Here Are Your Thugs and Anarchists

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Yesterday in Oregon:

From the Washington Post:

More than 1,000 supporters of President Trump, including some aligned with white nationalist extremist groups, gathered in northwest Oregon on Monday night in a show of force against left-wing protesters, creating even more tension in a region that has been rocked by weeks of protests.

On Monday evening, despite National Weather Service warnings of an extreme wind storm, hundreds of cars, trucks, tractors, motorcycles and at least one RV hoisted Trump flags and blasted “God Bless The U.S.A.” from truck bed speakers for a “cruise rally” through the suburbs of Portland. Some members of the group then drove about 50 miles to Salem, where they gathered in front of the state capitol.

Armed with rifles, pistols, knives and clubs, the far-right demonstrators at one point charged into a smaller group of liberal counterprotesters, knocking at least one activist to the ground.

This was part of the twitter thread about the, um, disturbance.

I doubt many of the Trump thugs in the videos were from “the community.” More likely outside agitators. And it doesn’t appear anyone needed protecting, except from them.

We’ve learned a bit more about last week’s shooting in Portland, although probably we’ll never know exactly what happened since the suspect was killed in a “hail of gunfire” by police. Convenient, that. Court documents say that both the victim, Aaron “Jay” Danielson, and the alleged and now dead perpetrator, Michael Forest Reinoehl, were armed with handguns. Before he was killed, Reinoehl made a video claiming he shot Danielson in self-defense.  Unfortunately no video has come to light of the actual shooting, just the immediate aftermath, so there is no way to know if Reinoehl was telling the truth about being in danger.

The bottom line, though, is when you’ve got a bunch of hotheaded men pumped up with anger and self-righteousness running around with guns, people will be shot. I’m sure there will be more before this terrible year is over.

Donald Trump, of course, is trying to stir up fears of thugs and anarchists as part of his re-election campaign, since he can’t very well run on his gawdawful record.

President Trump has reverted to using graphic depictions of violence as a centerpiece of his reelection campaign strategy, using his Twitter account, stump speech and even the White House podium as platforms for amplifying domestic conflict.

His 2016 focus on Islamic radical terrorism and undocumented-immigrant crime, which he credited with helping him win the Republican nomination, has been replaced by warnings of new threats, as he elevates gruesome images of Black-on-White crime, street fights involving his supporters and police misconduct riots nationwide.

The pattern continued over the holiday weekend, when he tweeted video of a melee in Texas between protesters and security officers during an event for a Trump-affiliated group and two celebratory videos of a protester in Portland, Ore., with his feet on fire. One of the videos was scored to the Kenny Loggins song “Footloose” and the second featured mocking play-by-play commentary by a mixed-martial-arts announcer.

So presidential.

But this is Trump’s campaign. He doesn’t speak to the pandemic any more except for dropping BIG HINTS that a vaccine will be available “before a very special day,” apparently referring to election day, which is not going to happen. He is bragging about economic recovery but seems to not be interested in doing anything to help it along. James Downie wrote this at WaPo yesterday:

It’s been a busy weekend for President Trump. With millions still out of work thanks to the pandemic, the president was focused on important issues: attacking the Atlantic for reporting that he called fallen soldiers “losers,” demanding that a Fox News reporter be fired for confirming parts of the Atlantic’s story, revising federal agencies’ racial sensitivity trainings and urging the Big Ten conference to play football this fall.

You might have noticed that list offered nothing for those looking for work. On that front, the president was content to tweet praise about the new jobs report on Friday before turning back to more substantive issues like vandalism at Graceland. The employment numbers were encouraging, to be sure: 1.4 million jobs added, and an unemployment rate down to 8.4 percent. But as The Post reports, “just over half of the 22 million total jobs lost between February and April have not returned,” and new outbreaks and decreasing government assistance could easily derail the slow recovery. Much hard work lies ahead. Another president might hail Friday’s report yet promise to keep working to improve the economy. This one clearly feels the economy is doing just fine and is no longer worth his time.

Trump’s twitter feed today is all about antifa, Joe Biden’s alleged plans to force low-income housing into suburbs, and Big Ten Football.

Nicholas Kristoff at the New York Times has a lovely rundown of all the promises Trump made in 2016 and how he didn’t keep them. See also Paul Krugman, Gross Domestic Misery Is Rising.

Bottom line: There are thugs and anarchists in the streets of the U.S., and the bulk of them appear to be Trump supporters.

 

3 thoughts on “Here Are Your Thugs and Anarchists”

  1. As usual, tRUMP is a mass of contradictions, and hypocrisies.

    As we speak, tRUMP is caught between being absolutely bored, and being scared poopless and beyond!  Terrified enough to maybe piss out an entire kidney.  Both, maybe.

    As far as the prior goes, he's bored because HE'S SOOOOOOOOO over this tRUMP Plague, which he has clearly, through his sole "wisdom" (in his own "mind," at least), vanquished!  And he's frightfully bored because he can't get his daily adrenaline fix performing at a "tRUMP Revival and Deevolution Meeting!"  He misses the ego-boost his besotted MAGAts give him!

    But at the same time, he's also frightened nearly out of his flabby orange skin at losing this election, and what will happen to him.

    tRUMP has never really had to pay any consequences.  Not really.  His father bailed him out of his earlier financial disasters.  Then, later, the banks he owned money to, basically bailed him out of owing more money to still other banks.  And finally, somewhere in the not too distant past, "Oh frabjous day," Vladimir Putin became tRUMP's surrogate sugar-daddy! 

    tRUMP has a pretty good idea of what he's guilty of (TREASON = 100%), and what he knows how serious his crimes are.  He knows he HAS TO stay in office.  By hook, or by crook.

    The consequences of losing, are incomprehensible, and virtually limitless.

    So tRUMP wants the next two months to pass quickly, so that right after he "wins," he can begin plotting his vengeance.

    I guarantee you, he's already dreaming of the who, what, when, where, wht, and how he's going to have his opponents arrested, publicly demeaned and debased, tortured, etc.

    There will be blood.

    ON Election Day.

    AND after…

     

     

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  2. Before he was killed, Reinoehl made a video claiming he shot Danielson in self-defense.  Unfortunately no video has come to light of the actual shooting, just the immediate aftermath, so there is no way to know if Reinoehl was telling the truth about being in danger.

    I thought in the conservative Stand Your Ground paradise, it didn't matter. If you THINK you're in danger, that's good enough.

    Oh, that's only for CERTAIN people, right?

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  3. The flag bearer in the second video who was trying to lead the charge to assault, and was wearing the yellow shirt and MAGA hat can't make the boast that —These Colors Never Run — as soon as the police showed up he skedaddled like the young  Henry Fleming.

     Watch how quickly he disappears into the crowd.. He'd make the Amazing Thurston's magic show's disappearing act seem amateuristic.

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