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Brownshirts Rising
By Reed Galen, Lincoln Project Co-Founder
On January 6th, 2021, insurrectionists marched on the Capitol, threatening to drag then-Vice President Mike Pence through the streets if he didn’t steal the 2020 election for Donald Trump. They chanted “Bring out Pence!” and “Hang Mike Pence” on the steps and as they entered the building. Images released by the Select Committee on January 6th show that rioters were just 40 feet from Pence and his coterie. Half that distance, and agents of the US Secret Service probably start firing to defend their protectee.
Donald Trump, sitting in the White House sent a tweet at 2:24 pm once again extolling Pence to steal the presidency on his behalf and exhorting his followers, including the Proud Boys, to do what we necessary to preserve America and his own power. Far from trying to calm roiled waters, Trump doubled-down on the use of violence to further his own ends.
It was, as January 6th for so many things, the re-introduction of political violence in the American lexicon. As we’ve stated before, once it arrives, it is very difficult to remove it and stop it from spreading.
Late last week, Congressman Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) and his staff were accosted in public by radical conspiracy theorists who called him a RINO, repeated Tucker Carlson’s insult by referring to him as “Eyepatch McCain” [Crenshaw lost an eye to an IED in Afghanistan as a member of the Navy SEALs.] His crimes? Support for Ukraine’s fight against Russia, calling out the Uvalde police for not following standard protocols in the recent school massacre, and being part of a ‘globalist’ conspiracy. In the past, Crenshaw has also been so bold as to call out the most extreme of his Congressional colleagues (such as Marjorie Taylor Greene.)
Crenshaw is no moderate. He proudly displayed a portrait of Donald Trump on horseback, as Trump’s kids and the likes of Jared Kushner fire off a cannon as Crenshaw hoists a “Come and Take It” banner from the Texas Revolution of 1836.
But fealty isn’t enough for base Republican voters any longer. Crenshaw stepped out of line with Carlson, the radical social media machine and therefore must be purged. Note to other Republicans like Crenshaw: If they’ll do it to him, it’s only a matter of time before they come for you.
Just days later, Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger’s wife received a letter informing her that her husband would be executed for his apostasy on the 1/6 Committee, but not to worry that she and their son would be joining him in hell. In his post, Kinzinger asked, “The Darkness is spreading courtesy of cowardly leaders fearful of truth. Is [this] what you want @GOP? Pastors?”
Yes, Congressman, it is what they want.
Not to be outdone, disgraced Missouri governor, Eric Greitens posted a video offering his supporters the chance to be “RINO Hunters.” The “hunting license” shown below says there is “No Bagging Limit” and “No Tagging Limit.” The ad was complete with Greitens carrying not one, but two weapons, and a squad of heavily armed, armored, and masked soldiers storming a house on the hunt.
During Tuesday’s fourth Jan. 6th Committee hearing, the through-line was once again violence. Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger, Wandrea “Shaye” Moss and her mother Lady Ruby Freeman each outlined the threats against them and their families. They related mobs arriving on their homes to remind that a mob was only steps away from inflicting harm upon them for doing their jobs, upholding their oaths, and protecting the United States Constitution.
What we’re seeing is no accident. It is the logical next step in Trump and other GOP leaders to encourage others to employ violence on their behalf, and to encourage the fear among normal citizens that comes with it. If you’re scared to leave your house, you’ll probably be too scared to vote. If you don’t vote, then those that wield force can, through illegal means, begin to choose who participates, not through legal means, but from the barrel of a gun.
During a conversation I was having with LP Senior Advisor Trygve Olson, he noted that the threats to people like Crenshaw and Kinzinger will have downstream effects on how politicians and political leaders behave. In places like Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, the early battlegrounds for the presidency, retail politics is the coin of the realm.
Sitting with 10 Iowans in a diner, or with a crowd of undecided New Hampshire voters at a VFW hall in Derry are prerequisites. For those candidates or surrogates without personal security (anyone but say, a former President of the United States or a sitting governor) means leaving yourself and voters open to the whims of modern-day brownshirts – political thugs.
But it won’t stop there. Perhaps, candidates will believe it’s necessary to employ their own toughs to ensure they can move around, speak and otherwise campaign. What happens next? Street fights. Bloodshed. More fear. Less participation.
If it sounds un-American, that’s because it is. Think it can’t happen here? It already is. We can never allow our imagination to suffer from what we can’t comprehend. If we as Americans don’t step up to remove from office those who most benefit from its use, we’ll all be the victims of it.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]