More of these insurgents being pegged every day.
Who would have guessed their defiance to wear masks would be their downfall?
:0074
Who would have guessed their defiance to wear masks would be their downfall?
:0074
Thousands of Maskless Trumpers in DC
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- Mar 19, 2006
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- Mar 19, 2006
- 38,176
- 356
- 83
- 74
- Mar 19, 2006
- 38,176
- 356
- 83
- 74
opinion piece
Republicans threaten violence if Trump faces repercussions ? but it was impunity that moved his mob
Trump and his mob believe they'll never pay the piper
By AMANDA MARCOTTE
JANUARY 14, 2021 5:29PM (UTC)
https://www.salon.com/2021/01/14/re...ions--but-it-was-impunity-that-moved-his-mob/
There is no way to defend Donald Trump's behavior last week, when, after pouring gasoline for months, he lit a match and set the insurrection fire. And, by and large, Republicans aren't even trying. Instead, the Republican arguments against impeaching the president for a second time largely cite "concerns" ? or what might be better described as threats ? that any effort to hold Trump accountable for his behavior may anger an already angry mob, leading to more violence.
"A vote to impeach would further divide this nation, a vote to impeach will further fan the flames," House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R.-Calif., warned after admitting during Wednesday's impeachment debate that Trump bore responsibility for the insurrection last week. Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz., made a similar argument, saying impeachment will "further the unrest" and "possibly incite more violence."
Sen. Lindsey Graham echoed the same argument on Wednesday, saying impeachment "could invite further violence." On Fox Business Thursday, one day after Trump was impeached, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro went even further, arguing that the "Democratic Party did violence to this country by attacking a president who I believe was legally elected on November 3."
Of course, Trump lost the Nov. 3 election to Joe Biden by 74 electoral votes, the exact number he won by in 2016. Yet his team continues to amplify the foundational lie that lead to last week's violent desecration of the U.S. Capitol. In addition, multiple Republicans have spent the days since whining about Trump being "canceled," callously acting as if the loss of his Twitter account is the real crime while ignoring the ones he incited, like beating a cop to death with a fire extinguisher during a treacherous riot.
The flaws in this let-the-terrorists win argument should be immediately evident.
For one thing, Trump supporters already violently tried to overthrow the government ? not because Trump was being impeached, but because they reject the results of a democratic election and believe Trump should be illegally installed as an authoritarian leader.
Republican logic would suggest that democracy itself should be thrown out because a small number of bullies demand it. They certainly wouldn't accept this logic if foreign terrorists attacked the U.S. Capitol, and so it shouldn't be taken seriously now.
But more to the point, there is no evidence that the mayhem was caused because of anger over Trump facing consequences for any of his numerous corrupt or criminal acts. On the contrary, the overwhelming evidence shows that impunity fueled the Capitol riot. The insurrectionists acted out of a belief that neither they nor the president they love would ever face any repercussions.
That the insurrectionists were confident they would never face a single, solitary consequence has been one of the most remarkable ? and remarked upon ? aspects of this entire ordeal. Very few of the attackers bothered to cover their faces. On the contrary, many of them photographed and live-streamed the event, after spending weeks online publicly planning the attempted coup. In fact, the only reason many of the participants are facing arrest now is they were so public about their role in the assault.
But while this behavior initially seems baffling, a deeper examination shows that it makes a lot of sense. After all, for five years, Trump supporters have watched their beloved president run roughshod over all the rules and norms of D.C. with nary a consequence for it. He lies without repercussion. He openly colluded with Russia to cheat in the election and got away with lying about it. His lawbreaking started during the campaign when he conspired with his lawyer to illegally pay off mistresses for their silence. His entire presidency has been defined by his open criminality, from his obstruction of justice during the Russia investigation to the extortion scheme against the Ukrainian president that got him impeached the first time to his post-election efforts to steal the election by pressuring and even threatening state and local election officials.
Despite Trump being a shameless and avid criminal, he has yet to face anything resembling a real punishment. He was impeached for the Ukrainian extortion scheme, but the thoroughly corrupt GOP decided to acquit him, despite his obvious guilt. People around Trump went to prison ? including his campaign manager Paul Manafort and his lawyer Michael Cohen ? but he skated away, scot-free.
Of course a lot of Trump's supporters started to imagine he had almost god-like powers shielding him from the normal sanctions people can expect for committing crimes. And a lot of them started to imagine that they, too, could do whatever they wanted, no matter how violent or seditious, as long as they did it for Trump.
It's also important to note the race and class privilege that fueled the impunity of the Capitol rioters.
"They were business owners, CEOs, state legislators, police officers, active and retired service members, real-estate brokers, stay-at-home dads, and, I assume, some Proud Boys," Adam Serwer writes at the Atlantic.
People, in other words, who have grown accustomed to the idea that their race and economic status shields them from accountability. In their world, going to jail is for other people ? lower class people, people of color, leftists ? and not "respectable" people like themselves. It's why so many were pouty about COVID-19 restrictions and mask-wearing. Responsibility to your community is for those other people, in their view, and not for the likes of them.
The only way to stop the violence is to strip Trump and his followers of their sense of impunity. The only way that happens is with, heaven forbid, actual sanctions for their actions.
Obviously, everything Republicans say is pure bad faith, which is why all this concern trolling ? or really, threats ? about "fanning the flames" shouldn't be taken seriously. But what should be taken seriously is the impunity with which Trump and his minions operate. This has gone on too long, and the riot at the Capitol was the result. If there's any hope of stemming the tide of violence, consequences ? real ones ? need to start flowing. People who participated in the riots need to be prosecuted. Any members of Congress who incited the riot or, as some are alleging, assisted the insurrectionists, need to be investigated and prosecuted.
And above all other things, Trump needs to be punished.
The impeachment is a good start, but it's not enough, especially since there's little chance of the Senate, which is still half-Republican, convicting him. Trump has been impeached before and got right back to criming, empowered by his unjust acquittal. As painful as it may be for Joe Biden to admit this, the newly elected president needs to unleash the Department of Justice on Trump, both for his role in the insurrection and for all his crimes prior to it.
Trump and his supporters staged a coup against the U.S. government because they thought they could get away with it. The only way to keep them from doing it again is to make sure they know there's a price to pay ? by extracting it.
AMANDA MARCOTTE
Amanda Marcotte is a senior politics writer at Salon and the author of "Troll Nation: How The Right Became Trump-Worshipping Monsters Set On Rat-F*cking Liberals, America, and Truth Itself." Follow her on Twitter @AmandaMarcotte and sign up for her biweekly politics newsletter, Standing Room Only.
Republicans threaten violence if Trump faces repercussions ? but it was impunity that moved his mob
Trump and his mob believe they'll never pay the piper
By AMANDA MARCOTTE
JANUARY 14, 2021 5:29PM (UTC)
https://www.salon.com/2021/01/14/re...ions--but-it-was-impunity-that-moved-his-mob/
There is no way to defend Donald Trump's behavior last week, when, after pouring gasoline for months, he lit a match and set the insurrection fire. And, by and large, Republicans aren't even trying. Instead, the Republican arguments against impeaching the president for a second time largely cite "concerns" ? or what might be better described as threats ? that any effort to hold Trump accountable for his behavior may anger an already angry mob, leading to more violence.
"A vote to impeach would further divide this nation, a vote to impeach will further fan the flames," House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R.-Calif., warned after admitting during Wednesday's impeachment debate that Trump bore responsibility for the insurrection last week. Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz., made a similar argument, saying impeachment will "further the unrest" and "possibly incite more violence."
Sen. Lindsey Graham echoed the same argument on Wednesday, saying impeachment "could invite further violence." On Fox Business Thursday, one day after Trump was impeached, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro went even further, arguing that the "Democratic Party did violence to this country by attacking a president who I believe was legally elected on November 3."
Of course, Trump lost the Nov. 3 election to Joe Biden by 74 electoral votes, the exact number he won by in 2016. Yet his team continues to amplify the foundational lie that lead to last week's violent desecration of the U.S. Capitol. In addition, multiple Republicans have spent the days since whining about Trump being "canceled," callously acting as if the loss of his Twitter account is the real crime while ignoring the ones he incited, like beating a cop to death with a fire extinguisher during a treacherous riot.
The flaws in this let-the-terrorists win argument should be immediately evident.
For one thing, Trump supporters already violently tried to overthrow the government ? not because Trump was being impeached, but because they reject the results of a democratic election and believe Trump should be illegally installed as an authoritarian leader.
Republican logic would suggest that democracy itself should be thrown out because a small number of bullies demand it. They certainly wouldn't accept this logic if foreign terrorists attacked the U.S. Capitol, and so it shouldn't be taken seriously now.
But more to the point, there is no evidence that the mayhem was caused because of anger over Trump facing consequences for any of his numerous corrupt or criminal acts. On the contrary, the overwhelming evidence shows that impunity fueled the Capitol riot. The insurrectionists acted out of a belief that neither they nor the president they love would ever face any repercussions.
That the insurrectionists were confident they would never face a single, solitary consequence has been one of the most remarkable ? and remarked upon ? aspects of this entire ordeal. Very few of the attackers bothered to cover their faces. On the contrary, many of them photographed and live-streamed the event, after spending weeks online publicly planning the attempted coup. In fact, the only reason many of the participants are facing arrest now is they were so public about their role in the assault.
But while this behavior initially seems baffling, a deeper examination shows that it makes a lot of sense. After all, for five years, Trump supporters have watched their beloved president run roughshod over all the rules and norms of D.C. with nary a consequence for it. He lies without repercussion. He openly colluded with Russia to cheat in the election and got away with lying about it. His lawbreaking started during the campaign when he conspired with his lawyer to illegally pay off mistresses for their silence. His entire presidency has been defined by his open criminality, from his obstruction of justice during the Russia investigation to the extortion scheme against the Ukrainian president that got him impeached the first time to his post-election efforts to steal the election by pressuring and even threatening state and local election officials.
Despite Trump being a shameless and avid criminal, he has yet to face anything resembling a real punishment. He was impeached for the Ukrainian extortion scheme, but the thoroughly corrupt GOP decided to acquit him, despite his obvious guilt. People around Trump went to prison ? including his campaign manager Paul Manafort and his lawyer Michael Cohen ? but he skated away, scot-free.
Of course a lot of Trump's supporters started to imagine he had almost god-like powers shielding him from the normal sanctions people can expect for committing crimes. And a lot of them started to imagine that they, too, could do whatever they wanted, no matter how violent or seditious, as long as they did it for Trump.
It's also important to note the race and class privilege that fueled the impunity of the Capitol rioters.
"They were business owners, CEOs, state legislators, police officers, active and retired service members, real-estate brokers, stay-at-home dads, and, I assume, some Proud Boys," Adam Serwer writes at the Atlantic.
People, in other words, who have grown accustomed to the idea that their race and economic status shields them from accountability. In their world, going to jail is for other people ? lower class people, people of color, leftists ? and not "respectable" people like themselves. It's why so many were pouty about COVID-19 restrictions and mask-wearing. Responsibility to your community is for those other people, in their view, and not for the likes of them.
The only way to stop the violence is to strip Trump and his followers of their sense of impunity. The only way that happens is with, heaven forbid, actual sanctions for their actions.
Obviously, everything Republicans say is pure bad faith, which is why all this concern trolling ? or really, threats ? about "fanning the flames" shouldn't be taken seriously. But what should be taken seriously is the impunity with which Trump and his minions operate. This has gone on too long, and the riot at the Capitol was the result. If there's any hope of stemming the tide of violence, consequences ? real ones ? need to start flowing. People who participated in the riots need to be prosecuted. Any members of Congress who incited the riot or, as some are alleging, assisted the insurrectionists, need to be investigated and prosecuted.
And above all other things, Trump needs to be punished.
The impeachment is a good start, but it's not enough, especially since there's little chance of the Senate, which is still half-Republican, convicting him. Trump has been impeached before and got right back to criming, empowered by his unjust acquittal. As painful as it may be for Joe Biden to admit this, the newly elected president needs to unleash the Department of Justice on Trump, both for his role in the insurrection and for all his crimes prior to it.
Trump and his supporters staged a coup against the U.S. government because they thought they could get away with it. The only way to keep them from doing it again is to make sure they know there's a price to pay ? by extracting it.
AMANDA MARCOTTE
Amanda Marcotte is a senior politics writer at Salon and the author of "Troll Nation: How The Right Became Trump-Worshipping Monsters Set On Rat-F*cking Liberals, America, and Truth Itself." Follow her on Twitter @AmandaMarcotte and sign up for her biweekly politics newsletter, Standing Room Only.
- Mar 19, 2006
- 38,176
- 356
- 83
- 74
Op-Ed: The Capitol marauders proved how dangerous white anger, and white privilege, is to democracy
By ERIN AUBRY KAPLAN
JAN. 19, 20214:12 PM
A violent mob storms the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The insurrection pitted white people against other white people who don?t embrace white anger as obviously as the rioters. (Associated Press )
Let?s be clear: The paroxysm of white supremacist anger that swept through the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 ? breaking things, including American democracy ? was the raw physical expression of the larger phenomenon of white supremacy that I and many other Black writers, scholars and activists have been exposing for decades. That single extreme event is just part of a spectrum of racism, with every point on the scale dangerous and incendiary in its own right ? the rejection of affirmative action, the increased segregation of public schools, three-strikes laws, the evisceration of the Voting Rights Act, gentrification, the birther conspiracy, unabated police shootings of Black people.
More troubling to me than the insurrection of Jan. 6 is how so many conscientious white people ? my friends, editors, readers ? never understood white supremacy as a whole. Over the years they accommodated my opinions just fine but didn?t really absorb them or take them to heart. White supremacy might be a moral issue, encoded in things like affirmative action, but that?s the problem: It was an issue, an abstraction. On a day-to-day level it didn?t endanger them, therefore it didn?t endanger the country.
They were wrong. We have all witnessed white supremacy in action now; we have seen how it is animated by anger. White anger is the root of racism, supremacy, privilege and entitlement ? the volatile spark that has always been capable of blowing all the abstractions out of the water and revealing what?s really going on: We as a country are sick, and too many among us want to be sick.
Of course many of us are appalled at this sickness. Many white people have roundly condemned the lawlessness and unprovoked violence at the Capitol. Thanks to the nascent anti-racism movement, more than a few have condemned white supremacy and specious comparisons of the insurrection to racial justice protests that swept the country in 2020. If there?s a silver lining to our horror show, it?s that white people have a new, clearer lens through which to view things, and they are using it.
But that is not enough. What the newly minted anti-racists need to grasp ? now ? is that the Jan. 6 riot was not against Black people or immigrants or ?minorities?: It was white people against other white people who don?t embrace white anger as robustly and obviously as they?re supposed to. These insufficiently angry white people are the group the right wing labels ?liberal elite.? (In another age, they would call them by a term this newspaper won?t print.) Despite the elite?s frequently tepid embrace of racial justice, white supremacists and their fellow travelers consider liberals traitors to the American condition of white entitlement (a condition, by the way, that the MAGA mob sees as a measure of our national health, not our sickness.)
In particular, Democrats ? notably white Democrats who aid and abet Black Lives Matter, the great ideological bogeyman of the white anger movement ? are traitors. That status also extends to anyone not in thrall to Donald Trump, for four years the angry-white-man in chief who abhors not just BLM but also racial justice in general, or justice period. This cult-leader logic is why Vice President Mike Pence and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, unrepentant conservatives who nonetheless refused to side with insurrection, are targeted along with Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
I hope the anti-racist awakening of last year makes it easier for white people to embrace a bedrock truth that people of color have known forever: White Americans are a tribe. They are bound by common principles and beliefs about their own supremacy. And those who openly espouse these beliefs are more economically, educationally and culturally diverse than anyone cares to imagine. Entitlement has always united white folks across the board, and in 2021 it united a whole range of malcontents ? Confederacy sympathizers, QAnon-ers, anti-vaxxers, anti-maskers. The Trump rally and riot in Washington featured not just yahoos in fur headdresses, but professional people, first responders, county commissioners, a state delegate, a constitutional law scholar from Southern California, grandmothers, suburbanites.
And it featured government itself. After the sacking of the Capitol, in the most spectacular and unsettling display of white entitlement so far, a majority of Republicans in the House refused to stand down from their support of a rabid, unfounded assertion that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump and ?the people.? Whether these lawmakers acted out of conviction or political expedience doesn?t matter. What matters ? and what may sink the republic for good ? is the willingness at the highest levels in Washington to embrace naked white anger as fundamentally legitimate.
How do we walk this back or walk it forward? I recall the enormous optimism about the prospect of change and racial cooperation that powered Barack Obama?s presidential campaign in 2008. I always thought that Obama was naive, too willing to ignore the white anger that ultimately made him the most intensely hated president in modern history, a hatred that led directly to Trump and to this moment in which American democracy hangs by a thin thread. But that optimism, the hope for change, was also incredibly powerful and real.
It is still out there. Now, at last, we all know exactly what it?s up against.
Erin Aubry Kaplan is a contributing writer to Opinion.
By ERIN AUBRY KAPLAN
JAN. 19, 20214:12 PM
A violent mob storms the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The insurrection pitted white people against other white people who don?t embrace white anger as obviously as the rioters. (Associated Press )
Let?s be clear: The paroxysm of white supremacist anger that swept through the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 ? breaking things, including American democracy ? was the raw physical expression of the larger phenomenon of white supremacy that I and many other Black writers, scholars and activists have been exposing for decades. That single extreme event is just part of a spectrum of racism, with every point on the scale dangerous and incendiary in its own right ? the rejection of affirmative action, the increased segregation of public schools, three-strikes laws, the evisceration of the Voting Rights Act, gentrification, the birther conspiracy, unabated police shootings of Black people.
More troubling to me than the insurrection of Jan. 6 is how so many conscientious white people ? my friends, editors, readers ? never understood white supremacy as a whole. Over the years they accommodated my opinions just fine but didn?t really absorb them or take them to heart. White supremacy might be a moral issue, encoded in things like affirmative action, but that?s the problem: It was an issue, an abstraction. On a day-to-day level it didn?t endanger them, therefore it didn?t endanger the country.
They were wrong. We have all witnessed white supremacy in action now; we have seen how it is animated by anger. White anger is the root of racism, supremacy, privilege and entitlement ? the volatile spark that has always been capable of blowing all the abstractions out of the water and revealing what?s really going on: We as a country are sick, and too many among us want to be sick.
Of course many of us are appalled at this sickness. Many white people have roundly condemned the lawlessness and unprovoked violence at the Capitol. Thanks to the nascent anti-racism movement, more than a few have condemned white supremacy and specious comparisons of the insurrection to racial justice protests that swept the country in 2020. If there?s a silver lining to our horror show, it?s that white people have a new, clearer lens through which to view things, and they are using it.
But that is not enough. What the newly minted anti-racists need to grasp ? now ? is that the Jan. 6 riot was not against Black people or immigrants or ?minorities?: It was white people against other white people who don?t embrace white anger as robustly and obviously as they?re supposed to. These insufficiently angry white people are the group the right wing labels ?liberal elite.? (In another age, they would call them by a term this newspaper won?t print.) Despite the elite?s frequently tepid embrace of racial justice, white supremacists and their fellow travelers consider liberals traitors to the American condition of white entitlement (a condition, by the way, that the MAGA mob sees as a measure of our national health, not our sickness.)
In particular, Democrats ? notably white Democrats who aid and abet Black Lives Matter, the great ideological bogeyman of the white anger movement ? are traitors. That status also extends to anyone not in thrall to Donald Trump, for four years the angry-white-man in chief who abhors not just BLM but also racial justice in general, or justice period. This cult-leader logic is why Vice President Mike Pence and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, unrepentant conservatives who nonetheless refused to side with insurrection, are targeted along with Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
I hope the anti-racist awakening of last year makes it easier for white people to embrace a bedrock truth that people of color have known forever: White Americans are a tribe. They are bound by common principles and beliefs about their own supremacy. And those who openly espouse these beliefs are more economically, educationally and culturally diverse than anyone cares to imagine. Entitlement has always united white folks across the board, and in 2021 it united a whole range of malcontents ? Confederacy sympathizers, QAnon-ers, anti-vaxxers, anti-maskers. The Trump rally and riot in Washington featured not just yahoos in fur headdresses, but professional people, first responders, county commissioners, a state delegate, a constitutional law scholar from Southern California, grandmothers, suburbanites.
And it featured government itself. After the sacking of the Capitol, in the most spectacular and unsettling display of white entitlement so far, a majority of Republicans in the House refused to stand down from their support of a rabid, unfounded assertion that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump and ?the people.? Whether these lawmakers acted out of conviction or political expedience doesn?t matter. What matters ? and what may sink the republic for good ? is the willingness at the highest levels in Washington to embrace naked white anger as fundamentally legitimate.
How do we walk this back or walk it forward? I recall the enormous optimism about the prospect of change and racial cooperation that powered Barack Obama?s presidential campaign in 2008. I always thought that Obama was naive, too willing to ignore the white anger that ultimately made him the most intensely hated president in modern history, a hatred that led directly to Trump and to this moment in which American democracy hangs by a thin thread. But that optimism, the hope for change, was also incredibly powerful and real.
It is still out there. Now, at last, we all know exactly what it?s up against.
Erin Aubry Kaplan is a contributing writer to Opinion.
