This may be the most delicate subject I\u2019ve tackled.\u00a0\u00a0So, up front, I need to be clear:\u00a0\u00a0assassination and terrorism are not legitimate tools of protest.\u00a0\u00a0In my view, the assassination attempts on Trump and the brutal assassination of Charlie Kirk, all were politically beneficial to the MAGA movement.\u00a0\u00a0There\u2019s nothing so powerful as a martyr.\u00a0\u00a0Trump\u2019s \u201cFight-Fight-Fight\u201d moment in Butler, Pennsylvania won him the Presidency.\u00a0\u00a0And MAGA-world is now raising Charlie Kirk to political \u201csainthood\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0Vice President Vance in particular is doubling-down to stifle protest, all in the name of Kirk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But there\u2019s plenty of political violence to go around, much of it committed under the \u201ccolor of law\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0The signature Trump policy of sending out roving squads of \u201cICE Agents\u201d to round up undocumented migrants without warrant or due process is violence that we see every day.\u00a0\u00a0People of color are tackled in the street by masked para-military \u201cagents\u201d, thrown into unmarked vehicles and whisked away to unknown locations.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those undocumented are dumped into brutal and inhumane conditions.\u00a0\u00a0The Administration brags about it; \u201cAlligator Alcatraz\u201d and El Salvador\u2019s CECOT and\u00a0\u00a0Rwanda (for God\u2019s sake). The violence is the point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sending military forces onto the streets of American cities against the express wishes of local and state governments is violence. Using the Justice Department, and regulatory agencies as cudgels to attack ( get “retribution” on) political enemies is violence.\u00a0\u00a0And the stripping of political and physical rights from visa holders, the transgendered, and many Americans whose sole \u201cflaw\u201d is to stand against the President, is violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
American history is replete with the people\u2019s response to this kind of\u00a0\u00a0\u201clegal\u201d violence.\u00a0\u00a0Sure, there was the Civil Rights movement of the 1960\u2019s, based on Dr. King\u2019s philosophy of non-violence.\u00a0\u00a0But there also were Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) who took further actions. And ultimately the Black Panthers, were willing to stand for their rights with guns.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There were the anti-Vietnam War marches, student non-violent protests on college campuses across the country.\u00a0\u00a0But there also were the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), who were willing to go farther. And finally the Weathermen who specifically targeted government buildings for destruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Again, I am not advocating violence in response to Trump\u2019s authoritarianism.\u00a0\u00a0What I\u2019m pointing out, is that once the government chooses violence as a means of controlling the nation, it shouldn\u2019t be a surprise that violence is also a response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And, independent of political ideology, there are \u201ccrazies\u201d who will find motivation in the chaos created by violence.\u00a0\u00a0They might kill Democrats (Minnesota) or they might kill Republicans (Utah), but their common thread isn\u2019t political ideology, it\u2019s personal instability.\u00a0\u00a0In American history, the violence of slavery not only generated over 300 \u201cslave rebellions\u201d (not insane, just desperate), but also an environment where attacks like John Brown\u2019s raid on the US Arsenal at Harper\u2019s Ferry were not only foreseeable, but inevitable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of course, the violence of one side is used to justify an increase in violence on the other side.\u00a0\u00a0 A policeman once explained to me about how he engaged with a suspect. \u201cI will respond with one step higher than they do\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s easy to say, they did this, so I\u2019ll do this much more. And that\u2019s the path our Nation is on right now.\u00a0\u00a0One side says they have the \u201clegal power\u201d of the government, the consolidated authority of the unitary executive, to do almost anything they want \u00a0\u00a0The other side says they \u201crepresent\u201d a defense of American freedom and tradition, with the\u00a0\u00a0\u201cmoral authority\u201d of our historic legacy on their side.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Previous Presidents, even in tremendous times of crisis, felt the weight of maintaining American \u201cnorms\u201d.\u00a0George Bush\u2019s response to 9-11 was the huge power-grab of the Patriot Act.\u00a0\u00a0Government actions that were seen as intrusive and likely Unconstitutional before 9-11, were handed over to the Executive branch soon after.\u00a0But as time passed, the extremes of the Patriot Act were narrowed by the Courts, the Congress, and also by the Presidents themselves.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But President Trump is steeped in the extremist ideologies of the Heritage Institute. He’s advised by Stephen Miller, Russell Vought, Tom Homan, and billionaires whose fortunes give them unlimited access and authority. There seems to be no boundaries.\u00a0\u00a0He\u2019s backed by a Congress unwilling to exert their independent authority.\u00a0\u00a0And, he’s “regulated” by a Supreme Court majority beholden to those same ideologies and billionaires.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s a \u201cwitch\u2019s brew\u201d that sees violence under the \u201ccolor of law\u201d as an acceptable path of governance.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The inevitable counter-violence plays right into their hands.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s what they want, to justifying even more power, and more violence.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s an ugly, unending circle, and where it stops … nobody knows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"