,500 defendants. During Rhodes' trial, prosecutors played a recording of him on January 10, 2021 expressing regret that more January 6 participants didn't bring weapons.

"My only regret is that they should have brought rifles," Rhodes said, adding that his group could have "fixed it right then and there" if they were armed. Trump pardoned Rhodes and all other January 6 defendants on the first day of his second term.

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// YT on troubles IRE

This Is What a Modern American Civil War Would Look Like (Making Sense Ep. 441 with Stephen Marche)

This Is What a Modern American Civil War Would Look Like (Making Sense Ep. 441 with Stephen Marche) - YouTube

Sam Harris speaks with Stephen Marche about his book The Next Civil War: Dispatches from the American Future. They discuss tensions between the United States and Canada, what a modern American civil war might actually look like, the key risk factors for a civil war, diversity and immigration, extremism on the right and the left, the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the assassination attempts on President Trump, conspiracy theories, how a civil war might be avoided, the possibility of secession, and other topics.

Stephen Marche is a novelist and essayist, and the author of On Writing and Failure and The Next Civil War, among many other works. He has written features and essays for The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Atlantic, Esquire, and The Walrus. He collaborated with artificial intelligence on the first AI-generated novel reviewed in The New York Times, Death of an Author. His most recent novel, The Last Election, was co-written with Andrew Yang. Website: stephenmarche.com

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an 11 25

no lnx

Trump ally's claim about 'left-wing violence' just doesn't add up

Former acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf testifies in the Senate. Picture: Senate Subcommittee on the Constitution.

Jordan GreenNovember 02, 2025 |

Former acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf’s appearance before a Senate hearing on political violence this week resurfaced inconvenient remarks for a witness called by Republicans intent on painting rising political violence as a left-wing problem.

Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) read back Wolf’s Senate testimony from five years ago.

“White supremacist extremists, from a lethality standpoint over the last two years … are certainly the most persistent and lethal threat, when we talk about domestic violent extremists,” Wolf said at the time.

On Tuesday, before the Senate Subcommittee on the Constitution, chaired by Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO), Wolff offered a strikingly different assessment.

“The increase in politically motivated violence over the last several years has been driven largely by radical, left-wing extremist groups and individuals that believe violence is a legitimate means to achieve political goals,” Wolf testified.

Wolf is now executive vice president of the America First Policy Institute. Founded in 2021 and closely aligned with Trump, former leaders include Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, Secretary of Agriculture Brook Rollins and Attorney General Pam Bondi.

In a statement to Raw Story, Wolf did not disavow his 2020 assessment on white supremacist violence, but said: “America has experienced a historic rise in left-wing violence, especially following President Trump’s second election victory.”

At the time of Wolf’s September 2020 hearing, the U.S. had experienced a series of mass shootings by white supremacists, including Patrick Crusius, who killed 23 people, mostly Latinos, at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas in 2019, and Robert Bowers, who killed 11 at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018.

Both killers echoed Donald Trump’s rhetoric depicting immigrants and refugees as an “invasion” or “invaders.”

U.S. counterterrorism officials also took note of the 2019 massacre carried out by Brenton Tarrant, who killed 51 Muslims at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Crusius cited Tarrant as an inspiration. So did Payton Gendron, who killed 10 African Americans at a grocery store in Buffalo, N.Y. in 2022.

Tarrant’s attack catalyzed the emergence of the term “saints” among white supremacists to glorify terrorists. The U.S. Justice Department is currently prosecuting three Terrorgram leaders on terrorism-related charges.

“White supremacist violence is clearly not the primary threat facing our country today,” Wolf told Raw Story. “All you have to do is look at the data, which has changed significantly in the last five years.”

Wolf cited incidents often mentioned by the administration and allies to make the case that political violence now emanates from the left: the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, two attempts on Trump’s life, the attempted assassination of conservative Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and attacks on centers that offer an alternative to abortion services.

He did not cite the murder of Minnesota Democratic state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband by an abortion opponent; a recent death threat against Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) by a Jan. 6 rioter; or the bludgeoning of Paul Pelosi, husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), by a QAnon follower.

Nor did Wolf mention some 1,500 individuals pardoned by President Trump over the Jan. 6 assault on Congress.

William Braniff, a former director of DHS’ Center for Prevention Programs under President Joe Biden testified alongside Wolf.

Braniff agreed that violent incidents are on the rise. But he told the subcommittee, “Violent events do not fit neatly into any one ideological category.”

Braniff noted that DHS contracted with the University of Maryland in 2005 to create a global terrorism database, by congressional mandate. In March, the Trump administration canceled funding.

Drawing on the database, Braniff said: “This year, compared to last year, terrorism events are up 67 percent. Fatalities are up nearly 150 percent. Americans are dying from ISIS-inspired, white supremacist, antisemitic, anti-government, anti-vax, anti-law enforcement and nihilistic attacks.”

‘Black Lives Matter and antifa riots’

In 2020, when Wolf flagged white supremacist violence, he was overseeing DHS as the first Trump administration deployed federal agents against protesters in Portland, Ore., a harbinger of the current standoff at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in the city.

On Tuesday, Sen. Schmitt and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) cited rioting related to protests against the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020, a familiar Republican talking point.

“There is an epidemic of politically motivated violence,” Cruz said. “And the politically motivated violence in this country is overwhelmingly emanating from the left. We saw that during the Black Lives Matter and antifa riots across the country, as cities across America burned.”

Schmitt complained that some studies of political violence “systematically ignore antifa and Black Lives Matter riots.”

Michael Knowles, a podcast host at the conservative outlet The Daily Wire, complained in testimony that “the Black Lives Matter riots, overtly leftist demonstrations that left dozens of people dead … fail to show up on registers of left-wing political violence.”

Cruz, Schmitt and Knowles did not delve into who was responsible for such violence. The data suggests they were presenting an incomplete picture.

Drawing on data provided by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), and multiple news reports, Raw Story counted 34 deaths plausibly linked to racial justice protests and unrest in 2020, not counting the police killings that sparked protests. Of those, three appear to involve perpetrators directly linked to Black Lives Matter, “antifa” or their supporters.

On May 28, 2020, the second night of rioting in Minneapolis, rioters set fire to a pawnshop. The charred remains of 30-year-old Oscar Lee Stewart Jr. were found in the ruins. Montez Terriel Lee was convicted of arson and sentenced to a decade in prison.

The following month, 16-year-old Antonio Mays Jr. was shot inside a stolen Jeep Cherokee that sped through an area of Seattle known as the CHAZ — Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone — and occupied by protesters. No charges have been brought, but bystander video appears to implicate an activist security team patrolling amid fears of a right-wing attack.

In late August 2020, Aaron “Jay” Danielson, a member of the far-right group Patriot Prayer, was fatally shot in Portland, Ore. Michael Reinoehl, the self-described “antifa” shooter, claimed self-defense. Before he could be apprehended, Reinoehl was killed by federal agents, an event President Trump described as “retribution.”

Danielson’s death is the only politically motivated homicide in the U.S. linked to an identified antifascist in the past quarter-century.

In contrast, one study found that white supremacists and other right-wing extremists killed at least 329 between 1994 and 2020.

The circumstances of Danielson’s shooting remain unclear. As noted by ACLED, Trump supporters were staging a car caravan through downtown Portland, and some right-wingers “sprayed pepper spray and shot paintball guns at counter-demonstrators rallying in support of the BLM movement and against police brutality, as well as journalists.”

The entry also notes video showing right-wing demonstrators driving vehicles through left-wing counter-demonstrators attempting to block the streets.

‘Might shoot looters’

Eight other deaths in 2020 could be linked to racial justice protests, if not directly.

In some, civilian bystanders were killed by criminals who appeared to be exploiting chaos. Victims include David Dorn, a retired police captain in St. Louis whose widow spoke at the 2020 Republican National Convention; Chris Beaty, a former college football player murdered in Indianapolis while assisting a woman being mugged; and Marvin Francois, a photographer killed in a robbery while leaving a protest in Kansas City.

Among the most shocking deaths associated with the 2020 protests is that of 8-year-old Secoriea Turner, shot by an alleged Bloods gang member manning a barricade in the area where Rayshard Brooks was killed by Atlanta police. Julian Conley was convicted of murder and other offenses, and sentenced to life in prison.

But in at least 23 cases — roughly two thirds — Raw Story found that perpetrators of unrest-related deaths were not linked to Black Lives Matter, antifa or their supporters. They include five people killed by police, one killed by the National Guard, others killed by motorists and shopkeepers, a man with severe mental illness, and a security guard for a news crew.

In one example, Steven Carillo, an airman active in the far-right Boogaloo movement, took advantage of unrest after Floyd’s death to murder David Patrick Underwood, a federal security officer guarding the federal courthouse in Oakland, Calif., and Damon Gutzwiler, a Santa Cruz County deputy sheriff attempting to serve a warrant.

Raw Story’s analysis tallied 11 Black Lives Matter protesters killed: roughly equal to the number of unaffiliated civilians.

Two — Summer Taylor and Robert Forbes — were struck by vehicles. Barry Perkins III was dragged by a tractor-trailer. Others, including James Scurlock and Italia Impinto, were shot.

Garrett Foster, an Air Force veteran marching with BLM protesters in Austin, Texas on July 25, 2020, was fatally shot by Daniel Perry, a former soldier who reportedly searched for locations of protesters and told a friend he “might go to Dallas to shoot looters.” Perry was convicted of murder, then pardoned by Gov. Greg Abbott.

Perhaps most memorably, Kyle Rittenhouse fatally shot two BLM supporters during unrest in Kenosha, Wis. in 2020. He was acquitted on all charges.

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mma

Fox viewers were told “there is no violence from the right” hours after arraignment of Jan 6 rioter for allegedly threatening to kill top Democrat

Written by Matt Gertz

Published 10/22/25

Just hours after New York prosecutors charged a pardoned January 6 rioter with threatening to kill House Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Donald Trump Jr. told Sean Hannity’s Fox News audience that “there is no violence from the right,” adding, “It is not both sides — it is from one side, and it was from the left alone.”

Fox viewers, however, probably did not experience any cognitive dissonance. The network all but ignored the threats against Jeffries, with its coverage on Tuesday consisting of a single largely nonspecific 36-second news read on its Special Report program, according to a Media Matters review.

CBS News’ Scott MacFarlane reported early Tuesday morning that Christopher Moynihan “was arrested Sunday after saying in text messages that he planned to ‘eliminate’ Jeffries when the top House Democrat spoke at an event in New York City on Monday” and charged with making a terroristic threat. Prosecutors noted in a court filing that Moynihan texted “Hakeem Jeffries makes a speech in a few days in NYC I cannot allow this terrorist to live,” and “Even if I am hated, he must be eliminated, I will kill him for the future." He was arraigned later that day.

Prosecutors previously said Moynihan was one of the first Trumpists to storm the U.S. Capitol during the January 6 insurrection and among those who occupied the Senate chamber that day. He pleaded guilty to five misdemeanors and was sentenced to 21 months in prison but was among the roughly 1,500 January 6 participants to receive a pardon from President Donald Trump on his first day in office.

Political violence does, in fact, target “both sides”

Donald Trump Jr.’s Tuesday night comments reflect a talking point frequently heard in right-wing spaces. In the wake of the shocking murder of Republican activist and podcaster Charlie Kirk, many in MAGA media and President Trump himself baselessly declared the case symptomatic of a terroristic left targeting a nonviolent right.

This argument flies in the face of what we’ve seen the last several years, as right-wing extremists have violently attacked not just the U.S. Capitol but also Democratic politicians and their families as well as Black, Hispanic, and Jewish Americans. Denying that reality derails any hope of a genuine conversation about political violence, a genuine scourge in this country, in favor of what appears to be a Trump administration plan to use Kirk’s death as a pretext to wield state power against its political enemies in a broad crackdown on dissent.

A Trump supporter who rioted against democracy and received a presidential pardon subsequently threatening to murder a leading Democratic politician hammers home the absurdity of the MAGA talking point.

And so Fox is hiding that news from its audience as part of its frequently deployed strategy to downplay or ignore stories that undermine its narratives. The network’s hosts and executives seem to prefer keeping viewers ignorant in order to maintain their fearfulness and fury at their fellow Americans.

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an 10 25 ah

After the fatal shooting of Turning Point USA's Charlie Kirk, President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and other far-right MAGA Republicans claimed that the majority of political violence in the United States was coming from the left. But critics of the Trump administration, from Democrats to Never Trump conservatives like MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, were quick to cite numerous examples of far-right violence against Democrats — including a militia plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, an arson attack on Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, an assault on Paul Pelosi (former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband) with a hammer and the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol Building.

Now, a MAGA supporter and January 6 rioter is facing criminal charges for allegedly threatening to murder House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York).

CBS News' Scott MacFarlane reports that on Sunday, October 19, Christopher Moynihan was arrested and "faces a felony charge of making a terroristic threat." Along with other January 6 rioters, Moynihan received a presidential pardon nine months ago.

"According to a court filing by prosecutors in the New York State criminal case, Moynihan wrote, 'Hakeem Jeffries makes a speech in a few days in NYC I cannot allow this terrorist to live,'" MacFarlane reports. "Moynihan also allegedly stated: 'Even if I am hated, he must be eliminated, I will kill him for the future.'"

Moynihan, according to MacFarlane, is scheduled to appear in court this Thursday, October 23.

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"Moynihan was found guilty in August 2022 of obstructing an official proceeding, and pleaded guilty to five misdemeanor charges," MacFarlane notes. "He was sentenced, in February 2023, to 21 months in prison. Prosecutors described Moynihan as among the first rioters to breach police barricades and enter the Capitol grounds on January 6, 2021."

The CBS News reporter adds, "Moynihan was also among a smaller group of riot defendants who were on the Senate floor during the siege. Prosecutors argued in Moynihan's sentencing memorandum: 'While inside, Moynihan rifled through a notebook on top of a Senator's desk, saying 'There's gotta be something in here we can f–– use against these scumbags.'"

*Read the full CBS News article at this link.

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10/16/2025 RWW

by

Kyle Mantyla

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MMA

10/10/25

NOTE CRM POD BROS MANTA INSURRECTION

10/10/25

Right-wing media say Portland is a war zone under siege. On-the-ground coverage paints a different picture.

Local coverage has highlighted the peaceful nature of protests and the violent response of federal agents

Written by Noah Dowe & Pete Tsipis

Research contributions from Casey Wexler & Media Matters Staff

Published10/10/25

Updated10/10/25

Right-wing media claim that Portland’s protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement show a city “under siege” or “conquered by antifa,” but on-the-ground coverage, by both national media outlets and local media outlets, has revealed the opposite.

Multiple local broadcast outlets report that protests are relatively small and peaceful, with many demonstrators “in pajamas, sharing pastries, throwing a frisbee, and playing board games."

The Wall Street Journal reported that “a sergeant from the Portland Police Bureau filed his daily observations of the demonstrations outside an ICE facility. 'Saw 8 people out front and couldn’t even get one of them to flip me the bird,' he wrote. 'Very low energy.'”

In direct contrast to coverage from right-wing media, Portland residents and officials have emphasized that it's actually federal agents who have been engaging in “violent tactics” against protesters, including “shoving peaceful veterans and elderly people to the ground” and employing point-blank attacks with pepper spray and mace.

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Protests in Portland were described as “low energy” until Trump and right-wing media started claiming otherwise

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AN 10 25 BADASH

National security, military, legal, and political experts are warning that President Donald Trump crossed a dangerous line in his latest speech — a televised, rally-style address to more than ten thousand U.S. Navy service members in which the Commander in Chief urged the troops to “take care of this little gnat that’s on our shoulder called the Democrats,” a statement many view as an authoritarian abuse of the military’s apolitical role.

“But we have to take care of this little gnat that’s on our shoulder, called the Democrats,” Trump told the cheering Navy crowd in Norfolk, Virginia, that included sailors, SEALs, and Marines. “They want to give all of our money to illegal aliens that pour into the country.”

The late Sunday afternoon event was slated as a celebration of the Navy’s 250th anniversary.

Juliette Kayyem is a senior public policy lecturer and the faculty director of the Homeland Security Project and the Security and Global Health Project at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, as well as a CNN senior national security analyst and a contributor to The Atlantic, according to her bio.

She wrote: “‘Take care of’ is not subtle. This weekend the ground has shifted and no person can deny what the president, unpopular and unfit, intends. To remain silent is to welcome this. They can both sides or claim they didn’t hear, but there is no wiggle room about his plans now.”

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Political and national security analyst, and well-known veterans advocate Paul Rieckhoff called the President’s “gnat” remark “wrong, outrageous, shameful and disgusting.”

“These are lines that should never been crossed,” he warned. “And have never been crossed. But he keeps crossing them.”

“Never let them normalize how wrong it is to attack political opponents when speaking to a military audience,” Rieckhoff added. “This is impeachable behavior. But not a single member of Congress has the courage to make the case. And it’s getting worse fast.”

Stanford Professor of International Studies in Political Science Michael McFaul, a former U.S. Ambassador to Russia, remarked: “In front of this audience, this statement is wrong… and scary. He is supposed to be the president of the United States of ALL Americans, not just his party. Polarization is destroying our country at home and making us weaker abroad.”

Political and communications consultant Jesse C. Lee, a former Biden and Obama official, observed: “Trump is on a tour of speeches to our active military, telling them that the new focus is going to be on wars against the ‘enemy within’ and that Dems are bugs that need to be exterminated, while sending the National Guard to occupy ‘Democrat run cities.’ Textbook fascism.”

U.S. Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ) wrote: “Donald Trump keeps blurring the line between law enforcement and the military to go after political opponents. It’s unacceptable, and it’s how authoritarians consolidate power. We must name and resist every attempt to use government power to silence dissent.”

Gregg Nunziata is the executive director, Society for the Rule of Law, a Federalist Society member, and a former attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division.

He wrote: “‘We have to take care of this little gnat on our shoulder called the Democrats,’ says the American President to cheering servicemembers. This is so incredibly repugnant and un-American, on so many levels, I don’t even know where to begin.”

Dave Cavell, a former speechwriter for President and First Lady Obama and Vice President Harris, remarked: “I’m a former WH speechwriter who has written many speeches to those who serve. I can barely describe the rage and shock I feel seeing this lunatic spew vile, fascist style garbage at our troops, whose mission is to serve us all, not a party — or this bozo.”

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AN 10 25}:

Barbara F. Walter, author of “How Civil Wars Start and How to Stop Them, warned Sunday that democracy in the United States is in decline and President Donald Trump could create "fake emergencies" to intensify his campaign against his opponents.

Speaking ata podcast on*The Bulwark*posted Sunday morning, Walter said, "I think American democracy is in a really sad place, actually. It's in a place of democratic decline. It's probably likely in the near future to be in a place of economic decline. And these are things that are not going to turn around anytime soon. If you look at the underlying conditions for political violence, the United States, unfortunately, has all of them right now."

She continued: "Political violence tends to happen in countries with weak and declining democracy, especially democracies that are changing rapidly and moving more and more towards autocracy. We call those anocracies, and that's actually the most dangerous place to be. Full, healthy democracies almost never experience political violence."

She added that hardcore autocracies rarely experience political violence, and most of the violence happens in the middle.

"And since January 2025 of this year, America's democracy has declined faster than it ever has in its history. And it's declined faster than democracy in any other advanced industrialized democracy in the world," she added.

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Likening Trump to a "wannabe dictator," Walter said the president could use "fake emergencies" to "clamp down on citizens."

"These types of sort of fake emergencies allow these wannabe dictators to declare a state of emergency, declare martial law, and basically just clamp down on citizens so that citizens aren't allowed to leave their homes," she said.

She added: "There's curfews. Soldiers are now patrolling the streets. There's roadblocks. And this effectively ends democracy. So people were saying, okay, is theCharlie Kirk murder, and in particular, the Republican Party's reaction to it, that this is almost a declaration of war by the left. People were worried that that would be that type of situation."

Walter also warned that Trump does not see the American constitution as an impediment.

"I don't think Trump sees the Constitution as an impediment in any way. [Viktor] Orban did not see Hungary's Constitution as an impediment. He simply changed it. Netanyahu doesn't see Israel's Constitution as an impediment. You know, these guys are bullies and strongmen, and they just push their way through and see if anybody stops them," she said.

The analyst noted that following conservative activist Charlie Kirk's murder, many expected a war on the left by the Trump administration, but it didn't play out that way. The administration, she argued, is now looking for a bigger reason to ramp up its efforts to go after its opponents.

"The Trump administration isn't ready to declare a state of emergency and to basically take control of the potential hotspots for opposition. Those hotspots for opposition are going to be America's big cities," she said.

Walter added: "It's hard for most Americans to feel deeply threatened because an outspoken activist on the right was killed. They might be horrified by it. They might desperately wish it never happens again, but they don't feel personally threatened by it. And for people to be willing to give up their rights and freedoms to say, 'okay, martial law is okay with me.' They have to be, they have to truly believe that their and their family safety is threatened. And Charlie Kirk's murder didn't do that. So it's going to have to be something bigger than that," she said, noting that Trump is still trying to "create a situation" where he can "suddenly grab all power."

"That's where you have most of the people who disagree with Trump, feel threatened by Trump. And he doesn't have his soldiers in place there. He started to do that in Washington, D.C., in Los Angeles, and he tried to do that in Chicago. But he's not ready for the moment to sort of pull the trigger," she said.

Asked if this democratic backsliding could lead to a civil war in the U.S., Walter said, "So the main point I want to make is that citizens are much more powerful than they think they are. There's over 330 million of us. You know, think back to your time at school in the schoolyard. You know, everybody's seen bullies operate and and they see what happens when the you know, the kids in the schoolyard, dozens of them, just stand up."

She continued: "Bullies tend to wither. We have 300 and, you know, over 330 million Americans. And if we just in our own separate individual ways, simply just started silently and peacefully resisting, not voluntarily complying when we're told that to do something that's illegal .So there's a whole series of things. And then protest is the greatest tool," she added.

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AN 10 25

The home of one state judge in South Carolina who was publicly criticized by an official in President Donald Trump's administration was destroyed in a fire last weekend. The judge had recently been targeted by threats from Trump supporters.

Judge Diane Goodstein, who has been in her position since being elected by the state legislature in 1998, escaped from the fire along with her husband, former Democratic state lawmaker Arnold Goodstein, though Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) wrote that the fire killed their pets and Arnold Goodstein remains hospitalized from injuries suffered during his escape. The St. Paul Fire District — which responded to the fire at her Edisto Beach home on Saturday – posted to Facebook that the Goodsteins escaped by jumping from an elevated first floor.

"If this was targeted political violence or arson, those responsible must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," Mace wrote.

According to a Monday report in the Daily Beast, several MAGA-aligned social media accounts with thousands of followers posted attacks on South Carolina Circuit Court Judge Diane Goodstein. Those threats came in response to a post by Department of Justice (DOJ) official Harmeet Dhillon, who President Donald Trump put in charge of the DOJ's Civil Rights Division. Dhillon attacked Judge Goodstein for refusing to allow the Trump administration to access sensitive information from the state's voter rolls.

"his @TheJusticeDept’s @CivilRights will not stand for a state court judge’s hasty nullification of our federal voting laws," Dhillon wrote on X in September. "I will allow nothing to stand in the way of our mandate to maintain clean voter rolls. One Citizen, One Vote!"

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"Thank you. I’m so sick of these activist 'judges' thinking they run the country," responded one X user with more than 6,000 followers. "Isn’t there something that can be done about them?"

"Rain Holy hell fire onto these judges who interfere with the Executive branch," another user wrote in a now-deleted post.

"Diane S. Goodstein, may all your evil wishes and evil deeds directed towards Trump and the MAGA boomerang back and stick to you and yours a thousandfold," read another reply.

An arson investigation is reportedly underway, though officials have not yet determined whether the fire was intentionally ignited.

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AN 1025

In the wake of widespread outrage following a violent fire at a South Carolina judge's house that sent three people to the hospital, critics blamed MAGA, causing White House Deputy Chief of StaffStephen Miller to melt down, according to The Daily Beast.

South Carolina Judge Diane Goodstein, who ruled against the Trump administration in a high-profile voter registration case, was out walking her dogs Sunday when her beach house exploded in flames.

Judge Goodstein issued a temporary restraining order to block the Trump administration’s Department of Justice from getting access to the South Carolina Election Commission’s voter registration data, The Daily Best says.

Reports say Goodstein was already receiving death threats before the fire, which is being investigated as arson. Her husband Arnold, a former Democratic state congressman and state senator, , was forced to jump from the first floor to escape the blaze and was hospitalized with multiple broken bones.

Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) posted on his X account pointing his finger at Miller, saying, "Stephen Miller and MAGA-world have been doxxing and threatening judges who rule against Trump, including Judge Goodstein. Today, someone committed arson on the Judge’s home, severely injuring her husband and son. Will Trump speak out against the extreme right that did this??”

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MIller immediately melted down on X, calling Goldman "deeply warped and vile," saying, “There is a large and growing movement of leftwing terrorism in this country. It is well organized and funded. And it is shielded by far-left Democrat judges, prosecutors and attorneys general. The only remedy is to use legitimate state power to dismantle terrorism and terror networks."

Miller continued his rant, saying, “While the Trump Administration has launched the first-ever government-wide effort to combat and prosecute illegal doxing, sinister threats and political violence you continue to push despicable lies, demented smears, malicious defamation and foment unrest. Despicable."

But Goldman had the last word.

"If you are trying to combat political violence, why don’t you condemn the political violence against a judge who ruled against you and your admin? It’s pretty simple: do you condemn all political violence or only that against your supporters?”

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an 9 25

no lnx

Republicans are prepping the far right for war

Sabrina Haake, Raw Story

September 24, 2025

In the decade before the Civil War, slave-owning men known as “Fire Eaters” started ratcheting up public discourse in stark, divisive, all or nothing terms. They cast their interests not as political differences, but as an existential crisis facing the nation. They used public speeches to vilify people who disagreed with them, spreading hatred in the hearts of men until it grew hot, and war became inevitable.

It’s impossible to read the words of those men without hearing the voices of Donald Trump and Stephen Miller speaking at Charlie Kirk’s memorial.

Using that solemn occasion to deliver a message of hatred and division, two weeks after Kirk’s murder, Trump and Miller are still exploiting it. Despite the lack of clarity about both the killer’s motive and his shifting political ideologies, they continue to spread false rhetoric blaming the “radical left,” projecting their own wish for political violence just as the Fire Eaters of the 19th century did.

Words of war

Anyone who expected a respite, or dared to hope for a “presidential” message during Kirk’s memorial service, was sorely disappointed. After a MAGA speaker lineup, Trump walked onto the stage while Lee Greenwood sang “Proud to be an American,” also known as “God Bless the U.S.A.” In Trump's heavily choreographed entrance, raucous applause erupted as live fireworks exploded across a stage more reminiscent of a used car clearance event than a somber memorial.

After Kirk’s grieving widow spoke of forgiveness and grace, Trump batted her words away. Trump relayed to the audience how Kirk said he didn’t hate people who disagreed with him.

“But,” Trump said, “That’s where I disagreed with Charlie. I hate my opponents and I don’t want the best for them, I’m sorry.”

Miller, the presumed architect behind Trump’s attacks on immigrants and minorities, delivered his own ghoulish invective, eulogizing Kirk with dark images of us vs. them:

“The light will defeat the dark. We will prevail over the forces of wickedness and evil. They cannot imagine what they have awakened. They cannot conceive of the army that they have arisen in all of us. Because we stand for what is good, what is virtuous, what is noble.

And to those trying to incite violence against us, those trying to foment hatred against us, what do you have? You have nothing. You are nothing. You are wickedness. You are jealousy. You are envy. You are hatred. You are nothing. You can build nothing. You can produce nothing. You can create nothing. We are the ones who build. We are the ones who create. We are the ones who lift up humanity.”

Miller didn’t define who he meant by “we” and “they.” He didn’t need to.

Right v left

Trump and Miller are getting their wish: Political violence in the US is on the rise. Violent attacks against US government personnel and facilities more than doubled between 2024 and 2025. Contrary to what Trump and Miller keep claiming, however, it’s coming from the right, not the left.

Analyzing political violence according to the views of the perpetrator is complicated in part because interpreting motive can itself be subjective. It’s also complicated because different organizations use different terminology. The FBI and Department of Homeland Security define domestic violent extremism as violence “intended to influence government policy or intimidate civilians for political or ideological purposes,” while researchers, including universities, use more operational definitions.

Despite these challenges, data clearly show that right-wing political violence has been far, far deadlier than left-wing political violence.

Based on government and independent analyses, PBS reports that right-wing extremist violence has been responsible for the overwhelming majority of fatalities in the US, listing recent examples such as the 2015 Charleston church shooting, the Pittsburgh 2018 Tree of Life synagogue attack, and the anti-immigrant 2019 El Paso Walmart massacre. The report also lists deaths caused by left-wing extremist incidents, including anarchist and environmental movements like the Animal Liberation Front and Earth Liberation Front, arson and vandalism campaigns that often targeted property rather than people.

When compared side by side, violence from right wing extremism amounted to approximately 75 percent to 80 percent of U.S. domestic terrorism deaths between 2001 and the present, while violence from the left comprised about 10 percent to 15 percent of such incidents and less than 5 percent of fatalities overall from political violence.

Violent words elicit violent responses

Mark Hertling writes in his excellent essay “Beware today’s fire eaters” that the 1861 onset of Civil War can be attributed to political arsonists who portrayed compromise and coexistence as dishonor, promoting national violence as the only resort.

Hertling, a former commander of the U.S. Army in Europe, writes that the Civil War agitators “moved beyond grievance into agitation and violence. They … treated any dissent as an existential threat to their way of life. They cultivated a rhetoric that was designed not to persuade opponents but to radicalize their many followers,” ultimately celebrating political violence as necessary.

The tactics of the fire-eaters, Herling notes, reveal the same playbook we are witnessing today as Trump radicalizes his base by demonizing and dehumanizing his political opponents.

Fire Eaters of the Civil War, like Trump and Miller, painted their political adversaries as mortal enemies. As Trump has demonstrated repeatedly with Executive Orders that have no basis in law, the Fire Eaters also normalized extralegal responses. They claimed political violence was a patriotic duty, just as Trump exalted J6 rioters to fight like hell or they wouldn’t have a country left, then rewarded even the worst among them with a pardon.

As Trump, Miller, Hegseth and Bondi build the world’s largest and most lethal police state, they are equipping Trump with his own private militia. As Trump teases a third presidential run, it’s not hard to see that, for him, January 6 was but a rehearsal.

Sabrina Haake is a columnist and 25+ year federal trial attorney specializing in 1st and 14th A defense. Her Substack, The Haake Take, is free.

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note kirk widow performatively forgave shooter, eyes cast up, but trump ptedly disagreed, i hate my enemy // pod save

## We are a country with a violence problem and a political problem, and sometimes those overlap, and we don't always know whether they're overlapping." - Dr. Lilly Mason | Pod Save America

not hard to tamp down by a leader/prez

Date published Sep 21 2025

an 9 25

Retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, ex-commander of U.S. Army Europe, has compared the MAGA rhetoric of 2025 to that of pre-Civil war southern "fire eaters"—and finds disturbing similarities in a new thinkpiece for The Bulwark.

Hertling, who, in Augustsaid that Trump's reliance on "yes-men" is, from a military standpoint, a recipe for "true strategic disaster," says that "there are echoes in our political rhetoric of the men who helped talk the United States into civil war," the onset of which, he says, "can be attributed, in part, to a group of political arsonists."

Among the 'Southern fire-eaters' to which Hertling compares to modern-day MAGA, include Robert Barnwell Rhett of South Carolina, William Lowndes Yancey of Alabama, Edmund Ruffin of Virginia, whom, he says, "moved beyond grievance into agitation andviolence."

These agitators, Hertling says, "cultivated a rhetoric that was designed not to persuade opponents but to radicalize their many followers."

Rhett, for example, "nicknamed the “Father of Secession,” spent years insisting that South Carolina break from the Union, even as most fellow Southerners urged patience. Yancey, he says, carried that message into rallies that became "showcases of defiance," and Ruffin "celebrated violence as a necessary cleansing," Hertling explains.

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While these were the major players, Hertling says, "plenty of politicians held extreme views," but it's "the tactics of the fire-eaters, studied closely, reveal a playbook we are beginning to recognize today."

Among those tactics: demonizing political opponents and claiming violence was a "patriotic duty when Washington failed to submit to their will."

And while it may be easy, Hertling says, to dismiss these fire-eaters as "relics of a slaveholding past," the temptation to do just that is dangerous.

"The tactics they used, the contempt they showed for compromise, the way they weaponized words, and the way they mobilized supporters have direct echoes today."

Hateful and violent rhetoric, Hertling notes, "makes political violence more likely," as seen more so, studies show, from the far-right than the far-left.

That violence has been seen most recently in the slaying of MAGA podcaster Charlie Kirk, as well as with the murders of two at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. in May, and in June, when an elderly woman was killed by a Molotov cocktail at a peaceful protest in Boulder, Colorado

"Each of these acts had its own ideological contours, but all emerged from the same poisoned soil," Hertling says. "There is a connection between these contemporary tragedies and the fire-eaters of the pre-Civil War period: similar rhetoric."

The rhetoric, however, isn't the danger, but rather the lack of a challenge to that rhetoric that is the catalyst to violence, he says.

"The lesson is not that every fiery speech or performative political gesture portends bloodshed," he said. "The lesson is that when incendiary rhetoric or action is left unchallenged, when it attacks social norms and takes over the public square or social media, violence becomes the predictable next step."

These modern-day fire-eaters, Hertling says, are "not harmless showmen. They are dangerous instigators who are "playing with matches in a dry season."

"If we want to keep our politics from becoming a literal battleground, we must demand leaders who believe in the hard work of democracy rather than performative rhetoric—who see opponents as adversaries, but not as enemies," Hertling warns, "who see compromise not as weakness but as the essence of politics; who know that words can build trust as well as destroy it."

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MMA

EARTH2

After Kirk shooting, right-wing media revive false narrative about attack on Minnesota legislators

Written by Matt Gertz

Published09/17/25

In the wake of the killing of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, many on the right have claimed that all political violence comes from the left, an argument used to justify a broad crackdown against their political enemies. The June shooting of two Democratic state legislators in Minnesota is the most prominent recent evidence against that argument (though hardly the only such case).

But several right-wing media figures have found a rhetorical solution by suggesting that the alleged Minnesota shooter — who reportedly had a “hit list” of dozens of other Democratic leaders and was, according to his friend and roommate, a supporter of President Donald Trump — is actually a leftist.

In fact, the right-wing media bubble is so impermeable to facts that contradict its narratives that prominent Republican figures, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Attorney General Pam Bondi, have pushed the same claims.

The right’s false narrative about the Minnesota shootings

Federal prosecutors allege that Vance Boelter committed “targeted political assassinations” when he shot and killed Minnesota House of Representatives Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband, then shot and wounded Minnesota State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, in the early morning hours of June 14.

:{:{Boelter, like many alleged perpetrators of political violence, seemed to be suffering from mental illness that muddled the clarity of his views. But his preferences appear to be with the political right — he was reportedly an evangelical Christian who preached against abortion and the LGBTQ community, and according to his roommate and longtime friend, he “supported Trump and tuned in to programming from Alex Jones’s conspiracy-filled Infowars site.”}:

And his targets were universally on the political left: Hortman, and Hoffman’s legislative district, were reportedly named in a “hit list” that law enforcement subsequently recovered from Boelter’s vehicle; the list also included Gov. Tim Walz, dozens of other Democratic lawmakers from Minnesota and elsewhere, and “figures with ties to the abortion rights movement, including Planned Parenthood.”}:

None of these facts should suggest that the political right or the Republican Party as a whole bear responsibility for Boelter’s alleged political violence or that their repression is justified to prevent similar attacks. They are relevant, however, to the question of whether political violence is solely directed from the left toward the right.

But while those facts were trickling out in the days following the attack, MAGA influencers were spinning up a narrative in which Boelter was actually a leftist. Some even suggested that the attacks may have been ordered by Walz, perhaps as retribution for the legislators supporting legislation the governor opposed. This argument rested on two ludicrously thin pieces of evidence. First, Walz had, in 2019, reappointed Boelter to a workforce development advisory board that reportedly “has about 60 members, many of whom are not politically connected or would have meaningful access to the governor or interactions with him.” Second, police found flyers with “No Kings” written on them in Boelter’s vehicle, which they said could have indicated he planned to target anti-Trump protests scheduled to take place later that day.

The right revives the false Minnesota narrative following Kirk’s killing

Many prominent right-wing figures seem to have either never heard any information about Boelter outside of those initial conspiracy theories, or learned of it but decided to hide the facts from their audiences. And now, in the wake of Kirk’s killing by an apparent leftist whose alleged motive was to stop Kirk’s “hate,” the false narrative has been revived by MAGA commentators who are trying to push back against arguments that the Minnesota shootings were a case of political violence from the right.

Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade, while listing recent cases of politically motivated killings on September 13, described the Minnesota shootings as follows: “And then, June 14, these Minnesota legislators were killed, something to do with what’s going on locally — they didn’t like what Tim Walz was doing, or a former staffer of Tim Walz.” Neither Kilmeade nor Fox’s graphic identified the legislators as Democrats.

Fox host Will Cain claimed on his Tuesday broadcast that “essentially bullets are flying in one direction,” but the left is trying “to make this a both-sides problem of political violence” by falsely attributing cases like the Minnesota shootings to the right.

“What we know about that particular suspect’s motivations remains somewhat unclear, but we do know that he had with him flyers that had No Kings Day protests solicitation on them,” Cain said. “There is also some suggestion he was upset about the way Hortman voted when it came to illegal immigrants and health care. Before we assume it is both sides, let’s get the facts on each instance.”

Video

Citation

From the September 16, 2025, edition of Fox News' The Will Cain Show

Newsmax host Rob Finnerty offered a similar explanation on his show later that night. “They're trying to pretend that what happened to Charlie Kirk has nothing to do with the left, that this happens all the time on both sides, which is not true,” he said, before turning to the Minnesota shootings.

“The problem with that, Melissa Hortman was a Democrat, and while her death was tragic, she was actually killed by another Democrat,” Finnerty claimed. “Not only that, a Democrat who worked directly for Tim Walz, was appointed by Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, Kamala's running mate, meaning that in this case, a Democrat literally assassinated another Democrat.”

“Because that's the left,” he continued. “That's what they do as a party, and it's not being covered by the rest of the media. It's being covered up.”

This narrative about the Minnesota shooting is so prevalent in right-wing media — and the GOP’s leaders are so ensconced within the right-wing media bubble — that Republican politicians have promoted it.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), who is pathologically online, had posted shortly after the June attack that the shooter had been a “Marxist.” He later deleted his posts after being confronted by Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN), who had also been on the alleged “hit list.”

But three months later, their colleague Cruz also linked the Minnesota shooter to the left.

When Cruz called political violence “a left-wing problem” during a CNN interview on Tuesday, host Kaitlan Collins responded by pointing to the Minnesota shooting.

“You need to get your facts right,” Cruz replied. “The assassin there was not a right-wing assassin acting on a political motive. The assassin there was someone who had been an appointee of Tim Walz, and he was a deranged lunatic.”

Likewise, asked about the Minnesota shooting on Monday, Bondi said of the alleged killer, “I believe they said that they were supporters of Gov. Walz."

As I wrote last week, we can’t have a real conversation about political violence if we can’t admit that it has come from both sides. But many on the right just don’t seem capable of doing that, and they’re backfilling whatever explanations they can conjure up to avoid admitting the existence of political violence from the right.

// MMA

09/12/25 1:22 PM EDT

06/16/25 12:50 PM EDT

06/20/25

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AN 9 25

The increasingly hostile political climate is showing no signs of abating, and some political scientists are worried about what that could mean for Americans in the near future.

That's according to a Tuesday essay by the New York Times' Thomas B. Edsall, who spoke with various experts about how the recent killing of far-right activist Charlie Kirk has inflamed political tensions across the United States. Some were particularly worried that President Donald Trump's harsh rhetoric toward the political left could significantly increase the chances of further political violence during his second term.

University of Chicago political scientist Robert Pape said that Kirk's death was the "most consequential assassination of an American political leader since the 1960s." He also pointed to past research he had conducted showing that tens of millions of Americans on both sides were showing an increasingly favorable attitude toward violence as a way to solve the country's problems, and harkened back to Americans' rush to go to war in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

READ MORE:'Causing quite a ruckus': Trump's biggest problem will be flying with him to England

"There are powerful reasons to worry how Republicans will react to the assassination of Kirk, but the main one is simply the most obvious: Kirk was beloved by millions of Republicans and now many millions more," he said. "As America saw after 9/11 in our politics leading to 70 percent of the public supporting the invasion of Iraq on flimsy evidence: mass sorrow can evolve into mass anger and then mass willingness to pursue aggressive policies that can lead to spirals of violence beyond anything imagined before the event."

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Other experts pushed back on Trump's repeated claims that the political left bore sole responsibility for political violence. University of Krakow, Poland psychology professor Katarzyna Jasko said the president's argument was "not justifiable" given the ample examples of right-wing political violence in recent years. She noted that her past research found that far-right political violence was not only more frequent than violent acts carried out but the left, but the intensity of violence committed by right-wing actors was far greater.

"Among radicalized individuals in the United States, those adhering to a left-wing ideology were markedly less likely to engage in violent ideologically motivated acts when compared to right-wing individuals. By contrast, we found no such difference between Islamist and right-wing individuals," Jasko wrote in a 2022 study.

Despite Trump's insistence that the left is exclusively responsible for the rise in political violence, the Trump administration was found to have deleted a Department of Justice study finding that far-right political violence far outpaced "all other types of terrorism," including both left-wing violence and Islamic terrorism. There has so far not been a specific ideological motive tied to the alleged shooter who has been charged with Charlie Kirk's murder.

READ MORE:Trump DOJ erases report showing far-right violence outpaces 'all other types of terrorism'

Click here to read Edsall's full essay in the New York Times (subscription required).

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AN 9 25

404 Media reports the Department of Justice has taken down a study showing white supremacist and far-right violence outpaces “all other types of terrorism and domestic violent extremism” in the United States.

The DOJ website hosted the study, conducted by the National Institute of Justice, until September 12, 2025.

In its place is the message: “The Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs is currently reviewing its websites and materials in accordance with recent Executive Orders and related guidance. During this review, some pages and publications will be unavailable. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.”

READ MORE: 'Increasingly senile wackjob': Expert says Trump too broken to destroy democracy on his own

The report What NIJ Research Tells Us About Domestic Terrorism revealed “Militant, nationalistic, white supremacist violent extremism has increased in the United States. In fact, the number of far-right attacks continues to outpace all other types of terrorism and domestic violent extremism.”

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The document reports “far-right extremists have committed far more ideologically motivated homicides than far-left or radical Islamist extremists,” since 1990, “including 227 events that took more than 520 lives.”

In this same period, the report claimed, “far-left extremists committed 42 ideologically motivated attacks that took 78 lives.”

“We don’t know why the study about far-right extremist violence was removed recently,” writes 404 Media reporter Emanuel Maiberg, “but it comes immediately after the assassination of conservative personality Charlie Kirk, accusations from the administration that the left is responsible for most of the political violence in the country, and a renewed commitment from the administration to crack down on the ‘radical left.’”

READ MORE: 'Something is wrong': MAGA pundits say Trump is 'lying to us' about Charlie Kirk shooting

The DOJ did not respond to 404 Media’s request for comment.

Read the 404 Media report at this link.

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AN 9 25

Senior Trump administration officials on Monday made fresh threats to crack down on a nonexistent left-wing “domestic terror movement” following last week’s assassination of Charlie Kirk—a move that critics called an attempt to exploit the far-right firebrand’s murder to advance an authoritarian agenda targeting nonviolent opposition.

Even as investigators work to determine the motive of Kirk’s killer, members of Trump’s inner circle and supporters have amplified an unfounded narrative of a coordinated leftist movement targeting conservatives.

According to The New York Times:

On Monday, two senior administration officials, who spoke anonymously to describe the internal planning, said that Cabinet secretaries and federal department heads were working to identify organizations that funded or supported violence against conservatives. The goal, they said, was to categorize left-wing activity that led to violence as domestic terrorism, an escalation that critics said could lay the groundwork for crushing anti-conservative dissent more broadly.

Appearing on the latest episode of “The Charlie Kirk Show” podcast—which was guest hosted by US Vice President JD Vance—White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said that “we are going to use every resource we have at the Department of Justice, Homeland Security, and throughout this government to identify, disrupt, dismantle, and destroy these networks and make America safe again for the American people.”

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“It will happen, and we will do it in Charlie’s name,” Miller vowed.

Vance said during the podcast that he wanted to explore “all of the ways that we’re trying to figure out how to prevent this festering violence that you see on the far left from becoming even more and more mainstream.”

“You have the crazies on the far left who are saying, ‘Oh, Stephen Miller and JD Vance, they’re going to go after constitutionally protected speech,‘” the vice president said. “We’re going to go after the network that foments, facilitates, and engages in violence.”

Vance, who like Trump and numerous supporters claim to champion free speech, also took aim at “people who are celebrating” Kirk’s killing.

Another unnamed administration official told the Times Monday that government agencies would be investigating people, including those accused of vandalizing Tesla electric vehicles and dealerships and allegedly assaulting federal immigration agents, in an effort to implicate US leftists in political violence.

Vance and Miller’s threats ignored right-wing violence—which statistically outpaces left-wing attacks—including the recent assassinations of Democratic Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark Hortman, who were murdered in June by a right-wing masked gunman disguised as a police officer.

Investigative reporter Jason Paladino reported last week that the US Department of Justice apparently removed an academic study previously published on the National Institute for Justice’s online library showing that “since 1990, far-right extremists have committed far more ideologically motivated homicides than far-left or radical Islamist extremists, including 227 events that took more than 520 lives” versus “42 ideologically motivated attacks that took 78 lives” committed by “far-left extremists.”

Responding to Miller’s remarks, New Republic staff writer Greg Sargent noted on social media that “Stephen Miller was directly involved in one of the largest acts of organized domestic political violence the United States has seen in modern times, the January 6 [2021] insurrection.”

Congresswoman Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) weighed in Monday on Miller’s attempt to exploit Kirk’s murder, writing on the social media site Bluesky that “it’s never acceptable to kill someone for their political beliefs. But the Trump [administration] exploiting the shooting of Charlie Kirk to follow their authoritarian instincts and crack down on the left is incredibly disturbing.”

“We must end any form of political violence—and reject those who try to exploit it,” she added.

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom noted Monday on social media that Miller “has already publicly labeled the Democratic Party as a terrorist organization.”

“This isn’t about crime and safety,” Newsom added. “It’s about dismantling our democratic institutions. We cannot allow acts of political violence to be weaponized and used to threaten tens of millions of Americans.”

The progressive Working Families Party (WFP) said Monday on social media that “JD Vance and Stephen Miller want to use the horrifying murder of Charlie Kirk to target and dismantle pro-democracy groups.”

“Their comments call to mind some of the darkest periods in US history,” WFP continued. “They’re dividing people based on what box we ticked on our voter registration.”

Vance and Miller “want to stoke fear and resentment to justify their un-American crackdowns on free speech, mass abductions of working people, and military takeovers of our cities,” WFP added. “This isn’t going to fly. We’ve survived crises like this before as a country, and we can choose to live in a place where our political freedoms are protected, where we settle disagreements with words not weapons, and where no one has to fear losing a loved one to gun violence.”

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AN 8 25

One primetime Fox News host appeared to downplay one prominent recent instance of right-wing political violence while exclusively blaming the left for the rise in political violence across the United States.

During the Monday episode of Fox News' "The Five," co-host Greg Gutfeld was arguing that the increase in political violence was one-sided, when liberal co-panelist Jessica Tarlov asked him about the murder of former **Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman (D), who was murdered along with her husband Mark in June. The alleged murderer also shot Minnesota state senator Jon Hoffman (D) and his wife, Yvette — though they survived – and had a "hit list" of 45 other political leaders, all of whom were Democrats. Sen. Hoffman was shot nine times, while his wife was shot eight times.

"You want to talk about Melissa Hortman? Did you know her name before it happened? None of us did," he said. "None of us were spending every single day talking about Mrs. Hortman. I never heard of her until after she died!"

READ MORE:'You will live in exile': Vance and Stephen Miller threaten the left in call for 'unity'

"So she doesn't matter?" Tarlov asked.

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"Don't play that bulls--- with me," Gutfeld said after a pause. "You know what I'm saying is, there was no demonization, amplification of that woman before she died. It was a specific crime against her by someone who knew her."

"The fact of the matter is, the 'both sides' argument, not only doesn't fly, we don't care," he added. "We don't care about your both sides argument. That s--- is dead. There is no cognitive dissonance on our side."

The conversation about political violence comes in the wake of last week's murder of far-right activist Charlie Kirk. While the alleged shooter was registered non-partisan, he was raised by Republican parents and his grandmother told the Daily Mail that she wasn't aware of a single Democrat in the shooter's family. Messages on bullets found in the alleged shooter's rifle have been linked to obscure memes and niche video game references. No ideological motive has yet been confirmed.

READ MORE:'He's not doing well': Psychologists say Trump showing telltale signs of 'early dementia'

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In anarticle for *Politico*published Sunday,reporters Jessica Piper and Aaron Pellish noted that while politically motivated violence in the United States is increasing — targeting everything from state governors to Supreme Court justices — each new attack is leaving less of an imprint on the public consciousness, as Americans grow quickly desensitized to such incidents.

Piper and Pellish noted that though threats and violent acts continue to rise in frequency and severity, the attention they command, both in media coverage (newspaper front pages) and in public interest (as measured by Google searches), is waning rapidly.

They added that even shocking events like the recent assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk or the shooting of legislative figures grab headlines but slip out of view much faster than similar incidents in previous years.

This pattern, they warned, suggests a kind of civic immune system building up: exposure to political violence reduces the emotional and cognitive reaction it elicits.

"Each attack may seem shocking, but the incidents are leaving less of a mark on the national consciousness," the report said.

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Experts cited in the article say that when people see violence repeatedly, their early shock begins to dull, and the societal impulse to demand change fades.

Matt Dallek, a political historian at The George Washington University, told Politico: "You’d have to go back to the pre-Civil War era to find a similar level of threat and acts of physical violence against lawmakers."

They also pointed out that the scale and targets of political violence have expanded — books, social media, incendiary rhetoric, threats, even arson — moving well beyond rare, exceptional events.

Yet despite this escalation, the public's heightened exposure seems to be breeding a kind of passive normalization rather than resistance.

READ MORE:Republicans discover what some of us already knew — the real danger is to their right

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Conservative leaders who initially rushed to blame “radical left” ideology in right‑wing activist Charlie Kirk’s killing have somewhat softened their tone since the suspect, 22‑year‑old Tyler Robinson of Utah, was identified.

In an article for the Guardian published Saturday, reporter Lauren Aratani noted that while they continue to condemn liberal ideas broadly, many conservatives shifted from harsh ideological indictments to more personal, cautious statements as new details emerged.

According to reports, Robinson's parents are registered Republicans. His own political leanings are still unclear. Authorities found social‑media photos showing him and his family posing with guns.

READ MORE:How Christianity’s 'kook' fringe went mainstream in Trump's MAGA world

The alleged shooter was reportedly raised in a suburban area near St. George, Utah, in what appeared to be a supportive home. He achieved top marks on standardized exams, kept a perfect GPA, and had strong academic standing, as shown by posts from family and friends.

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After finishing high school in 2021, he shared a video celebrating his acceptance at Utah State University along with a merit-based scholarship covering four years.

However, he only attended Utah State for one semester before taking a leave and did not return.

Still, some conservatives on social media are claiming he was "radicalized" at the university.

READ MORE:MSNBC host torches Supreme Court for 'treating 4th Amendment as negotiable'

Meanwhile, Utah’s Gov. Spencer Cox (R) told investigators Robinson was “deeply indoctrinated with leftist ideology,” citing but not detailing what led to that conclusion.

Early reporting claimed bullet casings from the suspect’s gun were engraved with trans‑and‑antifascist ideology, but media outlets later retracted or corrected some of those claims; what remains is that most of the inscriptions are reportedly memes or video‑game references.

Aratani noted that after the suspect’s identity was made public, some conservative critics shifted to emphasizing aspects like mental health, religious faith, or the need for prayer and compassion, rather than solely ideology. Earlier, many were calling for violence and revenge.

Rep. Nancy Mace (R‑S.C.), for instance, moved from demanding the death penalty to urging prayer for Robinson’s soul.

READ MORE:Trump blathering about his ballroom might be 'best thing he’s ever done': analysis

On Wednesday, the South Carolina Republican said “it’s time to bring back the death penalty” following Kirk’s murder.

But when his alleged murderer's identity was revealed on Friday, Mace said that Kirk “would want us to pray for such an evil and lost individual like Tyler Robinson to find Jesus Christ”.

“We will try to do the same,” she wrote on the social platform X.

The article also noted that White nationalist Nick Fuentes pushed back against suggestions that Robinson was a “Groyper,” a term for one of his followers, after reports surfaced about engravings on the bullets from the alleged shooter’s gun that fueled speculation about his beliefs.

The Groypers have long taken issue with Kirk, frequently heckling him at his events over the perception that Kirk is too centrist.

On social media, Fuentes declared, “Currently being framed for the murder of Charlie Kirk,” though in a streaming video he also said, “I pray to God there is no further violence.”

Despite the softening toward Robinson personally, many conservatives are still using Kirk’s death to attack liberal ideas and institutions, arguing that the broader political culture tolerates or even encourages hateful rhetoric, especially around gender identity and transgender issues.

Aratani highlighted how political narratives can shift when more facts come out: when the suspect was only a statistic or ideological cipher, criticism was sweeping. Once a specific background of the alleged shooter became identified, some of the most extreme rhetoric became more measured.

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Fruitless thoughts and prayers. Familiar calls for de-escalating toxic partisanship. Promises to do something about the teen mental health crisis, violent video games, the epidemic of alienation and hopelessness. By now we are all accustomed to the ritual reactions to routine incidents of horrific gun violence that plague our country like no other wealthy nation on Earth, where firearms are the leading cause of death for children.

But if the usual, feckless responses to gun violence are maddening in a country that can’t get its act together to pass even marginal, commonsense gun safety measures, the reaction of Wisconsin U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden to the hideous assassination of rightwing provocateur Charlie Kirk this week was downright reprehensible.

As soon as the news broke that Kirk was shot while on stage at Utah Valley University, Van Orden began a stream of increasingly unhinged social media posts blaming Democrats and the media for the murder and declaring “the gloves are off.”

“The leftwing political violence must stop now,” Van Orden tweeted. In another post he wrote, “The left and their policies are leading America into a civil war. And they want it. Just like the democrat party wanted our 1st civil war.”

Contrast that with the statements from other Wisconsin politicians.

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Wisconsin U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin said, “there is no two ways about this: political violence has no place in America. I am keeping Charlie and his family in my thoughts in this truly horrifying moment.”

Van Orden’s fellow Wisconsin Republican, U.S. Rep. Tony Wied said, “There is absolutely zero place for political violence in our country.”

“Violence against anyone because of their political beliefs is wrong. Violence against others is wrong,” Gov. Tony Evers said. “Violence is never the answer for resolving our differences or disagreements. Wisconsin joins in praying for Charlie Kirk and the Utah Valley community and first responders.”

None of those statements mollified Van Orden, who told reporters in the U.S. Capitol that “every one of you” is responsible for Kirk’s death.

Reposting a news clip of Democratic Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, who called for the nation to de-escalate political violence and come together, Van Orden wrote, “Too late. You have sown the wind.”

“I am not sure they understand what they have done,” Van Orden ranted. “They missed in Butler, but it is on now.”

Never mind that in Butler, Pennsylvania, the would-be assassin who targeted President Donald Trump was a registered Republican. Or that, as Van Orden spewed accusations against Democrats and journalists, the identity of the shooter who targeted Charlie Kirk was still unknown. When a reporter pointed that out to Van Orden, he replied, “You know what? Knock it off.”

Actually, it’s Van Orden who needs to knock it off.

Seizing on political violence to try to stoke more political violence is as dangerous as it is disgusting.

Far from recognizing the human tragedy for all of us as our country descends into this nightmare, Van Orden capitalizes on murder, whether the victims are liberals or conservatives, imposing the same crude narrative about a war with violent leftists every time.

After the horrible double murder of Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, Van Orden falsely characterized the suspected shooter, a right-wing religious fanatic whose list of intended targets included Democrats and abortion providers, as an anti-Trump protester who “decided to murder and attempt to murder some politicians that were not far Left enough for them.”

He seems to revel in the prospect of more violence. Unfortunately, his tone is matched by Trump, who issued his own threatening statement, politicizing the attack and claiming that it is part of a pattern of leftwing attacks on conservatives. “For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world’s worst mass murderers and criminals. This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now,” Trump said. “My administration will find each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity, and to other political violence.”

Of course, it is Trump who has a long history of inviting political violence against Democrats and members of the press. Van Orden is copying him by escalating that rhetoric in Wisconsin.

Online, Van Orden’s belligerent posts got mixed reviews. Some people demanded that he explain what he means when he says “the gloves are off,” condemning him for encouraging hooliganism. “So you plan on using this to start Civil War II?” one person posted. “You don’t think things through before you say them.

You people fantasize about killing your fellow Americans like it’s a full-time job.”

Others celebrated his statements. “No other way to fix it at this point,” one of Van Orden’s followers replied to his post. “We need a 2-3 day national purge. We do business with whatever is left of the left.” Appended to the comment was a GIF celebrating Kyle Rittenhouse for shooting Black Lives Matter protesters in Kenosha.

It’s unlikely that Van Orden, who has been unwilling to face his own constituentsat an in-person town hall will actually lead the violent attacks against his fellow Americans he fantasizes about online. But feeding that violent fantasy is clearly inspiring for some people. And that’s exactly why it’s got to stop.

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mma

On the killing of Charlie Kirk, political violence, and the right’s response

Written by Matt Gertz

Published 09/12/25

Charlie Kirk, a powerful right-wing activist, popular podcaster, and close friend and ally to President Donald Trump, was shot and killed while speaking at a college in Utah on Wednesday. Politicians of both parties and commentators across the spectrum, including myself, have responded with condemnations of the act as both the tragic murder of a young husband and father and an act of political violence that must be anathema if we hope to preserve our country as a liberal democracy.

Rational people on all sides of the political spectrum abhor political violence and want to ratchet down the temperature, but this requires an honest assessment of what is happening: There have been far too many cases of political violence in recent years, and the targets are not limited by party, ideology, or creed.

Yet within the right-wing media bubble, long before there was even a suspect in custody, commentators cited Kirk’s killing as proof the left is at war with them. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) on Thursday called out right-wing pundits who took Kirk’s death “as an opportunity to say we're at war so that they could get some of our conservative followers lathered up over this.” He added: “It seems like a cheap, disgusting, awful way to pretend like you're a leader of a conservative movement.”

Tillis cited two commentators in particular, but such rhetoric has been a staple throughout the right-wing media ecosystem since news broke that Kirk had been shot. It is what right-wing audiences are hearing right now — and what they have been hearing, to one extent or another, for quite some time.

“They are at war with us!” Fox News star Jesse Watters said on The Five, his network’s most-watched show, shortly after Kirk’s passing was announced.

“Whether we want to accept it or not, they are at war with us,” he continued. “And what are we gonna do about it? How much political violence are we going to tolerate? And that’s the question we’re just gonna have to ask ourselves.”

“THIS IS WAR,” posted Libs of TikTok. “Civil war,” was Andrew Tate’s take. “This is war,” commented Ian Miles Cheong. “This is a war, this is a war, this is a war,” Alex Jones said on his livestream. According to Steve Bannon, “We are at war in this country.” “We’re not supposed to say this,” posted Shaun Maguire. “But the truth is we’re at War.”

Many on the right were Kirk’s friends and are mourning his death. Some of them may fear for their own safety. But the narrative they have constructed relies on ignoring the recent spate of attacks targeting Democrats, the gruesome contemporaneous response to those attacks from some of the most influential voices on the right, and the chorus of Democratic officials who have condemned Kirk’s assassination.

There is no war, no righteous, violent struggle between a “left” and a “right.” A man was killed. His killer deserves to be brought to justice. Turning that into a “war” can only make the situation worse.

Terrorists have targeted political leaders of both parties

It is not true, as Eric Trump andDonald Trump Jr. both claimed in right-wing media interviews since Kirk’s slaying, that violence is “only going one way,” or, as right-wing radio host Dana Loesch put it on Watters’ prime-time show, that “it's not the right killing the left, it's the left killing the right.”

It seems both pointless and morally inappropriate to try to weigh attacks against one another to determine who has it “worse,” but it’s impossible to have a conversation if we can’t agree that political violence goes both ways.

The ideology of people who attack political figures doesn’t always map neatly onto a political party, in no small part because the assailant typically suffers from some form of mental illness. But Democrats have certainly been the targets of political violence in recent memory: In October 2022, a man broke into the home of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi seeking to kidnap her, and brutally assaulted her husband, Paul. In June, an assassin allegedly murdered a Democratic state legislator and her husband and wounded a second and his wife in Minnesota. Last month’s lethal attackon the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by someone who authorities say “wanted to send a message against COVID-19 vaccines” should also be placed in this category.

It’s worth revisiting how right-wing media covered those domestic terror attacks, as it speaks to how its audience likely interprets them in an increasingly fragmented media landscape in which people can pick and choose news sources that confirm their biases.

After a man broke into the Pelosi residence and attacked Paul Pelosi with a hammer, MAGA influencers claimed based on effectively no evidence that the attacker, who turned out to be a deranged individual steeped in right-wing fever swamp conspiracy theories, had actually been let into the speaker’s house by her husband for the purposes of sex and subsequently attacked him as part of a lovers’ quarrel.

Donald Trump Jr. posted a photo of a pair of briefs and a hammer on a bed with the caption: “Got my Paul Pelosi Halloween costume ready.”

For months afterwards, Fox hosts including Watters alluded to such wild claims on their nationally broadcast programs, undeterred by body camera footage from the scene of the attack or basic human dignity.

Prominent MAGA social media influencers likewise responded to the Minnesota shootings by spinning up a false profile of the killer — in reality a Trump supporter who railed against abortion and the LGBTQ community — as a far-left supporter of Gov. Tim Walz. Laura Loomer and Mike Cernovich even suggested Walz might have orchestrated the attacks as political hits.

Fox’s right-wing propagandists, meanwhile, all but buried that story. There were no soul-searching reflections about political violence targeting the left on the programs of Watters, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, or Greg Gutfeld — instead, discussion on those shows the week after the attacks was limited to correspondent reports and headline reads. The week after the CDC shooting, those programs didn’t cover it at all.

Looking further back, the leading lights of the right-wing media aggressively sought to minimize and sanitize the Trump mob’s assault on the U.S. Capitol in 2021, and they alternatively blamed “incivility” from the left for a Trumpist sending mail bombs to a host of left-wing and Democratic targets and suggested those attacks were a “false flag.” And that’s to say nothing of other attacks apparently fueled by right-wing extremism that targeted Jewish, Latino, and Black Americans in Charleston, South Carolina; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Buffalo, New York; and El Paso, Texas.

If you downplay right-wing violence against left-wing targets, it’s much easier to convince your viewers that the violence is all going in the other direction.

While the repeated declarations that they are at “war” with a murderous left are obviously corrosive, there have not been widespread direct calls for retaliatory violence from prominent right-wing media figures. But many are urging President Donald Trump, his administration, and congressional Republicans to respond with widespread political repression of the left and the Democratic Party.

“We can honor him [Kirk] and honor his memory and make it a living thing that we use this to take down the apparatus that's well-funded that is at the core of this anti-Americanism,” Steve Bannon said on his streaming show Friday. “It has to be a all-of-government approach. ... Let's go kick down some doors and perp walk some folks today.”

Laura Loomer, a conspiracy theorist and streamer who has Trump’s ear and regularly gets federal officials fired for insufficient demonstrated fealty to the president, declared Wednesday, “It’s time for the Trump administration to shut down, defund, & prosecute every single Leftist organization.” She later added: “All of the Leftist groups that pay for these radical protests need to be prosecuted. … More people will be murdered if the Left isn’t crushed with the power of the state.”

MAGA influencer Mike Cernovich demanded “congressional hearings now” on Wednesday, which he said should include “every billionaire funding far left wing extremism,” naming George Soros, Bill Gates, and Reid Hoffman. He also called for “massive RICO investigations now” to scrutinize “every dollar” and tagged Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel.

Former GOP Senate candidate Blake Masters echoed Cernovich, adding, “Either we destroy the NGO/donor patronage network that enables and foments” violence, “or it will destroy us.”

Sean Davis, co-founder of The Federalist, posted Wednesday that “the Democrat party is a domestic terrorist organization” and “terrorist Democrats will not stop. … And until they are stopped—until every single nutjob inciting this madness and cheering it on is held accountable and removed from civil society—it will not stop.” His outlet published a piece which declared that Democrats “need to be treated like the domestic terrorists they are.”

“The last time the radical Left orchestrated a wave of violence and terror, J. Edgar Hoover shut it all down within a few years,” Manhattan Institute senior fellow Christopher Rufo said. “It is time, within the confines of the law, to infiltrate, disrupt, arrest, and incarcerate all of those who are responsible for this chaos.”

YouTuber Benny Johnson claimed that “the modern Democrat party is a terrorist organization” and that the left-wing movement must be “ripped root and stem from our American republic and thrown into the fire where it belongs.”

Some are even suggesting that because the threat to the right is so clear, if Republican leaders don’t respond with such steps, the result will be some on the right taking matters into their own hands.

Davis posted on Thursday that if congressional Republicans don’t take “proper action” to protect “a population being hunted for sport,” then the result would be “improper reaction,” which he described as “a response that cannot be contained once it is out.”

Likewise, Cernovich wrote: “I’m choosing my words mindfully, don’t twist them. This is a prediction, not a preference. If Congressional GOP and Trump don’t act swiftly and ferociously, there will be retaliatory actions due to lawful means not being used. This is always what happens. RICO these fucks now!”

Trump appears to be responding to these demands for political retribution.

It is impossible to have a rational conversation about topics like lowering the political temperature and pushing back against the spread of political violence when the president of the United States is interested in those issues only as a cudgel against his political opponents.

On Wednesday evening, the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal urged Trump, himself the victim of two assassination attempts, to take advantage of “an opportunity for leadership” by seeking to lower the tenor of political rhetoric.

Any other president would not need to hear such advice — but Trump’s previous responses to attacks on Democratic targets demonstrate his lack of interest in bringing the country together. He mocked the brutal assault against Pelosi, said following the Minnesota shooting that it would be a “waste of time” to call Gov. Tim Walz because he is “so whacked out,” and completely ignored the CDC attack.

In an Oval Office address a few hours after Kirk was killed, Trump characteristically ignored the Journal’s counsel. He offered a testament to Kirk’s life and promised that the shooter, who at that point had not been publicly identified or taken into custody, would be brought to justice.

But he also attributed blame far beyond the person who took Kirk’s life, saying that the “rhetoric” of “the radical left” was “directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today.” He went on to promise that his administration would go after the individuals and organizations he said “contributed to this atrocity and to other political violence,” adding that “radical-left political violence has hurt too many innocent people and taken too many lives.”

Trump did not name the targets of the action he promised to carry out. But a “straightforward reading of his rhetoric,” as The Atlantic’s Jonathan Chait noted, is that “the president of the United States is treating the political opposition as accessories to murder and threatening to use the full power of the government to attack it.”

On Friday, Fox & Friends co-host Ainsley Earhardt pointed to “radicals” on both the right and left and asked the president, “How do we fix this country? How do we come back together?”

Trump’s response made clear that he is uninterested in doing so. He excused “radicals on the right” as people who “don’t want to see crime,” saying, “They don't want these people coming in, we don't want you burning our shopping centers, we don’t want you shooting our people in the middle of the street.”

“The radicals on the left are the problem, and they are vicious and they are horrible and they are politically savvy,” he added, before running through a litany of grievances with his critics.

That message is echoing across MAGA media, a powerful information apparatus with a rare and unmediated grasp on its audience. It will fuel more vitriol, making it harder, not easier, to have honest conversations and reduce the threat of political violence in this country.

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After it was confirmed that far-right activist Charlie Kirk died after being shot during a Wednesday event on a college campus, and while the shooter remains at large as of Wednesday evening, MAGA activists are still blaming the political left for Kirk's death on social media — and vowing revenge.

Initial responses to the news of Kirk's death, including from President Donald Trump, were encouraging conservatives to pray for the conservative commentator and his family. However, several MAGA influencers and other public figures influential on the far right insisted that Kirk's death should be seen as a mass mobilization event.

"Left-wing violence is out of control, and it’s not random," former Arizona Republican U.S. Senate candidate Blake Masters tweeted. "Either we destroy the NGO/donor patronage network that enables and foments it, or it will destroy us."

READ MORE:'Put two and two together': Conservative argues CNN told hosts to be soft on Trump-Epstein

:{:{MAGA influencer Sam Hyde called on his hundreds of thousands of X followers to watch the video of Kirk being struck by a bullet, writing "It could have been any one of us exercising the first amendment" while adding: "You all need to know what our enemies want." Conservative social media personality FischerKing tweeted: "If this isn't a wake-up call then we're never going to wake up."}:

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk reposted a separate tweet from FischerKing, who said the "left-wing mainstream media" had created a "climate of hysteria against right-wing figures that could radicalize any number of unstable people to engage in political violence." Musk commented: "Exactly."}:

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"We're in a war," conspiracy theorist Alex Jones said in a video. "The left has been saying put a bullseye on Trump, put a bullseye on his supporters, they've been calling for violence ... they're going to attack."

"The Rubicon has been crossed. Not by Trump or MAGA, but by the far left," wrote far-right activist Mike Cernovich, who spawned the "Pizzagate" conspiracy theory. "Randy Paul can shove his book reports up his a--. F--- everyone who played footsie with these dark demonic forces. We will not be scolded any longer."

"The attack on Charlie Kirk and free speech is evil, pure and simple. The hate, violence and evil being peddled by radical extremists has no place in this country! Schools and social media have become breeding grounds for liberal hate," the Utah Republican Party's official X account posted. "Enough!"

READ MORE:House hearing derailed after Dem calls GOP rep 'lapdog to the president' in shouting match

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Hypocritical Conservatives Are Using Charlie Kirk's Horrific Murder to Cynically Smear the Left

Have they forgotten all the Trump supporters who have killed, attacked, and threatened both prominent Democrats and opponents of this president in recent years? I haven't - and I have a list of them.

Mehdi Hasan

Sep 11

On Wednesday, we witnessed the horrific killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk while he was speaking at Utah Valley University. It was a shocking and unforgivable act of violence. At the time of writing, the shooter is still at large and the motive for the murder is unknown.

But that hasn’t stopped Kirk’s fellow conservatives and far-right influencers from weaponizing his tragic death to attack Democrats and blame ‘the left’ for all of the political violence in the United States.

Donald Trump gave an incendiary televised address in which he railed only against “radical left-wing political violence.” Elon Musk claimed “the left is the party of murder.” His fellow ‘Silicon Valley bro’ Shaun Maguire said “the Left lectured us for the last decade about the dangers of violence from the Right” but “the danger was actually on the Left.” Katie Miller, wife of far-right Stephen, accused liberals of having “blood on your hands.”

Such rhetoric from the right is as dishonest as it is dangerous.

Here are the actual facts for those with conveniently short memories.

The man who targeted and killed Democratic state lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark in their home in Minnesota in June was a Trump supporter.

The man charged with the attempted assassination of Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor Josh Shapiro in April was a Trump supporter.

The man convicted of orchestrating a series of hootings at the homes of four Democratic elected officials in New Mexico in 2022 was a Trump supporter.

The man who tried to kidnap then Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and assaulted her husband Paul in 2022 was a Trump supporter.

The men who wanted to hang Mike Pence on Jan 6, 2021, were Trump supporters.

The man who killed the son of Obama-appointed District Judge Esther Salas in 2020 was a Trump supporter.

The men who were convicted of trying to kidnap Michigan’s Democratic governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2020 were Trump supporters.

The man who sent pipe bombs to the homes of Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, and other top Democrats in 2018 was a Trump supporter.

The man who killed left-wing activist Heather Heyer after driving his car into a crowd of counter-protesters in Charlottesville in 2017 was a Trump supporter.

There is no equivalent or even similar list of Obama or Biden supporters who have carried out murders, attempted murders, or violent attacks against Republicans or conservatives in recent years. In fact, according to statistics compiled by the ADL’s Center on Extremism, 2024 was the third year in a row in which all of the extremist-related killings in the United States were carried out by… right-wingers.

So conservatives can engage in as much faux outrage as they like over the supposed threat from ‘the left’ but the facts, as they themselves often like to say, don’t care about their feelings.

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When Liuba Grechen Shirley ran for Congress in 2018, she began a journey that helped change federal policy to ensure parents like herself could use campaign funds to pay for child care.

*This story was originally reported by Barbara Rodriguez of The 19th. Meet Barbara and read more of their reporting on gender, politics and policy.

The Democrat has been public about her struggles with balancing a campaign and securing child care. Less known was the harassment and threats of violence that Grechen Shirley says she experienced at the time. Her car window was smashed, and anonymous calls popped up at her daughter’s nursery school, which was listed on public records filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

“There were people who called and harassed the nursery school because they could find that that’s where I was spending money,” she said.

None of this deterred Grechen Shirley’s run for office, an ultimately unsuccessful bid but one that launched years of advocacy to make sure candidates at all levels of elected office could use campaign dollars for child care expenses. To date, 40 states allow its use, a recent milestone that’s taken years due to the nation’s patchwork of laws and regulations.

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Now Vote Mama — the umbrella organization Grechen Shirley founded that supports parents who run for office — is elevating the use of campaign funds for security measures. Its lobbying entity has begun advocating for policies on the state level that ensure parents and others with concerns about the safety of their families have more financial means to protect themselves.

The organization’s research arm, Vote Mama Foundation, released a report on Monday that shows federal candidates are increasingly spending money on security. While the expenditures do not focus on parents, the report’s findings conclude that the increase in spending indicates a dwindling sense of safety for candidates, which “creates a barrier to entry for caregivers seeking office and discourages a new generation of candidates with young families from running for office up and down the ballot nationwide.”

The possibility that parents might forgo such political engagement is likely to impact their already limited representation in elected office: Vote Mama Foundation has collected data on mothers with minor children and estimated that they are just 8 percent of state legislators. They represent just 6.8 percent of all federal legislators.

“Campaign funds for child care opens the door for more moms to run and to serve in office, but campaign funds for security — it keeps that door open, by ensuring safety shouldn’t be a deterrent for people who want to run for elected office,” Grechen Shirley said.

Federal candidates had been able to use campaign funds for security expenses on a case-by-case basis since 2009, but an FEC rule in 2024 clarified the use of such funds for the reasonable cost of security measures for a federal candidate, federal officeholder, member of their family and employees. Among the buckets of allowable expenses:

Vote Mama Foundation, which appears to be the only organization tracking security spending, analyzed security-related transactions in FEC filings between 2014 and 2024. It estimated more than 860 candidates for federal office spent over $41 million on security measures during that time — with 2020 and 2024 accounting for nearly half of all spending.

The bulk of the federal spending on security — 78 percent — was done by men, and nearly 80 percent of that amount was spent by White men. While women represent just 22 percent of security spending, women of color make up 63 percent of that amount — nearly two-thirds.

While the Vote Mama report focuses on federal campaign spending, Grechen Shirley said the new data connects the dots on the shortcomings of state-level policy, which will need to play out individually. North Dakota recently became the 10th state to allow for spending campaign funds on candidate safety — and the first since the June assassination of Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her spouse. Lawmakers in Oklahoma have recently returned to the subject, and the Minnesota legislature now plans to cover costs for enhanced home security for lawmakers.

Vote Mama is calling on more states to allow campaign expenditures in order to empower more parents to run for and stay in office. It notes such policies should come at no expense to taxpayers since candidates would be using the money they’re raising.

Reports of harassment and threats of violence against elected officials and candidates have become more common. Bridging Divides Initiative (BDI), a nonpartisan research initiative out of Princeton University that tracks and mitigates political violence in the United States, maintains a public dataset that shows more than 250 incidents of threats and harassment targeting local officials have been reported in the first half of 2025 — up 9 percent from this point in 2024.

BDI, in partnership with the organization CivicPulse, also maintains a quarterly survey of local elected officials, and its latest findings show many officials are seeking more safety support, including for personal security and enhanced privacy protections. One in 3 women reported their gender identity as a perceived driver of the hostility they faced, compared to just 1 in 50 men.

Among recent interviews with elected officials, BDI staff say there are elected officials who are mothers who have indicated they do not plan to run for higher office explicitly because they fear the safety risks to their children. Others say they plan to wait until their kids are young adults. Some of these mothers already have safety strategies in place to limit what information they share publicly about having kids.

Shannon Hiller, executive director of BDI, said almost half of all women in the survey report that they worry about threats, harassment or attacks in the future — that’s the case for about a third of men.

“This is not just only a problem for women, but it’s important to note that this sort of climate is impacting certain types of officials even more than others,” she said.

The issue reached renewed attention following the death of Hortman and her spouse in a shooting at multiple private residences that also injured Minnesota state Sen. John Hoffman and his spouse. The alleged gunman, who reportedly had a “hit list” of multiple Democrats besides Hortman and Hoffman, has been arrested.

That follows an alleged arson at the official residence of Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro in the spring, and years of attempted attacks and threats of violence against others. Last year, after President Donald Trump was shot in the ear in an assasination attempt at a campaign event in Pennsylvania, the incident drew public condemnation from women who have been targets of political violence.

“No one should have to risk their lives to serve in office, to stand up and fight for their constituents,” Grechen Shirley said.

Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, noted that running for the legislature or local office is often a low-paying part-time job, even though the public expectations can make it feel like a full-time gig. That already made it a tough sell for women candidates, especially those with young children, who must now contend with safety concerns that disproportionately impact them.

“Women make up less than a third of elected officials at any level of office. If it has a chilling effect on women running for office or running for reelection, we’re at risk of losing women’s voices,” she said. “When you lose women’s voices in these decision-making bodies — where policy is made that affects all of our lives — then you think about our democracy, it really puts in many ways our democracy at risk.”

Security spending is used across the political spectrum. From 2014 to 2024, Democrats spent more than $18 million, and Republicans spent more than $14 million. Trump spent $6.8 million on security measures, according to the report. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who ran for president last election cycle before being tapped to be health secretary, spent $5.7 million.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris spent $1.7 million on security. In Congress, former Sen. Krysten Sinema spent $1.4 million, followed by former Rep. Cori Bush with $831,000 and Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez with $666,000.

Grechen Shirley said there is bipartisan support for addressing security concerns among elected lawmakers and candidates.

“Both Democrats and Republicans are getting threats. This is something that is common sense, and it’s already approved at the federal level,” she said. “Now we have to get this approved at the state level to make sure that people are safe.”

In a recent policy brief with the Brennan Center for Justice, BDI called for expanded access on the state-level for personal security measures and data collection on the issue. The brief also noted the Trump administration’s rollback of security protections for former officials and the president’s clemency of nearly 1,600 participants convicted in the January 6 attack on the Capitol has “created a more permissive environment for politically motivated attacks.”

Hiller said that context is important if the public wants to better understand how to address political violence.

“People have to be thinking about holding their elected leaders accountable if they’re contributing to that kind of climate and permissive environment around threats and harassment in particular,” she said.

---

RWW

Anti-Choice Activist Bradley Pierce Is Fine With Causing A Civil War To Abolish Abortion Bradley Pierce of the Foundation to Abolish Abortion says he would "absolutely" support abolishing abortion even if it leads to a civil war: "If that's what God chose to bring about from doing our duty before him, then that's up to him." 7 25

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:{:{RWW

07/23/2025

by

Kyle Mantyla

On July 18, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard made a post on Twitter alleging “the most powerful people in the Obama administration,” including former President Barack Obama, were involved in a “years-long coup” and a “treasonous conspiracy” against Donald Trump. Her post quickly went viral, amassing over 13 million views over the weekend, and galvanized the online fringe to fantasize about violence against their political enemies. Trump fanned Gabbard’s flames, sharing a racist AI-generated video of Obama being arrested on Truth Social, which Trump owns.

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NO LNX

'Veterans on Patrol': Inside MAGA's new assault on reality and bizarre conspiracy theory

Thom Hartmann July 12, 2025

In Oklahoma, a domestic militia calling itself “Veterans on Patrol” is systematically targeting weather radars. Their leader, Michael Lewis Arthur Meyer, claims the military is controlling the weather through Doppler radar systems and that these machines are part of a divine affront — a “weather weapon” — that is “mocking God Himself.”

He’s encouraging his followers to sabotage these radars under an operation he calls “Leaning Tower.” This isn’t just fringe paranoia: it’s part of a growing anti-reality insurgency that threatens our democracy itself.

Let’s be blunt: this is insanity. Not just in its content, but in its consequences. And yet, it’s not isolated. It’s one of many conspiracy-fueled campaigns that now animate parts of American life, often backed by violence or intimidation. From QAnon to flat-earth nonsense to vaccine “skeptics” now within the Food and Drug Administration, we’re watching a dangerous erosion of truth, a collapse of shared facts, and an outright assault on the institutions that protect life and liberty.

What’s happening here isn’t just about weather radars: it’s about reality itself.

When people are told not to believe their own eyes, not to trust scientists, doctors, journalists, or even the National Weather Service, society begins to crack. And the people exploiting those cracks — including some of the Trump administration’s most senior officials (see: Bob Kennedy and Stephen Miller, among others) — know exactly what they’re doing.

Veterans on Patrol isn’t just anti-science or anti-government; it’s anti-democracy. It joins a growing list of extremist groups peddling lies and hatred: anti-immigrant, anti-Indigenous, antisemitic, misogynist, anti-Catholic, anti-Muslim. It wraps its destruction in the flag and cloaks its violence in religion. And when Meyer boasts about being responsible for “a lot more than” taking down a radar, we’d be fools not to take him seriously. Oklahoma, after all, remembers Timothy McVeigh.

This latest attack rendered a critical radar system “instantly obsolete,” according to meteorologist David Payne. That radar was designed to save lives, particularly in tornado-prone Oklahoma. When it’s destroyed, people will die. Period. This is not free speech: this is domestic terrorism.

But here’s the deeper issue: this attack is only a symptom, not the disease. The disease is the deliberate poisoning of the American mind with fantasy and fear by a network and system of media and social media owned by anti-democracy rightwing billionaires and filled with Russian trolls. And when truth dies, democracy soon follows.

Because democracy — as Thomas Jefferson so accurately pointed out (“Whenever the people are well informed, they may be trusted with their own government”) — depends on an educated public operating on the basis of shared truths and actual facts.

You can’t have a functioning republic if half the country believes extreme weather is a “liberal weapon” and the other half knows it’s the result of an atmosphere warmed by fossil fuel emissions. You can’t govern when reality itself is disputed. And you certainly can’t maintain civil peace when people are being radicalized into acts of violence based on complete and utter delusion.

The fossil-fuel-billionaire-funded radical right’s war on truth isn’t new, but it’s accelerating. When lies are repeated often enough, they become gospel to those who want to believe them.

Right-wing media outlets, extremist influencers, and opportunistic Republicans have learned — as Josef Goebbels famously preached — that a lie can be more powerful than the truth when it aligns with grievance, fear, and identity and is repeated often enough.

The problem isn’t just gullibility. It’s that these lies are weaponized. And when they take hold, facts become negotiable, science becomes suspect, and even saving people from storms becomes controversial.

Just look at how the “mainstream media” consistently omits from their reporting on Trump’s tariffs that they’re a clear violation of the Constitution and was explicitly called that in an unanimous decision by the US Trade Court, as Robert Hubbell points out so eloquently.

Or when the media ignores the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 14th amendment violations of ICE’s random, masked, warrantless arrests and incarceration of brown-skinned people, including those with Green Cards at the “Alligator Alcatraz” concentration camp, along with those with full, court-ordered permission to be here in America.

What does this mean for democracy?

A shattered consensus on truth makes informed voting impossible. If voters can’t agree on basic facts — like whether the atmosphere is heating up or whether a vaccine works — how can they make rational decisions at the ballot box?

The weaponization of delusion breeds violence. Just like the January 6th attack on our Capitol, these radar attacks are fueled by conspiracy and rage. They don’t just damage property, they destabilize the rule of law.

When truth is optional, tyranny becomes inevitable. Autocrats thrive in the fog of misinformation. The more confused and divided a people are, the easier they are to control, thus the daily Trump Reality Show.

Public trust collapses. Scientists, educators, journalists, and public servants all become suspect. That vacuum gets filled by cult leaders, armed militias, and political demagogues.

:{:{Democracy becomes unrecognizable. Without a shared sense of reality, debate becomes pointless, compromise becomes impossible, and elections become battlegrounds instead of ways to determine a rational direction for our shared future.}:

So what do we do?

We fight back with truth. Unapologetically. Loudly. Persistently.

We stand up for science. For journalism. For civic education. For basic decency.

We hold platforms accountable that spread lies, tweak their algorithms secretly to promote anti-democracy messages, and reject the persistent “mainstream media” cowardice of both-sidesism. There aren’t “two sides” to facts. There is reality and there are lies.

We support platforms, networks, media, newsletters, programs, writers, speakers, politicians, and movements that promote the truth and push back against the creeping fascism that is rapidly overtaking our nation.

So we must loudly and persistently call this out for what it is: an attempt — which has so far been successful at destroying democracy in nations like Russia, Hungary, and Turkey — to engage in social and political sabotage. It’s radicalism, a form of domestic terrorism whose target is democracy itself.

And it’s time to say: enough.

Because without truth, we don’t just lose the weather forecast.

We lose our nation.

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an 7 25

the normalization of political violence is taking root in public life in the United States. Once shocking near-assassinations are now becoming grimly accepted chapters in political campaigns. Experts warn this signals a dangerous shift in societal norms — and the consequences are already unfolding, The Hill reported Sunday.

The report notes that in the year following the first assassination attempt on President Donald Trump, public threats toward officials have not only persisted — they have escalated.

From the tragic killing of a Minnesota state legislator to last week’s firefight at a U.S. Border Patrol station in Texas, high-profile incidents are mounting.

READ MORE:There's far more to Trump and Epstein's relationship: Trump biographer

Jon Lewis, a research fellow at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism, told The Hill: “We continue to see a normalizing of political violence, a very casual acceptance that some elected officials may be legitimate targets for violence—based on conspiracies, based on disinformation—and unfortunately and tragically, we’ve seen that that has real-world consequences."

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He added: “When there is so much rhetoric…it’s only a matter of time before someone with a grievance and a gun finds that justification.”

This reflects a broader trend — federal arrests for threats against officials hit a 12-year high in 2024, according to Seamus Hughes of the University of Nebraska Omaha’s NCITE program, whose comments were also highlighted in the report.

Hughes pointed out that many cases now invigilated at the federal level would previously have been dropped or handled locally. “It’s clear law enforcement and prosecutors want to put their finger on the scale on such threats,” he said.

READ MORE:'A scandal that's being covered up': Trump ripped after claiming Dems 'created' Epstein files

Last month, Robert Pape, a political scientist at the University of Chicago, told the Guardian: “We are in a historically high period of American political violence."

He added: “I call it our ‘era of violent populism’. It’s been about 50 years since we’ve seen something like this. And the situation is getting worse.”

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an ?6 25

no lnx

'Fits a profile': More assassination attempts feared as suspect's Christian ties come to light

In this handout provided by Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, Vance Luther Boelter poses for a booking photo on June 16, 2025 in Green Isle, Minnesota.

Jordan Greenand Raw StoryJune 19, 2025

Since the fatal shooting of a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband in an act described by a federal prosecutor as a “political assassination,” scrutiny has turned to suspect Vance Boelter’s ties to independent charismatic Christianity, in particular a movement known as the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR).

Boelter is alleged to have posed as a police officer as he gunned down Democratic Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman, in the early hours of June 14. In a separate shooting, he wounded state Sen. John A. Hoffman, also a Democrat, and his wife, Yvette Hoffman. Investigators say Boelter visited two other lawmakers and had a list of 70 targets, including Democrats, civic leaders and abortion providers.

Boelter was described in a court filing supporting federal charges as embarking "on a planned campaign of stalking and violence, designed to inflict fear, injure, and kill members of the Minnesota state legislature and their families."

Researchers who study the Christian right have homed in on Boelter’s attendance at a Bible college in Dallas in the late 1980s and missionary work in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where he delivered sermons critical of abortion and LGBTQ+ people.

Christ For the Nations Institute (CFNI) confirmed that Boelter attended the college from 1988 to 1990, graduating with a “diploma in practical theology in leadership and pastoral.”

Christ For the Nations Institute has been a “merging space” for trends in independent charismatic Christianity, Matthew D. Taylor, a senior scholar at the Institute for Islamic Christian Jewish Studies, told the “Straight White American Jesus” podcast.

Those trends include dominionism — the idea of Christians taking control over the world — and NAR, which emerged in the mid-1990s.

Frederick Clarkson, a senior research analyst at Political Research Associates, described NAR to Raw Story as a movement whose adherents believe God speaks directly to modern-day apostles and prophets, and which seeks to “restore their vision of what they think 1st-century Christianity was.”

Both Taylor and Clarkson note that Apostle Dutch Sheets, one of the major proponents of New Apostolic Reformation, attended CFNI in the 1970s and taught at the college in the following decade, potentially overlapping with Boelter.

Sheets reportedly met Trump officials at the White House one week before the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Staff at Dutch Sheets Ministries declined Raw Story’s request for an interview.

In the early 2010s, Sheets was executive director at CFNI, where a sign in the lobby displays a quote attributed to founder Gordon Lindsay: “Every Christian ought to pray at least one violent prayer a day.”

Following the Minnesota shootings, the institute said its leadership was “absolutely aghast and horrified that a CFNI alumnus is the suspect,” and that it “unequivocally rejects, denounces, and condemns any and all forms of violence and extremism, be it politically, racially, religiously or otherwise motivated.”

The statement rejected any notion the college’s teachings were “a contributing factor” to Boelter’s “evil behavior.”

The statement also claimed Lindsay’s comment about “violent prayer” has been misrepresented.

“By ‘violent prayer’ he meant that a Christian’s prayer life should be intense, fervent, and passionate, not passive and lukewarm,” the statement said, “considering that spiritual forces of darkness are focused on attacking life, identity in God, purpose, peace, love, joy, truth, health, and other good things.”

‘Five soccer balls’

Researchers who track the Christian right have taken note of a sermon Boelter preached in Congo in 2023.

“They don’t know abortion is wrong, many churches,” Boelter said, in comments first reported by Wired. “They don’t have the gifts flowing. God gives the body gifts. To keep balance. Because when the body starts moving in the wrong direction, when they’re one, and accepting the gifts, God will raise an apostle or prophet to correct their course.”

Clarkson told Raw Story Boelter’s rhetoric had a familiar ring.

“Nobody but someone influenced by the New Apostolic Reformation movement would say something like that,” Clarkson said.

But Taylor saw a broader strain of charismatic Christianity in Boelter’s sermonizing, connected to the Latter Rain movement, a precursor to NAR that emerged after World War II.

“Many people today would say those are NAR ideas, but they were Latter Rain ideas before they were NAR ideas,” Taylor said. “I don’t know where he picked up these ideas. He’s very clearly charismatic in his theology and in his preaching as well.”

In a sermon in Congo in 2022, Boelter used an odd metaphor involving soccer balls to suggest he was burdened with regrets.

“Do you understand what God has given us?” Boelter asked. “He’s given us eternity — with Him. And what does he ask? He says, ‘Life didn’t go the way I wanted it for you. But it wasn’t my fault. Vance, you sidetracked. You messed up your life. You took your five soccer balls, and you wrecked ’em.’

“But He says he loves us so much he came and he died to pay for it all. And he says, ‘Vance, do you want to trade your five wrecked soccer balls for all of these? Do you want to live forever with me? Then get on your face, Vance, and repent of your sins.”

Clarkson told Raw Story he thinks both personal troubles and exposure to ideas in the realm of charismatic Christianity could have factored into Boelter’s turn to political violence.

“If he’s in NAR all the way, and his marriage and his finances are falling apart, he may lean into his faith to find purpose,” Clarkson said. “If he thinks his life as he knows it is over, he may be thinking about trying to go out in a meaningful way.”

Boelter reportedly texted his family after the shootings: “Dad went to war last night.”

“He’s been planning these things for a long time; he was armed for it,” Clarkson said. “It was literally war. He did seem to assume he would be killed … When people commit violence out of religious motive, that’s profound.”

‘Priming the pump for violence’

Clarkson said that if it turns out Boelter is an NAR adherent, “this would be the first major example of the violent vision and rhetoric of the New Apostolic Reformation movement manifesting.”

On the other hand, Clarkson said, “if it turns out that he’s not NAR, it’s still the case that there are all these NAR leaders that have been teaching people that they are in an end-times war. They’re priming the pump for violence in their lifetime.”

Taylor suggested a different way of looking at Boelter’s attack.

Political discourse in the U.S. is “at a high boil,” Taylor said. While Boelter might have been influenced by hostility towards abortion and LGBTQ+ rights in right-wing media, Taylor noted that political violence is manifesting against an array of targets, with a firebombing attack against Jewish demonstrators calling for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza in Colorado this month only one example.

“There’s so much of this bile in the far-right and right-wing and independent media spaces about abortion, and about LGBTQ+ rights,” Taylor said. “And that’s something that Boelter touches on in his sermons as well — about trans people, about Muslims, about immigrants.

“I worry that this is the harbinger of what’s to come. And we could see more attacks like this in the coming time, because he fits a very common profile.”

NOW READ: Trump now faces the same terrible choice

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greg c: all 5 dem reps on list 40 plus in all?

MMA

In the early hours of June 14, Vance Boelter allegedly shot two Minnesota Democratic state lawmakers in their homes while impersonating law enforcement — Rep. Melissa Hortman and Sen. John Hoffman, along with their spouses. Hortman and her husband were killed, and Hoffman and his wife are recovering from their injuries. While the public waited for more information about the suspect and his motives, right-wing media began to speculate wildly about Boelter, spinning a false narrative that he was a leftist figure aligned with Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz.

:{:{The evidence for this theory is scarce: Conservative media suggested Boelter killed Hortman for breaking from the Democrats on a recent vote to give undocumented immigrants health care. Right-wing media also referenced the flyers from Saturday’s “No Kings” protest that were found in the suspect’s vehicle and pointed to the fact that Boelter was appointed by Walz to a bipartisan working group in 2019, with one figure saying that “he was friends with Walz” and another claiming the governor is “directly connected to a domestic terrorist.” }:

Some even speculated that Walz put a “political hit” out on the lawmakers in retaliation for their vote — even as reports surfaced that the governor himself was on a list of targets found in the suspect’s vehicle — and demanded that someone “investigate.” The narrative snowballed over the weekend, culminating in a post from Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), which suggested that the shooter was a “Marxist.”}:

As more information surfaced, a very different picture emerged: The suspect left behind a “hit list” of 70 targets, including abortion providers and other Minnesota Democrats. Walz, U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, Rep. Ilhan Omar, and state Attorney General Keith Ellison were all on the list. The suspect’s friend described him as a supporter of Trump who enjoyed watching Alex Jones’ Infowars and said that Boelter “would be offended if anyone called him a Democrat.” Wired reported that Boelter is linked to evangelical ministries and is “president of Revoformation Ministries.” The report also said that the suspect has preached against abortion and the LGBTQ community. Additionally, he “liked” the right-wing legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom on Facebook.

By the time the actual facts emerged, the right’s reckless and conspiratorial speculation had done its job, muddying the waters with misinformation claiming the shooter was a left-wing associate of Walz, which quickly spread across social media.

//

  1. ### Benny Johnson responds to Minnesota killings: “Is it a massive false flag?”

:{06/16/25

  1. ### The right-wing ecosystem that created the Paul Pelosi conspiracy theory

:{10/31/22

:

  1. ### Republican convention features speakers who have called for and downplayed political violence

07/16/24

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an 6 25

A 39-year-old man died Saturday night after being shot during Salt Lake City’s “No Kings” protest while a crowd of about 10,000 people marched near 151 S. State Street, the Salt Lake City Police Department confirmed Sunday.

Arthur Folasa Ah Loo, a Utah resident, was shot at the demonstration. Despite life-saving efforts from SWAT medics and Salt Lake City Fire, Ah Loo died at an area hospital.

As of Sunday morning there were still unreleased details about the incident as the investigation is ongoing, Salt Lake City Police Chief Brian Redd said in a news conference.

A chaotic scene ensued after two armed men in high visibility vests, who Redd described as “possibly part of the event’s peacekeeping team” saw 24-year-old Arturo Gamboa separating from the crowd, moving behind a wall, pulling out a rifle and starting to manipulate it.

“Gamboa was then confronted by these two men, witnesses say. Gamboa raised the weapon in a firing position and began running toward the crowd,” Redd said on Sunday. “One of the individuals fired three rounds, striking Gamboa, and tragically striking the man who later died.”

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The preliminary police investigation found that the victim was not the intended target, “but rather an innocent bystander participating in the demonstration,” Redd said. Gamboa also sustained a minor gunshot wound in the confrontation.

As the scene unfolded, a bystander took a backpack from Gamboa that contained an AR-15 style rifle and a gas mask, Redd said.

Gamboa’s motivations for being at the protest are still unclear, and there is no indication that others were working with him, Redd said.

Detectives booked Gamboa into the Salt Lake County Metro Jail for investigation of murder, police said in a release.

Gamboa has no criminal history, police said. Jail documents state he is being held without bail.

Police had not taken any action against the two peacekeeping members as of Sunday, Redd said. The man who fired the shots is cooperating with police.

2 people shot, including suspect in custody, during ‘No Kings’ protest in Salt Lake City, Utah

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The scene was chaotic and unfolded very quickly, Redd said, but many people assisted the officers.

“The crowd actually pointed him out to law enforcement, and their actions were heroic,” Redd said.

In a Facebook post Sunday morning, Utah 50501 — the group that organized Saturday’s protest — said it is currently working with police.

“Our team was directly involved. We have been in direct contact with law enforcement,” the Facebook post read. “Some of you seem to think a keyboard and social media give you a free pass to be nasty and accusatory. Our teams just had to deal with something extremely traumatizing and when faced with personal risk to their own lives, chose to run towards the danger in order to serve this community.”

The group said it’s working to set up a vigil for the victim.

“We respectfully ask to refrain from speculation about the alleged shooter’s motives and identity — that information will come out soon enough. It is better to wait for the facts, even though it is difficult given the emotional and charged nature of this incident,” the group said in a separate Facebook post Sunday morning. “This was a horrific moment of violence in a historic day full of thousands of Utahns exercising their right to protest. Nothing will ever change the undeniable strength of our community.”

‘A heartbreaking situation’

Before the news of Ah Loo’s death went public, Salt Lake City Democrats Rep. Jen Dailey-Provost and Sen. Jen Plumb, who represent downtown communities in the Legislature, issued a statement expressing “distress, dismay and sorrow” about the Saturday shooting in Salt Lake City and the assassination of the Minnesota House Democratic-Farmer-Labor caucus leader Melissa Hortman.

The Democrats said that these are “stark examples of the current crisis of our nation’s integrity.”

“As many have stated, violence has no place here,” the lawmakers wrote in a joint statement. “We would argue more strongly, however, that every elected official must actively partake in changing the horrific rhetoric and divisiveness that drives public discourse in our society today; rhetoric that is supported and perpetuated by many in our state and nation’s top leadership positions.”

Simple remarks, the lawmakers said, will not suffice as a response.

:{:{Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, extended condolences WHAT RECORD ON GUN CONTROL:(style="background-color:#ffff00ff"):}:? to Ah Loo’s family in a social media [post, describing the incident as “a heartbreaking situation.”}:

“My thoughts are with everyone affected,” Adams wrote. “I also want to express my gratitude to all the security officers whose quick response helped prevent a mass casualty. In difficult moments like this, we must come together with shared compassion and a commitment to unity.”

*Contributing:Kyle Dunphey

Utah News Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Utah News Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor McKenzie Romero for questions: info@utahnewsdispatch.com.

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AN 6 25

Miami New Times reports a member of Miami-Dade County's GOP Executive Committee joked about running over protesters with his car as people took to the streets forthe "No Kings" protests.

In a June 13 tweet, District 22 committeeman Chris Barcenas reposted a video of a man dancing in his car and singing to Shaboozey's "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" with the caption, "Driving home from work knowing DeSantis gave permission to the good people of Florida to go car bowling this weekend."

Barcenas added, "Turn on off-road mode."

READ MORE: 'Mourning and shame': Sociologist explains the Trump ritual that his supporters — and critics — fall for

The post was still available on X on Monday, preceding later posts trying to imply right-wing assassin, Vance Boelter, was a Democrat.

Miami New Times reports Barcenas is a former member of the Proud Boys who protested at the Capitol on January 6 but did not enter the building and was not charged with any crimes related to January 6. He later testified before the U.S. House Select Committee on the January 6 riot, detailing the Proud Boys' involvement in the insurrection and his involvement with the organization and another local right-wing group, Floridians First. Barcenas claims he is no longer involved with the Proud Boys.

Last week, at the onset of anti-Trump protests, Gov. Ron DeSantis reminded Floridians that they do not have to worry about hitting protesters with their cars if they are surrounded and feel threatened.

"We also have a policy that if you are driving on one of their streets and a mob comes and surrounds your vehicle and threatens you, you have the right to flee for your safety," DeSantis said during an appearance onthe Rubin Report podcast. "And so if you drive off and you hit one of these people, that's their fault for impinging on you."

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READ MORE:The Trump administration just accidentally made the case against the Big Beautiful Bill

Miami defense attorney Mark Eiglarsh told reporters he was concerned about DeSantis’ message.

“The right to use deadly force in Florida only occurs when you reasonably fear death or great bodily harm; you don’t get free rein to hit protesters just because they are around your vehicle," he said.

Read the full Miami New Times report at this link.

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Former state House Speaker Mark Rozzi (D-Berks) said he wore a bulletproof vest for several months in 2022 when he was the target of a politically motivated stalker.

During an interview last week with the Capital-Star on an unrelated subject, Rozzi revealed that he had been harassed by the man, who was not a constituent but lived nearby in the Reading area. He said the episode contributed to his decision to get out of politics.

“There comes a time when you know it’s time to leave,” Rozzi said, adding that the polarized politics of the last several years made leading as a moderate lawmaker difficult. “You constantly had to look over your shoulder.”

The reality of political violence in America loomed over a day of peaceful demonstrations Saturday in which millions protested the Trump administration and its aggressive deportation tactics.

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Early Saturday morning, former Minnesota state House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband were assassinated by a gunman posing as a police officer who knocked on their door. Democratic Minnesota state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife were also shot multiple times earlier in the night at their home and are expected to survive.

Pennsylvania has also been affected by politically motivated violence this year. An attacker firebombed the Governor’s Residence on April 13, after the first night of Passover. It forced Gov. Josh Shapiro, his wife and their children to evacuate in the middle of the night.

Cody Balmer, the Harrisburg man charged with the attack, later told authorities he hated Shapiro and disagreed with the governor’s support for Israel after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks.

Shapiro called on leaders across the country to speak with moral clarity after Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced Hortman’s death Saturday morning.

“This is unacceptable — we all have a responsibility to stand up and work to defeat the political violence that is tearing through our country,” he said. “America is better than this.”

Rozzi could not be reached over the weekend to comment on the Minnesota shootings.

The Exeter Township man who faced misdemeanor charges for harassing Rozzi and his then-girlfriend died before the case was set to go to trial last year, Berks County District Attorney John Adams confirmed. The accused stalker had a history of unusual behavior in which he expressed a willingness to “die in combat.”

Rozzi, who served as speaker in early 2023 when control of the House was uncertain, said the man was allegedly motivated by a belief that former President Joe “Biden and the Democrats were going to destroy America.”

Adams identified Rozzi’s stalker as Victor Greer, 56, who died in June 2024, when the case was “very close to going to trial.” The most serious charge against Greer was a third-degree misdemeanor, Adams said.

“This individual was definitely harassing and stalking him and his then-girlfriend and I’m sure it was somewhat traumatic,” Adams said.

About a decade before he died, Greer was arrested in Manhattan on weapons charges.

Officers pulled over Greer for driving the wrong way on a one-way street around 1 a.m. July 2, 2014, and spotted ammunition and three knives inside the car, according to reports.

In the center console of Greer’s vehicle, police found a note that said “I want to die in combat and want to go to heaven and meet god,” and also mentioned his cats, his parents and his favorite movies, authorities said.

The New York Police Department bomb squad searched the car’s trunk and found two unloaded semi-automatic rifles, a semiautomatic handgun, a 12-gauge shotgun, more than 400 rounds of ammunition, a bottle rocket and drug paraphernalia, Reading-area TV station WFMZ reported.

Rozzi was elected speaker in January 2023 after Democrats won a one-vote majority in the House in the previous November election. One incumbent Democrat had been reelected despite dying weeks before the election and two others resigned to take higher offices, leaving control of the House to be decided in special elections.

After Democrats were unable to muster votes to elect current Speaker Joanna McClinton (D-Philadelphia), Rozzi struck a deal with Republicans in which he agreed to become an independent to secure GOP support to elect him as speaker. He won the 115-85 vote with 16 Republicans joining Democrats’ unanimous support.

Rozzi told the Capital-Star last week that he had always considered himself politically moderate and felt he was getting lost in the House where the parties seemed to be moving farther apart.

“I was a nonexistent type of person,” Rozzi said.

Rozzi said he planned use his speakership to pass legislation to provide a two-year window for victims of childhood sexual abuse to sue their abusers and those who enabled them. Legislation to hold a referendum on amending the state constitution to provide the window had passed in the previous session with bipartisan support, but was derailed by an administrative error.

He faced opposition from Republicans, including a key ally who called for him to resign, when his promised switch from Democrat to independent never happened.

Rozzi said he’s hopeful the state Senate will act on the survivors’ window amendment this session. The legislation passed the House earlier this month.

A Commonwealth Court panel last week upheld the right of abuse victims to sue public agencies for enabling their abuse under a law Rozzi passed in 2019, which he described as gratifying knowing that it would help protect children.

“I’m happy to look back but I’m also happy to not be there,” Rozzi said.

After leaving office, Rozzi said he started working on an autobiographical book about his abuse and his rise to speaker. He said his chances of getting back into politics are slim, although he said he would consider running for state Senate if the seat was in danger of being lost.

For now, Rozzi said he’s doing “a ton of writing,” enjoying “being able to breathe,” and is looking forward to getting out of town for a while.

“Twelve years is a long time,” he said.

Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Tim Lambert for questions: info@penncapital-star.com.

---

AN 6 25

In his 2022 book "The Next Civil War: Dispatches from the American Future," Canadian journalist/author Stephen Marche argued that the U.S. was on its way to becoming a far-right dictatorship. And his view of the United States' political environment hasn't grown any more optimistic since then.

Marche, in an op-ed published by The Guardian on June 16, points to the weekend of June 14-15 as a troubling demonstration of the "political violence" that is accelerating in the U.S. And he views President Donald Trump's military/birthday parade as an example of threatening imagery.

"Do not confuse Trump's debased parade with a joke or an innocent piece of entertainment," Marche warns. "The Trump parade took place in the immediate aftermath of the assassination of Melissa Hortman, a Minnesota state representative. While it was underway, security forces were firing teargas on protesters in Los Angeles. Violence is coming to define American political life — spectacular violence, including the parade and real violence like the assassination of Hortman."

READ MORE:'We held our ground: CA health clinic describes close encounter with Trump's agents

Marche continues, "Political destabilization is arriving far too quickly to be perceived in its entirety. So much is happening so fast that it’s impossible to keep track of the decline. Increasingly, the question is becoming: when are we going to start calling this what it is?"

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According to Marche, "American political life" is "moving away from discourse altogether."

"Don't like what the senators of the other party are saying? Handcuff them," Marche laments. "Don't like protestors? Send in the Marines. Don't like the makeup of the House of Representatives in Minnesota? Kill the top Democrat."

The Canadian journalist/author adds, "The political purpose of the parade, from Trump's point of view, was to demonstrate his mastery of the means of violence. He needed to show, to the military and to the American people both, that he can make the army do what he tells it, and established traditions and the rule of law will not alter his will. But the primary effect of the parade was to demonstrate an immense weakness, in Trump and in the American people."

READ MORE:Trump and the 2020 election: We’re witnessing the rewriting of history in the making

*Stephen Marche's full op-ed for The Guardian is available at this link.

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AN 6 25

Just one day after a widely criticized, multimillion-dollar military parade marking both the U.S. Army’s birthday and his own—and amid millions attending thousands of nationwide “No Kings” protests—President Donald Trump announced on Sunday night a new crackdown targeting undocumented immigrants exclusively in Democratic-led strongholds, declaring that blue cities “are the core of the Democrat Power Center.”

Some critics also note that the move comes after a suspect, reportedly a Trump supporter, allegedly assassinated a Democratic Minnesota lawmaker and her spouse and gravely shot and wounded another Democratic lawmaker and his spouse on the same day as the anti-Trump rallies in all 50 states.

In a 400-word Sunday night “order” on social media, President Trump claimed that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents (ICE) every day face “threats from Radical Democrat Politicians,” as he announced “the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History,” before baselessly claiming voter fraud.

READ MORE:‘Coup’: What DHS Secretary’s ‘Liberate’ Comment Means, According to Experts

“Every day, the Brave Men and Women of ICE are subjected to violence, harassment, and even threats from Radical Democrat Politicians, but nothing will stop us from executing our mission, and fulfilling our Mandate to the American People. ICE Officers are herewith ordered, by notice of this TRUTH, to do all in their power to achieve the very important goal of delivering the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History,” the President wrote.

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“In order to achieve this, we must expand efforts to detain and deport Illegal Aliens in America’s largest Cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, where Millions upon Millions of Illegal Aliens reside,” Trump continued. “These, and other such Cities, are the core of the Democrat Power Center, where they use Illegal Aliens to expand their Voter Base, cheat in Elections, and grow the Welfare State, robbing good paying Jobs and Benefits from Hardworking American Citizens. These Radical Left Democrats are sick of mind, hate our Country, and actually want to destroy our Inner Cities — And they are doing a good job of it! There is something wrong with them. That is why they believe in Open Borders, Transgender for Everybody, and Men playing in Women’s Sports.”

Critics blasted the President and issued warnings.

“This is illegal on so many levels,” charged John Jackson, a former trial lawyer. “He’s declaring war on specific areas based entirely on their voter registration, which is a form of speech and protected political choice. It’s ‘vote Republican or I will punish you.’ Incredible. Out in the open. Lawless.”

“2 implications of Trump specifically targeting immigrants in Democratic cities: He’s NOT going after immigrants in places where they are least welcome,” observed former Washington Post editor Robert McCartney. “He IS doing what’s most likely to provoke backlash. We conclude that his goal is not to ‘solve’ the problem but to stir chaos.”

“This is the politicization of law enforcement. It’s not about ‘immigration,’ it’s about demonizing cities, harming political enemies and winning elections,” declared The Atlantic’s Anne Applebaum. “Also, those are the cities that had the biggest No Kings protests.”

RELATED: In Reversal, Trump Uses Term Tied to Ethnic Cleansing Amid Renewed Mass Deportation Demand

Pointing to Trump’s full screed, political strategist Rachel Bitecofer noted, “Please go study how the Nazis talked about the Jews to whip the public up into accepting restricting them from society, deporting them, and ultimately murdering them. It will sound a lot like this.”

“Trump is going after Blue cities based on nothing more than the crazy, conspiratorial voices in his head,” wrote Melanie D’Arrigo, executive director of the Campaign for New York Health. “He’s already violating our 1st, 4th, 5th & 14th Amendments, and deploying the U.S. military against citizens in L.A. This is what authoritarianism looks like.”

“He’s openly admitting that he’s politicizing law enforcement,” observed Chuck Todd, the former NBC News Chief Political Analyst and “Meet the Press” moderator. “This will not help ICE’s image because he’s asking them to perform a political task. Throw in the decision to shield the red states from law enforcement and he’s clearly hoping to provoke an angry response. At a moment when we need a president to de-escalate, he does the opposite.”

“Trump’s ugly plan is clear: Incite violence in blue cities & blue states only, and then put the military on the streets in those blue cities & blue states only,” warned former Tea Party GOP Congressman Joe Walsh, now a Democrat and political commentator. “Everything he does is meant to divide us. He is the absolute worst of us.”

“This sort of dehumanizing language about political opponents is exactly what leads to the horrific shootings we saw yesterday, wrote MeidasTouch News. “Disgraceful and dangerous.”

“One of his crazed supporters just assassinated a Democrat and he continues to instigate division and hatred, noted Arizona Democratic state Senator Analise Ortiz. “We need an adult in the White House, not a dictator hell bent on escalating tensions and political violence.”

Progressive media outlet The Tennessee Holler wrote that “the president posting that Dems are ‘sick of mind’ and ‘hate our country’ immediately after 2 Dem lawmakers and their spouses were shot in their homes is the opposite of leadership. Gas on the fire.”

“A US president is supposed to be the president of all the people,” wrote retired Professor of Law Anne Arbor. “This man instead foments hatred of his own political party against his political opponents. This statement verges on a declaration of civil war against half the country.”

READ MORE: ‘You Don’t Care’: Gay Congressman Blasts Defense Secretary Over LGBTQ Troops

---

: Mike Lee Is A Real Piece Of Sh*t - by Evan Hurst}:

_Wonkette_

https://www.wonkette.com › mike-lee-is-a-real-piece-of...](https://www.wonkette.com/p/mike-lee-is-a-real-piece-of-sht)

38 minutes ago — Elon Musk, Charlie Kirk, Mike Cernovich, they've all lied about Boelter. ... D'Souza tweet with the picture of the “No Kings” fliers ...

Well, folks, they caught the motherfucker. We don’t know exactly what took so long to find the Christian nationalist anti-abortion activist Trump supporter who impersonated a cop and assassinated Democrats in Minneapolis on Friday night, with plans to target many more, but they caught him. Maybe they were just looking the wrong places? We would have checked Republican politicians’ houses first, but that’s just us.

Anyway, they found him in a field.

Again, who this guy Vance Boelter is, it’s not shrouded in mystery, and it’s been out in the open from the beginning. He’s one of them. He’s just a typical Republican voter who decided to assassinate some Democrats. You’d think MAGA would be proud of what it’s wrought. And some of them are, to be sure.

But then there are piece of dogshit Republican senators like Mike Lee who have been lying since the beginning.

caption...

Why so ashamed, bud?

You’d think considering Mike Lee’s extremist record,he might already be lobbying Donald Trump for any extra pardons he’s got lying around for Boelter.

Vance Boelter is a registered Republican.He’s an anti-gay, anti-abortion pig. He’s a conservative Christian preacher. Basically all the red flag characteristics that say “Here’s a guy you shouldn’t leave your kids alone with,” but that MAGA Americans find godly and manly. Again, why is Mike Lee so ashamed? He has a lot in common with this guy! Surprised they aren’t taking up a collection for this guy’s legal defense in Mike Lee’s church. He just reminds us so much of Mike Lee (or any other white Republican loser, they really do all look alike).

As Tim Miller from The Bulwark notes,a bunch of Republicans and MAGA conservatives have taken this tack, instead of embracing this guy who is just like them in so many important ways. Elon Musk, Charlie Kirk, Mike Cernovich, they’ve all lied about Boelter. Previously (?) Kremlin-funded weirdo Benny Johnson claimed Boelter was a “left-wing Tim Walz appointee.” Today Benny is rambling about how the murders are a “leftist false flag.” Also something about “I’m sorry, but these are the same agencies that brought you the Whitmer Fednapping, that brought you January 6, that brought you the Epstein cases, that brought you Ghislaine Maxwell. These are the same people. These are the same people.”

Uhhhh okeydoke. We guess Kash Patel and Pam Bondi are now card-carrying members of the Deep State voices in Benny Johnson’s head community.

Musk tweeted that “the far left is murderously violent.” Laura Loomer said that “Walz’s goons are now assassinating lawmakers who support legislation Walz opposes.” (There’s a whole conspiracy theory they made up surrounding this that involves healthcare legislation in Minnesota, it’s too stupid to type, but you can read it if you want.)

:{How Did Evil Russians Manage To Fool Dave Rubin, Tim Pool, AND Benny Johnson? Wow!

[Evan Hurst](https://substack.com/profile/9485412-evan-hurst)

·

September 5, 2024

[Read full story](https://www.wonkette.com/p/how-did-evil-russians-manage-to-fool)](https://www.wonkette.com/p/how-did-evil-russians-manage-to-fool)

Mike Lee also had another tweet about it that said “Nightmare on Walz Street.” Ohio Republican Senator Bernie Moreno — another Republican dude with a lot in common with Vance Boelter — tweeted this, a retweet of another right-wing liar connecting “No Kings” fliers found in Boelter’s car with Randi Weingarten and teachers unions somehow.

He hasn’t removed it. None of the posts and tweets we’re referencing in this post have been removed.

[

Sherrod Brown's Gross Republican Opponent Pretty Sure Women Over 50 Too Old To Vote On Abortion

[Evan Hurst](https://substack.com/profile/9485412-evan-hurst)

·

September 24, 2024

[Read full story](https://www.wonkette.com/p/sherrod-browns-gross-republican-opponent)](https://www.wonkette.com/p/sherrod-browns-gross-republican-opponent)

A mouthy extremist Republican state senator in Tennessee named Brent Taylor, who represents a tiny slice of Memphis, a city that otherwise cannot stand him, posted a Dinesh D’Souza tweet with the picture of the “No Kings” fliers, because that’s how debased and pathetic he is. He then proceeded to babble like a dementia patient for 9,000 paragraphs about leftist violence:

The Left's violence masquerading as free speech is a stain on our republic, and it’s escalating at a terrifying pace. From assassination attempts on President Trump—twice in two months—to torching cars at Tesla dealerships during Tesla Takedowns. Members of “Progressive” groups like this have now turned to a call to arms.

Los Angeles burns under their orchestrated chaos, with anti-ICE riots seeing Molotov cocktails, looted businesses, and attacks on federal agents, all while Governor Newsom and Mayor Bass fumble, blaming others for their failures. […]

This is the Left’s legacy: burning cities, targeting conservatives, and excusing violence as “resistance.” Their hypocrisy is glaring—silent on their own extremists while attempting to demonize the Right. It’s time to call this what it is: a dangerous, unhinged movement that threatens our way of life.

Ahem OK sure, pal. Below that are comments from Memphis voters telling him to go drink piss in hell, which is something Memphis voters say to Brent Taylor a lot. (He’s a big buddy of Todd Starnes, which should tell longtime Wonkette readers what kind of guy we’re making fun of here.)

[

Todd Starnes Writes Love Letter To Donald Trump's Penis

[Evan Hurst](https://substack.com/profile/14358125-evan-hurst)

·

July 27, 2015

[Read full story](https://www.wonkette.com/p/todd-starnes-writes-love-letter-to-donald-trumps-penis)](https://www.wonkette.com/p/todd-starnes-writes-love-letter-to-donald-trumps-penis)

Again, there was never any mystery who this murderous piece of shit is. The story, from the beginning, was Typical, Unremarkable Trump Voter Assassinates Democrats. He’s an anti-abortion Christian extremist, which is no surprise, because that’s a really common thing to find in a terrorist profile. There were anti-abortion extremists all over the place among the domestic extremists who attacked the Capitol on January 6. Far-right extremists are the greatest domestic terrorist threat to the United States, and have been for a long time, no matter how much the Trump Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security try to cover that up so they can blood libel people who aren’t white.

This is their dude, y’all.

Why they lyin’?

It couldn’t be shame causing them to do this, because white conservative Christian men and the people who serve them don’t have the capacity for that.

We guess they just find it extremely politically inconvenient right now, since everybody hates Trump and his agenda and his incompetent Cabinet, and Trump’s North Korean birthday parade was more poorly attended than a common wiener dog race at the county fair.

Not a great time to remind America just how much they hateall religious conservative Republican extremists, we reckon!

Everybody Hates Trump, And His Little Nazi Loser Friends Too}:

[Evan Hurst](https://substack.com/profile/9485412-evan-hurst)

·

Jun 12

[Read full story](https://www.wonkette.com/p/everybody-hates-trump-and-his-little)](https://www.wonkette.com/p/everybody-hates-trump-and-his-little)

Also Republican politicians are simply bad people who are going to hell when they die, and that’s why they’re doing this.

We probably needn’t try to psychoanalyze it any further.

New Republic editor and author Michael Tomasky slammed members of the right for desperately trying to pigeonhole accused political assassin Vance Boelter as a Democrat over the weekend.

“I had to laugh darkly Saturday evening as I saw many conservatives on social media, prominent and not, try to locate an aha! moment in the fact that Vance Boelter, the Minnesota suspect, was appointed to a state advisory board by two Democratic governors. Please. He was targeting abortion providers. Hisneighbor said he was a Trump voter,” said Tomasky, adding that the ‘both sides’ arguments are muddying the water as political violence and terrorism in America rises to scary new heights.

“Is there violence on ‘both sides’? Sure there is. Some of the recent violence against Jews, like the Molotov cocktail attack in Boulder and the shooting of that Israeli couple in Washington, D.C., was perpetrated by people who were acting on behalf of a cause associated with the left," Tomasky wrote.

READ MORE: Trump's 'disturbing and unethical' new rule allows discrimination against Dems and single women

There was also some violence at the ‘No Kings’ marches, Tomasky concedes. But he added the “most notable instance” was the man driving his car into a group of anti-Trump protesters in Culpeper, Virginia. “Gee, I seem to remember another man in Virginia who drove his car into a phalanx of protesters, killing one of them. Which side was he on again?” Tomasky asked.

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“‘The left,’ very broadly defined, engages in some acts of violence. Sure. But America’s culture of violence is driven by the right. And here’s the important point. This broadly defined ‘left’ includes people and groups that despise the Democratic Party as much as or even more than they do Republicans,” Tomasky argues. “Antifa activists weren’t racing to the polls to vote for Kamala Harris.”

But, on the right, extremists worship Trump.

“He is their avenger,” Tomasky said. “No Democratic presidential candidate would welcome the support of violent extremist groups (not that they would even offer it). Trump has. Repeatedly. They were at the U.S. Capitol for him on January 6, 2021, ready to administer a little street justice to his vice president in his name and in order to keep him in office illegally.”

READ MORE:'Mourning and shame': Sociologist explains the Trump ritual that his supporters — and critics — fall for

This is a real problem considering Armed Conflict Location and Event Data ranks the U.S. No. 50 in terms of ‘turbulence’ — right behind Libya at No. 49, Tomasky reports. Additionally, the group Vision of Humanity ranks the U.S. at No. 132 on its Global Peace Index, just ahead of Iran. (Iceland ranks No. 1 and Yemen is No. 163 — just 28 slots behind the U.S.)

The left-wing style political violence of the Weathermen–Patty Hearst kidnapping back in the ’70s, is different than today, said Tomasky, in that “Today, one of our two political parties abets it.”

“That isn’t going to change, and it’s almost certain to get worse. That will lead to more acts of violence on the other side, and eventually … Libya, here we come,” he said.

Read the full New Republic report at this link.

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an sn 6 25

Law enforcement officers on Sunday night arrested Vance Boelter, who is accused of assassinating Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband at their home in Brooklyn Park as part of a larger plot to kill Democratic elected officials and other advocates of abortion rights.

Boelter is also accused of shooting Democratic-Farmer-Labor state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, at their home in Champlin. Both Hoffmans survived the shooting, but received surgeries for their injuries and remain hospitalized.

The arrest comes after a 43-hour manhunt — the largest in state history, according to Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley. Law enforcement officers had been searching all day after locating Boelter’s abandoned vehicle near Green Isle, where Boelter has a home.

At the time of his arrest, Boelter was armed, but ultimately surrendered. Officers did not use any force, said Lt. Col. Jeremy Geiger of the Minnesota State Patrol.

In the state’s new Emergency Operations Center in Blaine — which was paid for by legislation passed by Hortman’s DFL-controlled House in 2020 — Gov. Tim Walz thanked law enforcement and decried political violence and hateful rhetoric.

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“This cannot be the norm. It cannot be the way that we deal with our political differences,” Walz said. “Now is the time for us to recommit to the core values of this country, and each and every one of us can do it. Talk to a neighbor rather than argue, debate an issue, shake hands, find common ground.”

Boelter is a Christian who voted for President Donald Trump and opposes abortion and LGBTQ rights, according to interviews with his childhood friend and videos of his sermons posted online. A list of potential targets — including Hoffman and Hortman — included abortion providers and other Democratic elected officials from Minnesota and Wisconsin.

The attack, which has shocked Minnesotans and the nation, comes amid rising political violence since the emergence of President Donald Trump, who has made repeated threats of violence against his political enemies and praised his supporterswho, for instance, attacked officers while storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. He later pardoned all of them. He survived two assassination attempts in 2024.

Authorities say Boelter attacked the Hoffmans at their home in Champlin at approximately 2 a.m. on Saturday morning. An unsealed criminal complaint indicates that the Hoffmans’ daughter called the police to report the shooting of her parents, theAssociated Press reports.

At around 3:30 a.m., Brooklyn Park police headed to the Hortmans’ home to proactively check on them following the attack on the Hoffmans, said Drew Evans, superintendent at the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension at a press conference Saturday morning.

When they arrived, the officers saw the attacker in a fake law enforcement uniform shoot Mark Hortman through the open front door, according to the complaint. Out front, emergency vehicle lights flashed from a Ford Explorer outfitted to look like a cop car. When the officers confronted the shooter, a gunfight ensued, and the killer escaped, abandoning the vehicle.

Inside, Hortman and her husband, Mark, were dead from gunshot wounds.

In the SUV, police found a document with a list of lawmakers and other officials on it. Hortman and Hoffman were on the list.

Evans said Sunday that the document is not a “traditional manifesto that’s a treatise on all kinds of ideology and writings.” Instead, it contains a list of names and “other thoughts” throughout.

On Saturday afternoon, police raided a home in north Minneapolis where Boelter lived part time. In an interview with the *Star Tribune* and other media outlets, Boelter’s roommate and childhood friend David Carlson shared a text message Boelter sent him at 6:03 a.m. saying that he would be “gone for a while” and “may be dead shortly.”

Federal and state warrants were out for Boelter’s arrest, and the FBI was offering a $50,000 award for information that led to Boelter’s capture.

On Sunday morning, law enforcement officers detained and questioned Boelter’s wife as she was driving through Mille Lacs County with other family members. Evans said Sunday none of Boelter’s family members are in custody.

Sunday afternoon, law enforcement officers located a car linked to Boelter in Sibley County within a few miles of his home address in Green Isle. From there, teams from dozens of law enforcement agencies fanned out in search of Boelter.

Boelter was spotted in the area, and officers converged around him, Evans said. He declined to provide some details of the tactics used by law enforcement to capture Boelter.

Law enforcement officials continue to investigate Boelter’s motives, Evans said, and urged the public not to jump to conclusions.

“We often want easy answers for complex problems, and this is a complex situation…those answers will come as we complete the full picture of our investigation,” he said.

Fragments of Boelter’s life available online, and interviews with those who know him, shed light on his religious and political beliefs.

Boelter’s LinkedIn page indicates that he spent many years working in food production before becoming the general manager of a 7-Eleven. More recently, he worked at funeral homes, the *New York Times*reported.

Boelter was facing financial stress after quitting his job to embark on business ventures in the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to Carlson, the *Star Tribune* reported.

The website for a private security firm lists Boelter as the “director of security patrols,” and his wife as the CEO. He purchased some cars and uniforms but “it was never a real company,” Carlson told the Strib.

Carlson said Boelter is a Christian who strongly opposes abortion, the *New York Times* reported.

In recordings of sermons Boelter delivered in Matadi, a city in the Democratic Republic of Congo,he railed against abortion and LGBTQ people.

The reporting on Boelter’s religious life suggests that his beliefs were rooted in fundamentalism, though he doesn’t appear to have been ordained in any particular denomination, said Rev. Angela Denker, a Minnesota-based Lutheran minister, journalist and author of books on Christianity, right-wing politics and masculinity.

“What this kind of theology says is that if you commit violence in the name of whatever movement you’re a part of, then you’re going to be rewarded,” Denker said.

The gunman shot John Hoffman nine times, and Yvette Hoffman eight times, according to a statement from Yvette.

The Hoffmans’ nephew, Mat Ollig, wrote on Facebook that Yvette used her body to shield her daughter. John Hoffman is “enduring many surgeries right now and is closer every hour to being out of the woods,” Yvette Hoffman said in a statement.

On Sunday night as leaders spoke to the press, Boelter was being questioned by law enforcement, but officials declined to say where he was detained and which agency was questioning him.

On the steps of the State Capitol Sunday, mourners created an extemporaneous memorial for Hortman, who will be known as one of the most consequential progressive leaders in recent state history.

Independent Journalism for All As a nonprofit newsroom, our articles are free for everyone to access. Readers like you make that possible. Can you help sustain our watchdog reporting today?}:

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Minnesota Reformer is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Minnesota Reformer maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor J. Patrick Coolican for questions: info@minnesotareformer.com.

---

AN 6 25 STATES N

Just hours after Minnesotans learned that Democratic House leader Melissa Hortman had been assassinated, right-wing influencer Collin Rugg, who has 1.8 million followers on X, posted a “report” that hinted that she’d been killed because of a recent vote on ending undocumented adults’ ability to enroll in MinnesotaCare, a subsidized health insurance for the working poor.

Mike Cernovich, another right-wing influencer who has 1.4 million followers on X, took Rugg’s post and amped it up, but in the “just asking questions” style of many conspiracy theories:

*“Did Tim Walz have her executed to send a message?”

They were deeply ignorant about the MinnesotaCare issue.

Walz and Hortman — who was instrumental in passing legislation allowing undocumented people to sign up for MinnesotaCare as speaker of the House in 2023 — negotiated a compromise with Republicans in the Minnesota Legislature to end eligibility for adults, but keep it for children. They did so to win necessary Republican support in the 67-67 House to pass a state budget. Without it, state government would have shut down on July 1.

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Both Hortman and Walz signed the compromise agreement in mid-May. This week, Hortman spoke tearfully about how difficult the vote was for her, but she was bound to vote yes on the issue because of the prior agreement.

The “theory” of Hortman’s killing was further undercut by the vote of Democratic Sen. John Hoffman — who was also targeted by the suspect — against rolling back MinnesotaCare for undocumented Minnesotans.

Rugg and Cernovich’s posts were shared widely and just the start of the disinformation.

Once law enforcement sources began revealing a suspect, right-wing influencers ran with an insignificant detail: That Vance Luther Boelter was a “Walz appointee.”

Like many states, but even more so here, Minnesota is home to hundreds of nonpartisan and bipartisan boards and commissions, which are composed of thousands of people who typically win the appointment by simply volunteering. There are currently 342 open positions on Minnesota boards and commissions. Boelter was appointed to the Workforce Development Council by Walz’s predecessor Gov. Mark Dayton and reappointed by Walz.

It was the equivalent of calling a Sunday school volunteer an “appointee of the bishop.”

No matter, the Murdoch media machine, specifically the New York Post, had their headline: “Former appointee of Tim Walz sought….”

Cernovich had his greasy foil hot dog wrapper and began constructing a hat:

“The Vice President candidate for the Democrat party is directly connected to a domestic terrorist, that is confirmed, the only question is whether Tim Walz himself ordered the political hit against a rival who voted against Walz’s plan to give free healthcare to illegals.”

Walz had no such plan. He had signed an agreement to end eligibility for undocumented adults.

Joey Mannarino, who has more than 600,000 followers on X, was more crass:

*“Rumor has it she was preparing to switch parties. The Democrats are VIOLENT SCUM.”

It was a ridiculous “rumor.” One of the last photos of Hortman alive was an image of her at the Democratic-Farmer-Labor’s big annual fundraising event, the Humphrey-Mondale dinner, which took place just hours before her assassination.

No matter, Cernovich wanted his new friends in federal law enforcement to act:

*“The FBI must take Tim Walz into custody immediately.”

Finally, fresh off his humiliating defeat at the hands of President Donald Trump, world’s richest man Elon Musk quote-tweeted someone again falsely alleging Hortman was killed by “the left” and added:

*“The far left is murderously violent.”

The suspect’s “hit list,” according to an official who has seen the list, comprised Minnesotans who have been outspoken in favor of abortion rights. CNN reported that it also included several abortion clinics, which doesn’t sound like the work of “the left.”

Right-wing influencers marred Hortman’s death and smeared Walz on a pile of lies.

In a different, saner world, they would be humiliated and slink away. But the smart money is that during the next moment of national crisis and mourning, they will again lie for profit.

Minnesota Reformer is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Minnesota Reformer maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor J. Patrick Coolican for questions: info@minnesotareformer.com.

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AN 6 25

On Saturday morning, June 14, reporters were busy covering President Donald Trump's military/birthday parade in Washington, DC and the many No Kings Day protests opposing it when some shocking news came out of Minnesota: State Sens. John Hoffman and Melissa Hortman, both Democrats, had been shot in their homes.

Gov. Tim Walz, at a press conference, told reporters, "This was an act of targeted political violence." According to Minnesota officials, a manhunt was underway for a suspect — who impersonated law enforcement and drove a vehicle that was made to look like a police car. The suspect, they said, had a "manifesto" in the vehicle and what looked like a hit list of people who were targeted for attack.

Early that Saturday afternoon — as the No Kings Day protests were underway in a long list of U.S. cities and the developments in Minnesota continued to unfold — the Daily Beast's Erkki Forster reported that "just months ago," analysts at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) "warned that high-profile officials were increasingly 'vulnerable to attack' at their own homes as potential attackers shift away from traditional targets such as government buildings and corporate offices."

READ MORE:'A huge flag': Bill Maher ignites controversy with bombshell Fetterman interview

That warning, Forster noted, was made in a "confidential memo obtained by ABC News."

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Forster explains, "Noting 'recent uptick in online messaging promoting attacks at their homes, doxing and swatting incidents, and several notable attacks,' the memo, which leaked in March, described an escalating threat from potential attackers targeting public figures where they live. Private homes often lack more 'robust security measures' and are 'accessible with limited obstacles,' the memo suggested. The DHS analysts also pointed to 'overall increased political polarization' and 'the prevalence of conspiracy theories targeting industry and government officials,' adding that the complex mix of motives makes it harder for law enforcement to detect and disrupt plots."

While Hortman was killed, Hoffman survived and underwent surgery. Doctors reportedly expressed optimism he would survive.

Forster notes, "Police were called to Hoffman’s home at around 2 a.m. local time and provided life-saving measures to the state senator and his wife before they were transported to a hospital, CNN reports. Around 3:35 a.m., officers conducting a proactive check on Hortman’s home were fired upon by a man exiting the residence. The gunman fled on foot during the ensuing shootout."

READ MORE:Expert outraged as Republicans signal a dangerous shift in American democracy

*Read the full Daily Beast article at this link (subscription required).

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an 6 25

the Salt Lake City Police Department is investigating a shooting that occurred during a “No Kings” protest Saturday night, leaving one person with critical injuries. An estimated 10,000 people were marching at the time.

Salt Lake City Police Chief Brian Redd told media shortly after 10 p.m., about two hours after the incident, that gunshots had been fired as protesters were walking near 151 S. State Street. Police responded immediately, finding one person with life-threatening injuries.

It wasn’t clear whether the first responding officers had heard or seen the shooting, or what alerted them to the incident, Redd said.

Officers received immediate witness information from people in the crowd and pursued the suspected shooter to 200 East and 100 South. It was discovered he too had a gunshot wound, Redd said, and he was treated and taken to a hospital under police observation.

Two more people who Redd said were involved in the incident were also arrested. No details about their possible involvement were provided. Redd said police are not looking for any additional people, and there is no ongoing threat to the public.

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Investigators are working to determine what led up to the shooting, including whether any of the people involved were participating in the march.

“It appears they were involved at some level in the protest, or at least as part of the group that was walking,” Redd said.

A Utah News Dispatch reporter who was on scene saw panicked protesters scatter just before 8 p.m., many of them running and shouting that there were gunshots. Minutes later, a Salt Lake City police officer ran past, saying officers were looking for a male dressed in black with a gun, and asking “where is he?”

About a half a block east of the Wallace F. Bennett Federal Building, near 125 S. State Street, a photojournalist working with the Dispatch saw a crowd of people running after gunshots broke out. Near the north corner of the Federal Building plaza, people were seen taking shelter behind concrete walls and cars.

Further south down State Street, the photojournalist saw a crowd of first responders, including police and volunteers wearing vests, crouching around a man lying on the ground. What appeared to be his hat, lying next to him, was covered in blood.

Near 102 South and 200 East, the photojournalist saw a man on the ground in handcuffs, surrounded by police. Officers then walked the man away before setting him on a curb, where first responders appeared to render him aid for about 15 minutes.

First responders then put the man on a gurney, still handcuffed, before loading him into an ambulance and driving him away.

After the shooting, protesters were emotional. Some cried and hugged each other. An activist was also heard yelling in a loudspeaker: “Don’t let them tell you this was a riot. We only want to be heard. We were nonviolent.”

The demonstration was the last and largest of 11 planned protests across the state Saturday in conjunction with nationwide demonstrations against President Donald Trump, including another Salt Lake City protest that drew thousands more to the University of Utah that morning.

The demonstration that began at Pioneer Park, 350 S. 300 West, had been boisterous but peaceful up until the shooting, with protesters marching up 400 South to State Street and circling around the block at the Wallace F. Bennett Federal Building to double back. Before they set out, speakers at the park had urged nonviolence, their message met with cheers.

Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, who joined Redd to brief reporters, condemned the shooting while thanking Salt Lake City police for their “swift and professional response to this tragic event.”

“The violence that we’ve seen here today in Salt Lake City and even in other parts of this nation is horrific. And it is not who we are,” she said. “Let me be clear. This act of violence does not define our city.”

Utah’s capital of Salt Lake City is a Democratic stronghold in an otherwise deep red state.

Mendenhall, a Democrat, said the purpose of Saturday’s demonstrations was a “powerful and peaceful expression until this event. And that cannot be overshadowed or silenced by a single act meant to harm.”

“I want to urge everyone in the public to be calm, to give one another grace, and to look out for one another tonight and in the coming days,” she said.

Mendenhall again thanked Salt Lake City police and other first responders including Salt Lake City firefighters for their “heroic actions,” calling them “among the best in this city, and I am so proud of you.” She also thanked protesters who came downtown to “stand peacefully together.”

“Your city sees you,” she told protesters. “Thank you for using your voice. Thank you for your peaceful cooperation with our police department tonight. And please know that your calm response and your support of their efforts likely prevented a more dangerous potential situation. You represent the Salt Lake City that I am proud to call home.”

The mayor added that “we will not walk in fear of one another. Not in this city, and not in this nation.”

“America, we are better than this violence,” she said. “We are stronger than this hate. This moment does not define us.”

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, issued a statement at about 9 p.m. saying the shooting was “a deeply troubling act of violence and has no place in our public square.”

“This is an active situation, and we’re working closely with law enforcement to ensure accountability,” Cox said.

About 20 minutes later, Cox in a post on X, said he had just spoken with Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall about the shooting.

“My heart is broken for everyone impacted tonight,” he said. “Thank you to the thousands of protestors who exercised their constitutional rights in the right way tonight. I’m grateful to security, SLCPD, DPS, and medical personnel who jumped into action to protect lives.”

Another one of the state’s top Republicans, Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, also issued a statement expressing gratitude for Salt Lake City Police’s “prompt actions in maintaining order, safeguarding our communities and bringing a dangerous situation under control in Salt Lake City. Their dedication helped protect lives and restore order.”

“The freedom to organize and participate in peaceful protests is a cornerstone of our great country,” Adams said. “However, violence, destruction and vandalism are unacceptable.”

*This breaking story has been updated as more information becomes available.

Utah News Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Utah News Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor McKenzie Romero for questions: info@utahnewsdispatch.com.

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an 6 25

On Saturday morning, June 14, 2025 — before President Donald Trump's military/birthday parade in Washington, DC and nationwide protests expressing opposition to it got underway — some disturbing news broke in Minnesota.

MSNBC reported that two state lawmakers had been shot in their homes: Minnesota State Sens. John Hoffman and Melissa Hortman, both members of the Democratic Farmer-Labor Party. And Gov. Tim Walz, at a press conference, gave reporters details on the attack and the ongoing investigation.

Walz confirmed to reporters, "This was an act of targeted political violence."

READ MORE: 'Well planned out': Former FBI special agent shocked by sophistication of MN shooting

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The suspect, according to Minnesota officials, remains at large and is the target of an aggressive manhunt. Minnesota officials told reporters that the suspect impersonated a police officer and did so convincingly; one of them said the suspect's vehicle "looked exactly like a police vehicle."

Hortman, MSNBC confirmed, was killed — while Hoffman, at the time of the press conference, was still alive but undergoing surgery. MSNBC's Ali Velshi and former FBI special agent John D'Amico, after the press conference, were both surprised by how sophisticated the attack was and that the suspect, according to Minnesota officials, was so convincing — using a taser, a gun and a fake police vehicle.

In response to the tragedy, a No Kings Day protest in Minneapolis was canceled.

The suspect, according to Minnesota officials, had a "manifesto" in the vehicle and what appeared to be a list of people targeted for assassination.

READ MORE:'A huge flag': Bill Maher ignites controversy with bombshell Fetterman interview

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6 25 BREAK GAZA BLOCKADE SHIP GRETA T ARRESTED DEPORTED

// FREE PALESTINE 2 ATTACKS FLAMETHROWER ANTI-SEM

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SEN ALEX PADILLA FLOOR HANDCUFF AT PRESS CONF NOEM

NOEM SAID PURPOSE OF NG USMC WAS LIBERATE FROM SOCIALIST GOV

TRUMP FLA SHERIFF PROTEST MET W/ VIOLENCE 6 25

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AN 6 25

On Thursday, June 12, many Democrats — and quite a few Never Trump conservatives as well — were horrified when Sen. Alex Padilla (D-California) was physically removed from a briefing by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Although Padilla was not threatening in any way, he was thrown to the ground and handcuffed. Padilla, however, was released and is not facing any charges.

After the incident, Padilla commented that if MAGA Republicans are willing to treat a U.S. senator that way, imagine the fear that farm workers are feeling as the Trump Administration carries out aggressive deportation raids.

The incident with Padilla comes during a time of considerable tension in the United States, from the ongoing protests in Downtown Los Angeles to the military/birthday parade President Donald Trump is planning in Washington, DC on Saturday, June 14. Countless "No Kings" demonstrations in opposition to the parade and Trump's policies will be held in cities all over the United States.

READ MORE:'I have to go through hell': Trump complains about 'No Kings' protests during his parade

During a presidential historian Jon Meacham pointed to the treatment of Padilla as a prime example of why so many Americans are feeling a sense of "menace' during Trump's second presidency.

[VID]

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Meacham told MSNBC's Willie Geist, his colleague Katty Kay and Never Trump conservative David French (who was also featured as a guest), "It is a real tactile sense of menace in the country…. The last time it was this bad — not to shake everybody's Friday morning even more than it's already shaken given what's going on — was the pre-Civil War period. You had an extraordinary amount of political violence. And we know how the 1850s turned out. And so, there are signs of a deeper condition within the country — which is a fraying, I believe, of a kind of consensus not about policy, but about politics not as total war, but as a mediation of differences."

The historian addressed fears of growing political unrest in the U.S.

Meacham told the panel, "That's what a democracy, that's what a constitutional system should be. And the prevalence of violence is politically useful for, in this case, the (Trump) Administration, and very dangerous."

READ MORE:'Scams, corruption and cover-ups': Republicans just declared 'open season for wealthy tax cheats'

*Watch the full video below or at this link.

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AN 6 25

This Saturday, June 14, the No Kings movement will be holding large protests all over the United States — from Seattle to Chicago to Philadelphia — to express opposition to President Donald Trump's military parade. And Brevard County, Florida Sheriff Wayne Ivey, a far-right MAGA Republican, is drawing vehement condemnation for remarks that critics say are threatening nonviolent protesters with violence.

At a press conference on June 12, Ivey told reporters, "If you spit on us, you're going to the hospital and in jail. If you hit one of us, you're going to the hospital and jail. And most likely get bitten by one of our big, beautiful dogs that we have here. If you throw a brick, a firebomb or point of gun at one of our deputies, notifying your family where to collect your remains at. Because we will kill you, graveyard dead. We're not going to play."

Ivey's comments are drawing a lot of negative reactions on X, formerly Twitter.

READ MORE: 'Scams, corruption and cover-ups': Republicans just declared 'open season for wealthy tax cheats'

The Grio tweeted, "Florida Sheriff Wayne Ivey had quite the message for protesters expected to hit the streets ahead of an anti-Trump rally on Saturday: 'We will kill you.' The law enforcement official's rhetoric has been condemned and comes amid ongoing protests in LA."

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X user MeloDramatical wrote, "White supremacy is the greatest threat we face as a nation."

Another X user, Auntie Smartassey posted, "No one should become violent, Sheriff Wayne Ivey. Explain why the president pardons cop beaters? What validates their violence in your eyes? People who fight for human rights should face prison or death? But violence in the name of Trump is okay?"

Florida resident Kirsty Johnson posted, "This is Sherrif Wayne Ivey from my home county, his being an a------ isn't new, but openly & unapologetically saying he will brutalize and even MURDER folks is f------ sick. Pathetic, pathetic men and 'officers.'"

READ MORE:Trump's reckoning is the final chapter of a horrifying old movie

Democrat Kim Brideau wrote, "F--- the fascist sheriff."

Douglas E., @DouglasE4True, a self-described Antifa supporter, posted, "When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time. How many times must the cops show themselves as white supremacist thugs/goons to be believed?"

READ MORE:'I have to go through hell': Trump complains about 'No Kings' protests during his parade

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AN 6 25

The man who launched an attempted coup on the United States in 2020 and instigated an insurrection at the Capitol that resulted in five deaths now claims that people in Los Angeles are launching an insurrection. They’re not.

Yesterday, the Pentagon activated 700 Marines out of the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, California, to join the 4,000 federalized National Guard’s military occupation of parts of Los Angeles.

Trump doesn’t give a damn whether the troops are necessary. Nor does he care how many people are injured or even killed in his raid on Los Angeles. The show of military force is the point. It gives him the appearance of power.

Like any bully, Trump is fundamentally a coward. Humiliated by China, Harvard, the Supreme Court, Elon Musk, and the federal courts, Trump has launched a war inside America on vulnerable people inside America, in a place — California — most of whose inhabitants loathe him.

All of this was manufactured by Trump. It was and is his creation. The frightful specter of federally controlled troops in American streets has historically signaled a social crisis — forcing integration in Arkansas, protecting civil rights marchers in Alabama. But Trump is sending the military to Los Angeles at a time when state and local officials say there is no need.

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Let’s be clear: Trump and his lackeys want blood in the streets. They have been planning for it. “Looking really bad in L.A.,” Trump wrote on Truth Social shortly after midnight Sunday night. “BRING IN THE TROOPS!!!”

The bully-in-chief has appointed a bunch of tin-pot bullies to every position of lethal force in the federal government — and is now activating them.

Secretary of Homeland Security Kristy Noam is a Trump stooge seemingly without understanding of the U.S. Constitution. Secretary of State Marco Rubio appears willing to go along with whatever Trump wants. Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller is a maniacal xenophobe. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is a brain-dead Trump sycophant. Border czar Tom Homan is a toady who has not ruled out arrestingCalifornia’s leaders if they obstruct federal law enforcement.

The central struggle of civilization has always been to stop brutality. Unless we prevent the stronger from attacking or exploiting the weaker, none of us is safe.

A civil society is the opposite of what Trump seeks. A civil society doesn’t allow the strong to brutalize the weak. It moves as far as possible away from brutality.

Every time the stronger brutalize the weaker — whether it’s Trump and his flunkies bullying immigrants and the state of California, white supremacists bullying Black and Latino people, giant corporations bullying customers with high prices, the wealthy bullying the public to get giant tax cuts, Elon Musk bullying poor people by cutting programs they depend on, police bullying poor Black people, powerful men bullying women through sexual harassment, politicians building their power by bullying racial or ethnic minorities, Netanyahu wiping out Palestinians in Gaza, Putin trying to take over Ukraine — it’s fundamentally the same playbook: Stoke fear. Exploit desperation. Suspend the rule of law. Fan brutality.

Unless the bullies are stopped, an entire society — even the world — can descend into chaos.

Our duty is to stop brutality. Our responsibility is to hold the powerful accountable. Our challenge is to stand up to abuses of power. Our moral obligation is to protect the vulnerable.

This week and through Saturday, protest but please do it peacefully. Do not be provoked into violence. Take videos of any brutality Trump’s agents are wreaking, to show the rest of America and the world. Be smart. Be careful.

NOW READ:Democrats' secret weapon against Trump

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AHA FASCISM WORK BY FAITHFUL DOING WHAT THEY THINK THE DEAR LEADER WANTS, NO EXPLICT ORDERS NEEDED?!

OMFG

AN 5 25

At a swearing-in ceremony for Fox News' Jeanine Pirro — now an interim U.S. attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ) District of Columbia office — on Wednesday, May 28, President Donald Trump said he is considering a federal pardon for the men prosecuted for a plan to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020.

Trump told attendees, "I did watch the trial. It looked to me like somewhat of a railroad job, I'll be honest with you. It looked to me like some people said some stupid things."

The next day on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," former federal prosecutor Barbara McQuade attacked Trump's possible pardons of Whitmer's would-be kidnappers as an VID

READ MORE: The one character trait glaringly common among Trump supporters spotted by researchers

McQuade told "Morning Joe" hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski and their colleague Jonathan Lemire, "Number one, he said he watched the trial. He most certainly didn't watch the trial, because federal court trials are not televised. So perhaps he watched some coverage of the trial, some additional facts. He said that they said some stupid things — maybe so, but in addition, there was evidence presented in that case that they created a fake shoot house. That they trained on extricating the governor from her shoot house and separating her from her security detail. And they surveilled the underside of a bridge that connects her home with the police department in an effort to avoid capture."

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The MSNBC legal analyst continued, "So those additional facts were not known. The other thing that I think is important to remember here is the reason the motive that these men had that was presented at trial was that they wanted to retaliate against her for her COVID shutdown orders. During that time, you may recall, Gov. Whitmer was in a very public feud with President Trump, who posted online, 'Liberate Michigan.'"

According to federal prosecutors, the militia members planned to kidnap Whitmer, put her on "trial" for COVID-19 restrictions, and execute her if found guilty.

McQuade drew a parallel between a possible pardon of Whitmer's would-be kidnappers and Trump's pardon of the far-right extremists who attacked the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6, 2021.

READ MORE:The Manosphere needs 'fathers': Columnist pans Dems’ $20M outreach to men

The former DOJ proseuctor told Scarborough, Brzezinski and Lemire, "These men, like those January 6 defendants, were acting in support of Donald Trump's political cause. And so, the idea that they would be pardoned or have their sentences commuted really is a part with the January 6 defendants and seems like another effort to normalize political violence so long as you are on the side of President Trump."

Scarborough, a Never Trump conservative and former GOP congressman, interjected, "And again, with one of the few Democratic leaders who has stood beside President Trump at public ceremonies, certainly would be, again, not only disturbing for legal reasons, but for political reasons. Very curious."

READ MORE:'Victims': Trump MAGA nominee floats pardons for Whitmer kidnap plotters

*Watch the full video below or at this link.

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SEE DOMESTIC TERROR GORKA FAIL WHT SUPR NEO-NAZI

an 525

no lnx

'Sad white boys': Fear as Trump terror adviser shrugs off threat from 'inside the house'

Members of a neo-Nazi group pose with shields during 'Unite the Right' rally in Charlottesville, in 2017. (Karla Cote/Flickr)

Jordan Greenand Raw Story May 03, 2025

National Security Advisor Mike Waltz was removed this week but a key Trump counterterrorism official remains in place at the White House — and he's planning a change in strategy to focus on jihadists rather than white supremacist groups that one leading expert said remain a significant domestic threat.

"The call is coming from inside the house," said Jon Lewis, a research fellow at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism. "We all understand why the right doesn't want to tackle domestic violent extremism — it's their base."

The Trump official is Sebastian Gorka, an Anglo-Hungarian-American academic who spent seven months in the first Trump White House as a national security strategist before being removed. Closely connected to Trump's former chief strategist Steve Bannon, Gorka's far-right views have proved consistently controversial. His return to the White House generated protests from former Trump advisers, who called him names including “conman” and “clown.”

Regardless, Gorka is promising a new policy focused on “killing jihadis,” thereby downplaying, if not altogether abandoning, a Biden-era emphasis on white supremacist threats.

Now deputy assistant to the president and senior director for counterterrorism in the National Security Council, Gorka is by his own estimation an expert on “Middle Eastern jihadism, al-Qaida [and] ISIS.” His X biography includes the acronym “WWFY&WWKY,” which stands for “we will find you and we will kill you.”

This week, Gorka wrote for Breitbart News that Trump has “already engineered a complete reversal in American counterterrorism policy.”

Gorka recounted a meeting with Trump and Waltz during the second week of the new administration. Gorka and Waltz laid a map on the Resolute Desk, showing a cave complex in northern Somalia that was being used as a base by ISIS, Gorka said.

“Kill them, and kill them now,” Trump said, according to Gorka. Thirty hours later, he said, the men were in the Situation Room “watching living hell rain down” on the caves.

'Back to the basics'

Speaking last week at Semafor’s World Economy Summit, Gorka said the new counterterrorism plan, expected to be ready in the coming month, will be “utterly, completely” different from the strategy under Joe Biden. Gorka said the new plan will “go back to the basics,” as “the majority of threats we face are jihadi terrorists.”

In his preface to the 2021 National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism, Biden highlighted white supremacist attacks: the 2015 massacre of Black worshipers at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., the 2018 mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh that was targeted for supporting immigrants, and the 2019 slaughter of Latinos at a Walmart in El Paso, Tex. by a gunman who echoed the Trump epithet “invaders.”

Though it cited an array of violent ideologies, the national strategy asserted that “racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists (principally those who promote the superiority of the white race) and militia violent extremists are assessed as presenting the most persistent and lethal threats.”

Like other officials in the Trump administration, Gorka has said little if anything publicly about the threat posed by violent neo-Nazi accelerationists, who seek to bring about the collapse of society through mass shootings and industrial sabotage.

But Gorka has in the past downplayed white supremacy. In 2017, as an adviser in the first Trump White House, he told Breitbart, where he was previously a national security editor, that where terrorism was concerned, white supremacy was not a problem. Three days later in Charlottesville, Va. a man who had rallied with the white supremacist group Vanguard America drove a car into a group of peaceful anti-racist protesters, killing a young woman, Heather Heyer. Then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions called the attack “domestic terrorism.”

Gorka could not be reached for comment for this story. Lewis, from George Washington University, worried that a national strategy on terrorism that erases references to racial motivation might discourage FBI agents from seeking authorization to investigate white supremacist plots.

“In the face of overwhelming statistical evidence, there is a complete unwillingness to acknowledge the reality, because it would fly in the face of their narrative,” Lewis told Raw Story. “It’s not going to go away. We can put our heads in the sand and pretend it’s not happening. There’s still going to be mass shootings, even if we don’t acknowledge that they’re motivated by white supremacy, and the FBI just calls them ‘sad white boys.’

“If anything, the complete inability of the administration to even acknowledge the problem will afford these individuals a more permissive environment to recruit, radicalize and carry out attacks.”

'Growing threat'

In his recent article for Breitbart, Gorka charged that the Biden administration “ignored the growing threat of global jihadism.”

Under the Biden administration, the FBI arrested an Afghan national who allegedly planned a mass casualty attack on Election Day in the name of ISIS. In total, Lewis said, 10 ISIS supporters were arrested in the U.S. in 2024.

On New Year's Eve, a man inspired by ISIS used his truck to attack revelers on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing 14 people. Before that, Lewis said, the last lethal jihadi attack on U.S. soil occurred in 2019, when a Saudi airman taking courses at Naval Air Station Pensacola murdered three U.S. sailors.

Since then, avowed white supremacists have carried out mass shootings targeting African Americans in Buffalo, N.Y., resulting in 10 deaths, and Jacksonville, Fla., with three deaths.

In terms of disrupted plots, a review by Raw Story found that since 2021, the FBI has disrupted at least three attempts to attack the power grid by white supremacists affiliated with the Terrorgram Collective, a group recently designated by the State Department as a global terrorist entity. In the same period, the FBI disrupted at least six plots by white supremacists to carry out lethal attacks against police officers and LGBTQ+ people.

Gorka has also promised changes in emphasis on resources used to counter terror groups. For Breitbart, he wrote that the centerpiece of Trump’s counterterrorism approach will be “allowing our special operators, the intelligence community, and the bravest warfighters in the world to deal death to those who have the blood of Americans on their hands or who are plotting to murder our citizens.”

ProPublica, however, has reported that the new administration has cut nearly 20 percent of the workforce at a Department of Homeland Security center responsible for “strengthen[ing] the nation’s ability to prevent targeted violence and terrorism nationwide, through funding, training, evidence-based resources and increasing public awareness across every level of government, the private sector, and local communities.”

NOW READ: Trump’s clown car cabinet is driving off a cliff

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AN 4 25

A Wisconsin teenager accused of murdering two family members and plotting to assassinate President Donald Trump was inspired by Terrorgram, a white supremacist network that operated on the Telegram messaging and social media platform for half a decade, according to federal court records.

The Terrorgram community, which has been linked to around three dozen criminal cases around the globe, including at least three mass shootings, was profiled last month in stories and a documentary produced by ProPublica and FRONTLINE.

The court documents allege that Nikita Casap, a 17-year-old from Waukesha, Wisconsin, wrote a three-page manifesto calling for the assassination of Trump in order to “foment a political revolution in the United States and ‘save the white race’ from ‘Jewish controlled politicians.’”

In his manifesto, Casap allegedly encouraged people to read the writings of Juraj Krajčík, a longtime Terrogram figure who murdered two people in an attack on an LGBTQ+ bar in Bratislava, Slovakia, in 2022, according to the court records. Casap also allegedly recommended two publications produced by the Terrorgram Collective, a secretive group that produced alleged hit lists, videos and written publications — including instructions for building bombs and sabotaging critical infrastructure — and distributed them throughout the Terrorgram ecosystem.

Launched in 2019, Terrorgram was a constellation of scores of Telegram channels and chat groups focused on inciting acts of white supremacist terrorism and anti-government sabotage. At the network’s peak, some Terrorgram channels drew thousands of followers. Over the past six months, however, the network has been disrupted as authorities in Canada, the U.S. and Europe have arrested key Terrorgram influencers and community members.

But the violence hasn’t stopped.

Casap in February allegedly shot and killed his mother, Tatiana Casap, and stepfather, Donald Mayer; stole their property; and fled in their Volkswagen Atlas, Waukesha County prosecutors say. He was arrested in Kansas. Prosecutors have charged the teen with two counts of first-degree homicide, as well as identity theft and other theft charges. He is expected to be arraigned on May 7, according to court records.

A witness told local investigators that Casap “was in touch with a male in Russia through the Telegram app and they were planning to overthrow the U.S. government and assassinate President Trump,” according to charging documents in the Wisconsin case.

The newly unsealed federal court filings indicate that the FBI is investigating Casap in connection to the alleged assassination plot.

The bureau declined to comment on the matter.

Last fall, federal prosecutors accused two Americans of acting as leaders of the Terrorgram Collective and charged them with soliciting the murder of federal officials and a host of other terrorism-related offenses. The U.S. State Department has officially designated the Terrorgram Collective as a terrorist organization, as have officials in the United Kingdom and Australia. The two Americans have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

“Do absolutely anything you can that will lead to the collapse of America or any country you live in,” Casap allegedly wrote in his manifesto, according to an FBI affidavit. “This is the only way we can save the White race.”

The teen’s writings and online postings that are cited in the affidavit indicate that he is a believer in militant accelerationism, a concept that has become increasingly popular with neo-Nazis and other right-wing extremists over the past decade. Militant accelerationists aim to speed the collapse of modern society through acts of spectacular violence; from the ruins of today’s democracies, they aim to build all-white ethno-states organized on fascist principles.

Matthew Kriner, executive director of the Institute for Countering Digital Extremism, a nonprofit think tank, called the alleged Casap plot unique. “It’s the first time we’re explicitly seeing an individual tie an accelerationist act or plot with the president of the United States as a means of collapsing society,” Kriner said. “I think what we have here is a fairly clear-cut case of an individual who is being groomed to take drastic terrorist action in an accelerationist manner.”

Casap’s public defender could not be reached for comment.

A Telegram spokesperson said, “Telegram supports the peaceful exchange of ideas; however, calls for violence are strictly prohibited by our Terms of Service and are removed proactively as well as in response to user reports."

A ProPublica and FRONTLINE review shows that Casap was recently active in at least five extremist Telegram channels or chat groups, including a Russian-language neo-Nazi chat in which posters uploaded detailed instructions for crafting explosives, poisons and improvised firearms. He was also a member of a chat group with more than 4,300 participants run by the Misanthropic Division, a global neo-Nazi organization.

Casap, according to the federal documents, also sought out information online about the Order of Nine Angles, a cult that blends Satanic concepts and Nazi ideology and has increasingly turned to Telegram to recruit and proselytize.

“This is a clear example of how Terrorgram continues to influence murder,” said Jennefer Harper, a researcher who studies online extremism. “Nikita was influenced online by an assortment of ideologies and groups that intersect with the Terrorgram ecosphere.”

===

lisa murkowski says intim but will spk and use mom charm? 4 25

//

'Stunning admission': GOP senator says colleagues 'are all afraid' of 'retaliation'

an 4 25

arson dem gov josh jewish sabbath

Trump rages against critics — all but silent on alleged terror attack on Dem governor

firebomb on sabbath

04/18/25

Trump ally Laura Loomer blames Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro for arson attack on his home

04/18/25

===

an 4 25

an no lnx

'Get your weapon!' Violent MAGA man launches run for Congress

Ryan Nichols' Facebook via U.S. Department of Justice

Jordan GreenApril 14, 2025

An East Texas man who broke into the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, and stood on a window ledge holding a crowbar and a bullhorn while exhorting pro-Trump rioters to “get in the building,” wants to go back — this time, as a member of Congress.

Ryan Nichols, a Marine Corps veteran, announced his plan to run for the 1st congressional district seat in Texas, which is currently represented by Republican Nathaniel Moran, on Wednesday.

Nichols was sentenced to 63 months in prison after pleading guilty to assaulting law enforcement officers, before receiving a pardon from President Trump. He said during a press conference on Wednesday that he knows “what it feels like to have the full weight of the United States government on top of you.”

Nichols live-streamed himself marching towards the Capitol on a GoPro camera on Jan. 6, according to a filing by federal prosecutors, unleashing an expletive-laden rant against Vice President Mike Pence for his refusal to interfere with the certification of Joe Biden as president.

“I’m telling you if Pence caved, we’re gonna drag mother---ers through the streets," Nichols said. "You f---ing politicians are going to get f------ drug through the streets. Because we’re not going to have our f------ s--- stolen. We’re not going to have our election or our country stolen.”

According to the government, Nichols and his friend Alex Harkrider were outfitted with tactical gear. Nichols carried a crowbar while Harkrider carried a tactical tomahawk axe.

Later, during a pitched battle in front of the Capitol, Nichols hit law enforcement officers with two streams of chemical spray, according to the government. As detailed in a Department of Justice press release, Nichols entered the Capitol through a broken window and rummaged around a conference room.

Standing on a window ledge after emerging from the Capitol, Nichols reportedly held his crowbar in one hand and a bullhorn in the other, while shouting to other rioters: “Get in the building, this is your country, get in the building, we will not be told, ‘No.’” He also reportedly said, “If you have a weapon, you need to get your weapon!”

Nichols told reporters during his press conference that he expressed remorse when he stood before the judge to receive his sentence.

“I apologized to the judge that day,” he said. “I apologized to the officers who were there that day. I apologized to the members of Congress and to the people of Washington, D.C. Because ultimately they didn’t ask for all that to happen.”

NOW READ: The suffering of white Trump voters isn't going to change a thing

===

---

mma

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has repeatedly supported using the National Guard to crack down on protests

Hegseth has demonized protesters in the past, claiming they “hate America,” and suggested that police be “allowed to take the actions necessary” to quell demonstrations

Written by Jack Winstanley & Payton Armstrong

Published 04/04/25 mma

When major protests swept the country in 2020, then-Fox host Pete Hegseth cheered President Donald Trump’s use of the National Guard as a “show of force” and praised Trump’s threat to send “federal reinforcements” to quell demonstrations. Hegseth has also specifically criticized peaceful protesters and suggested police should be “allowed to take the actions necessary to take on antifa, domestic terrorist groups like that.”

As demonstrations against Trump’s actions in his second term continue to ramp up, here’s a look at what the new secretary of defense said about protests in 2020 and beyond.

Trump almost deployed U.S. troops to suppress protests in 2020 and has already started cracking down on protesters in his second term

//

  1. ### Trump’s pick for secretary of defense has a history of defending war crimes, torture, and more

11/20/24 3:30 PM EST

  1. ### Trump picked Fox & Friends Weekend co-host Pete Hegseth to be secretary of defense. Here's some of what he's said on the air.

11/13/24 12:22 PM EST

  1. ### Pete Hegseth's book includes complaints about “Muslims’ birth rates,” praise for “crusaders who pushed back the Muslim hordes”

11/12/24

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===

AN 3 25

Former CIA analyst Holly Berkley Fletcher spent many years studying governments in Africa, and she paid close attention to the tactics used in the more undemocratic ones — tactics that included using violent groups to bully, strongarm and intimidate political opponents.

In an article published by the conservative website The Bulwark on March 14, Fletcher warns that the methods she observed in Africa are now being employed in the United States during President Donald Trump's second term.

Fletcher argues, "One of the great heartbreaks of the Trump era for me is seeing my expertise as an Africa analyst become relevant for understanding political trends in America…. As I was waiting for police to respond to a bomb threat at the Principles First conference last month in Washington, D.C. — the source of which is yet to be determined — I thought of yet another growing parallel: What technically would be called 'informal security forces' but what I, during my time as a CIA Africa analyst, colloquially called 'guys.'"

READ MORE:'A stupid fight': Conservative blasts Trump for action 'too absurd to believe'

The former CIA analyst notes that in the African countries she analyzed, "guys" weren't shy about using violence against political opponents.

"When assessing risks to a country's political stability or the endurance of a dictator's power," Fletcher explains, "one of my first questions was always, 'Does he have guys?' They can be anything from a hyper-loyal faction of regular security forces to a specially commissioned 'presidential guard' recruited from a particular ethnic group to a rag-tag gang of young men armed on the cheap and on the down-low. Most recently, they could include hired mercenaries from Russia or other countries."

Fletcher cites specific examples of how "guys" were used in Africa — and could now be used in the U.S. under Trump.

"Most successful African political leaders in less-than-democratic systems have guys, from current dictators to wannabe dictators," Fletcher observes. "Any dictator worth his salt will cultivate independent armed factions to counter any threats from the military or other potential challengers' guys."

READ MORE:'Discontent': Trump in big trouble with majority of voters — here's why

Fletcher continues, "Such groups have the added potential advantage of preserving the reputation of formal security forces in the eyes of the international community…. Sudan's former dictator, Omar al-Bashir, created the janjaweed in the early 2000s in an ultimately failed effort to distance his regime from genocide in Darfur…. Across the border, South Sudan is awash in militias formed by various aspirants for President Salva Kiir's job…. The late dictator of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, had his Presidential Guard, but he also had his mob of 'war veterans' who terrorized his opposition in exchange for license to forcibly seize whatever farms they wanted."

The former CIA analyst fears that in the U.S., far-right groups like The Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers could be used as "guys" by the MAGA movement.

"The most obvious blinking red light is Trump's mass pardon of the January 6th insurrectionists, including members of organized militias such as the Oath Keepers, the Three Percenters, and the Thugs Formerly Known as the Proud Boys," Fletcher observes. "A court recently awarded their name to a black church they vandalized. Fresh out of jail, Enrique Tarrio showed up at the Principles First conference last month to menace former police officers Harry Dunn, Michael Fanone, Aquilino Gonell, and Daniel Hodges, who have been outspoken about their experiences fighting the mob on January 6th and who have been the targets of constant harassment ever since…. I was similarly horrified by reports that Elon Musk's private security force now has federal law enforcement authority via the U.S. Marshals Service."

READ MORE:'Our cushion is gone': Ohio farmers worry Trump won't pay up on promised funding

*Holly Berkley Fletcher's full article for The Bulwark is available at this link.

===

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NO LNX

‘I miss lynch mobs’: The secretary of retribution's followers are getting impatient

Retired Lt. Col. Ivan Raiklin and self-styled "secretary of retribution" Ivan Raiklin at the Republican National Convention

(Jordan Green / Raw Story)

Jordan Green March 09, 2025

A recent X post by Ivan Raiklin, a retired Army lieutenant general who bills calls the “secretary of retribution,” prompted a flurry of comments endorsing violence and vigilantism directed at four mayors who testified before Congress on Wednesday.

Raiklin, who last year circulated a so-called “Deep State Target List” against President Trump’s enemies while calling for “livestreamed swatting raids,” re-posted a video of Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.), a member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, delivering a fiery lecture to Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and New York City Mayor Eric Adams, all Democrats.

“One of you said you’re willing to go to jail; we might give you that opportunity, good mayor,” Higgins said, likely referring to Johnston, the Denver mayor.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) declared that she intended to refer the four mayors to the Department of Justice for prosecution, while holding up papers that she said would be delivered to Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Raiklin wrote in his post re-sharing the video of Higgins’ remarks: “If these mayors are not arrested, WeThe People [sic] will be compelled to reconsider our relationship with government.”

The two men appear to be acquainted: Last July, Raiklin posted a photo on X that showed him clasping hands with Higgins outside Fiserv Forum during the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

Higgins did not respond to an email from Raw Story for this story.

As of Friday evening, Raiklin’s post had been viewed more than 50,000 times, and had been reshared almost 900 times while garnering 168 comments. Raiklin’s follower count on X has grown to almost 235,000.

The comments from X users responding to Raiklin’s post include calls for vigilante justice and violence mixed with irritation directed at Bondi for not taking enough action in their view. The Department of Justice has filed lawsuits against Johnson, the Chicago mayor, and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzer and against New York Gov. Kathy Hochul over laws that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. Pritzger and Hochul, both Democrats, have scorned the lawsuits, with Pritzger calling it “garbage” and Hochul deriding it as “worthless.”

Among the responses to Raiklin’s post, some X users called for outright violence, while others proposed some form of extrajudicial process along the lines of sovereign citizen activity.

“I suggest we organize and go to war against our government like our forefathers did,” one user wrote.

Another user posted a meme of George Washington, accompanied by an imagined quote by the first American president reading: “Me and my homies woulda been stacking bodies by now.”

“A real insurrection is still possible,” yet another wrote.

One user asserted incorrectly that “citizens can form their own grand juries.”

“Why wait?” he wrote. “Start now.”

Another asserted: “We the people have the right to form and exercise trained militias. Now is the time for these militias to be on standby awaiting deployment.”

Much of Raiklin’s influence among Trump’s more extreme followers rests on his experience as a retired Army lieutenant colonel and former civilian employee of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, not to mention his seemingly unflagging zeal, prolific social media presence and hypermasculine presentation.

“I am ready, Ivan!” one X user wrote. “You make the call and millions will follow. Our patience are running increasingly thin [sic]. For me, I’ll give it 6 months max.”

Another user wrote: “I didn’t suffer for four years to hear empty promises. The first [arrest] might be the hardest, but they get easier as you go. Let’s get going. Be like a serial killer and become a serial arrester.”

Another simply wrote: “I miss lynch mobs.”

While declining to specifically address the comments under Raiklin’s post, the FBI said in a statement provided to Raw Story that the agency “takes all potential threats seriously and works with our law enforcement partners to determine their credibility, share information, and take appropriate investigative action.

“As always, we encourage members of the public to remain vigilant and immediately report anything they consider suspicious to law enforcement,” the statement continued.

Raw Story reached out by email to Raiklin for comment. He said a transcript of 42-minute video depicting him walking around Washington, D.C. and talking about a supposed Jan. 6 coverup by Republican House members would constitute his response to this story.

The comments about Bondi, who Trump appointed to lead the Department of Justice — roughly a dozen in all — were uniformly disparaging.

“Arrest them what the f--- dumb blondie @AGPamBondi,” one user with the screen name “ClownPuncher” wrote in response to Raiklin’s post. Another baselessly accused the attorney general of “actively protecting Democrats.”

An inquiry submitted to the Department of Justice by Raw Story seeking comment from Bondi for this story went unreturned.

Comments about other Trump administration officials were similarly negative, with one calling FBI Director Kash Patel a “disappointment” and another belittling Border Czar Tom Homan by writing, “If Tommy Boy doesn’t have it in him, Trump needs to get someone who can do it.”

Other X users variously suggested that even Trump and Raiklin himself are not truly committed to arresting the president’s political enemies.

“They’re not going to be, Ivan,” wrote a user with the screen name “Truth Seeking Vet.” “I’m afraid POTUS ‘made a deal’ with the demonrats to get back into Office. I hope and pray I’m wrong, but time will tell.”

One deeply paranoid user suggested Raiklin is an infiltrator who is in league with Democrats and federal law enforcement.

Another called Raiklin out for claiming last year that all he needed to carry out a plan to arrest Trump’s enemies was sympathetic prosecutors and sheriffs, and volunteers.

“I thought you were doing it, deputizing sheriffs, didn’t even need Trump to win,” the user wrote. “What/who is stopping you?”

Raiklin serves on the board of directors of America’s Future, a nonprofit led by retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who formerly led the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency under President Barack Obama and briefly served as national security advisor during Trump’s first term.

Raiklin and Flynn jointly shared master of ceremonies duties at an awards ceremony held by America’s Future at Mar-a-Lago on Feb. 18.

On Friday, Raiklin published a video of the awards ceremony in an X post where he tagged President Trump to publicly thank him for “opening up Mar-a-Lago” to Flynn’s organization.

Trump did not respond.

NOW READ: 'The Hard Reset': Here's how the U.S. is exporting terrorism around the world

===

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politico

it was supposed to be a defiant return to the Capitol for the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and their far-right allies who were pardoned by Donald Trump for their role in the Jan. 6 attack on the halls of Congress.

It ended with the arrest of Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio for allegedly assaulting a protester who got in his face.

Tarrio and other prominent former Jan. 6 defendants had gathered at the Capitol on Friday for a press conference, pledging to seek legal revenge against the government that jailed them. But a handful of demonstrators was also nearby, loudly heckling the group.

After the press conference, one of those demonstrators put her hand near Tarrio’s face as he was speaking with a photographer. Tarrio swatted it away. Capitol Police officers quickly surrounded him, handcuffed him and took him into custody. The police later described the incident as a simple assault, a type of misdemeanor.

The episode provided a moment of historical symmetry for the Capitol Police, who arrested Tarrio four years after he helped organize a group of Proud Boys that formed the vanguard of the riot that injured 140 law enforcement officers and threatened the transfer of power. He was convicted of seditious conspiracy and sentenced to 22 years in prison but was freed by a Trump pardon as part of the president’s grant of mass clemency to Jan. 6 defendants.

Minutes before the scuffle — which a POLITICO reporter witnessed — Tarrio was flanked by dozens of other newly pardoned Jan. 6 defendants, including several other Proud Boys like Seattle’s Ethan Nordean and Oath Keepers leaders, like Stewart Rhodes, who were similarly convicted of seditious conspiracy. Richard “Bigo” Barnett, who infamously propped his feet on a desk in Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Capitol suite, was there. So was Guy Reffitt, who carried a pistol onto Capitol grounds and helped the mob advance to the foot of the building. New York Proud Boy Dominic Pezzola, who stole a police riot shield and smashed a Senate-wing window with it, stood alongside Tarrio.

Others who played memorable roles in the mob were on hand as well, including Jake Lang, who escaped an imminent trial on assault charges, and Couy Griffin, the head of Cowboys for Trump.

The group recreated the route around the Capitol they took on Jan. 6, 2021, ending at the grass on the Capitol’s East Front. There, they posed for photos and chanted “Whose house? Our house,” a reprise of the chants that echoed through the halls of the Capitol while lawmakers and staff fled for safety.

At the press conference, arranged while many of the former Jan. 6 defendants were on a break from visiting the CPAC conference in Maryland, the former defendants pledged to sue the Justice Department. They hope the department welcomes their claims, given its leadership’s embrace of Trump’s assertion that the prosecutions were a “national disgrace.”

Tarrio seemed amused and bewildered by the arrest, grimacing as officers swarmed him and set up an impromptu perimeter. The woman involved in the incident had been trailing the group for an hour, shouting them down during the press conference, calling them “Nazis” and placing herself in front of their group photos while flipping them off.

After arresting Tarrio, the police interviewed the woman, who appeared to be uninjured.

Tarrio stood silently as police quickly put him in cuffs, patted him down and set up a perimeter in the shadow of the Capitol. He was then ushered into a police van and taken into custody.

===

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an no lnx

'A boon to far-right extremists': Alarm sounded over new Trump appointee

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 11, 2025.

REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Jordan Green February 27, 2025

Dan Bongino, the right-wing podcast host tapped by FBI Director Kash Patel to serve as deputy director of the agency, has a history of downplaying white supremacist extremism, the violence committed by Trump supporters at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and threats against school board members.

Bongino suggested during a podcast recorded in September 2022 that the FBI under former Director Christopher Wray pursued investigations of “white supremacists who are terrorists” because of political pressure from President Joe Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland. He did not mention the deadly Buffalo mass shooting carried out four months earlier that year or dozens of neo-Nazi accelerationist terror plots foiled by the FBI that would warrant such a focus.

“Biden and Garland say, ‘We need white supremacist, domestic violent extremists’ — you know, we learned in the Salem witch trials: If you’re looking for a witch, you’re going to find one, even if there isn’t one,” Bongino said.

The statement was made during an interview with Kyle Seraphin, an FBI agent who was suspended after raising questions about an email from FBI leadership flagging threats against school board members and later separated from the agency after refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccination.

“The idea that you could have this file on you about what you’re surfing online — not criminal, maybe untoward, maybe nasty — but the fact that this happened because you showed up at a meeting and said something is really horrifying,” Bongino said.

In a second interview with Seraphin that was published the following day, Bongino ridiculed the agency for tasking agents with following up on leads that flooded the FBI from members of the public days after thousands of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol and disrupted Congress’ certification of the electoral vote in the 2020 presidential election.

“You know, I get it — I would have not preferred January 6th turned out differently as well,” Bongino said. “I think any sane person would have. But to take six-figure FBI earners with a set of skills and let them run out all across America taking tips about a guy you met potentially in eighth grade showing up on January 6th sounds a little Orwellian.”

President Trump issued blanket pardons to the nearly 1,600 people charged with crimes related to that Jan. 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol, but threats from white supremacist terrorists seeking to cause a collapse of society remain an ongoing concern for law enforcement. Last month, the U.S. State Department named the white supremacist group Terrorgram, whose leaders face charges for soliciting the murder of federal officials among other offenses, a specially designated global terrorist entity.

The mass murder of 10 African Americans in a grocery store in Buffalo, N.Y., in 2022 underscored the threat posed by white supremacist terrorism, while a car-ramming attack by an ISIS sympathizer that killed 14 people celebrating New Year’s Eve in New Orleans provided a reminder that Islamic extremism also remains a threat. Meanwhile, school shootings in recent months have revealed a bewildering array of motivations that include white supremacy, inceldom and nihilism.

“At a time when the violent extremist threat is as diverse and unpredictable as any time in recent years, unqualified conspiracy peddlers and election deniers are running the FBI,” Jon Lewis, a research fellow at the Program on Extremism at George Washington University, said in an email to Raw Story. “It is a boon to far-right extremists in particular, who will undoubtedly feel emboldened counting senior officials like Patel and Bongino among their compatriots.”

Bongino did not respond to an interview request submitted to the press office at FBI headquarters.

Similar to Jan. 6, when Trump supporters angered by false claims that the 2020 election was stolen wound up turning on the U.S. Capitol police, violent white supremacists often target law enforcement, along with Jews, people of color, and LGBTQ+ people.

In one such case, the FBI filed charges against Kyle Christopher Benton, a Washington state man, for unlawful possession of a machine gun, after he posted on social media that he was joining multiple internet chats to encourage other users to commit mass shootings.

In a filing arguing for continued pre-trial detention, the government said that an investigation for domestic violence conducted by the Army Criminal Investigation Division in 2019 revealed that Benton operated social media accounts that promoted white supremacist and antisemitic propaganda. Benton’s partner allegedly told investigators that he wanted to shoot up the “alphabet boys” — a common reference to federal law enforcement — or a local police station.

“At a time when FBI agents are facing calls of retribution following the January 6 pardons, the nomination of a podcast host who has repeatedly promoted harmful conspiracies aimed at delegitimizing the FBI sends a dangerous message,” Lewis said.

During his interview with Seraphin in 2022, Bongino charged that the agency “bought into the hype” that the Jan. 6 attack was an event of the same magnitude as Pearl Harbor or 9/11. He went on to accuse agents of “locking up people for a January 6th insurrection — or whatever, grandma, who trespassed — because you don’t like their politics.”

Bongino and Seraphin’s discussion of Jan. 6 focused on trespassing and other misdemeanor offenses. Still, about 608 out of the nearly 1,600 defendants were charged with assaulting law enforcement or obstructing officers during a civil disorder, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. Of those, 174 were charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious injury to an officer.

Emblematic of the administration’s efforts to whitewash the violent attempt to overturn the 2020 election, the webpage detailing the crimes committed on Jan. 6 was taken down shortly after Trump returned to office. But an archived page itemizes the array of weapons rioters used or carried at the Capitol: firearms; OC spray; tasers; edged weapons, including axes, hatchets, knives and a sword; makeshift weapons, including destroyed office furniture, fencing, bike racks and stolen riot shields; baseball bats, hockey sticks, flagpoles, PVC piping and reinforced knuckle gloves.

During his appearance on Bongino’s podcast in September 2022, Seraphin outed himself as the source of an email obtained by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH). The email from FBI leadership mandates the use of specific threat tags to track “threats specifically directed against school board administrators, board members, teachers and staff.” Jordan, as the then-ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, seized on the email as proof that the FBI was “using counterterrorism tools to investigate parents,” even though the email doesn’t specifically mention parents.

“Essentially, they’re asking to tag these inbound threats,” Seraphin told Bongino. “And we don’t have time for those kinds of threats. We really don’t. In the real FBI, there’s not time for threats from some guy who’s yelling at the school board…. But it’s very difficult to convince me you would say that this is a real threat that exists all over the country….”

“Right,” Bongino agreed. “Worthy of FBI resources.”

The threats were, in fact, real.

In November 2021, the mayor of a small city in Ohio accused school board members in Summit County of “distributing essentially what is child pornography.” The accusation reportedly resulted in dozens of threats from around the country. Although the county prosecutor declined to file charges against the mayor, she issued a statement that “these allegations were false and caused numerous public servants to be victimized.”

In another incident, a woman protesting a masking requirement told the Page County Public School Board in Virginia in January 2022, “My children will not come to school on Monday with a mask on. All right. That’s not happening. And I will bring every single gun loaded and ready to — I will.”

As an indication of the turmoil surrounding COVID-19 restrictions and books addressing sensitive topics surrounding race and sexuality during that period, ProPublica reported that 59 people were arrested at school board meetings across the country from May 2021 through November 2022, most of them charged with trespassing, resisting an officer, or disrupting a public meeting.

In 2023, Garland reportedly told a House panel that the FBI received 22 reports of threats against school officials, and the agency referred six cases to state and local authorities to investigate.

“So, if I have a file on the CT side — the counterterrorism side — for showing up at a school board meeting and saying something — it may not have been appropriate thing to say, but it certainly isn’t a terroristic threat, you could have this big body of information available for you to make a criminal prosecution easier is where I’m going with that,” Bongino said during his interview with Seraphin. “The building blocks are already there.”

In at least one instance, a counterterrorism investigation did bring FBI agents to a parking lot outside a school board, if not into the meeting room.

Steve Friend, a former FBI agent, testified before a congressional panel that he had been tasked with surveilling an individual at a school board meeting as part of an open counterterrorism investigation. Based on the date of the subject’s arrest — Aug. 24, 2022 — House Democrats surmised that the subject under surveillance was one of four members of a Three Percenter militia called Guardians of Freedom who were charged with offenses related to the Jan. 6 attack. (A fifth would be arrested separately at a later date.)

“So, essentially we just documented the license plates of the people that were parking at the school board meeting who were January 6th subjects, or people that were in the parking lot with them interacting that we thought could be in their sphere of influence, and then we left,” Friend testified.

One member of the militia had boasted on social media on July 2021 that he was “continuing to build my 3% army so I can overthrow the federal government,” according to the charging document, and he said that 80 percent of the local sheriff’s office was “on our side,” but he didn’t plan on “ever seeing the inside of a cell.”

Ultimately, the five members of Guardians of Freedom were convicted of various charges related to their conduct at the Capitol on Jan. 6, and received sentences ranging from two years of probation to five months in prison, only to be pardoned last month by President Trump.

Bongino, who worked as a New York City police officer and later for the Secret Service before becoming a podcaster, has never worked at the FBI.

But he expressed disdain for FBI upper management when Seraphin told him a colleague reported to Peter Strzok, the former deputy director of the FBI’s counterintelligence division. Strzok, in turn, reported to Andrew McCabe, who served in the role that Bongino now holds—deputy director.

“The trajectory for someone like that is they show up at a field office; they’re there for two and a half years,” Seraphin told Bongino during the September 2022 interview.

“What the hell do you learn in two to three years to be managing cases like yours out in the field?” Bongino scoffed.

---

AN 2 25

Last month, U.S. Senator Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican who has on rare occasions stood up to Donald Trump, cast the deciding—and, to some, unexpected—vote to confirm Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense. Now, a report reveals that Tillis says the FBI had informed him of “credible” death threats before his vote. This revelation has led some to question whether he voted under duress, while others accuse him, and other Republicans, of caving to pressure.

“In private,” Vanity Fair‘s Gabriel Sherman reports, “Republicans talk about their fear that Trump might incite his MAGA followers to commit political violence against them if they don’t rubber-stamp his actions.”

“They’re scared shitless about death threats and Gestapo-like stuff,” a former Trump official told Sherman.

“Tillis told people that the FBI warned him about ‘credible death threats’ when he was considering voting against Pete Hegseth’s nomination for defense secretary,” Sherman reported. “According to the source, Tillis has said that if people want to understand Trump, they should read the 2006 book Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work. (When asked for comment for this story, a spokesperson for Tillis said it was false that the senator had recommended the book in that capacity. The FBI said it had no comment.)”

READ MORE: Musk’s Cuts Now ‘Hobbling’ Major Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Research Facility: Report

In his article at Vanity Fair, Sherman serves up numerous other examples detailing the threats of violence Republican lawmakers have allegedly been facing. On social media, he writes, “GOP Senators and House members are scared of being murdered by Trump supporters if they don’t support Trump. This is fascism in America.”

It’s not the first death threat Tillis received, and some critics say that if Senators can’t do the job they were elected to do, and swore an oath to perform, they should quit.

Some responded to this post from Sherman:

IFrame Content

“I was also scared for my life when I came forward with harassment allegations against Fox News’ Roger Ailes —- but I still did the right thing. Courage isn’t easy. Most Republicans still need to figure that out,” wrote former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson, who became one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World.

John Jackson is a veteran and former Republican who says he fought in Ukraine for nine months, thanks in part from motivation he got from Ronald Reagan.

“There are millions of children in Ukraine who go to school under missile attacks, daily,” Jackson wrote, in response to Sherman’s social media post. “They are far braver than our politicians. If U.S. Senators aren’t willing to risk life and limb to perform their Constitutional duties, they should resign.”

“This is exactly what Trump was counting on when he pardoned everyone for the 6 January insurrection,” noted Jonathan Z. Ludwig, an Associate Professor of Russian at Oklahoma State University.

Others responded to the article in general.

Tim Marksman, an editor for Wired, writes that “there are a lot of legislators, academics, activists, journalists, medical workers etc. who follow their conscience in their work despite death threats and despite not having the protections afforded members of Congress.”

“I have long believed that not enough has been written about how GOP members have felt physically intimidated by Trump supporters,” noted attorney George Conway. “It doesn’t excuse their cowardice, but it still deserves more attention.”

READ MORE: ‘Chamberlain’ Trump Sparks International Condemnation: ‘First Anti-American US President’

Senator Tillis’s vote to confirm came after an event that had given Hegseth’s critics hope he would not be confirmed.

“Before Senator Thom Tillis voted to confirm Pete Hegseth as defense secretary, he worked with accusers to make the case against him in a bid to get G.O.P. leaders to scrap the vote altogether,” The New York Times reported last week, noting how Hegseth’s nomination had been “teetering on the brink of defeat on the Senate floor.”

“Turning to a group of North Carolina lawmakers who were flying with him to survey storm damage in their state, Mr. Trump noted Mr. Tillis’s impending defection and posed a question: Which of them wanted his endorsement for a primary challenge to the senator next year?” the Times added.

“Tillis personally assured Danielle Hegseth in a call on Jan. 19, witnessed by two other people, that if she signed the statement testifying that she believed her former brother-in-law Pete Hegseth has an alcohol abuse problem and was abusive to his second wife, it would carry weight, and potentially move three votes-his own, along with the votes of Sens. Susan Collins (R., Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R., Alaska),” The Wall Street Journal reported.

Tillis voted to confirm. Two weeks later, in a rare social media post, the Republican Senator from North Carolina proudly posted photos of his impending trip with the President aboard Air Force One:

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AN 2 25

TOPEKA — A pair of House Republicans entertained a hypothetical act of violence toward a former representative Thursday as they acted out a traditional hazing ritual for new legislators.

Wichita Republican Rep. Patrick Penn performed the custom of grilling freshman lawmakers as they present legislation on the House floor for the first time. Rep. Kyler Sweely, a Republican representing Hutchinson who defeated Democratic incumbent Jason Probst in November, was the subject of Penn’s interrogation. Penn and Sweely have a shared history of serving in the U.S. Army in the Middle East and knowledge of the intricacies of combat. During the hazing ritual, with the attention of the full chamber, Penn posed a hypothetical to Sweely. They referred to “that guy from Hutch,” a moniker Probst adopted for his online newsletter.

Penn: “Now when we talk about the commands for firing, what are the components of a firing command?”

Sweeley: “Identifying the target, the direction the target is, the range that the target is, and then the type of ammo that you’re going to use to address the target.”

Penn: “So if I were to come to you and say, I have a firing command, and that command is, ‘Gunner, sabot, that guy from Hutch in the open, fire for effect,’ what would you say?”

Sweeley: “Gunner, sabot, that guy from Hutch.”

Penn: “Alright, ladies and gentlemen, I present to you on his maiden voyage here before you as colleagues, that new guy from Hutch.”

Probst, when reached by phone Thursday, chuckled at the exchange.

“Usually I find when people hate you that much and they talk about you that much, they want to be you,” he said.

He could take two interpretations, he said. One, the legislators were alluding to a violent threat, or two, “they’re very pleased with having won the election very narrowly,” Probst said.

“It’s really rewarding to know that I live rent-free in their heads,” Probst said.

Sweely defeated Probst by 294 votes in the November election.

Neither Penn nor Sweely immediately responded to an inquiry from Kansas Reflector. The House Speaker’s office also did not immediately respond to repeated requests for comment.

House Democrats expressed indignance and disbelief in response, with some calling on Penn to apologize and for the House Speaker’s office to discipline the legislators.

Rep. Alexis Simmons, a Topeka Democrat, said she told House leadership she expects formal action.

“We routinely hear members of the Republican caucus call points of order on Democratic members for benign, perceived slights because their feelings are hurt,” she said in a text message.

Simmons said the comments were “clearly violent in nature,” and said it would be “not only irresponsible but negligent” to allow them to stand.

“Bottom line, it’s just a ridiculous thing to even suggest shooting a political adversary,” she said.

Immediately following the exchange, some House Democrats exchanged looks of disbelief and caused disruption as they scrambled to confirm the question, “Did he say that?” according to Rep. Ford Carr, a Wichita Democrat.

“Had I known the individual that uttered those words,” Carr said, “there would be talk of disciplinary action and nothing less.”

House Minority Leader Brandon Woodard in a statement denounced “the use of inflammatory rhetoric that incites violence in any form, particularly during a time when attacks on public officials are increasing.”

Woodard, a Lenexa Democrat, said political disagreements ought to be addressed at the ballot box. He called the exchange a promotion of political violence.

“This behavior cannot be overlooked,” Woodard said. “Representative Penn must take responsibility for his comments, recognize their inappropriate nature, and offer a sincere apology.”

Penn has served in the House since 2021 and this year is co-sponsoring legislation with more than 60 Republicans to cement the right to own guns, ammunition and firearm accessories in the state constitution.

Penn and Sweely, at different times, were deployed to the Middle East to support Operations Spartan Shield and Inherent Resolve, which included campaigns in Iraq and Syria.

Kansas Reflector is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Kansas Reflector maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sherman Smith for questions: info@kansasreflector.com.

===

===

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The Washington State Patrol is investigating a Nazi sympathizer who posted a social media reply that appears to threaten the state’s governor with gunfire.

Greyson Arnold wrote in reply to an X post by Gov. Bob Ferguson last month that “the federal government must act quickly to arrest you or it will be the 2nd amendment and judgment by lead.”

Arnold was responding to a post by Ferguson highlighting a new state program to assist families targeted for deportation by the Trump administration, which the governor described as “ripping families apart” and resulting in “kids losing their parents” and “businesses losing their workers.”

A former podcaster, the 35-year-old Arnold is part of the Groyper movement, an optics-obsessed cluster of far-right activists who seek to move white nationalist ideas into the political mainstream. Arnold was at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, but was not arrested. The day after Donald Trump took the oath of office and issued mass pardons for the Jan. 6 defendants, Arnold posted a video of himself on the Capitol steps on Jan. 6 stating, “This is an American baptism. The American spirit is awakening.”

Arnold has cultivated ties with far-right Republicans such as former gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, and Rep. Paul Gosar in Arizona. In 2022, Joe Kent, a Republican candidate for Congress from Washington state who is now set to direct the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center appeared in a video for an interview conducted by Arnold. When confronted with Arnold’s pro-Nazi views, the campaign disavowed him, claiming Kent did not know who Arnold was.

CNN compiled a list of atrocious pro-Nazi views expressed by Arnold, including a conspiracy theory purporting that there were Jewish plans to “genocide the German people,” describing Adolf Hitler as “a complicated historical figure which many people misunderstand," and calling the Nazis a “pure” race.

Arnold also briefly worked as a field organizer for the Washington State Republican Party in 2022, before he was fired for his social media posts. Despite his extremist views, FEC records show that Arnold registered voters last summer for Citizens for Free Enterprise, a super PAC led by former Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey.

The Executive Protection Unit of the Washington State Patrol was alerted to the Arnold’s “judgement of lead” post by a legislative assistant at the state capitol in Olympia, according to Chris Loftis, a spokesperson for the state law enforcement agency. The legislative assistant, in turn, received a tip from “an extremist watchdog group” in Arizona, Loftis said.

“We did visit the gentleman’s residences of record,” Loftis told Raw Story. “WSP detectives visited an address in Spokane and, at our request, Arizona officials visited an Arizona address. Greyson Arnold was not in either location, so we did not speak to the gentleman in either visit.”

Loftis said he was unable to comment further because the matter remains under investigation.

In a message last week to his 7,200 Telegram subscribers, Arnold appeared to double down on the threat,

“The new WA ‘governor’ just sent law enforcement to my house who claimed this tweet is a credible threat of violence,” he wrote.

“To make it clear,” Arnold added, “if you protect criminal illegal aliens then you are participating in the genocide of the American people, and if the federal government doesn’t act then it is up to the American people to.”

In comments below the message, Arnold’s subscribers endorsed the apparent call to violence, with one writing on Monday: “That’s literally what the 2nd amendment was made for. Literally killing your own government.”

In an X post last week, Arnold appeared to express confidence that he has the backing of Attorney General Pam Bondi.

“Looks like the [law enforcement officers] who tried to harass and intimidate my family are going to get prosecuted,” he wrote.

Arnold’s post referenced a news item reporting, "Bondi just ordered the Justice Department to freeze all funding for sanctuary cities and has instructed attorneys to begin prosecuting officials preventing ICE from doing their job.”

Asked whether the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington intends to take the action sought by Arnold, spokesperson Emilie Langlie told Raw Story that as a matter of policy the Justice Department would decline to confirm or deny the existence of any investigation “unless or until something is filed on the matter in court.”

Arnold has a conviction in Arizona for disorderly conduct-fighting. A police report obtained by Raw Story indicates that officers responded to a domestic violence call at Arnold’s home in Lake Havasu City in December 2021. The alleged victim told officers that Arnold became frustrated when she told him his bank account was overdrawn. She said he slammed down a plate of food, threw down a glass of orange juice, and smashed a bottle of liquor on the counter, and then followed her from the kitchen to the living room, where he held her in a chair and prevented her from going to the bathroom.

“Too bad, b----, I’m the man and you need to listen to me,” Arnold said, according to the victim.

According to the report, Arnold admitted to forcing the victim into the chair, and notes from the report indicate he told the officer that she “is a very easy woman to move around and he just wanted her to sit in one spot and listen to what he had to say.”

Arnold was also charged with intentionally placing another person in fear of imminent physical injury and criminally defacing or damaging property worth less than $250, but court record show the charges were dismissed when he pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct.

Arnold’s social media posts have become increasingly unhinged in recent weeks, targeting not only the governor but also local and federal judges and migrants.

Replying to a post showing photos of King County Superior Court Judge Johanna Bender shopping at a supermarket, Arnold wrote: “What’s her home address and usual locations she visits, I’m sure the families she’s hurt would like to know.”

In another post referencing a photo of U.S. District Court Judge Loren AliKhan and a decision by her to block President Trump’s freeze on spending for federal aid programs, Arnold posted a GIF of Dwight K. Schrute, the character from the TV show “The Office,” firing a rifle.

On the same day as his “judgement by lead” post in reference to Gov. Ferguson, Arnold posted a video recorded from his car window as he cruised past a group of men standing on the side of a public roadway outside a self-storage business.

“I am mapping hotspots where illegals congregate and documenting where they reside to report directly to ICE,” he wrote. “This includes not only Home Depot, but schools, hospitals, and places of worship. Together we can find them and send them home, to Mexico.”

In another post that echoes the history of ordinary Germans looting Jewish homes when they were deported during World War II, Arnold posted a reply on X expressing indifference to a news story about a Guatemalan woman who had been deported and was upset that she still owed her parents money after they raised more than $25,000 to pay a smuggler.

“We should be doing our duty as Americans and helping strip them of any wealth before deporting them,” he wrote.

Arnold could not be reached for comment for this story.

Many of Arnold’s comments on X reflect a preoccupation with the global labor force. He talks about his experience working in China from 2015 to 2020. His posts express a negative view of Indian tech workers in the United States, in contrast to his own experience as a foreign worker in China.

“The only time I was even able to geta STEM-related job was in China,” he posted on X on Jan. 31. “America doesn’t hire Americans.”

In another post on the same day, he wrote: “China didn’t need Indians. We took in the inferior races and now the U.S. is crumbling. I choose the Chinese team if my team is just foreigners.”

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an 2 25 no lnx

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough shared an alarming reason he said Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and other Republican senators are dropping their objections to some of Donald Trump's "unqualified" nominees for Cabinet posts.

Collins announced her support for Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence despite her previous objections, and the "Morning Joe" host said skeptical Republicans were approving Trump's choices in fear of something more ominous than a GOP primary challenge.

"You know, there's an old saying in soccer, in English football, it's the hope that kills you," Scarborough said. "Yeah, I suspect they have a similar saying in Maine about Susan Collins. It's the hope that kills you.

"I wonder if she was assured by the way Tulsi Gabbard handled her relationship with the butcher of Syria, [Bashar al-]Assad responsible for the murder of 500,000 Syrians, also, who used chemical weapons against his own people or, again, Edward Snowden, where she refused to condemn Snowden in one question after another question after another question."

"Susan Collins, supposedly a traditional Republican," Scarborough added. "There is no way she would ever vote for Tulsi Gabbard except for political expediency and fear, is there?"

Republican senators have said that Gabbard, a former Democratic lawmaker, appeared to be unprepared for their meetings and hearings, and they were "rattled" by her non-answer on Snowden. But some outspoken skeptics on Pete Hegseth and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have made sudden flip-flops on their objections.

"Some members of Congress that I've spoken to said, 'Listen, it's not just the primarying that we have to worry about,'" said journalist Katty Kay. "'It's actually our own personal safety that we now have to worry about. I have to worry about the safety of my spouse, the safety of my children if I defy Donald Trump,' and when you've got Don Jr. coming out very forcefully and saying, 'We want all of these to be a yes,' there is no exception for Tulsi Gabbard. There is no exception for Bobby Kennedy.

ALSO READ: 'Driven to self-loathing': Inside the extremist website believed to 'groom' teen attackers

"He is speaking for the MAGA base, and literally I've had members of Congress say, 'Look, you know, you do have to worry in this day and age, you have to worry about your own safety, as well — it's not just the primary factor."

Collins did vote against Hegseth, who was confirmed after Vice President J.D. Vance stepped in to break a 50-50 tie after Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) opposed his nomination. But so far, none of Trump's nominees have attracted a crucial fourth Republican vote against them.

"Let's again underline what Katty just said," Scarborough said. "Members of Congress are telling her that they're not only afraid of primary challenges, they're afraid of violence. They're afraid of violence if they vote against people who are unqualified to run the most important agencies in America."

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This was not a terrorist attack, it was a wake up call,” reads a line in written notes authorities made public last week from Matthew Livelsberger, the driver of the Cybertruck who killed himself in the vehicle shortly before it exploded in front of a Trump hotel in Las Vegas on New Year’s Day.

The combat veteran’s writings include poignant passages, as when he expressed the need to “cleanse my mind of the brothers I’ve lost and relieve myself of the burden of the lives I took.”

But Livelsberger also expresses warmed-over manosphere tropes and anti-Democratic clichés from the Republican 2024 campaign.

“Masculinity is good and men must be leaders.”

“Thankfully we rejected the DEI candidate and will have a real President instead of Weekend at Bernie’s.”

“Rally around the Trump, Musk, Kennedy, and ride this wave to the highest hegemony for all Americans!”

Those sound pretty much like rote red meat talking points slung around by JD Vance, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Steve Bannon, or whichever Trumpworld podcaster might be trending at any given time.

But other lines in Livelsberger’s notes invoke something less banal, and more violent, envisioning what reads like a January 6 style attack on the nation’s institutions, but on steroids.

“Military and vets move on DC starting now. Militias facilitate and augment this activity.”*

“Occupy every major road along fed buildings and the campus of fed buildings by the hundreds of thousands.”*

“Lock the highways around down with semis right after everybody gets in. Hold until the purge is complete.”*

“Try peaceful means first, but be prepared to fight to get the Dems out of the fed government and military by any means necessary. They all must go and a hard reset must occur for our country to avoid collapse.”*

Briefing reporters last week after Livelsberger’s life ended in a rented Tesla in front of a Trump hotel, law enforcement officials said Livelsberger appeared to have “no animosity” toward Donald Trump.

While delivering that briefing, Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill and FBI Special Agent in Charge Spencer Evans knew that not only did Livelsberger have no animosity toward Trump, but in fact was cheering on Trump, and Trumpism.

McMahill and Evans left that part out, along with Livelsberger’s calls for uprooting people he didn’t agree with from the government and the military “by any means necessary.”

Law enforcement officials weren’t the only ones glossing over the story.

Media reports on Livelsberger, in Nevada and nationally, have downplayed his Trump-friendly extremism, when they’ve mentioned it at all.

When law enforcement officials suggested the Cybertruck driver hadn’t indicated any malice toward Trump (and when they knew but neglected to mention the driver was actually a Trump fan), it seemed a relevant observation at the time, lest the motive for blowing up a truck made and sold by Trump’s right-hand billionaire Elon Musk in front of a hotel with Trump’s name on it might be seen as a statement of disapproval of both men.

Livelsberger’s action clearly wasn’t that. It might have been an homage to them though.

This week law enforcement provided more passages Livelsberger wrote in in the days leading up to the explosion, which show Livelsberger used ChatGPT to learn how to turn a Cybertruck into a garbage fire, was convinced he was being tailed on his way to Las Vegas, and had intended to carry out his plan at the Grand Canyon Skywalk.

And in one of the quotes authorities released, Livelsberger wrote: “As much as the MSM will paint me out to be some terrorist and monster, I had no intent on taking out anyone but myself if that happens. I am deeply sorry to anyone that gets hurt.”

It didn’t go exactly as Livelsberger intended. Seven people were hurt. Blessedly, their injuries were minor.

And the MSM — the mainstream media — did not paint him out to be some terrorist or monster.

Perhaps had bystanders been seriously injured or killed, the media would be paying more attention to the fact that whatever other things were going on with Livelsberger, one of those things was the radicalization of a Trump sympathizer into a violent extremist.

But as if taking its cue from McMahill and Evans, the media coverage has mostly left that part out.

Well, there have been other salacious or compelling storylines to focus on: a Cybertruck exploding in front of a Trump hotel; “very strange similarities” between Livelsberger and Shamsud-Din Jabbar, who killed New Orleans revelers with a truck earlier on New Year’s Day; the prospect of AI’s new role as an instruction guide for DIY explosive devices; and, of course, the tragedy of a hero’s fall.

Livelsberger left behind statements calling for an armed, violent assault on the nation’s most important public institutions, to be carried out by people of whom he approved. He called for a “purge” of people of whom he disapproved from the nation’s institutions “by any means necessary.” And, according to his journaling, he envisioned it all as a triumphant ride on the “Trump, Musk, Kennedy…wave to the highest hegemony for all Americans!”

And we’ve reached the point where the vast majority of the media doesn’t regard that as a particularly important part of the story, if they mention it at all.

Maybe the media hasn’t taken Livelsberger’s political extremism seriously because it happened in a place the media (and the nation) has a habit of not taking very seriously. Bizarre thing happens in Las Vegas, must be a day that ends in a y, etc. In which case Livelsberger’s hope that Las Vegas would be a prime location to place a wake up call was a miscalculation.

Or with everyone from Mark Zuckerberg to members of Congress from both parties to all the billionaires to pockets of the media surrendering in advance to Trump, maybe wake up calls are just passé anymore.

Portions of this column were originally published in the Daily Current newsletter, which is free and which you can subscribe to here.*

Nevada Current is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nevada Current maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Hugh Jackson for questions: info@nevadacurrent.com.

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Nearly 54% of extreme conservatives say the federal government should use violence to stop illegal immigration
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an 12 24 the conv

Threats and harassment are pushing some politicians out of office, scaring off some would-be candidates and even compelling some elected officials to change their vote.

Those are some of the conclusions of a new study I led on political violence in Southern California.

Rising threats against public officials is a national problem.

Between 2013 and 2016, there were, on average, 38 federal charges involving threats to public officials per year, according to the National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology and Education Center, a research center. That average sharply increased between 2017 and 2022, when an average of 62 federal charges were brought annually for threats to public officials.

When elected officials worry for their safety, it has implications for all Americans. Democracy suffers when people are governed by fear.

‘Respectful discourse has been lost’

I am the founder and director of the Violence, Inequality and Power Lab, or VIP Lab, housed at the University of San Diego’s Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice. Over the past two years, the VIP Lab has been collecting data to understand the frequency and severity of threats against local elected officials in Southern California.

Our research focused on California’s three southernmost counties – San Diego, Riverside and Imperial. Together, these counties have just under 6 million residents, or roughly 15% of California’s population.

To capture as complete a picture as possible, we did a survey and interviews, reviewed news coverage and social media accounts, and scoured literature nationwide.

The first year, we focused only on San Diego County, surveying 330 mayors, city councilors, county board of supervisor members and school board and community college board members. Over 25% of survey recipients responded. Of them, 75% reported being threatened or harassed at least once in the past five years. Roughly half said the abuse occurred at least monthly.

Respondents had found their name shared on the dark web and seen cars drive past their homes in an intimidating manner. They’d been followed after public meetings and blocked from leaving. In some cases, their families were harassed.

“As a parent, [I] feel vulnerable,” one city council member said, adding that he’s become “very guarded with [my] kid in public.”

Topics that were most likely to prompt threats and harassment included COVID-19, gun control, school curricula and LGBTQ+ rights.

“Since the pandemic, people have been mobilized into different silos or groups of people,” said a school board member interviewed in 2023. “[R]espectful discourse has been lost in all of this.”

In year two, we sent surveys to 785 elected officials in all three counties. Two-thirds of respondents reported having been threatened or harassed at least once in the previous five years. Roughly the same number said verbal attacks had become a routine part of public service.

These attacks come from the public, they told us, and from other elected officials. Officials have been accused of corruption, called idiots and told they should die. School board members face allegations that they “don’t care about kids.”

The threats “are verbal, at council meetings, outside of meetings, during breaks,” said one interviewee serving on a city council. “I’ve been harassed by city council members, staff members, the city manager and the city attorney.”

A troubling trend

In simple terms, our research suggests that at least two of every three people who serve in public office in Southern California will be threatened, intimidated or harassed during their tenure.

Survey results suggest the average female elected official who experiences abuse is threatened or harassed at least six times as often as her male peers. Men reported being on the receiving end of abuse about once a year, while women suffer abuse almost monthly.

The attacks against women are more likely to be personalized – referring to their looks or their family members – and have a sexual nature.

It was “slanderous stuff,” one school board member told us of abusive text messages that started in 2022 after many years of service. “Language of being evil … of not being a Christian woman.”

Her husband was also followed by a car, and her home was circled by the same vehicle. No one else on her board reported similar abuse.

We heard many accounts like this from female elected officials in Southern California. One city councilwoman filed two police reports against men who threatened, harassed and stalked her. A second was threatened throughout her campaign and time in office, including by a man who used a racial slur and threatened to “take care of” her with his AK-47.

Even so, our most recent survey revealed that male elected officials are most concerned about political violence. Sixty-four percent reported that things had become worse during their time in office, compared with 50% of women.

Counterintuitively, white, male, rural and conservative respondents all reported that threats and harassment had gotten worse more often than their nonwhite, female, urban and liberal counterparts – even though nonwhite, female, urban and liberal respondents reported more threats and harassment overall.

This finding may reflect a meaningful shift in how threats are used in politics. We believe that those responsible for abuse previously targeted the most vulnerable elected officials – namely women and other underrepresented groups.

But as it becomes more common to use threats and harassment as a means to influence decision-making, everyone is a target.

Most of the abuse we documented is, thankfully, not physical. But “hostile, aggressive or violent acts motivated by political objectives or a desire to directly or indirectly affect political change or change in governance” is, by definition, political violence.

And our research shows that this constant, low-level abuse is taking its toll on people and communities.

Fear-based governing

Our study results mirror findings from other research on growing political violence in the U.S.

The number of threats targeting members of Congress went up 88% between 2018 and 2021, from 5,206 in 2018 to 9,625 in 2021.

Meanwhile, a 2023 study on state legislators by the nonprofit Brennan Center for Justice found that 89% had been threatened, harassed or insulted at some point over the previous three years. That means roughly 6,000 of the approximately 7,000 state legislators in the U.S. have been abused or intimidated since 2020.

The Capitol insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021, demonstrated for many Americans the threat of political violence. Brent Stirton/Getty Images

Most Americans don’t need these data points: Three-quarters of Americans already believe political violence is a problem, according to the States United Democracy Center.

Constituents have a right, even an imperative, to make their opinions known to the individuals they elect. Accountability and representation are essential to democracy. But there is a line between expressing disagreement and using intimidation or violence to influence policy decisions. And the latter can have some distinctly undemocratic outcomes.

Six percent of the elected officials we interviewed said they had actually changed their vote on a specific issue due to the climate of fear. And 43% of our survey respondents said that threats and harassment have caused them to consider leaving their post.

“I don’t think it’s fair to have to fight so hard,” said one relatively new school board member. “I’m mad at myself for letting the bullies win.”

The climate of fear is also keeping people from serving. Nationwide, 69% of mayors surveyed by the Mayors Innovation Project said they knew someone who had decided not to run for office due to threats or fear of violence.

When fear – rather than the needs of community – becomes a driving force in politics, democracy loses. That’s rule by the powerful, not rule by the people.

Rachel Locke, Director, Violence, Inequality and Power Lab, Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice, *University of San Diego

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Capitol Police chief details 700 threats against members of Congress since Trump won

an 11 24

U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz Friday evening revealed the chilling details of an apparent potential assassination plot he says has endangered his life and his family. The Florida Democrat says police arrested a suspect who is a former felon, had body armor, a rifle, an antisemitic manifesto, with “only my name on the ‘target’ list.”

“The day before the election, I was notified by the Margate Police Department, located in my Congressional District, about a potential plot on my life,” Congressman Moskowitz said in a statement. “The individual in question was arrested not far from my home; he is a former felon who was in possession of a rifle, a suppressor, and body armor. Found with him was a manifesto that, among other things, included antisemitic rhetoric and only my name on the ‘target’ list. There are many other details that I will not disclose as I do not want to interfere with an ongoing investigation. I want to thank local law enforcement, the US Marshalls, the FBI, the US Capitol Police, and the US Attorney’s office.”

READ MORE: [‘Chief Shareholder in the Presidency’: Musk on Trump-Zelenskyy Mar-a-Lago Call Fuels Fears]

“As someone who was appointed to the Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald J. Trump, I understand the failures and importance of fixing the protection of our current and future Commander- In-Chief and Vice President.”

Rep. Moskowitz adds that, “At the same time, I am deeply worried about Congressional member security and the significant lack thereof when we are in the district. Regardless of our political affiliations or differences, we all have families we want to keep safe.”

In a post on social media, Moskowitz added, “Serving my constituents is a great honor, but it has put my family in danger.”

READ MORE: ‘Probably Illegal Rumors’: Trump Calls for Investigations — to Protect His Interests

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snipers in maricopa?

mma

November 4, 2024, edition of ABC's ABC World News Tonight

DAVID MUIR (HOST): This campaign season has seen an extraordinary level of threats against polling sites, election workers. In fact, the FBI receiving more than 2,000 threats against election workers since the 2020 election. ABC's Chief Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas tonight on the dramatic new steps, the drones, the bulletproof glass, and the National Guard now on stand-by.

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aha violence precursors threat and prop damage, DIRTY TRICK notE no left equiv

an 11 24

In Kenosha, the local Democratic Party office has received calls about residents who put up yard signs supporting Vice President Kamala Harris receiving letters, warning of reprisal and biblical hell fire if they don’t vote for former President Donald Trump.

Lori Hawkins, chair of the Kenosha County Democratic Party, said that people have been reporting the letters to the Kenosha Police Department. “There’s a couple different versions of it, but most people I know have gotten both of them,” Hawkins told Wisconsin Examiner.

One of the letters, images of which were shared with Wisconsin Examiner, opens with the line, “We see that you have Democrat signs on your property.” The letter asks, “are you not aware that when you die that you will be held accountablebefore almighty God for voting for an open border that allows millions of illegal immigrants to freely enter, many of which are felons and evil people that have been doing deadly harm and will continue to do so [?]” The letter goes on to warn that voters will be held accountable by God “for voting for communism to take over America,” ending that “we don’t want anyone going to horrible hell, but you are on a fast path to it.”

After receiving multiple reports about the letters, Hawkins said that the Kenosha County Democratic Party decided to make a social media post, to ensure that people knew that they weren’t alone. The letters are typed and unsigned. “We know that the people who are putting these letters in mailboxes really believe the topics or the issues that are in the letters, and they’re probably doing it because they are fearful,” said Hawkins. “We know that it’s a bigger organization that’s fomenting this kind of fear, and playing to people’s anxieties and worries.”

Hawkins feels that the letters are “twisting the platform of Democrats who are on the ballot in a way that is, you know, pretty vile and false.” Hawkins has also received reports of Democratic yard and barn signs being slashed, defaced, driven over, or stolen. “And let’s be clear, I have heard and seen none of that happening with the large political signs belonging to Republican Party candidates,” said Hawkins. “So this is just an attempt to silence people, and make people fearful.”

Still, hundreds of people turned out for recent canvassing days held by the Kenosha County Democratic Party. Nancy Locante, a volunteer with the Kenosha County Democratic Party, received one of the letters, mailed to her with no return address. “America is at a crossroads,” one of the letters she received stated. The letter described “transgender ideology infecting our children’s schools,” high grocery bills, immigration, and persecution of “Christian values.” The letter urged Locante to vote for “biblical truths.” Locante said, “that’s quite a bit of intimidation, but of course they don’t have the guts to put their names on it. It can be a little unsettling knowing that they are watching you. But it’s unfortunate that these people’s beliefs are so misguided.” Locante hasn’t been deterred. “I’m walking around with all my buttons and merch on,” she said.

Locante plans to continue helping the Kenosha County Democratic Party canvass neighborhoods ahead of Nov. 5.

In Milwaukee, Leaders Igniting Transformation (LIT)have knocked on over 600,000 doors urging people to get out and vote. LIT’s organizers said they have received reports of identical letters in communities between Milwaukee and Kenosha.

In early October, the Milwaukee suburban city of Wauwatosa experienced a string of sign vandalism, which targeted Democratic-endorsed yard signs. From Wauwatosa’s southeastern corner near 55th street and Wisconsin, all the way up to the northwestern corner of 81st street and Meinecke avenue, signs were defaced with red spray paint. The Republican Party of Milwaukee County denounced the vandalism in Wauwatosa, and said those responsible should be held accountable. In September, red spray paint was used to deface Democratic signs in Madison.

Both presidential campaigns continue to focus heavily on Wisconsin. Harris and Trump held competing rallies in Milwaukee Friday night ahead of Election Day on Tuesday.

Wisconsin Examiner is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Wisconsin Examiner maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Ruth Conniff for questions: info@wisconsinexaminer.com. Follow Wisconsin Examiner on Facebook and X.

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grift?

an 11 24

The Oath Keepers were among the far-fight groups involved in the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol Building. And on May 25, 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that two prominent figures in the militia group — founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes III and Kelly Meggs — had been sentenced to federal prison on seditious conspiracy charges.

But the Oath Keepers remain active in 2024. During an early November interview with Wired, Oath Keepers ally Jim Arroyo described preparations for a possible civil war.

Arroyo told Wired, "The election can certainly trigger a civil war, no different than it happened in any number of countries around the world. I'm training people to survive a civil war, to get out of the way, to stay home, stay off the grid, have enough supplies."

READ MORE:[Inside a Georgia election official’s months-long push to make it easier to challenge the 2024 results

Jim Arroyo and his wife Janet Arroyo operate the Yavapai County Preparedness Team, an Oath Keepers spinoff in Arizona. And both of them, according to Wired reporters David Gilbert and Tess Owen, believe that Democrats are planning to steal the 2024 election from GOP nominee Donald Trump.

Jim Arroyo told Wired, "They want to take him out so that he can't get back in the White House."

During the interview, Jim Arroyo claimed that the left is uniquely violent in the United States — and the Wired reporters noted the violence of January 6, 2021. But Jim Arroyo believes the debunked conspiracy theory that the January 6 rioters were undercover leftists.

Jim Arroyo told Wired, "The main concern right now is the potential of civil unrest because of the election. Whoever wins, one side's going to be pissed off, and the other side, the radical-left side, is going to be more pissed, and they're more known for burning cities to the ground when they don't get their way."

READ MORE:['Trump is toast': Why Michael Moore is 'confident' Harris will win

*Read Wired's full interview with Jim Arroyo at this link (subscription required).

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an 11 24

'Pretty terrible stuff here': Experts react to Trump suggesting he wouldn’t 'mind' reporters were shot

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an 11 24 badsh

donald Trump over the past few weeks has occasionally been discarding his iconic blue suit, red tie, and red “Make America Great Again” baseball cap, and instead wearing a black suit, gold tie, and black and gold MAGA hat. Black and gold are the colors of the far-right group the Proud Boys, who “instigated critical breaches of the Capitol” during the January 6, 2021 insurrection. Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was handed a sentence last year of “22 years in prison for orchestrating a failed plot to keep Donald Trump in power after the Republican lost the 2020 election.”

Months before the insurrection trump had infamously signaled, “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by.”

IFrame Content

“The Proud Boys are back in the news today,” wrote Rolling Stone senior writer Tim Dickinson. “Trump is not only bat signaling to the fight club with a black and gold MAGA hat — he’s campaigning for a far-right congressional candidate who had a Proud Boy on payroll.”

READ MORE: ‘Dire Implications’: Trump’s Possible Vaccine Ban Could Spark US, Global Health Crisis

Dickinson pointed to his reporting on Republican Joe Kent, a “far-right candidate for the House, with connections to white nationalists,” who has “extremist views and affiliations, including reportedly paying a Proud Boy as a consultant.”

IFrame Content

Attorney Tristan Snell, who helped lead New York’s successful $25 million prosecution in the Trump University case, warns: “MAGA’s colors have always been red and white. Yet Trump is suddenly wearing black and gold MAGA hats — and even wore a black suit and gold tie the other day, rather than his habitual blue suit and red tie. The Proud Boys colors are black and gold. THIS IS NOT A COINCIDENCE.”

Calling it “a harbinger of potential chaos,” The New York Times on Monday reports: “Groups backing former President Donald J. Trump recently sent messages to organize poll watchers to be ready to dispute votes in Democratic areas. Some posted images of armed men standing up for their rights to recruit for their cause. Others spread conspiracy theories that anything less than a Trump victory on Tuesday would be a miscarriage of justice worthy of revolt.”

READ MORE: ‘She Kills People’: Trump Amps Up Attack on Cheney After Violent ‘Nine Barrels’ Rhetoric

One post, “from an Ohio chapter of the Proud Boys, the far-right organization that was instrumental in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol,” read: “The day is fast approaching when fence sitting will no longer be possible.”

“You will either stand with the resistance or take a knee and willingly accept the yoke of tyranny and oppression.”

Pointing to “the growth and increased sophistication of the election denialism movement,” The Times reports its “analysis of more than one million messages across nearly 50 Telegram channels with over 500,000 members found a sprawling and interconnected movement intended to question the credibility of the presidential election, interfere with the voting process and potentially dispute the outcome.”

Posts from groups like the Proud Boys, “questioned why states might not be able to fully tally election results on election night and repeated misleading claims about voter registration numbers in Michigan. In one video, a truck with a Confederate flag chased after immigrant children, with a caption reading: ‘1/20/25: Trump is sworn in as President. 1/21/25: Me and the Proud Boys begin the deportation.’”

Watch the videos above or at this link.

REF

NYT

NO LNX

On Telegram, a Violent Preview of What May Unfold on Election Day and After

Right-wing groups, which use Telegram to organize real-world actions, are urging followers to watch the polls and stand up for their rights, in a harbinger of potential chaos.

Telegram played a small but significant role in the 2020 election as an organizing tool for planners of the Jan. 6 attack.Credit...Jason Andrew for The New York Times

By Paul MozurAdam SatarianoAaron Krolik and Steven Lee Myers

Paul Mozur, Adam Satariano, Aaron Krolik and Steven Lee Myers analyzed more than 1 million posts from election skeptics and right-wing extremist groups on Telegram.

Nov. 4, 2024

:{Updated

Groups backing former President Donald J. Trump recently sent messages to organize poll watchers to be ready to dispute votes in Democratic areas. Some posted images of armed men standing up for their rights to recruit for their cause. Others spread conspiracy theories that anything less than a Trump victory on Tuesday would be a miscarriage of justice worthy of revolt.

“The day is fast approaching when fence sitting will no longer be possible,” read one post from an Ohio chapter of the Proud Boys, the far-right organization that was instrumental in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. “You will either stand with the resistance or take a knee and willingly accept the yoke of tyranny and oppression.”

The messages were all posted on Telegram, the lightly moderated social media platform with nearly one billion users, which has become a harbinger of the potential actions and chaos that could unfold on Election Day and after. More so than other social apps, Telegram is a prime organizing tool for extremists, who have a tendency to turn digital coordination into real-world action.

A New York Times analysis of more than one million messages across nearly 50 Telegram channels with over 500,000 members found a sprawling and interconnected movement intended to question the credibility of the presidential election, interfere with the voting process and potentially dispute the outcome. Nearly every channel reviewed by The Times was created after the 2020 election, highlighting the growth and increased sophistication of the election denialism movement.

The Times reviewed messages from “election integrity” groups across a dozen states, including battlegrounds like Pennsylvania, Georgia, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Michigan. Their posts overwhelmingly spewed disinformation and conspiracy theories and featured violent imagery.

More than 4,000 of their posts went further by encouraging members to act by attending local election meetings, joining protest rallies and making financial donations, the analysis found. Posts from other right-wing groups reviewed by The Times urged followers to be prepared for violence. These calls to action extended the right-wing language typically found on other major social media sites into the physical world.

In New Hampshire, one Telegram channel instructed people to question local officials in person about absentee ballot tallies. In Georgia, followers of a local Telegram channel were urged to attend election board meetings to argue for limits to absentee voting. In New Mexico, people were told to monitor voting stations with cameras, file police reports if necessary and be ready to “fight like hell.”

“If you have ever said, ‘What can I do?,’ this is your opportunity,” said one post from a Telegram group focused on Pennsylvania.

Katherine Keneally, a former intelligence analyst with the New York Police Department, said views shared on Telegram should not be dismissed as the musings of a fringe minority but rather seen as a warning about what could happen on Election Day and beyond.

“Telegram is very often central to actually organizing people to engage in offline activity,” said Ms. Keneally, who now works for the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a research firm that monitors Telegram. She recalled attending a meeting in 2022 of election skeptics in Montana, where participants taught one another how to use Telegram. Among more extreme movements, she said, Telegram is used “very strategically to radicalize and recruit.”

In a statement, Telegram, whose founder was arrested in France in August on charges related to the spread of illicit material on the service, said it had ramped up content moderation leading up to the election. The company added that it would cooperate with the authorities to remove “criminal content.”

“Telegram does not tolerate content that encourages disrupting legal democratic processes through violence or destruction of property,” it said.

Telegram played a small but significant role in the 2020 election as an organizing tool for planners of the Jan. 6 attack. Today, its influence is greater and potentially more ominous, according to The Times’s analysis.

Right-wing media channels post a stream of news, memes and misinformation about perceived voting irregularities, which are then picked up by other groups that use them to argue that the Democrats have begun to steal the election. Mixed in are calls for citizens to show up at the polls and to monitor and report irregularities — or fight if necessary.

Image

Right-wing media channels on Telegram post a stream of disinformation about perceived voting irregularities, which other groups pick up to argue that Democrats have already begun to steal the election.Credit...Bing Guan for The New York Times.

“While other platforms are primarily about self-expression, ‘owning the libs’ and hateful buffoonery, Telegram often generates an ambience of ‘let’s get something done,’” said Paul M. Barrett, the deputy director of the Stern Center for Business and Human Rights at New York University.

The “election integrity” movement on Telegram includes a loose network of accounts devoted to “auditing” the vote and amplifying election malfeasance theories, such as false claims that election workers are giving Republican voters Sharpies that are incompatible with voting machines.

One channel focused on election auditing in New York featured recruitment ads from United Sovereign Americans, which calls itself a national “election validity” advocacy group. One of its lawyers is a former solicitor general of Pennsylvania who defended Mr. Trump during his second impeachment in 2021 after Jan. 6.

Under an image of Uncle Sam and a bold red “WE NEED YOU!” banner, the group recently claimed, without any credible evidence, that 2022 voter records showed “millions of ‘irregularities’ which, when ignored, are election fraud.” Many claims about voter fraud have been debunked. The group did not respond to a request for comment.

Another group, focused on vote auditing in Pennsylvania, offered paid compensation for election monitors but only if they worked in the traditionally Democratic stronghold of Allegheny County, where Pittsburgh is.

“Fill out your information, and we’ll contact you to get you trained and ready for Election Day!” the group said.

Another Telegram channel run by a group called the People’s Audit posted a video that offered a “hypothetical situation that is totally possible,” in which the Department of Homeland Security used the driver’s licenses of undocumented immigrants to cast votes en masse for the Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris. The video floated the scenario even though it is illegal and rare for noncitizens to vote in federal elections.

“Yes, they would be engaging in ID theft, election interference and treason, which is punishable by death,” the video concluded.

Kris Jurski, who posted the video, said on Telegram that it had been taken down from X. He said he was grateful that the video had remained on Telegram, which he used later to advertise a webinar teaching people how to secure voter rolls and deter fraud. He did not respond to a request for comment.

Image

Trump supporters wore attire associated with the Proud Boys — the group’s colors are yellow and black — at a rally in December 2020.Credit...Luis M. Alvarez/Associated Press

Many posts casting doubt on election reliability made their way into the channels of extremist groups like the Proud Boys, which has preferred Telegram to other platforms after being restricted by sites like Facebook, Instagram and X.

The group’s posts questioned why states might not be able to fully tally election results on election night and repeated misleading claims about voter registration numbers in Michigan. In one video, a truck with a Confederate flag chased after immigrant children, with a caption reading: “1/20/25: Trump is sworn in as President. 1/21/25: Me and the Proud Boys begin the deportation.”

“When you look at the postings, even if it’s not actually calling for violence or even if it’s not saying we need to get whoever, there’s a very ugly tone to it,” said Wendy Via, a founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, which tracked a 317 percent spike in election denialism on Telegram in October. There was no significant left-wing movement like this, she said.

In recent months, many Telegram channels run by chapters of the Proud Boys have celebrated a return to relevance, including perceived attention from Mr. Trump and his allies. Several accounts pointed to the black-and-yellow ties and hats — which are Proud Boys colors — worn by Mr. Trump in the days before, and the former Fox News host Tucker Carlson during, a recent rally at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Image

Recent posts on Telegram channels associated with the Proud Boys celebrated a perceived show of support from Mr. Trump.Credit...Kenny Holston/The New York Times

Image

Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host, at a recent Trump rally at Madison Square Garden.Credit...Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times.

Asked whether Mr. Trump had intended to send a signal, a spokeswoman for his campaign responded, “Lol. No.” Mr. Carlson did not respond to a request for comment but posted on X that The Times “knows a Proud Boys necktie when they see one.”

“They feel activated,” said Michael Loadenthal, who researches political violence at the University of Cincinnati, adding that Proud Boys groups had assembled publicly less often than they had before the 2020 election. “There’s a feeling they are in the right.”

Recruitment messages on the public Telegram accounts of various Proud Boys chapters have sought to capitalize on the perils of election fraud, often implying a need for violence. One popular image showed an armed man wearing a balaclava.

“Free men do not obey public servants,” it read.

Another portrayed a tit-for-tat with “leftist Democrats” going back to Mr. Trump’s presidency.

“Enough is enough!” read a part of the post. “Be ready for anything and everything!”

Methodology

The Telegram channels reviewed in this article were provided in part by researchers at the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public, the Institute for Strategic Dialogue and the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism. The Times used software, including large language models, to organize and analyze the posts and to identify messages with calls to action.

A correction was made on Nov. 4, 2024: An earlier version of this article misstated the year in which Katherine Keneally of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue attended a meeting of election skeptics in Montana. It was in 2022, not this year.

When we learn of a mistake, we acknowledge it with a correction. If you spot an error, please let us know at nytnews@nytimes.com.Learn more

Paul Mozur is the global technology correspondent for The Times, based in Taipei. Previously he wrote about technology and politics in Asia from Hong Kong, Shanghai and Seoul. More about Paul Mozur

Adam Satariano is a technology correspondent for The Times, based in London. More about Adam Satariano

Steven Lee Myers covers misinformation and disinformation from San Francisco. Since joining The Times in 1989, he has reported from around the world, including Moscow, Baghdad, Beijing and Seoul. More about Steven Lee Myers

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an 11 24

Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas), who is running a surprisingly competitive race against incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), has recalled his efforts to protect other members of Congress when the U.S. Capitol Building was under attack on January 6, 2021.

Now, with the 2024 presidential election only a day away, Democrats who were inside the Capitol that day fear that similar violence will occur if Vice President Kamala Harris wins the election and former President Donald Trump refuses to accept the election results.

According to NOTUS reporters Riley Rogerson and Matt Fuller, some Democrats in Congress are preparing for such violence by keeping an "insurrectionist getaway costume" on hand.

READ MORE:Trump spokesman launches unhinged attack on Harris campaign official

The costume includes "tactical pants" and "tactical boots," and the idea, Rogerson and Fuller report, is to disguise themselves as MAGA insurrectionists and a make a getaway if the Capitol is attacked again.

In an article published on Monday, November 4 — the day before Election Day 2024 — Rogerson and Fuller explain, "Professional liability insurance policies. 'Jokes' about acquiring passports from different countries in front of foreign officials. Even insurrectionist disguises stashed in congressional offices. Democratic lawmakers are preparing for another Donald Trump win — or another Trump loss — in all sorts of ways."

The reporters continue, "One Democratic member told NOTUS that he and about a half dozen other lawmakers had taken out legal insurance to pay for lawyers in case Trump tried to sue or arrest them. This member also said he had heard Democrats make jokes about getting another passport in front of foreign officials, in only a sort of joking kind of way."

According to Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-California), Democrats in Congress have been preparing for the worst.

READ MORE:5 ways Trump is planning to thwart election results: report

Swalwell told NOTUS, "The safety of my family and my staff is my top priority. And I know that's the same for my colleagues. I know many who are preparing, just in case, for how they'll protect themselves, their families and their staff in a Trump presidency."

In response to Rogerson and Fuller's reporting, their NOTUS colleague Tara Golshan tweeted, "A Democratic lawmaker literally has a MAGA costume in their office in case there is another Jan. 6. Really incredible reporting from @riley_rogerson and @MEPFuller."

READ MORE:Harassing letters threatening biblical hell fire targets Democratic voters in Wisconsin

*Read the full NOTUS article at this link.

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// hurric BS?

alternet-

Extremists posing as aid workers urge NC locals to tear down cell towers and hit military

Michael Lewis Arthur Meyer booking photo from 2018

Michael Lewis Arthur Meyer booking photo from 2018 (Courtesy Tucson Police Department)

Jordan Green November 02, 2024

A group of anti-government extremists who showed up in western North Carolina promising to provide disaster relief after Hurricane Helene is now threatening to destroy cell-phone towers and sabotage military vehicles.

The group, Veterans on Patrol, attracted attention by setting up a disaster relief staging area in the parking lot of the Ingles grocery store in Lake Lure, about 50 miles from Asheville.

But locals, including some who initially cooperated with the group, began to complain about threats and harassment.

Over the past three weeks, members of the group, which falsely claims that Helene was caused by a “weather weapon,” have been making conspiracy-driven claims that the U.S. military is attempting to kill U.S. citizens with “directed energy weapons.”

ALSO READ: Inside the grift that could cost Donald Trump the election

Veterans on Patrol’s channel on the encrypted social-media platform Telegram posted a message on Thursday displaying photos of what appears to be a cell tower on a mountaintop. The message asserted that locals “are in Live Exercises where the United States Military is permitted to destroy your homes, bodies and minds,” while suggesting that equipment on the tower “is solely for providing the U.S. military the means to murder Americans.”

“Focus on tearing down their weapons,” the message reads. It continues, “All it takes is one weapon tower being toppled with the stated reason spoken boldly.”

Another message posted in the group’s Telegram channel appears to advocate for sabotaging military vehicles and assets.

“Simple acts of pouring sugar into fuel tanks of military equipment, backup power systems, and personal vehicles of military personnel can wreak havoc on those who murdered all these people out here,” reads the message, which was posted on Wednesday.

Soldiers from Fort Liberty and Fort Campbell have deployed to western North Carolina to assist in the disaster response, along with National Guard members from nine states.

Veterans on Patrol is led by Michael Lewis Arthur Meyer, who has a long history of anti-government extremism, dating back at least 10 years. Meyer, according to the extremism watchdog group Southern Poverty Law Center, is not a veteran.

Reached by phone on Friday, Meyer doubled down on the threats.

“Jesus used bullwhips and flipped tables,” he told Raw Story. “We’re going to use our bullwhips and topple towers.”

At first during the interview, Meyer argued that the Telegram messages weren’t advocating for targeting cell towers, saying instead that the group would “surgically” remove the supposed “directed energy weapons." He went on to say that they would provide Appalachian residents with generators and Starlink boxes so they could maintain power and communication links.

Asked about the message referencing “pouring sugar into fuel tanks,” Meyer told Raw Story: “We’re going to destroy your tanks…. You want to get dirty? That’s what we should be doing.”

Veterans on Patrol has promoted multiple conspiracy theories based on false claims since arriving in western North Carolina.

One message posted on Telegram on Oct. 22 claimed that “Helene was a Weather Weapon steered to destroy the area, while also claiming that the investment fund BlackRock is attempting a “land grab” and describing the storm and its aftermath as “an act of war perpetrated against the People.”

As the final day of voting in the presidential election approaches, posts on the group’s Telegram channel have taken on an increasingly urgent tone.

The Oct. 22 post claimed that “stolen elections” are a real phenomenon, along with “weather weapons,” “Satanic pedophiles” and “adrenochrome," which refers to a QAnon conspiracy theory that a cabal of elites tortures children to extract a chemical from their bodies which is then used as a recreational drug.

In another post last week, a Veterans on Patrol member nicknamed “Shepherd” claimed that the U.S. Air Force command is instructing pilots “to deploy additional weather weapons.” The post goes on to say, “These people don’t have 2 weeks to wait for vote and 3 months to hopefully wait for a Regime change.”

Another message on the group channel that was published on Wednesday suggests without basis that Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff is the beneficiary of BlackRock’s supposed landgrab.

Speaking to Raw Story, Meyer seemed to all but dare law enforcement to intervene.

“For people to go and do something to prevent weapons from being deployed — that’s not a crime,” he said. “If they want to bring this to court and charge us with conspiracy, then let’s go.”

The FBI did not respond to an inquiry about Veterans on Patrol's activities, but Meyer told Raw Story in an email that he "would imagine the FBI knows full well what we are attempting through Operation Leaning Tower."

Meyer told Raw Story that he notified the office of Gov. Roy Cooper about his "operation." Cooper's office did not immediately respond to a voicemail message from Raw Story.

Phone calls from Raw Story for this story to officials in Lake Lure and Rutherford County, which surrounds the town, went unreturned.

Meyer’s history of extremism dates back to the Bundy Ranch standoff, when armed militants faced down the FBI and other federal agencies in 2014 during a dispute over rancher Cliven Bundy’s refusal to pay grazing fees. Meyer’s involvement in the Bundy Ranch standoff came to light later, when the Oregonian reported that he and a group of friends got into a brawl with other anti-government extremists during the standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, which Bundy and a group of armed supporters had occupied.

Meyer founded Veterans on Patrol in Arizona in 2015, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. Prior to presenting itself as a disaster response group in the aftermath of Helene, Veterans on Patrol has claimed its efforts were directed towards rescuing children from sex trafficking, addressing veteran suicide and dubious claims that the military is maliciously harming civilians. Meyer’s activities have frequently landed him in trouble with law enforcement.

Meyer was arrested twice in 2015 after emergency responders talked him down from a light pole in Surprise, Ariz. in 2015.

In 2018, was arrested by the police in Tucson, Ariz. for trespassing and an outstanding warrant for an assault charge, after occupying a tower on an industrial property. A press release from the Tucson Police Department claimed that Meyer “found an abandoned homeless encampment” on the property, “and fictitiously declared, without evidence or corroboration, that the area was the site of a sex-trafficking ring.”

The Tucson police said they received complaints from Tucson residents that Meyer and his followers had threatened and intimidated them, and Meyer made “multiple threatening and hostile remarks directed towards various elected and appointed officials” through social media.

In the summer of 2024, before Hurricane Helene, Veterans on Patrol was active in Spokane, Wash. In Telegram message from July 2, 2024, Veterans on Patrol announced to the police that it “would no longer be safe” for one of its officers “to work his beat.” The channel also posted the home addresses of city council members.

NOW READ: Fox News is the reason the race is close

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AN 11 24

In Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania — a small town of roughly 4,000 people an hour outside of Pittsburgh — officials are loudly speaking out against a recent Halloween parade float over its depiction of Vice President Kamala Harris.

On Friday, Pittsburgh NBC affiliate WPXI reported on the local outrage over the float, which was a golf cart-style vehicle surrounded by men in suits meant to resemble Secret Service agents, with someone wearing a mask of former President Donald Trump riding on top with a sniper rifle. But Mount Pleasant Mayor Diane Bailey said the most offensive part was how it portrayed Harris.

"The worst part of it was that there was either a rope or a chain attached to the back of the vehicle, and there was a woman who was to resemble Kamala Harris in handcuffs and chained to the back of the vehicle as though they were dragging her," Bailey told WPXI.

READ MORE:Has the Trump campaign 'stalled?' Experts debate

Parade attendee Josh Huff told the outlet that the float was "probably not something I'd want at a children's parade," and that it looked like the float was "simulating a lynching."

"Somebody in power had to say hey, yeah, that’s fine. That’s okay," Huff said.

Bailey told reporters she wasn't sure how the float was approved to be displayed, and that she was planning to speak with the borough manager and the city council president to get to the bottom of the issue. The parade was organized by the local volunteer fire department, which almost immediately condemned the float in a post to its official Facebook page on Thursday night.

"We, the members of the Mount Pleasant Volunteer Fire Department, want to take a moment to sincerely apologize for allowing the offensive participants to take part in the Mount Pleasant Annual Halloween Parade last evening. We do not share in the values represented by those participants, and we understand how it may have hurt or offended members of our community," the post read. "We’re proud to have sponsored this parade for over 70 years and its goal has always been to support our community's children. We are committed to learning from this experience and ensuring that our future events celebrate the diversity and spirit of our community in a positive way."

READ MORE:Arizona's Attorney General is now investigating Trump's 'death threat' against Liz Cheney

Westmoreland County Democratic Party chair Michelle Milan McFall called the float "vile" in an interview with NBC News. And Westmoreland County Republican Committee chair Bill Bretz said the local GOP organization doesn't support "the simulation of political imprisonment or violence in any context."

"It’s heartbreaking. It’s concerning. And I think it’s also got an element of danger. Again, we’re living in this climate where people aren’t just thinking about hatred and feeling it in their guts and bones," McFall said. "They’re acting on it. We have to take down the temperature."

Click here to read WPXI's report in full, and click here to read NBC News' article.

READ MORE:['Execution fantasy': CNN host debunks GOP spin on Trump's violent anti-Cheney rhetoric*

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AN 11 24

In her campaign stump speeches, Vice President Kamala Harris has contrasted herself with former President Donald Trump by saying she's going to enter the White House with a "to-do list," while her opponent would begin his administration with an "enemies list." One far-right activist adjacent to Trump's inner circle recently created such a list.

The Atlantic reported that Ivan Raiklin, who is a retired Army Green Beret and self-described "constitutional lawyer," recently sat down with insurrectionist cattle rancher Cliven Bundy (famous for instigating an armed standoff with federal authorities in 2014). He called himself Trump's "secretary of retribution," and said he had come up with a "deep-state target list" of roughly 300 people for the former president to persecute first should he be elected to a second term next week.

According to the Atlantic, Raiklin recalled to Bundy how the Department of Defense initially mandated that all members of the military get vaccinated for Covid-19. However, the mandate was later rescinded after thousands of service members refused the shot. Raiklin said the mandate was the precursor to the "total destruction of our constitutional order." The Atlantic's Shane Harris wrote that all members of the military are routinely required to get up-to-date vaccines for polio, influenza and typhoid, among other diseases.

READ MORE:Project 2025 org publishes hit list of 10 gov’t employees referred to as 'targets'

"There must be consequences," Raiklin said, in reference to the "unlawful, immoral, unethical, illegal" mandate, which he baselessly claimed was responsible for the deaths of "lots of people."

Raiklin's list includes current and former members of Congress, journalists and other government officials he says are deserving of "lawful justice." Some people on the color-coded list are also family members of those individuals. Harris wrote that Raiklin's list "reads like a greatest hits of all the supposedly corrupt plotters who Trump and his supporters allege have targeted them."

"Among others, it includes FBI officials who worked on the investigation into potential links between Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and Russia; lawmakers and congressional staff who managed both Trump impeachments; members of the Capitol Police who defended Congress from pro-Trump rioters on January 6, 2021; witnesses who later testified to Congress about the attack; and the senior public-health officials who led the federal government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic," Harris wrote.

"As if to demonstrate that even the closest of Trump’s allies can still be in league with the forces of government treachery, the former president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who helped speed development of the COVID vaccine as a member of Operation Warp Speed, also made Raiklin’s list," he continued.

READ MORE:[Mike Flynn film 'starkly silent' about his role in 'spreading Christian nationalism'

While Raiklin has no official ties to Trump or his campaign, he's a board member of America's Future, which is headed by disgraced former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. Even though Flynn served in that position for less than a month, Trump has promised to bring him back into the fold if he wins reelection.

Since leaving the Trump administration, Flynn has become a prolific spreader of far-right conspiracy theories. This includes baseless claims that the 2020 election was supposedly stolen from Trump. Flynn even called for martial law in the aftermath of the 2020 election after President Joe Biden was declared the winner. CNN recently reported that Flynn has co-founded a nonprofit that raised more than $21 million from "unknown donors" since 2021.

"Not only have [Trump and his allies] managed to convince large swaths of the country that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump — they've made a business out of it. No one has cashed in quite like Flynn," CNN wrote.

Click here to read the Atlantic's report in its entirety (subscription required).

READ MORE:[Former Trump officials consider loyalist Kash Patel 'especially dangerous'

2X

During his four years in the White House, Donald Trump clashed with a long list of conservative administration officials — from former National Security Adviser John Bolton to ex-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to ex-White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly. Trump, in the end, even fell out with former Vice President Mike Pence and ex-U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr.

Stephanie Grisham, who served as Trump's third White House press secretary, gave Vice President Kamala Harris an enthusiastic endorsement when she spoke at the 2024 Democratic National Convention.

But one Republican who had a reputation for being an unquestioning Trump loyalist is attorney Kash Patel.

READ MORE:The absurdity of calling Kamala Harris a commie

In an article published on August 26, The Atlantic's Elaina Plott Calabro warns that the 44-year-old Patel is exactly the type of loyalist Trump would choose for his second administration. And she lays out some reasons why Patel's critics, including those on the right, find that prospect so disconcerting.

"Kash Patel was dangerous," Calabro writes. "On this, both Trump appointees and career officials could agree. When Patel was installed as chief of staff to the acting secretary of defense just after the 2020 election, Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, advised him not to break the law in order to keep President Donald Trump in power…. When Trump entertained naming Patel deputy director of the FBI, Attorney General Bill Barr confronted the White House chief of staff and said, 'Over my dead body.'"

Calabro adds, "When, in the final weeks of the administration, Trump planned to name Patel deputy director of the CIA, Gina Haspel, the agency's head, threatened to resign."

Patel's critics, according to Calabro, "appeared singularly focused on pleasing Trump."

READ MORE:[Trump ripped for pouring donor money 'into a legal and financial black hole'

"What wouldn’t a person like that do, if asked?" Calabro argues. "Most Americans had no idea Patel existed, yet rarely a day passed when administration leaders weren't reminded that he did…. Patel was ultimately denied a role at the pinnacle of the national-security establishment, but Trump has promised to learn from his mistakes. Should he return to the White House, there will be no Milleys, Haspels, or even Barrs to restrain him as he seeks revenge against his political enemies."

Calabro adds, "Instead, there will be Patels — those whose true faith and allegiance belong not to a nation, but to one man. 'Get ready, Kash,' Trump said before a gala of young Republicans this past December. 'Get ready.'"

READ MORE:[Trump ripped for pouring donor money 'into a legal and financial black hole'

*Read Elaine Plott Calabro's full article for The Atlantic at this link (subscription required).

==

an 11 24

On Thursday night, former President Donald Trump made a comment about former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming) staring down multiple rifle barrels during a conversation with far-right pundit Tucker Carlson. That comment could result in a criminal indictment.

Phoenix-based NBC affiliate KPNX is now reporting that Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) has opened a criminal investigation into whether the ex-president's remarks could be classified as a death threat. Mayes told local reporters that her office is taking Trump's comment seriously.

"I have already asked my criminal division chief to start looking at that statement, analyzing it for whether it qualifies as a death threat under Arizona's laws," Mayes said on Friday. "I'm not prepared now to say whether it was or it wasn't, but it is not helpful as we prepare for our election and as we try to make sure that we keep the peace at our polling places and in our state."

READ MORE:'How dictators destroy free nations': Trump slammed for suggesting firing squad for Liz Cheney

Arizona's state statute on death threats stipulates that anyone who "threatens or intimidates by word or conduct" can be prosecuted for a Class 1 misdemeanor or Class 6 felony. The former can carry a maximum fine of $2,500 and/or up to six months in prison. The latter can carry a sentence of anywhere from four months to 5.75 years in prison, along with fines and/or probation.

While speaking to Carlson in Glendale, Trump called Cheney a "radical war hawk," and envisioned a scenario in which the former House Republican Conference chair was being shot at.

"Let's put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, OK?" Trump said. "Let's see how she feels about it, you know, when the guns are trained on her face."

The ex-president's supporters have insisted that his comments should be interpreted as a signal that he would embrace an anti-war agenda in a second term, and that he was criticizing Cheney's foreign policy stances. But CNN host Jim Acosta countered that narrative on Friday, saying the former president was plainly expressing an "execution fantasy."

READ MORE:'Execution fantasy': CNN host debunks GOP spin on Trump's violent anti-Cheney rhetoric

"Donald Trump talking about executing Liz Cheney — and let's just be clear: when you talk about nine barrels, I'm sorry for all the folks out there who want to dance on the head of a pin, that is what he is talking about. An execution fantasy," Acosta said.

Cheney was voted out of office in 2022 following her public role in the January 6 Select Committee on the January 6 Attack. She has since become one of Vice President Kamala Harris' top Republican campaign surrogates. Despite her support of the Democratic nominee, Cheney was long considered to be one of the most conservative members of Congress, with FiveThirtyEight finding that she voted in line with Trump's policy positions nearly 93% of the time.

Click here to read KPNX's article in full.

READ MORE:Ex-GOP Rep Liz Cheney sounds alarm on 'depravity' of Trump as she endorses Harris

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Officials in several swing states are preparing for the worst: Not just on Election Day, but also on December 17, when the Electoral College is scheduled to meet in state capitols to officially cast their states' votes for president.

NBC News reported that election officials are on high alert in battleground states like North Carolina, where both former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are polling neck-and-neck for the Tar Heel State's coveted 16 electoral votes. The network reported that "a close outcome could fuel chaos," and North Carolina Democratic Secretary of State Elaine Marshall said she's "not going into [December] naively."

“I don’t think anybody needs to go through this election naively, having watched January 6, having watched what happened, listening, now, to news reports of people who are attempting to disrupt the actual voting,” she told NBC. “I don’t think anybody needs to be real naive about what the possibilities are — because sometimes desperate people do desperate things.”

READ MORE:Election officials prepare poll workers and staff for the threat of political violence

Marshall added that her office has been prepared for "all contingencies" for "quite some time," particularly after the 2020 election. She said her staff has been "very carefully getting with our partners early [and] laying out plans."

"Four years ago, when people were wanting electors to do differently, there was a bit of a scare — so we actually had a warmup," Marshall said.

While the election itself happens on November 5, a state's Electoral College votes — which is what actually elects a president — aren't officially awarded until after the electors meet at their respective statehouses. Officials say they haven't heard of any specific threats, but are staying vigilant in the event that electors' safety is at risk.

"We’ve got all of the plans for executing these duties squared away," Arizona Democratic Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said. "We will conduct any legal activities that are necessary for the electors to proceed to represent Arizona appropriately, as we see fit at the time, given the circumstances that best fit their needs."

READ MORE:Texas poll worker assaulted during early voting

The threat of political violence has been high on officials' minds for the better part of the year. In late October, an election worker in San Antonio, Texas was assaulted after repeatedly asking a voter to remove his "Make America Great Again" hat, as electioneering laws prohibit the display of campaign-related merchandise at polling places. The alleged assailant, 63 year-old Jesse Lutzenberger, was booked at the Bexar County Jail and later released on a $30,000 bond.

Earlier this year, the Brennan Center for Justice conducted a nationwide survey of election administrators and found that roughly 40% of respondents had beefed up security measures at polling places and county election offices in preparation for potential political violence. The 2024 cycle has been rife with violence, after former President Donald Trump avoided two assassination attempts and a Democratic field office in the battleground state of Arizona was closed after being shot at on three different occasions in as many weeks.

Click here to read NBC's report in full.

READ MORE:Democrats close field office in swing state that's been shot at 3 times since September

---

//

With Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his allies in key swing states already questioning voting processes and claiming Democrats and election officials are "cheating" days before Election Day, one policy strategist said Thursday that election deniers took one lesson away from their attempts to overturn the 2020 results.

"We saw it in 2020 and I think the lesson Trump and his allies have learned since is that they have to sow these ideas early," Kyle Miller of the advocacy group Protect Democracy toldReuters.

Trump wrote on social media Thursday that "we caught them CHEATING BIG" in Miller's home state of Pennsylvania, and calling for criminal prosecutions, but election officials have said there is no evidence of fraud in early voting processes that took place in October.

Trump's campaign took legal action on Wednesday against Bucks County election officials, saying voters wanting to submit early mail-in ballots had been unfairly turned away when authorities told them the early voting deadline had passed. A judge ordered the county to extend voting by one day.

"This week, we are seeing that Donald Trump is clearly worried that he's going to lose the election," said a campaign official for Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday. "How do we know that? Well, we know it because he's ramping up baseless claims of election fraud and irregularities."

Election officials discovered potentially fraudulent registrations in Lancaster and York counties, which appeared to have been filled out in the same handwriting. But authorities said the flagged registrations did not raise the risk that ballots would be cast fraudulently and were likely tied to a paid "large-scale canvassing operation."

"This is a sign that the built-in safeguards in our voter registration process are working," Al Schmidt, secretary of the commonwealth, told Reuters.

Nevertheless, Trump and his allies have seized on the incidents as evidence that Democrats are attempting to steal the election.

Trump and his running mate, U.S. Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), have both continued spreading the "Big Lie" that Trump did not lose the 2020 election, and both have expressed doubt that they will accept an election loss if Harris is declared the winner.

The former president said he will accept the results only if he finds them to be "fair and legal and good," and told rally attendees in September that "the only way we're gonna lose" would be if Democrats cheat.

Vance said in October that he would accept the results in Pennsylvania, a primary focus of election deniers in 2020, if "only legal American citizens vote," alluding to a push made by Republicans including House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) this year to claim voting by noncitizens is rampant in U.S. elections—even though it is prohibited by federal law.

Republicans in the U.S. House passed a bill earlier this year to stop noncitizens from voting—legislation that experts say was designed to spread a false narrative that could then be used to deny the election results.

"This will be one of the primary, but among many, false claims made if Trump loses," David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, toldThe Guardian. "And it will be false, but it still could be dangerous because it could incite his supporters to believing a totally secure election was stolen."

In Michigan on Wednesday, The New YorkTimesreportedthat a "well-organized network of election denial activists" amplified the news of a small glitch in voting report which made it appear that a single voter's name was used to cast multiple ballots. The error was quickly corrected, but the far-right websiteGateway Pundit claimed it had a "bombshell" report about absentee ballots in the state.

The Guardianon Friday also reported on dozens polls being conducted by Republican-aligned groups in the last days before the election, which have shown Trump with a decisive lead—contrasting with highly regarded nonpartisan polls that have consistently shown Trump and Harris in a dead heat.

GOP-aligned groups have released 37 polls in recent days, according to a New York Times study, with all but seven showing Trump in the lead.

One survey by the Trafalgar Group had Trump winning by three points in North Carolina, while a CNN poll showed Harris winning by one point in the battleground state.

Trump told supporters at a New Mexico campaign event on Thursday that he is "leading big in the polls, all of the polls."

With 63% of Republicansreporting earlier this year that they believed Trump was the true winner of the 2020 election, Trump's claims about polling may be enough to garner significant support for another attempt to overturn the election results after November 5, experts say.

"It is vital to Donald Trump's effort if he tries to cheat and overturn the election results, he needs to have data showing that somehow he was winning the election," Democratic strategist Simon Rosenberg told The Guardian. "The reason we have to call this out is that Donald Trump needs to go into Election Day with some set of data showing him winning, so if he loses, he can say we cheated."

On Friday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said it is all but certain that Trump will declare victory on November 5 and that he is setting the stage to accuse Democrats of "vote stealing."

IFrame Content

At least 35 election officials who have refused to certify elections since 2020 are now serving on election boards, according to a report by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).

Pro-democracy advocates say the recent GOP-aligned polls, baseless claims about illegal voting, and laser focus on minor errors in voting processes are all likely to be used by Trump and his allies to stop the certification of a potential Harris victory.

"The effort to try to subvert the outcome," Sean Morales-Doyle of the Brennan Center for Justice told The Guardian,"is more thought-out, more strategic, more organized, more coordinated [than] in 2020."

an 11 24

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NO LNX TDB 11 24

Who Has Donald Trump Threatened With Death or Violence? A Short List

‘A BLOODY STORY’

Trump has upped his threatening rhetoric in the lead-up to the election. Here are just some of the people he has targeted.

Liam Archacki

Breaking News Intern

Updated Nov. 2 2024 4:12AM EDT /

Published Nov. 1 2024 7:01PM EDT

Last month, Donald Trump said America has two enemies—“the outside enemy” and “the enemy from within.” The latter, he asserted, is the “more dangerous” of the two, continuing ominously that the threat could be neutralized, if he were president, by the US military.

That remark hardly exists in isolation. The former president’s often-inflammatory rhetoric has taken an increasingly violent turn in the run-up to his face-off against Kamala Harris.

Critics have, more loudly and consistently than ever before, labeled Trump a fascist, especially in the wake of a recent report that he openly praised Adolf Hitler to White House staff and last week’s hate-filled rally at Madison Square Garden—the same venue where American Nazis rallied in support of the German dictator in 1939.

Though he denies being a Nazi or a fascist, Trump has made it clear that, from his viewpoint, the “enemy from within” includes Democrats and “radical left lunatics,” people who criticize him, and anyone whose actions conflict with his narrow concept of America.

With the presidential election just days away, here are just a few of the many individuals and groups who have been the targets of Trump’s violent rhetoric.

Liz Cheney

Former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY)

Criticizing her foreign policy stances and her endorsement of his opponent, among other issues, Trump called the former Wyoming representative, one of his most outspoken Republican critics, “dumb as a rock” and a “war hawk” at a campaign event on Oct. 31—and then his words grew more charged still.

“Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her,” he said. “Let’s see how she feels about it. You know, when the guns are trained on her face.”

Kamala Harris: Trump’s Liz Cheney Threat Is ‘Disqualifying’

Kamala Harris, Donald Trump and Liz Chaney

Mark Milley

Milley served as the chair of Trump’s Joint Chiefs of Staff for some three years, but that didn’t stop the current Republican nominee from suggesting in September 2023 that the retired army general deserved to be executed over a phone call he made to reassure China in the wake of the Jan. 6 insurrection.

“This is an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH!” Trump wrote on Truth Social, even though officials in his administration had signed off on the call.

Joe Biden

Trump in March shared a video purportedly shot on a highway in Long Island, New York. The video showed two Trump supporters’ ostentatiously decorated trucks, the latter featuring a decal of President Joe Biden hog-tied, as if kidnapped, on the tailgate.

Mike Pence

Trump made a number of comments that encouraged or condoned violence on Jan. 6, 2021, as his supporters stormed the US Capitol in an attempt to prevent then-Vice President Mike Pence and the Senate from certifying the 2020 election.

“I don‘t f---ing care that they have weapons. They’re not here to hurt me” Trump said to his team, before delivering his address that day, according to testimony.

In a public tweet, meanwhile, Trump wrote, “Get smart Republicans. FIGHT!”

His rhetoric was no less inflammatory when he spoke to his followers that afternoon: “You’ll never take back our country with weakness,” he told the crowd. “You have to show strength, and you have to be strong.”

Trump supporters storm the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Shannon Stapleto/Reuters

And as rioting was underway, Trump tweeted, “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify.”

Footage showed Trump’s supporters reading the post and chanting, “Hang Mike Pence!”

Trump has suggested that he would send reporters to prison if they don’t reveal their sources.

“You get the information very easily,” Trump said at a rally in November 2022. “You tell the reporter, ‘Who is it?’ and the reporter will either tell you or not. And if the reporter doesn’t want to tell you, it’s bye-bye. The reporter goes to jail. And when the reporter learns that he’s going to be married in two days to a certain prisoner, that’s extremely strong, tough, and mean, he will say... ‘You know, I think I’m going to give you the information. Here’s the leaker. Get me the hell out of here!’”

Racial justice protesters

Win McNamee/Getty Images

As crowds in Minnesota—and across the United States—protested the murder of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer in May 2022, Trump took to Twitter to urge further violence against them, sharing a slogan with a racist history: “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.”

When protesters filled the streets around the White House, Trump said, according to former Defense Secretary Mark Esper’s memoir, “Can’t you just shoot them? Just shoot them in the legs or something?”

(Trump has denied making the statement.)

Illegal immigrants

Trump’s mass deportation policy.

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

One of Trump’s most often-repeated campaign promises has been a vow to come down hard on illegal immigration. Here, too, his rhetoric has become outright menacing.

“Getting them out will be a bloody story,” Trump said at a September rally in Wisconsin, referring to illegal immigrants in Colorado. “They should have never been allowed to come into our country. Nobody checked them.”

What could actually happen if Trump is elected?

Trump’s aggressive rhetoric has come alongside vows to prosecute his political foes, including Biden, Harris and former President Barack Obama among many others. As noted, he has also threatened to use military force on American citizens.

But just how credible are these threats? To what extent could Trump exact revenge if he returns to the White House?

Legal experts told NBC News that, under a new Trump administration, the Justice Department and FBI could carry out his threats, especially if Trump manages to install allies in key positions within the organizations.

“A corrupt US attorney with one corrupt prosecutor can do enormous damage,” explained NBC legal analyst (and former US attorney) Joyce Vance.

As president, Trump would also be commander-in-chief of the US military. Former military officials are worried that Trump would try to follow through on his threat to use the armed forces for his domestic whims.

“To use the US military in terms of domestic law enforcement, it’s not the American way,” John Kelly, Trump’s one-time White House chief of staff and a former general, told The Washington Post. “The fear is he will tell them to do something illegal, and that’s a really bad thing to do.”

===

Project 2025 partner org publishes hit list of 10 gov’t employees referred to as 'targets' - Alternet.org

2X?

A far-right group is not just content with identifying politicians to vote out of office: It's now aiming its sights on career federal employees.

The American Accountability Foundation (AAF) — which is one of the 100 partner organizations in the Heritage Foundation's controversial Project 2025 initiative — has recently launched a website called the "DHS Watchlist," in which it posted the names, headshots and biographical information of 10 government employees working in the Department of Homeland Security in President Joe Biden's administration. Its "Top 10 Targets" list includes senior-level employees in U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services along with associate counsels and policy analysts in the department. Two immigration judges are also listed as "targets."

"The DHS Bureaucrat Watch List is dedicated to exposing the career staff who have outsized influence on efforts to secure the southern border," AAF states on its DHS Watchlist website. "While everyone knows who Alejandro Mayorkas and Merrick Garland are, few Americans know who the career bureaucrats are that implement their orders."

READ MORE:'Nearly all' voters know about Project 2025 and majority have negative view of it: report

In its write-up of Texas-based immigration judge Noelle Sharp, the AAF said she "made her bones keeping criminal aliens out of jail and away from deportation, and that she "brags on her website that she worked to keep criminal aliens from being deported."

"Our firm specializes in Immigration Law, and we have the flexibility, experience, and technology to work with clients around the world. Whether you wish to visit Disney Land for a week, obtain your permanent residency, or become a United States citizen, we will will help your personal 'American Dream' come true," Sharp's website reads (AAF linked to an archived version of her firm's website on its hit list). "We bring extensive experience and professionalism to every case and customize our support to your individual needs and concerns."

AAF also singled out immigration judge Elizabeth Young as a "target" on its "DHS Watchlist" site. The group accused her of "leading a charge to come up with creative legal maneuvers to keep illegal aliens from being deported" while she led an immigration law clinic at the University of Arkansas.

"The men and women who end up in front of an immigration judge are often some of the worst cases of immigration fraud," the group wrote without a source to back up its claim. "Unfortunately, Judge Young has been dangerously generous handing asylum status at alarming rates."

READ MORE:Undercover video details Project 2025's secretive 'second phase' — and exposes Trump's connection

There are no explicit instructions for readers, though users on the social media platform Bluesky were concerned that the lengthy descriptions of its "targets" could lead to political violence. Journalist Don Moynihan wrote that Tom Jones, who leads AAF, is a Republican-aligned opposition researcher with a history of making spurious claims about Democrats.

"I looked at the site which posts the civil servants name, title & salary. But the actual accusations are weak tea," he wrote. "One praised Fauci in a tweet! Another won an award for excellent performance in her job, which means she can't be trusted. One spoke on a diversity panel! No real scandals there."

Political violence has become especially prevalent in the 2024 cycle. Reuters recently reported that there have been at least 300 instances of politically motivated attacks from both sides since the January 6, 2021 insurrection. Some of the more high-profile examples include the two attempted assassinations of former President Donald Trump, and a Democratic campaign office in Arizona being targeted in three different shootings in as many weeks. That office has since been closed.

READ MORE:'He is on on our side': Org behind Project 2025 boasts repeatedly about close ties to Trump

*Click here to view the DHS Watchlist website.

The DHS Watchlist: America's Most Subversive Immigration Bureaucrats

The DHS Bureaucrat Watch List is dedicated to exposing the career staff who have outsized influence on efforts to secure the southern border. While everyone knows who Alejandro Mayorkas and Merrick Garland are, few Americans know who the career bureaucrats are that implement their orders.

By uncovering hidden agendas and failures, we aim to restore integrity to our immigration system and border protection by showing America who can be counted on to reform America’s broken immigration system and who is in league with left-wing open border groups. Join us in defending our borders and reclaiming America's sovereignty.

Top 10 Targets

Connie Nolan

Associate Director – Service Center Operations Directorate; USCIS

EG

Connie Nolan

Salary:

$192,253

Grade:

SES

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)

Associate Director – Service Center Operations Directorate; USCIS

Connie Nolan's

Notable Prior Employment History

2003 – Present- U.S. Department of Homeland Security

1992 – 2003 - U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service

Laid Groundwork for Marriage Fraud with a “100% Virtual” Screening Office

In August 2024, the Biden administration unveiled a program critics derided as a glorified form of marriage “amnesty.” As part of this initiative, the administration set up a 100% virtual screening process, which raised concerns of marriage fraud among immigration watchdogs such as the Immigration Accountability Project. Ms. Nolan was a key cog in this effort, according to internal USCIS emails reported about in the Washington Times: (source)

One detail is clear: USCIS is creating a “100% virtual” office to handle the applications.

An internal email late last month said the agency was rushing to recruit immigration officers, assistants and supervisors for the new virtual office, known as Waivers and Temporary Status, or WATS.

The email from Connie Nolan, associate director of USCIS service center operations, confirmed that training for the background check unit won’t begin until Aug. 19 the date the program is supposed to start taking applications. Some positions won’t even be reassigned until a week later, according to the email.

USCIS didn’t respond to repeated inquiries for this report, but Ms. Nolan acknowledged chaotic times at the agency.

“We know there has been a lot of changes in the past couple of years and probably more to come. Change brings opportunities and with it personal growth,” she wrote.

Experts on the immigration security side of the debate said the virtual office is worrying because it increases chances for fraud in a program already ripe for bogus applications.

“In a ‘100% virtual’ program, fraud will be rampant, especially marriage fraud,” said Rosemary Jenks, policy director at the Immigration Accountability Project. “It’s easy to produce fake marriage certificates and other documentary ‘proof’ of long-term residence. It’s a whole lot harder to fake a long-term marriage in person.”…

Virtual screening makes it easier for immigrants to fool immigration officials with sham marriages and obtain US visas. Getting away from in person interviews makes a mockery of the legitimate marriage visa process and should never be allowed.

Recognized as a Biden Immigration Team Leader in 2023

In 2023, Connie Nolan won a “meritorious rank award” from President Biden. This is a clear indication that she’s ‘on the team.’ Further, Secretary Mayorkas made comments praising the award recipients’ “dedication to mission”:

WASHINGTON – Today, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas recognized 30 members of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) workforce who received the 2023 Presidential Rank Award (PRA) for exceptional service.

“I am incredibly proud of the 30 DHS executives who have been selected to receive this year’s Presidential Rank Award. The award speaks to these senior executives’ extraordinary dedication to mission and exceptional work as public servants,” said Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.” …

…

… DHS employees selected by President Biden to receive the prestigious awards include: …

…FY2023 Meritorious Rank Recipients

The Meritorious Rank Award is presented to leaders for sustained accomplishments and is awarded to only five percent of career SES members and Senior-Level (SL) employees and Scientific and Professional (ST) corps…

…

  •  Connie Nolan, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

Simply stated – Connie Nolan would not receive this award if she was not perceived by Biden Administration officials as being a team player onboard with the disastrous Biden immigration agenda. (source)

Jennifer Higgins

Deputy Director – USCIS

Royce Bernstein Murray

Assistant Secretary, Border and Immigration Policy, Department of Homeland Security

Daniel Delgado

Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Immigration Policy, DHS

Andrea Saenz

Immigration Judge, Department of Justice

Wilson Osorio

Associate Counsel, USCIS

Kursten Phelps

Policy Analyst, Office of Policy and Strategy, Humanitarian Affairs Division – USCIS

Colleen Renk Zengotitabengoa

Senior Advisor for Humanitarian Affairs - USCIS

Kathryn E. Anderson

Deputy Chief, Office of Policy & Strategy, USCIS

Rebecca Swaintek-Green

Associate Counsel, USCIS

Funded by the Heritage Foundation Innovation Award.

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aha:

PUTIN ACTIVE MEASURES DISINFO FOREVER TO DEGRADE FAITH IN INSTITUTIONS ESP CENTRAL ONE ELECTIONS

// TRUMP BIG LIE if dems cheAT violence is our only option

BANNON OUT OF JAIL STOKES militia revival, const sheriffs

BIGGEST LIE IS ILLEGAL ALIEN VOTERS INCORPORATES RACISM; THEY DARK ENEMY ARE STEALING YOUR MOST SACRED PRIVILEDGE = VOTE/RULE

RELATES TO PSEUDO-POPULISM? THEY are all corrupt so no matter if trump and putin aRE? watters sez all pols have an enemies list eg bannon navarro...

nihilism started in alt rt machosphere?

//

state of exception margin

1/20:(

anti-terrorism?:(

aha-ish: 1st they came for...:

at the border, inner city,  prisons, on the margins authoritarian power, violence, violation of civil/human rights can be test, done w/o much scrutiny

BLM trump wanted to shoot in legs by military // unmarked van border guards in Portland

see dapl water protectors, indigenous green, baby jail trump border?

recall gen mike kelly cos def of fascism built in natural racial hierachy;

legit righteous glorious to use violence to keep THEM in their right place[low south down in shithole 3rd world]

one really rough hour by cops on brown venezuelan gang savages enough to scare those cowards into subjugation/fear

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no lnx

edit bd

alternet

Trump reaped what he sowed

John Stoehr July 16, 2024

The Washington press and pundit corps are this week working hard to convince you that the attempted assassination of Donald Trump is the superlative example of what happens when polarization goes too far.

They are telling a story in which the leading characters are the former president and his Republicans, and Joe Biden and his Democrats. The plot is about a nation on fire, a people at war with themselves, and so forth. Some have even depicted Sunday’s prime-time address by the president as if he were “bothsidesing” the issue of political violence.

He wasn’t. Instead, Joe Biden listed examples of rightwing political violence. “Violence has never been the answer” to solving the problems of American democracy, he said, “whether it’s with members of Congress in both parties being targeted in the shot, or a violent mob attacking the Capitol on January 6th, or a brutal attack on the spouse of former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, or information and intimidation on election officials, or the kidnapping plot against a sitting governor, or an attempted assassination on Donald Trump.”

That Biden listed examples of rightwing political violence seems to have gone over some heads. Ditto for the fact that he correctly included in those examples the attempted assassination of Trump. For some reason, it seems hard for members of the press and pundit corps to believe that America’s leading advocate of rightwing political violence could be a victim of it. And so dedicated are they to telling a story that blames both sides that it’s equally hard for them to believe Biden and the Democrats have nothing to do with it. There’s only one side to blame here. Trump and the GOP have reaped what they sowed.

Soon after Donald Trump was whisked off the stage in Pennsylvania, the Republicans began creating conditions in which Biden and the Democrats seem to be responsible for Trump’s assassination attempt. US Senator JD Vance, of Ohio, is representative in this. “The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs,” he said. “That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.”

No, it didn’t.

Calling out Donald Trump’s fascist tendencies is democratic politics. Characterizing him as a fraud, insurrectionist and rapist is based on fact. Saying a convicted felon shouldn’t be president is common sense.

Only Trump and the Republicans are to blame for this. They were inciting rightwing political violence before as well as after the failed paramilitary takeover of the US government on January 6. (A shooter massacred Jews in Pittsburgh in 2018, Hispanics in El Paso in 2019, and Black people in Buffalo in 2022. Each echoed Trump’s rightwing views.) Though it has now come for one of their own, they won’t do any soul-searching. They can only blame their enemies for their own transgressions. And the press and pundit corps are playing along.

I don’t know why the assassin, whom I will not name, did what he did. No one yet knows. As is the case with many or most shooters, we may never know his true motives. What we do know is he was a young, white man and a registered Republican, who was apparently steeped in a gun culture that habitually takes an insurrectionist view of the Second Amendment. Perhaps he was mentally ill. Perhaps he wanted to be infamous. Perhaps, like other rightwing shooters, he wanted to start a “race war.” Almost certain is he was a kook. Certain is he believed political violence is an acceptable alternative to democratic politics.

I also know that looking at an attempted assassination out of its proper context is a good way to misunderstand it. Its proper context is this: the United States averages about one mass shooting a day, according to the Gun Violence Archive. This year, the total is expected to surpass 500, which would be the fifth time in five years that has happened.

Such frequency is why the US surgeon general said, last month, that gun violence is a public health crisis. “People want to be able to walk through their neighborhoods and be safe,” Dr. Vivek Murthy told the Associated Press. “America should be a place where all of us can go to school, go to work, go to the supermarket, go to our house of worship, without having to worry that that’s going to put our life at risk.”

(By the way, Pennsylvania is an open-carry state, and the shooter, who was shot and killed at the scene, obtained his semiautomatic rifle legally. That puts the Secret Service in a position in which it can’t do anything until there’s gunfire. The FBI, while investigating the crime as a potential act of domestic terrorism, said the shooter acted alone.)

America should be that kind of place, but the Republicans have either stood in the way of federal gun-control legislation or they have, at the state level, expanded access to guns, even guns that are designed to kill in bulk, like the AR-15 semiautomatic rifle that killed a Trump supporter over the weekend and came close to killing Trump himself. The Democrats, meanwhile, have been united in trying to regulate access to guns and, in the process, in trying to thwart mass death.

(More background: The Capitol police investigated more than 9,600 threats against congresspeople this year. That’s 10 times higher than eight years ago. And Robert P. Jones, head of Public Religion Research Institute, said: “We have been tracking an uptick in tolerance for political violence and an uptick in violent rhetoric in our national conversations over the last few years. Self-identified Republicans are three times more likely than Democrats to say they believe true American patriots may have to resort to violence to save the country.”)

It seems no one is talking about Trump’s attempted assassination as part of a larger trend in gun violence in America. And because it seems no one is talking about it that way, no one seems to have noticed that the Republicans are upset about one of their own being a target of attempted murder while throwing up their hands in collective helplessness in every other case. Something must be done about the Democrats’ rhetoric, I guess, but nothing needed to be done, say, after a gunman entered a primary school to shoot 20 first graders to pieces.

Given this context, it should not be surprising that Trump and the Republicans are themselves exceptionally vulnerable to rightwing political violence and threats of it. The policies they have enacted, and the anti-democratic attitudes they have popularized, have literally put them in life-threatening situations. Constantly feeling like their lives are in peril may explain why so many congressional Republicans, who had been reluctant to support Trump after the J6 insurrection, ultimately got in line. “Violence and threats against elected leaders are suppressing the emergence of a pro-democracy faction of the GOP,” wrote Rachel Kleinfeld, a political violence expert, in late 2022.

The assassination of Trump was already part of rightwing political discourse. “Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and rightwing provocateur Ivan Raiklin have speculated for months that removing Trump from the running — they speculated about assassination — would open the way for Trump’s far-right former national security advisor Michael Flynn, and appeared to be putting pressure on Trump to name Flynn as vice president,” wrote Professor Heather Cox Richardon this morning. “Yesterday, Raiklin posted on social media a ‘Trump/Flynn 2024’ graphic with the legend ‘FAFO,’ under the words ‘Assassination-Proof.’”

Biden and the Democrats, meanwhile, are the pro-democracy party. Not only are they against political violence, because it undermines and enfeebles democratic politics, but they are also not vulnerable to it like the Republicans are. As I said in February: “When a Democrat goes to a party function, they do not encounter other Democrats legally carrying semiautomatic rifles. A Republican, on the other hand, does. Someone calling you out for telling the truth about the big lie is one thing. When he’s slinging an AR-15 over his shoulder, it’s another.”

The Washington press and pundit corps are this week working hard to convince you that the attempted assassination of Donald Trump is the superlative example of what happens when polarization goes too far.

It isn’t.

It’s what happens when you unleash rightwing political violence.

Eventually, it comes for you.

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'Attack on democracy': Ballot drop boxes in Washington and Oregon set on fire AN 10 24 az 1st but crazy guy wanted to be arrested? multonah and across river in WA

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An election clerk in San Antonio was allegedly assaulted late Thursday and the suspect, a voter, was arrested, officials said.

The suspect was arrested on suspicion of injury to an elderly person, a felony.

The incident is believed to be the first instance of reported violence against an election worker this fall. Early voting began Monday in Texas.

According to a sheriff’s report, the suspect, 63-year-old Jesse Lutzenberger, walked into the polling location on San Antonio’s west side, wearing a Make America Great Again hat in support of former President Donald Trump, which is considered electioneering and against the law in Texas. The poll worker, 69, asked Lutzenberger to remove the hat, which he did, officials said. Lutzenberger went on to cast his ballot.

While still inside the polling location, Lutzenberger put the hat back on as he walked toward the door. The poll worker approached him to tell him that was unacceptable and then began to escort him out as they were approaching the doors of the location.

Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said a surveillance video showed Lutzenberger “throw an arm back toward the victim,” he said. “The victim seemed to push off of the suspect. At that point, the suspect then turned and threw several punches right at the face of the victim.”

Salazar urged residents to keep calm while voting.

“Nothing is worth going to jail for,” Salazar said.

Emergency medical personnel responded to the incident and treated the election worker. His injuries were not life-threatening, Salazar said. Bexar County Sheriff’s deputies said they were able to find Lutzenberger at a residence, where he identified himself as “I am the person you’re looking for.”

Lutzenberger was booked into the Bexar County jail and was released on a $30,000 bond Friday. He is facing a third-degree felony charge.

This week deputies have had to respond to calls of people wearing clothing in support of political candidates at the polling place, said Salazar, though none of the others have resulted in violence or arrest. Voters are not allowed to wear any type of clothing that shows support for a political candidate or measure within 100 feet of a polling location.

Bexar County elections administrator Jacquelyn Callanen said in a statement that she wants Bexar County voters to “remain calm and realize that more than 200,000 early voters have cast their ballot this past week, and the majority of experiences have been positive” Callanen said.

Election officials have been ready to respond to violence at the polls for some time. Those efforts have become a priority in the midst of a contentious presidential election year.

This summer, during its annual state-wide training for election officials, the Texas Secretary of State’s office emphasized safety and emergency preparedness.

The agency’s elections division featured table top exercises and workshops on de-escalation, incident response and emergency preparedness.

Counties across the state, including Bexar, Dallas and Harris have an emergency and incident plan in place and have made it part of their poll worker training.

A May survey of election administrators by the Brennan Center found that 40% of respondents had taken steps to increase the physical security of election offices and polling locations since 2020, and 38% reported experiencing harassment or abuse. Across the country, election offices are doing things like investing in “panic buttons” and training poll workers in de-escalation techniques as a result.

*Natalia Contreras covers election administration and voting access for Votebeat in partnership with the Texas Tribune. Contact Natalia atncontreras@votebeat.org

Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization covering local election integrity and voting access. Sign up for their newsletters here.

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Atlantic reporter John Hendrickson set out on one mission during a Gwinnett County, Georgia event sponsored far-right MAGA ally Charlie Kirk earlier this week, by asking attendees one question: "What do you think will happen if [Donald] Trump loses?"

Hendrickson reports that he "heard a range of answers," including "promises to accept the outcome," and even "predictions of a new Civil War."

One MAGA fan, Joshua Barnes, told Hendrickson that if Kamala Harris defeats Trump, "as much as I would hate it, you kind of do have to accept it."

READ MORE:['Outrageous abuse of power': Trump withheld aid to Dem and GOP governors who criticized him

Another attendee named Mark Williams — who says he runs "the biggest political printing business in" The Peach State — told The Atlantic reporter me that "there’s going to be some crazy people that do some crazy s—t; that just happens. But the actions of most of us, I mean, we’ll bi—h about it and scream at each other and all that kind of stuff, but we’re not going to break into the Capitol and stuff."

He continued, "I’m as big a Trump supporter as anybody, but I didn’t feel compelled to go breaking into the Capitol. And those people that did that did wrong. And I don’t know that all of them did wrong, but the ones that did, they needed to be punished."

However, Williams also told Hendrickson about words he overheard from MAGA supporters while attending "Kid Rock’s Rock the Country festival in Rome, Georgia, earlier this year."

Hendrickson writes:

He described some of the chatter he heard at the festival, such as When we have to go out on the field and fight these people, y’all going to be there with us? 'It did surprise me a little bit, the tone that some of these guys were taking; I think there’s people that are absolutely ready to take on a civil war,' he said. 'I think that if there was an overwhelming view of a crooked election or something like that—yeah, I could see it happening.'

READ MORE:['Trump whisperer': Republicans are betting on this GOP senator’s ability to 'tamp down' ex-president

Ex-Trump official Ben Carson also weighed in, explaining that he doesn't think another January 6 is likely.

"I think regardless of who wins or loses, we’ve got to tone down the dissension and the hatred that’s going on in our country, or it’s going to be destroyed," Carson told Hendrickson.

Another former Trump official — Peter Navarro — took a different approach.

"By asking that question you’re trying to stir up s—t, man," he said to Hendrickson. Claiming that The Atlantic reporter's "query would be better suited for President Joe Biden and the Democrats," Navarro added, "Those a—holes put me in prison. Do you hear me?"

READ MORE:['Shameful': Naval Academy cancels authoritarianism lecture After 'MAGA pressure'

*Hendrickson's full report is available at this link (subscription required).

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Police in Tempe, Arizona have arrested a man they believe is responsible for a spate of shootings at a Democratic field office in the pivotal battleground state. The alleged shooter's cache of weapons and ammunition suggests he may have been planning a politically motivated mass shooting.

Phoenix-based ABC affiliate KNXV reported Wednesday that 60 year-old Jeffrey Michael Kelly has been arrested in connection with three different shootings reported at the campaign office since September. Democrats have since closed that office and moved operations to an undisclosed location out of concern for the safety of workers and volunteers.

Kelly has since been charged with unlawful discharge, shooting at a non-residential structure, terrorism and criminal damage. He is also accused of "hanging suspicious bags of white powder from several political signs lined with razor blades," according to KVXN.

READ MORE:Democrats close field office in swing state that's been shot at 3 times since September

The Democratic field office was targeted in three separate shootings on September 16, September 23 and October 6. Witnesses reported a silver Toyota Highlander SUV near the scene. No one was in the office at the time of the shootings, and no deaths or injuries were reported in either incident.

According to Phoenix-based outlets KTVK and KPHO, Kelly allegedly used Google Maps to search the location of the field office, and he was also reportedly seen posting "anti-Democratic ideology signs" in several locations near his home.

KVXN further reported that when the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms searched Kelly's home, they found a massive arsenal of weapons, including 120 firearms, approximately 250,000 rounds of ammunition and a grenade launcher, in addition to body armor. Maricopa County Deputy County Attorney Nena Bhatia said it's likely Kelly was planning a mass shooting.

"The state and law enforcement believe that this person was preparing to commit an act of mass casualty with the guns he had, and that his progression of violence was escalating," she said.

READ MORE:Project 2025 partner org publishes hit list of 10 gov't employees referred to as targets

While the types of guns investigators and caliber of ammunition seized has not yet been disclosed, it's worth noting that an AK-47 in its fully automatic setting is capable of firing 600 rounds a minute. This means that without even counting for time to reload, it would take approximately seven hours to fire 250,000 rounds of ammunition continuously.

Kelly is currently being held on a $500,000 bond, according to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office. His next court appearance is scheduled for Tuesday, October 29.

Click here to read KVXN's article in full.

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A massive new study finds a large number of Republicans, Trump supporters, and conservatives support violence under the guise of saving the country or ensuring the “rightful” leader is put in the White House.

Three in ten Republicans (29%) believe “true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country,” according to the nonprofit and nonpartisan research organization PPRI’s “2024 American Values Survey.”

Nearly one in four MAGA Republicans (23%) “say that if Trump loses the election, he should declare the results invalid and do whatever it takes to assume office.” That view is also held by nearly one on five (19%) Republicans overall, including those who do not support Trump.

MAGA Republicans, or “Republicans who view Trump favorably are three times as likely as those who hold unfavorable views [of Trump] to support political violence (32% vs. 11%).

RELATED: ‘Zero Remorse’: Trump Doesn’t Condemn Gunman Who Allegedly Threatened FEMA Workers

More than one in five Republicans (22%) agree that “if the 2024 presidential election is compromised by voter fraud, everyday Americans will need to ensure the rightful leader takes office, even if it requires taking violent actions.”

The study also looked at the politico-religious component of support for political violence, and found one-third (33%) of “Christian nationalism Adherents and Sympathizers” agree that “true American patriots may have to resort to violence to save the country.”

Additionally, one-third of Latter-day Saints (33%) and nearly one in three white evangelical Protestants (28%) “agree that true American patriots may have to resort to violence to save the country.”

Where Americans get their news appears to be a factor in their views on issues including violence and immigration.

“Americans who trust conservative news outlets are the most likely to support political violence (41%), followed by 30% of those who most trust Fox News, 18% of those who do not watch any TV news, and 13% of those who most trust mainstream TV news.”

READ MORE: ‘God, Religion and Teaching of the Commandments’: Eric Trump Says Dad Saved ‘Christmas

Six in ten Republicans (61%) agree that “immigrants entering the country illegally today are poisoning the blood of our country,” PRRI’s survey finds, along with a “majority of Americans who most trust far-right news (70%) or Fox News (65%).”

Similarly, nearly two-thirds of Republicans (65%) support the “Great Replacement Theory,” and agree that “immigrants are invading our country and replacing our cultural and ethnic background.” PRRI also finds that the “vast majority of far-right news (83%) and Fox News viewers (66%) agree with this theory,” as do the majority of Christian nationalism Adherents and Sympathizers (63%) and white evangelical Protestants (62%), as well as half (50%) of Latter-day Saints.

“Nearly eight in ten Republicans (79%) favor putting undocumented immigrants in encampments,” PRRI also found. “The vast majority of Americans who most trust far-right news (91%) or Fox News (82%) favor militarized encampments for undocumented immigrants.”

“White evangelical Protestants (75%) are most likely to favor militarized encampments for undocumented immigrants, followed by the majority of white Catholics (61%), white mainline/non-evangelical Protestants (58%), and Latter-day Saints (56%).”

“I’ve been doing this for 20 years, and these answers … are keeping me up at night,” PRRI president and founder Robert P. Jones told Axios. “It’s all pretty dark and worrisome.”

Axios had reported: “The growing number of Republicans willing to shun democratic norms — and possibly embrace violence — comes as Trump continues to falsely claim the 2020 election was stolen from him and is saying the 2024 election is already rigged.”

“Jones said those supporting the loser of the election doing whatever it takes to assume office are essentially endorsing a coup against the United States.”

Last week, Jones told MSNBC’s Joy Reid (video below), “there are [survey] questions that we have had to write during the Trump era as social scientists that I never thought we would have to write.”

“So to write that question and put it on a public opinion survey and say, we actually need to know what the American people think about this statement, that whether immigrants are poisoning the blood of the country, right, is just, I think we just pause for a minute, to say how astonishing that is.”

He added, “we’re all taught to kind of not be knee-jerk and kind of use the Nazi analogy…but like, ‘poisoning the blood’ — Mein Kampf uses the word blood 150 times,” referring to Adolf Hitler’s autobiographical manifesto.

“That’s Hitler’s word, right? And it’s often, it’s almost always used in this way, this kind of idea of purity and defilement, contamination, and it’s a politics of disgust that we’re really seeing here.”

Watch Jones on MSNBC below or at this link.

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10 24 an

A far-right group is not just content with identifying politicians to vote out of office: It's now aiming its sights on career federal employees.

The American Accountability Foundation (AAF) — which is one of the 100 partner organizations in the Heritage Foundation's controversial Project 2025 initiative — has recently launched a website called the "DHS Watchlist," in which it posted the names, headshots and biographical information of 10 government employees working in the Department of Homeland Security in President Joe Biden's administration. Its "Top 10 Targets" list includes senior-level employees in U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services along with associate counsels and policy analysts in the department. Two immigration judges are also listed as "targets."

"The DHS Bureaucrat Watch List is dedicated to exposing the career staff who have outsized influence on efforts to secure the southern border," AAF states on its DHS Watchlist website. "While everyone knows who Alejandro Mayorkas and Merrick Garland are, few Americans know who the career bureaucrats are that implement their orders."

READ MORE:'Nearly all' voters know about Project 2025 and majority have negative view of it: report

In its write-up of Texas-based immigration judge Noelle Sharp, the AAF said she "made her bones keeping criminal aliens out of jail and away from deportation, and that she "brags on her website that she worked to keep criminal aliens from being deported."

"Our firm specializes in Immigration Law, and we have the flexibility, experience, and technology to work with clients around the world. Whether you wish to visit Disney Land for a week, obtain your permanent residency, or become a United States citizen, we will will help your personal 'American Dream' come true," Sharp's website reads (AAF linked to an archived version of her firm's website on its hit list). "We bring extensive experience and professionalism to every case and customize our support to your individual needs and concerns."

AAF also singled out immigration judge Elizabeth Young as a "target" on its "DHS Watchlist" site. The group accused her of "leading a charge to come up with creative legal maneuvers to keep illegal aliens from being deported" while she led an immigration law clinic at the University of Arkansas.

"The men and women who end up in front of an immigration judge are often some of the worst cases of immigration fraud," the group wrote without a source to back up its claim. "Unfortunately, Judge Young has been dangerously generous handing asylum status at alarming rates."

READ MORE:Undercover video details Project 2025's secretive 'second phase' — and exposes Trump's connection

There are no explicit instructions for readers, though users on the social media platform Bluesky were concerned that the lengthy descriptions of its "targets" could lead to political violence. Journalist Don Moynihan wrote that Tom Jones, who leads AAF, is a Republican-aligned opposition researcher with a history of making spurious claims about Democrats.

"I looked at the site which posts the civil servants name, title & salary. But the actual accusations are weak tea," he wrote. "One praised Fauci in a tweet! Another won an award for excellent performance in her job, which means she can't be trusted. One spoke on a diversity panel! No real scandals there."

Political violence has become especially prevalent in the 2024 cycle. Reuters recently reported that there have been at least 300 instances of politically motivated attacks from both sides since the January 6, 2021 insurrection. Some of the more high-profile examples include the two attempted assassinations of former President Donald Trump, and a Democratic campaign office in Arizona being targeted in three different shootings in as many weeks. That office has since been closed.

READ MORE:'He is on on our side': Org behind Project 2025 boasts repeatedly about close ties to Trump

*Click here to view the DHS Watchlist website.

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huffpo jan? 24

Republicans Are Panicking Over This Issue — And Experts Have A Warning

see kirk 4 annot

right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk, leader of the MAGA youth groups Turning Point USA and Students for Trump and the host one of the most listened-to podcasts in the United States, encouraged his listeners this week to take up arms in preparation for an “invasion” of immigrants at the southern border.

“The break-ins, the looting, the murder, the rapes, the arson, it’s — by the way, this is just getting warmed up,” Kirk said Wednesday on “The Charlie Kirk Show,” echoing white supremacist talking points depicting immigrants and asylum seekers as inherently criminal. “You got 15,000 fighting-age males that are getting deployed all across the country. Native-born Americans, you better buy weapons, everybody. Have a lot of guns at your disposal. I would never leave your home without a weapon. It’s the new country we live in. It is ‘Mad Max.’ [President Joe] Biden is creating ‘Mad Max.’ You’re on your own.”

The day before, Tucker Carlson, who had hosted the former Fox News prime-time juggernaut “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” had also suggested it was time for civilians to take matters into their own hands.

“It’s unanimous: Everyone in power, from the White House, to the hedge fund managers, to the Supreme Court of the United States, has decided to destroy the country by allowing it to be invaded,” Carlson told his 11 million followers on X (formerly Twitter). “That leaves the population to defend itself. Where are the men of Texas? Why aren’t they protecting their state and the nation?”

Kirk and Carlson — both of whom have long promoted the “great replacement theory,” falsely suggesting Democrats are bringing migrants into the country to “replace” white people — were responding to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling earlier this week that said the federal government could remove dangerous razor wire Texas had installed along its border with Mexico.

In his response to the ruling, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) released a statement Wednesday that used language eerily reminiscent of Southern states’ statements of secession ahead of the Civil War: He threatened to defy the Supreme Court decision, declaring that the “federal government has broken the compact between the United States and the States.” The next day, Republican governors from 25 states issued a joint statement supporting Abbott, praising him for “stepping up to protect American citizens from historic levels of illegal immigrants, deadly drugs like fentanyl, and terrorists entering our country.”

It was the latest, most dramatic escalation between Abbott and President Joe Biden over the situation at the border — an escalation experts say has corresponded with increasingly dangerous rhetoric from prominent conservatives that could encourage violent vigilantism targeting immigrants.

“It does provide a lot of license to vigilantes,” journalist Patrick Strickland, author of the book “The Marauders: Standing Up to Vigilantes in the American Borderlands,” told HuffPost. “This is not an ‘invasion’; it’s desperate people fleeing organized crime or poverty or war or violence. It’s not the same as the organized regiments of a formal army.”

Strickland pointed to the mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, in 2019, when a white supremacist who wanted to stop the “Hispanic invasion” at the southern border opened fire, killing 22 people in what has been called the deadliest anti-Latino hate crime in American history. Earlier that year, Abbott had published campaign material calling on Texans to “defend” the state and to “take matters into our own hands” when it comes to immigration.

“This is not an ‘invasion’; it’s desperate people fleeing organized crime or poverty or war or violence. It’s not the same as the organized regiments of a formal army.”

  • Patrick Strickland, author of "The Marauders"

Similarly, in 2018, as then-President Donald Trump, with the help of Fox News, manufactured a panic about a “migrant caravan” marching toward the southern border, another white supremacist opened fire inside the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. The shooter, who had cited antisemitic conspiracy theories about Jews hastening the replacement of white Americans by importing immigrants into the country, killed 11 worshippers.

Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), who represents the El Paso area, said her “community knows better than any that there are deadly consequences to the hatred and xenophobia the far-right is promoting.”

“A reminder to them that the white supremacist who drove over 10 hours to my community on August 3, 2019 to massacre immigrants and Hispanics used the same language they continue to espouse,” Escobar told HuffPost in a statement. “The normalization of such violent rhetoric and dehumanization led to the murder of innocent people in El Paso, and I fear such hatred and unfounded fear will only perpetuate the next incident.”

Also of concern is the long, menacing history of right-wing paramilitary groups along the U.S.-Mexico border, including in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when white supremacist leaders David Duke, then a grand wizard in the Ku Klux Klan, and Louis Beam, head of the Texas Knights of the KKK, patrolled the border in search of migrants. There was another explosion of right-wing militia activity along the border when Barack Obama was president.

There remains a large coterie of paramilitary groups, often acting with the implicit, or explicit, support of elected lawmakers and law enforcement officials.

“People often think of vigilantes as operating completely separate from the state, completely removed from politics, and that’s actually not the case,” Regina Bateson, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Colorado at Boulder, told HuffPost. “So it’s very common that there are relationships between people involved in vigilantism and elected officials. It’s a way of pushing political agendas, sometimes trying to sort of force the state into acting where it wouldn’t have otherwise.”

Bateson said the current conservative panic about migrants crossing the border is fostering conditions that could lead to a new period of vigilantism.

First, she said, there are already “pre-existing networks” of militias along the border, and they have all the “relevant skills.” Second, vigilantism is typically carried out by “someone from a more powerful or more privileged group in society, targeting somebody who’s from a more marginalized group” — in this case, predominantly white Americans targeting Latino migrants. This more privileged group, Bateson added, will frame their actions as “defensive,” depicting their targets as a threat, even if they’re the ones “proactively carrying out ‘security patrols,’ or acting in ways that are offensive, like proactively going out and looking for people.” Finally, Stateson said, right-wing vigilantism often thrives when there’s an abundance of harsh, dehumanizing language about the target group.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has threatened to defy a Supreme Court decision that allows federal officials to remove razor wire from the U.S.-Mexico border.

Eric Gay/Associated Press

Abbott has used such language. Earlier this month, the governor boasted that “the only thing we’re not doing is shooting people” crossing the border because “the Biden administration would charge us with murder” — seemingly implying he’d condone the extrajudicial killings of asylum seekers if he and other Texans could get away with it.

And last month, Trump said immigrants were “poisoning the blood” of America, words that parallel language Adolf Hitler used about Jews in “Mein Kampf.”

Right-wing figures have also started to invoke the possibility of a new civil war if Biden doesn’t deal with the “invasion” at the border, as reported by Media Matters.

“My thoughts are that the feds are staging a civil war, and Texas should stand their ground,” Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) wrote on X earlier this week.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt also indulged in fantasies of a hypothetical “force-on-force” conflict between Texas and the Biden administration during an interview this week with Newsmax.

If the Biden administration were to take over control of the Texas National Guard as a way of ending the conflict with Abbott, Stitt said, he’d understand if soldiers started to consider not obeying the president’s orders.

“I think they would be in a difficult situation: to protect their homeland or to follow what Biden’s saying,” Stitt said. “It’s very interesting. But then, you know, then you’ve got Oklahoma and Florida and Tennessee, and you got all these other states that would send our National Guard to help and to support the efforts of Gov. Abbott. Because every state is a border state.”

Matt Walsh, the popular Daily Wire host, said this week that “red-state governors will need to ignore the Supreme Court and do what needs to be done to protect their citizens and the border,” adding, “The last civil war was unimaginable until it wasn’t.”

Tim Pool, a conservative YouTuber with more than a million subscribers, described what’s happening in Texas as a “Fort Sumter-esque type scenario,” referring to the opening battle of the Civil War. “It does feel like it could be escalating to this federal vs. state conflict.”

Kirk also got in on the action. “So someone says right here, ‘Charlie, what would happen if Texas ignores the ruling? Will the government go to war with Texas?’” Kirk asked on his podcast, reading a question a listener had sent in.

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treason traitor execute firing squad

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more execute dems dc draino edensvision not 1st retweet by trump

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kns

Republican strategist's attempt to minimize former President Donald Trump's threat of "enemies within" spurred a swift fact check and heated debate on CNN Monday morning.

Conservative commentator Shermichael Singleton was checked by CNN anchor Jim Acosta as he tried to claim Trump's threat to sic the military on political enemies was limited only to those who live in the U.S. without citizenship status.

"I think he's talking about immigration," Singleton said. "And when you look at—"

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"No, no, no," interrupted Acosta. "He was talking about what he called radical left people in this country. Americans. Political opponents."

Singleton shrugged off what Acosta described as a "dangerous" threat — arguing Republicans cared more about policy than rhetoric — and in doing so outraged Democratic strategist Julia Roginsky.

"Let me just say something right now," Roginsky said. "This is not Donald Trump saying crazy stuff...he's done this before."

Roginsky argued Trump meant what he said at a Coachella rally over the weekend that he'd bully Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) into supporting his border control policies by threatening to withhold "fire money....for all the forest fires."

She pointed to recent reports from two former staffers who said Trump tried to block wildfire relief from reaching California in 2018 until he was shown voter data proving supporters lived there and raised a crucial concern.

"There were people around him [during his first term] to stop the worst impulses...they're not going to be there this time around," she said. "He's basically letting the voters know that, you know, this is what you're voting for."

When Acosta asked if Democrats needed to do more to call out Trump's authoritarian rhetoric, Roginsky replied with an incredulous shake of the head and a figurative finger pointed at his industry.

"The media has not done enough to call this out," Roginsky snapped back. "Here you have a fascist — and General Milley is right because all of the markers of a fascist exist in Donald Trump — and yet our news media has not done enough, by any stretch of the imagination, to call this out."

As proof, Roginsky pointed to intense media scrutiny of President Joe Biden's age and Gov. Tim Walz' (D-MN) location during the Tiananmen Square protests 35 years ago.

Singleton, given a chance to respond, interestingly did not slap back with a defense of his political party — but of colleagues in the media he argued could not be blamed for focusing more important issues than Trump's rhetoric.

"We have covered it," he said. "i just think there are far more consequential issues that impact people's day-to-day lives."

"With all do respect," Roginsky replied, "Take a look at the ratio. This is an existential problem."

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an 10 24

A progressive policy group in North Carolina was among those expressing alarm on Sunday as news spread that federal emergency workers were forced to evacuate an area hit hard by Hurricane Helene late last month after officials warned that "armed militias" were "hunting" hurricane response teams.

But the news didn't come as a shock to Carolina Forward, an independent think tank, considering that it came after weeks of lies from Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump about the Biden administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) response to the hurricane.

"This is what MAGA does," said Carolina Forward on social media. "Eventually, their lies have real world consequences."

As The Washington PostreportedSunday evening, a U.S. Forest Service official sent an urgent message to other federal agencies involved in the recovery on Saturday afternoon, saying FEMA had advised all federal responders in Rutherford County, North Carolina "to stand down and evacuate the county immediately."

National Guard troops in the area, said the official, "had come across x2 trucks of armed militia saying there were out hunting FEMA."

The message was verified by two federal officials.

"It's terrible because a lot of these folks who need assistance are refusing it because they believe the stuff people are saying about FEMA and the government... And it's sad because they are probably the ones who need the help the most."

Emergency responders moved to a "safe area" and paused their work in Rutherford County, where they had been delivering supplies and clearing trees from roads in order to help search-and-rescue crews.

"Let's be clear: Armed militia are terrorizing FEMA rescue workers and causing important work to stop because Donald Trump spread lies and disinformation about the hurricane. This is on the Republican candidate for president with help from Elon Musk," saidmedia critic Jennifer Schulze, referring to the billionaire owner of X who has used the social media platform to amplify Trump's lies. "Shameful and disqualifying."

The forced pause in the work is just the latest example of the measurable impact of statements made by Trump and his running mate, U.S. Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), about FEMA in the wake of hurricanes Helene and Milton.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas warned last Thursday that federal employees, thousands of whom have been deployed to states including North Carolina and Florida to help with the response to the devastating storms, have received threats in recent days. Meteorologists have received angry messages from people convinced that weather experts and government officials "are creating and directing hurricanes," The Guardianreportedlast week.

"I have had a bunch of people saying I created and steered the hurricane, there are people assuming we control the weather," Katie Nickolaou, a meteorologist in Michigan, toldThe Guardian. "I have had to point out that a hurricane has the energy of 10,000 nuclear bombs and we can't hope to control that. But it's taken a turn to more violent rhetoric, especially with people saying those who created Milton should be killed."

President Joe Biden was driven to address Trump's lies about the hurricane response last week, saying the disinformation was "undermining confidence in the incredible rescue and recovery work that has already been taken and will continue to be taken."

Since Helene swept through a number of states late last month, catching communities in western North Carolina off-guard with devastating flooding, Trump has baselessly claimed that:

Riva Duncan, a former Forest Service official in hard-hit Asheville, North Carolina, told the Postthat locals have told FEMA employees who have arrived with aid to to help with repairs, "We don't want your help here."

"It's terrible because a lot of these folks who need assistance are refusing it because they believe the stuff people are saying about FEMA and the government," Duncan told the newspaper. "And it's sad because they are probably the ones who need the help the most."

In the town of Chimney Rock in Rutherford County, FEMA has shifted to working in secure areas in fixed locations instead of going door to door to assess community needs, the Post reported, "out of an abundance of caution."

Matt Ortega, a web developer in Oakland, California, said the impact of Trump's baseless claims about the hurricane response mirror that of his earlier lies about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, where schools and government business ground to a halt in recent weeks due to bomb threats stemming from claims that Haitian people were stealing neighbors' pets and eating them.

"Trump and Republicans' FEMA lies [incur] a debt, just as they did in Springfield," said Ortega. "The people who pay it are children whose schools are closed due to bomb threats in Springfield and recovery aid workers when militias are 'out hunting FEMA.'"

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AN 10 24

Donald Trump over the weekend repeatedly said he wants to use the U.S. military against Americans who oppose him, called his critics “the enemy from within,” and declared they are more dangerous than America’s greatest foreign adversaries, including Russia, China, and North Korea.