Fascist Violence

Although Amanda Marcotte sees someone who gets an ego boost watching people fighting because of him, Heather Digby Parton points out the significance of soon-to-be former advisor Kellyanne Conway's statement that "the more chaos and anarchy and vandalism and violence reigns, the better it is for the very clear choice on who's best on public safety and law and order".

Conway's little gaffe in which she admitted that the White House and the [Fuckface] campaign believe street violence is good for them illuminates the president's fanning of the flames. He has finally grasped that he cannot unilaterally sending in a bunch of federal cops, as he did in Washington to stage his photo-op last June. Instead, he's not-very-subtly signaling to his gun-toting fans that they are going to have to take action on their own if they hope to scare people into voting for him. Leave the propaganda to him, just ramp up the chaos.

In fact, Agent Orange defended a 17-year-old vigilante who killed two people at a protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin over yet another police shooting of a black man.

Joe Biden notes that Republicans are trying to scare the country about what would happen under a Biden Administration and yet the violence is happening under their watch.

It’s getting worse, and you know why. Because [Dear Leader] adds fuel to every fire. Because he refuses to even acknowledge that there’s a racial justice problem in America. Because he won’t stand up to any violence.

Republicans look ridiculous describing Biden as a leftist.

I want to make it absolutely clear. Rioting is not protesting. Looting is not protesting. Setting fires is not protesting. None of this is protesting — it’s lawlessness. Plain and simple. And those who do it should be prosecuted.

Ask yourself, do I look like a radical socialist with a soft spot for rioters? Really? I want a safe America, safe from COVID, safe from crime and looting. Safer from racially motivated violence, safe from bad cops. Let me be crystal clear. Safe from four more years of [Fuckface von Clownstick].

Yet Joshua Shanes refers to a number of recent incidents suggesting a rise in white violence around the United States. US Crisis Monitor tracks political violence.

It’s worth examining the direct connection between the violence we witnessed in the past week and the political performances of the Republican National Convention. The alleged Kenosha shooter, it’s important to note, had posted images from a front-row seat at a [Fuckface] rally earlier this year. Meanwhile, two of the stars of the RNC were a Missouri couple also famous solely for waving guns at Black Lives Matter protesters. This represents a growing and open policy by the president and his party to encourage violent supporters and their racist causes.

David Atkins argues the escalating tension is because "white supremacists are invading American cities with the express intent of starting a civil war". We are confronting a dangerous person.

Americans won’t be safe as long as a white supremacist president is leading a movement of bigots to incite a civil war, and attempting to ensure that the majority of Americans with cosmopolitan, egalitarian values remain politically disenfranchised and under the thumb of those who fear and despise them.

Stuart Stevens says the United States is in the most dangerous period since the Civil War and current Republican leaders are moral cowards.

I cannot tell you what being a conservative means right now. Right now, all the Republican Party cares about is power.

David Frum calls Fuckface a secessionist who believes that "since we are two countries, we can have two sets of laws and rules: one for friends, another for enemies".

[He] regards himself as a wartime president of Red America against Blue America. That's how he can describe riot and disorder as happening in 'Biden's America,' even when it happens under his presidency.

Update (September 7):  Cody Fewwick quotes Russian dissident Nadya Tolokonnikova.

Our president has only just recently had the law changed so that he can stay in power until 2036, but his program of repression didn’t start out this blatantly. These things happen in pieces, bit by bit, small acts. And each one may even seem relatively benign at first, perhaps bad, but not fatal. You get angry, maybe you speak out, but you get on with your life. The promise of our democracy was chipped away in pieces, one by one: corrupt cronies appointed, presidential orders issued, actions taken, laws passed, votes rigged. It happens slowly, intermittently; sometimes we couldn’t see how steadily. Autocracy crept in, like the coward it is.

It might not take much more than the threat of violence to achieve the desired effect. Yet, Heather Cox Richardson seems cautiously optimistic that Americans from across the political spectrum are resisting Dear Leader's attack on democracy.

[W]e should definitely worry.

But should we despair? Absolutely not.

Convincing people the game is over is one of the key ways dictators take power. Scholars warn never to consent in advance to what you anticipate an autocrat will demand. If democracy were already gone, there would be no need for [Fuckface] and his people to lie and cheat and try to steal this election.

Update (September 13):  Anthony DiMaggio identifies Dear Leader's poll watching initiative as part of a pattern of "creeping fascism".

The creeping/aspiring fascist framework is advantageous because it looks at fascism as existing on a political spectrum, with nations moving relatively closer to or further away from fascism over time. ... [T]he risk is that American fascism will take a more "friendly" form. As I’ve documented in previous research, the distinctly American-"friendly" version of creeping fascism involves far-right reactionaries like Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, and [Fuckface] smuggling fascistic, racist, and authoritarian themes into "mainstream" media discourse, while denying the extremism of these positions. ... [F]ascistic discourses and political aspirations continue to be sold through Orwellian propaganda techniques – celebrated through the rhetoric about freedom, liberty, and democratic empowerment.

Nowhere in this initiative does the president or his supporters advertise that "poll watching" is a euphemism for "vigilante white supremacist goons coming together in mass to harass, intimidate, and terrorize people of color in a massive voter suppression effort."

[The] initiative, coupled with his celebrations of vigilante violence against his political enemies, represents a ticking time bomb in its potential to provoke disaster come election day. This administration represents an existential threat to what little remains of American democratic institutions and the rule of law.

And Cody Fenwick wonders why Dear Leader celebrates the death of someone accused of killing one of his supporters rather than calling for justice as normal political leaders would.

[T]he U.S. Marshals killed him. And I will tell you something: That’s the way it has to be. There has to be retribution when you have crime like this.

Update (September 16):  Amanda Marcotte sees Dear Leader preparing his followers to do what it takes to keep him in power.

The beauty of "retribution" as an excuse for violence is how flexible it is. Implicit in [his] unhinged comments is a belief that laws against murder are too strict, and that his followers should feel free to transgress them if they conclude that the target of their ire has it coming.

Update (October 13):  FiveThirtyEight has the election at 334 to 163 for Biden right now, but Sonali Kolhatkar argues Dear Leader is too dangerous to be defeated by an election. 

In repeatedly denouncing poll results as "fake" (here and here, and many other places), and lying repeatedly about nonexistent "voter fraud," he is laying the groundwork among his army of supporters to become motivated by a false belief that their president is being denied a legitimate win and charge to defend him on Election Day.

Democrats are doing nothing to stop a rushed Supreme Court confirmation and Kolhatkar states few people in the U.S. believe a power grab can happen here.

Even though [Fuckface] suddenly remembered a day after the debate that he apparently didn't know who the Proud Boys were, the group immediately announced it would be delighted to serve him, and issued a new logo reflecting their new marching orders from the president. If such a scenario were playing out in another nation, the U.S. State Department and American media outlets would be referring to the Proud Boys as an "armed right-wing paramilitary" group that the nation's leader is calling up in order to threaten a coup.

Update (October 26):  Police departments are preparing for violence whether Fuckface wins or loses. But not to worry.  Carl Bernstein says Senate Republicans--those paragons of virtue--are discussing what to do if Dear Leader refuses to leave. And Greg Sargent identifies five scenarios where we might get throught the election with just an all caps tweet storm.