Chaos Unleashed: A Stormy Period in American History

  Betsy’s guest today guest is Julie Farnam, former Assistant and Acting Director of Intelligence for the United States Capitol Police during a tumultuous period in the country’s history. With over 15 years in Homeland Security, she authored “DOMESTIC DARKNESS,” providing insights into the January 6 insurrection and the future of right-wing extremism. Julie discusses her motivation for the book,…

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Sgt. Aquilino Gonell of the US Capitol Police was nearly beaten to death by pro-Trump terrorists on 06 January 2021.

With the January 6th hearings underway, Sgt. Gonell would like to remind Americans that the assault on the Capitol was not a visit by “tourists” as some Republicans ludicrously claim.

What is the Law? - 04/04/2024

This past year has been very big for SCOTUS (Supreme Court Of The United States). With Roe v Wade overturned, it simply means that laws concerning abortion are determined by the individual states, which is as it should be, in my opinion. Other big cases like Trump v Anderson which determined that no single state should be able to remove a candidate from a national election ballot, another good decision. Three major cases came in February this year; Garland v Cargill on restricting bump stocks, Cargill and Rahimi v United States on altering who owns guns and how they operate them, and NRA v Vullo on making it easier of more difficult for governments to apply pressure on individuals or companies who promote gun rights. Those 3 cases are yet to be determined. Another very important case is upcoming with oral arguments beginning April 25th on presidential immunity and how it would apply to what Trump did on January 6th, keeping in mind that he was never formally charged with insurrection, nor were any of the January 6 defendants who entered the capitol building, most of whom were escorted in by the capitol police. Even people who didn't enter the capitol are being arrested to this day. Crazy stuff.

When it comes to deciding matters of law, reason is the key to making the most proper choices. Of course, taking into account all the relative facts and foreseeable consequences to prospective scenarios, a clear understanding of the law together with how it applies to the subjects involved is essential to getting it right. The challenges from the complexities in certain cases should not be allowed to distract from the deeper meaning and long-term implications of applying new laws or modifications to existing laws. Although learning law may require a passionate approach with strict discipline, emotions need to be separate from settling the practical matters of law. I think Aristotle nailed it when he said, "Law is reason without passion."

Former Trump State Department official convicted for attacking police during Capitol riot

WASHINGTON — A man who worked as a politically appointed State Department official in former President Donald Trump‘s administration was convicted Thursday of charges that he attacked police officers during the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. U.S. District Judge Judge Trevor McFadden heard testimony without a jury before he convicted the former official, Federico Guillermo Klein, and a…

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Officers to receive Congressional Gold Medals for Jan. 6

Officers to receive Congressional Gold Medals for Jan. 6

WASHINGTON — Top House and Senate leaders will present law enforcement officers who defended the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 with Congressional Gold Medals on Tuesday, awarding them Congress’s highest honor nearly two years after they fought with former President Donald Trump’s supporters in a brutal and bloody attack. To recognize the hundreds of officers who were at the Capitol on Jan. 6, the…

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Apocalyptic rhetoric is just as dangerous as the violent kind

Paul Waldman is absolutely correct about how the Republican's "apocalyptic rhetoric" about the Democrats could ultimately lead to violence just as much as the violent rhetoric. The GOP frames Democrats now as deliberately wanting to "destroy" America. (Ironically, it is the GOP who have turned toward autocracy and seem determined on establishing one party rule at all costs. This suggests that once again, Republicans are projecting onto Democrats.)

“I cannot stand these people that are destroying our country,” said Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) to a crowd of Donald Trump’s supporters at the Iowa State Fair this past weekend while the former president looked on approvingly. Gaetz then added: “Only through force do we make any change in a corrupt town like Washington, D.C.” The second part of that statement made headlines, as it’s not every day that a member of Congress advocates “force” to achieve political goals. But the first part ought to be just as troubling, because the two parts operate together. The idea that our opponents are purposely attempting to lay waste to America is often the justification for all kinds of radical action — violence very much included. Barely a day goes by without prominent Republicans repeating that claim. Trump regularly says his political opponents will “destroy the country,” or have already nearly destroyed it. It’s a staple of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s rhetoric. “If woke ideology takes over, it will destroy this country,” DeSantis says. If President Biden is reelected, the governor insists, “the left is gonna absolutely destroy this country.” [...] Yes, liberals have made dire warnings about a second Trump presidency. But that’s unique to Trump, who actually tried to overturn a lawful election and retain power, and last year called for the “termination” of the Constitution. So the assertion that if he became president it could mean the end of democracy is at least not too far-fetched.* The talk of the United States ending its run some time in the next few years because Democrats passed some modest expansion of health coverage or kept pushing for a transition to green energy, on the other hand, is bonkers. Yet, unlike other kinds of rhetorical calls to extremism, we don’t police it at all. Journalists tend to be very attuned to hints of political violence. When a candidate says he wants to start “slitting throats” in the federal government, as DeSantis recently did, we condemn it and explore its troubling implications. We press Republican contenders to admit that Biden fairly won the 2020 election and to repudiate the violent insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021. In contrast, we treat partisan apocalyptic rhetoric as mere hyperbole. But it’s the premise that turns anger into action. If you actually believed your opponents were literally trying to destroy your country, what wouldn’t be justified? Threatening election officials? Storming the Capitol? Assassinations? You might protest that Republican politicians don’t really believe this talk. But clearly, many of their supporters do. Which is no surprise given how often they’re told that it’s true. [...] Any rational Republican knows the truth about the next election: If Biden wins, it will mean nothing more than four years of policies they don’t like. That will be deeply unpleasant for them. But it won’t mean the end of America, and they shouldn’t be allowed to say so without challenge. We ought to treat apocalyptic rhetoric just like we treat violent rhetoric: Take note of it, condemn it, challenge candidates to defend it, and explain the threat it poses. Why? Because many of the voters who are listening think the Republicans spinning out wild tales of America’s imminent destruction mean what they say. [emphasis added]

____________ *In my opinion it isn't just Trump, many on the left have legitimate concerns about extreme right-wing Republicans like DeSantis and white Christian nationalists who seem to want autocracy/ one-party rule because they have either said and/or shown that they do.

In defense of the Dobbs case, Trump took full credit for the Supreme Court decision and boasted he did more for the “pro-life” movement than any other president in the past 50 years. He repeated the hateful and dangerous lie that, pre-Dobbs, babies were being killed after birth. He said this three times, and Collins failed to correct him each time. Congratulations, Licht and Zaslav. Bravo! What a wonderful precedent to set for your employees, especially the women who work at the “new CNN.” When it came to lies, Trump was a firehose. Collins tried her best to counter, but it was like standing in a hurricane holding an umbrella. No matter how hard you try, you’re going to get wet. Trump spent the entirety of the Town Hall repeating his Big Lie and election fraud conspiracies, which radicalized members of his base to attack the U.S. Capitol and support a failed coup against the United States. Last year, David DePape, who was in part radicalized by this lie and other right-wing media conspiracies, tried to finish the job by visiting Nancy Pelosi’s home and attacking her husband, Paul Pelosi. Trump said he was inclined to pardon “many” of the violent Jan. 6 insurrectionists, adding: “Many are great people.” These are individuals who called for the execution of his own vice president, Mike Pence, who Trump again blamed Wednesday night for not going along with the failed coup attempt. He also managed to lionize Ashli Babbit, who was shot and killed by a Capitol Hill police officer as she was trying to illegally enter the building. Trump praised her and called the officer, who happens to be Black, a “thug.” Trump then made a both-sides equivalence between the Jan. 6 insurrectionists and BLM protesters, who were overwhelmingly peaceful and simply demanded that police officers refrain from shooting and killing innocent Black people. Trump’s comment went unchallenged.

CNN Failed America With Its Trainwreck of a Trump Town Hall

The Fascists who own CNN and make their editorial choices got EXACTLY what they wanted. No sympathy for Collins, who knew EXACTLY what she was going to be part of and played her role perfectly.

Hypothetically what do you think would have happened if the january 6 rioters had gotten to pence or pelosi before they got safe?

At this point, I almost dread answering questions like this anymore because I know the kind of hate mail it will unleash for the next few days, but it's important to keep talking about what happened on January 6, 2021 since so many people are trying to normalize it. That includes many people whose lives were in danger that day, as well as the former President who tried to hold on to power by encouraging his supporters to launch a violent insurrection and is now referring to those who have been brought to justice for attempting a coup as "patriots" and "hostages".

I genuinely believe that there were people in that crowd who would have killed Vice President Pence, Speaker Pelosi, and certain Congressional leaders if they had reached them on January 6th. I think there are people in that crowd who were ready to hold lawmakers hostage. Why else did they have handcuffs and zip ties? To help the Capitol Police maintain order? (Oh yeah...that's right, thanks for reminding me: they violently attacked the police -- some even beat police officers with the "Blue Lives Matter" flags that they brought with them.) Now, I do not think that everybody who was at the Capitol on January 6th -- or even the majority of those who took part in the insurrection -- were willing to go that far. I think a lot of them got swept up in what was happening and went with the flow. That doesn't excuse what they did. The flow that they got swept up in was still a fucking insurrection, and anyone who took part in that deserves to be held accountable. But I think there were certain elements embedded throughout that crowd that were much more organized and prepared to fully execute their plans for a coup after disrupting the certification of the Electoral College votes.

I actually think Vice President Pence was probably in more danger than even Speaker Pelosi or some of the Democratic leaders because Trump was so actively calling him out in the days and hours before the insurrection. I think that's why Pence is so adamant now about not supporting Trump. I mean, think about how disgustingly loyal and subservient Pence was to Trump throughout those four years until basically the first few days of January 2021. But even as other Republican leaders are crumbling and offering their allegiance to Trump again in 2024, Pence is standing by his decision not to endorse or support Trump, and I think that's because he realizes that Trump absolutely almost got him (and his family, who were with him in the Capitol on that day) killed on January 6th. Shit, even Mitch McConnell has folded and endorsed Trump again despite the fact that Trump has spent the last three years not only insulting him but also making racist attacks and questioning McConnell's wife's loyalty to the United States all because Elaine Chao had the audacity to resign from Trump's Cabinet in the wake of the insurrection. Yet Mike Pence -- who spent the better part of four years following Trump around like Paul Heyman follows Roman Reigns...

...THAT same Mike Pence is steadfastly refusing to endorse Trump because he has personal experience about how real of an existential threat Trump is. Some of those people at the Capitol were very serious about following through on their chants to "Hang Mike Pence", and not only does Pence realize that, but he also knows now that Trump -- who refused to take actions that would have helped clear the Capitol more quickly -- said "he deserves it" when hearing about those chants.

That's what is so scary about the insurrection, its aftermath, and the Trump Republican Party's redefinition of what happened that day. It almost worked. They stormed the United States Capitol and invaded both chambers of Congress. They carried Confederate flags into the United States Capitol -- even the fucking Confederate States of America didn't successfully invade Washington, D.C. and plant their flag in the Capitol. They were willing to hurt and probably kill some of America's elected leaders. And the people who helped plan and instigate the events of January 6th have spent the three-plus years since then learning from their mistakes and figuring out how to be successful next time. And guess what? "Next time" is only a few months away.

Has anyone seen Hunter?

A federal judge sticks it to those who characterize January 6th defendants as "persecuted patriots" or "hostages".

Judge Royce C. Lamberth of the US District Court for the District of Columbia is a Republican who was appointed by Ronald Reagan to the federal bench in the 1980s. But Judge Lamberth has had it with defendants and others who attempt to portray January 6th criminals as martyrs.

This is an excerpt from Judge Lamberth's Notes for Resentencing (PDF) for defendant James Little dated January 25th.

The Court cannot condone the shameless attempts by Mr. Little or anyone else to misinterpret or misrepresent what happened. It cannot condone the notion that those who broke the law on January 6 did nothing wrong, or that those duly convicted with all the safeguards of the United States Constitution, including a right to trial by jury in felony cases, are political prisoners or hostages. So let me set the record straight, based on what I’ve learned presiding over many January 6 prosecutions, hearing from dozens of witnesses, watching hundreds of hours of video footage, and reading thousands of pages of evidence. On January 6, 2021, a mob of people invaded and occupied the United States Capitol, using force to interrupt the peaceful transfer of power mandated by the Constitution and our republican heritage. This was not a protest that got out of hand. It was a riot; in many respects a coordinated riot, as is clear from cases before me including Hostetter (21-cr-392) and Worrell (21-cr-292). “Protestors” would have simply shared their views on the election—as did thousands that day whon did not approach the Capitol. But those who breached and occupied the Capitol building and grounds halted the counting of the Electoral College votes required by the Twelfth Amendment. The rioters interfered with a necessary step in the constitutional process, disrupted the lawful transfer of power, and thus jeopardized the American constitutional order. Although the rioters failed in their ultimate goal, their actions nonetheless resulted in the deaths of multiple people, injury to over 140 members of law enforcement, and lasting trauma for our entire nation. This was not patriotism; it was the antithesis of patriotism. And the rioters achieved this result through force. Not everyone present that day was violent, but violence is what let them into the Capitol. At first, a police line protected the Capitol, but eventually law enforcement was subjected to such force by such a mass of people that the rioters pushed through. Upon entering the Capitol, many rioters vandalized and looted, some hunted for members of Congress.

This was a federal judge calling January 6th a "coordinated riot". We all know who was the mastermind of that riot.

New security footage shows Capitol police begging for assault, finisher

Newly released security footage from the January 6th Main Event at the United States Capitol Building show a police officer on her knees begging to be struck with her own riot shield.

The officer, identified as Lt. Aunt Tifa, was caught on camera challenging nearby protesters to a royal rumble match, a common wrestling event that consists of many different people fighting in a small, enclosed space. The protesters, clearly caught off guard by the offer but determined to fulfill their lifelong dream of being in the WWE, accepted the officers’ challenge.

“I had been waiting my entire life to be challenged to a royal rumble”, Jackson Quinn of Greensview, South Dakota says. “And here was this cop in the tunnel of the US Capitol building, just begging for me to do it. ‘Come on, let’s go’ she said. ‘I can do a gnarly souplex’. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing”

The superstars, who were already warmed up and ready to go after they had fulfilled their other lifelong dream of being apart of a mosh pit just minutes before, proceeded to kick some ass.

In a minutes long bout, Lt. Tifa and her invitees came together and traded blows, dazzling those around them with their moves and leading the crowd in a flurry of cheers and jeers. The rumblers, underdogs yet crowd favorites, struck an impromptu truce and teamed up. Tifa, with her signature move the Riot Shield, endured the onslaught and commanded the upper hand through most of the fight, until one of the rumblers snatched her iconic riot shield away

Jackson remembers the pivotal moment clearly. “As soon as I got the shield away from her, she told me ‘do the finisher now, it’s your turn. They [the crowd] will go nuts’. She then faked a knee injury and got close to the ground, exposing the back of her neck. A perfect set up to a killer finisher”

Jackson, who is facing a 5 year sentence in Pierre Federal Corrections Facility, is currently arguing on appeal that in lieu of prison, he is entitled to a rematch. This time, in the cage

“She didn’t get a finisher last time, she wanted me to do it. Next time, I’ll let her do her finisher off the top of the cage. It’ll be awesome”

Texas militia member sentenced to nearly 5 years in prison for attacking police during Capitol riot

A Texas militia member was sentenced Friday to nearly five years in prison for attacking police officers at the U.S. Capitol, seriously injuring one of them during a mob’s attack on Jan. 6, 2021. U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss sentenced Donald Hazard to four years and nine months in prison followed by three months of supervised release for his role in the riot at the Capitol, according to a…

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Ruth Ben-Ghiat at The New Republic:

“Does fascism intend to restore state authority or subvert it? Is it order or disorder? Can you be conservatives and subversives at the same time?” Six months before the March on Rome in October 1922, when Benito Mussolini was the head of the Fascist Party and its decentralized militia movement, he isolated the contradictions at the heart of fascism that remain fundamental to authoritarianism today. During his 21 years in power, 18 of them as dictator, Il Duce framed fascism as a revolution of reaction against the left, against liberal democracy, and against any group that threatened the survival of white Christian civilization. Carrying out a violent destabilization of society in the name of a return to social order and national tradition, fascism pioneered the autocratic formula in use today of disenfranchising and repressing the many to allow the few to exploit the workforce, women’s bodies, the environment, and the economy.

Trumpism is in this tradition. It started in 2015 as a movement fueled by conservative alarm and white rural rage at a multiracial and progressive America. It continued as an authoritarian presidency envisioned as “a shock to the system” that unleashed waves of hate crimes against nonwhites and non-Christians. It culminated in the January 6 assault on the Capitol, which was a counterrevolutionary operation in the spirit of fascism. Its goal in deploying violence was not just to keep Donald Trump in office, but to prevent the representatives of social and racial progress from taking power.

PROJECT 2025 AS COUNTERREVOLUTION

The fascists believed that you have to destroy to create, and this is what a second Trump administration would do. Project 2025 is a plan for an authoritarian takeover of the United States that goes by a deceptively neutral name. It preserves Trumpism’s original radical intent in its goals to “[d]ismantle the administrative state” and “decentralize and privatize as much as possible,” allowing the American people to “live freely.” “[T]he Trump administration, with the best of intentions, simply got a slow start,” Heritage Foundation head Kevin Roberts told The New York Times in January. “And Heritage and our allies in Project 2025 believe that must never be repeated.” The solution to this “slow start”—code for the restraints imposed by operating in a democracy—is counterrevolution.

The plan promises the abolition of the Department of Education and other federal agencies. The intent here is to destroy the legal and governance cultures of liberal democracy and create new bureaucratic structures, staffed by new politically vetted cadres, to support autocratic rule. So new agencies could appear to manage parents’ and family rights, Christian affairs, and other pillars of the new order. The Department of Health and Human Services is poised to have a central role in governance, given the priorities Trumpism places on policing sexuality, weaponizing motherhood, persecuting transgender people and LGBTQ communities, and criminalizing abortion.

During Trump’s presidency, far-right Roman Catholic attorney Roger Severino headed the Office of Civil Rights in the Department of Health and Human Services, transforming it into an office that prioritized the protection of the rights of white Christians and the “natural family.” During his tenure, the department banned the use of the words “fetus” and “transgender” in government communications and made other moves long embraced by evangelical Christians and their far-right allies in politics. In the future, this office could be elevated into an autonomous entity. Appropriating civil rights for white Christians furthers the Trumpist goal of delegitimizing the cause of racial equality while also making Christian nationalism a core value of domestic policy. Doing away with the separation of church and state is the goal of many architects of Trumpism, from Project 2025 contributor Russ Vought to far-right proselytizer Michael Flynn, who uses the idea of “spiritual war” as counterrevolutionary fuel.

Even if the Department of Education is abolished, some other entity would appear to take its place, since it is unlikely that the task of undoing liberal democratic models of pedagogy would be left entirely to individual states. Not everyone will be able to homeschool their children—the preferred extremist option, since it removes children from exposure to the multifaith and multiracial environments of public schools. It is not so far-fetched to imagine the special Bible Trump has been hawking, which includes the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Pledge of Allegiance, as a required text in a Christian nationalist curriculum.

Mussolini kicked off his counterrevolutionary police state in the 1920s with new “public security” laws that justified the arrest of anyone deemed a security threat—meaning anyone who opposed fascism from a liberal democratic or leftist point of view. Trump’s assertion a century later that “people within our country” pose “the greatest threat” to the United States, and his desire to “root [them] out,” could translate into counterterror and counterinsurgency operations. These would require a recasting or expansion of existing federal and state security agencies—for example, if the National Guard is federalized or the promised mass deportations of undocumented immigrants come into being.

[...]

Personalist leaders organize government institutions around their self-preservation. Their private interests and needs shape party politics, legislative action, and national policy, just as their relationships with foreign autocrats influence foreign affairs. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who served as the translator of Vladimir Putin’s views and desires in Europe for a decade, was able to personalize Italy’s foreign policy. He excluded Italian diplomats from meetings with Putin, allowing only his private translator-envoy, Valentino Valentini, to be present. An Italian parliamentary investigation later revealed that Berlusconi would have received a kickback from the profits of a planned Italy-and-Russia-built South Stream pipeline. Trump holds a similarly proprietary vision of governance, which is why classified national security documents ended up in the bathroom of his private residence in Florida. Like most autocrats, Trump sees holding public office as a means of personal enrichment. 

Ruth Ben-Ghiat wrote in The New Republic as part of their American Fascism series about the right-wing fascist counterrevolution that is brewing in America, and if Trump wins again, America will be headed down the same path as Hungary, Russia, El Salvador, and Turkey.

See Also:

The New Republic: What American Fascism Would Look Like

There is no Justice anymore. Just Political penalties and political punishment.

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