Yes, They Really Are Talking About Becoming Terrorists
Note: Below is the second of this week’s free articles on the Banter newsletter. There are two must read stories for Banter Subscribers this week also. First: BANTER SPECIAL REPORT: The Spectacular Meltdown Of Glenn Greenwald, and second: The Mass Delusion Of The Red Hats. You can get a month free below and unlock the articles!:
by Justin Rosario
The Mueller report. The Democratic primaries. The 2020 Census. Trump’s latest twitter tantrum. The opioid epidemic. Republican corruption. The torture of Latino children at the border. The impending ban on abortion. The exploding debt and deficit. The renewed push for war with Iran. Trump’s idiotic trade wars.
I could go on like this until the heat death of the universe, but you get the general idea. There is a never-ending parade of news demanding your attention right now. Who has time to pay attention to the broader picture the American right wing is painting right before our eyes?
You know which picture I’m talking about, right? The one where they’re psychologically preparing themselves to become violent terrorists? Oh? Did you lose sight of that? Again?
Allow me to refresh your memory. Again:
A Washington state Republican politician took part in private discussions with rightwing figures about carrying out surveillance, “psyops” and even violent attacks on perceived political enemies, according to chat records obtained by the Guardian.
The Republican in question is none other than close friend of The Banter, Washington State Representative Matt Shea:
State Rep. Matt Shea of Spokane Valley in conservative eastern Washington has been under fire since he acknowledged in a Facebook video last week that he had distributed the four-page document titled, "Biblical Basis for War" to some of his supporters.
The document condemns abortion and same-sex marriage and describes how those who don't follow biblical law should be punished. At one point, the document says, "If they do not yield, kill all males."
Yeah. That guy.
These chats occurred back in 2017 and the pretense behind these planned acts of violence revolved around the fantasy that Antifa was going to riot in the streets on November 4th of that year. And these mighty warriors of God were going to be ready!
Hilarious that they think “exposing” Antifa to friends and parents will do anything. Can you imagine the conversation? “You fight fascists?” “Yes.” “Good job!” “Thanks!” Only inside the Fox News bubble of bullshit would opposing fascism be considered embarrassing.
But as you can see, the conversation went right to terrorism, because of course it did. That’s what it is when you “catch a few of them alone and work him over a little bit.” When you plot to hunt people down and hurt them for their politics, that’s literally the definition of terrorism.
Naturally, since we’re talking about God’s warriors, violent misogyny is not far away. When discussing a woman the group of manly men were planning on stalking surveilling, they went full Clockwork Orange:
It’s amazing how vile the right is when they don’t think anyone is paying attention. But, honestly, this kind of depravity is not reserved for private chat rooms. Drop into the comment sections of Breitbart or Stormfront (as if there were a difference) and you’ll see the same level of sadism and misogyny. And just to be clear what kind of people we are dealing with, they talked about going after children:
One does not need to target the daycare centers of “rioters” unless one is planning on doing something to their children. The most charitable reading of this is that they were planning on scaring the “rioters” by letting them know their children were vulnerable. Again, we’re deep into terrorism territory.
No Surprises
Should we be surprised in the slightest by this? If you had read and remembered Shea’s “Biblical Basis for War,” you’d know that there is nothing out of bounds when you’re acting in accordance with “God’s will.” If you ever wondered how Muslim terrorists could blow themselves up along with buildings filled with children, you’re looking at exactly how that dialogue plays out.
If the internet had been more prevalent back in 1995, I promise you, we would have found private chats just like this leading up to Timothy McVeigh murdering 168 innocent people including 19 children, one as young as three months old. It would have all been there. The casual disregard for human life. The eagerness to inflict harm. The psychological reinforcement from others telling him that he was the hero of the story.
But this is not how the story begins. We are way past the introduction and the first chapters. We are deep into the middle of the story and rushing towards the third act with its violent climax.
Militias Are Operating Openly In America
For the last several weeks, a heavily armed militia has been kidnapping allegedly thousands of people crossing the border and holding them at gunpoint until government agents would come and take them. At no point did it seem to occur to these agents to arrest the members of this militia. That alone should terrify you. That puts us squarely in the realm of Brown Shirts.
But when public outcry finally forced the FBI to do something, the leader of this militia claimed that he and his band of terrorists-in-training had been getting ready for something bigger:
"Hopkins also allegedly made the statement that the United Constitutional Patriots were training to assassinate George Soros, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama, because of these individuals' support of Antifa," the complaint said, referring to so-called anti-fascist activists.
Does anyone seriously think they would have stopped there? The thing about terrorism is that it never runs out of enemies. There’s always someone new to hate, someone new to kill. The “Other” is eternal and so is the hate.
The right wing keeps telling us who they are. Trump tells them every day who those enemies are and they are quite literally foaming at the mouth to spill blood.
Several of the most recent right wing terrorists have been quite open about their intent to start a war. The two Las Vegas killers from the Bundy standoff screamed “This is the start of a revolution!” before opening fire. The Charleston killer admitted he was hoping to start a race war. The killer with the sword in New York said the same thing.
White Power Is Not So Powerful
Angry racist white men know that their power is waning. All of their gerrymandering, voter suppression, and election rigging is slowly failing. With it goes their unearned privilege and if they cannot overthrow the American democracy that allows minorities an equal say, they will never consummate their fantasy of Making America Great Again' for only angry racist white men.
And so they prepare for war against the United States in the name of “freedom” and “patriotism” and “God”, fueled by Right Wing Talk Radio, Fox News, and Donald Trump.
If the next left leaning president does not survive at least one assassination attempt, much less multiple attempts, it will be astonishing. Because according to mainstream conservatives there is no such thing as a legitimate Democratic president. The Democratic Party can never legally govern this country. Not now. Not any more.
The Tip Of The Iceberg
Matt Shea is just the tip of the iceberg. There are many other monsters out there just like him. Some will use their religion to rationalize their atrocities. Others will wrap themselves in the flag as they drive trucks into crowds. Still others will simply acknowledge the core reality that they are at war against an America that treats brown skin as equal to white and that will be all the justification they need to terrorize their fellow citizens.
It’s important that we not lose sight of what’s coming while we deal with the equally real emergencies in front of us. There are sensible steps to be taken to mitigate the nightmare to come that need to be discussed. If we don’t take them, we risk overreacting and creating more extremism, giving power back to a Republican Party that has proven incapable of not abusing it.
The right will turn to terrorism. How we face it will determine the future of our country.
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