Donald Trump and Michael Flynn's goading of violence cannot go unchecked
Donald Trump, Steve Bannon, Tucker Carlson, Michael Flynn and the other leaders of the American neofascist movement are very generous, in their own sinister fashion. They make their escalating threats of right-wing violence, insurrection and other forms of mayhem in public. There is little skulduggery or subterfuge involved.
Why are they so bold? Because they have suffered no serious long-term negative consequences for their behavior. And for the most part, the Republican fascists and the larger white right are winning in their war against American democracy. Momentum is on their side. Why should they conceal their intentions?
When disaster follows — be it some version of Jan. 6 (which is almost inevitable) or other acts of right-wing terror — the American people and their leaders will not be able to claim ignorance. They have repeatedly been warned and have chosen to ignore those warnings.
Last Saturday at a rally in Florence, South Carolina, Donald Trump continued with his threats of white supremacist violence. He suggested that his political cult members should enter into a lethal blood pact and fight an existential battle against the phantasm of "critical race theory" as proof of their loyalty:
Getting critical race theory out of our schools is not just a matter of values, it's also a matter of national survival. We have no choice…. The fate of any nation ultimately depends upon the willingness of its citizens to lay down — and they must do this — lay down their very lives to defend their country…. If we allow the Marxists and communists and socialists to teach our children to hate America, there will be no one left to defend our flag or protect our great country or its freedom.
Trump's commands are part of a larger pattern of behavior. At recent rallies in Arizona and Texas, he made similar hints at a "race war", and other appeals to fascist violence. His threats are becoming ever clearer and less veiled: His suggestion that his followers must be willing to die in order to stop the imaginary threat of "critical race theory" almost directly echo the infamous neo-Nazi "14 words" slogan and pledge.
How did the American mainstream news media respond to Trump's most recent white supremacist threats of violence and "race war"? For the most part, they ignored it. If an obligatory comment was offered about Trump's hate rally in South Carolina, it was derisive. Those reporters who did write about Trump's speech defaulted to obsolescent and dangerous habits of "horse race" political journalism, or whitewashing Trump's speech by focusing on "policy issues" or his signals that he is likely to run for president again in 2024. Such an approach normalizes, and therefore empowers, Trumpism and neofascism.
America's mainstream news media and larger political class continue to demonstrate that they are unwilling to respond to the escalating threats posed by the Trump movement and the larger white right.
Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser and U.S. Army general turned coup plotter, spoke last weekend at a "ReAwaken America" event in Southern California that brought together election-fraud truthers, QAnon adherents and other conspiracy theorists. He also threatened violence against educators who resist the Republican moral panic over "critical race theory":they are unwilling to respond to the escalating threats posed by the Trump movement and the larger white right.
We need you to charge the machine gun nest…. Maybe I'm just asking you to dig a little bit deeper there or hold this side of the line, or form up cause we're gonna counterattack over here, and that counterattack is, we're gonna go after school boards.
Flynn's summoning of violence was not random hyperbole: He was an intelligence officer and is a trained expert in psy-ops, propaganda and manipulation.
Ron Filipkowski, a former federal prosecutor and an expert on right-wing extremism, was among the first people to sound the alarm about Flynn's recent comments. He offered further context in an email to Salon:
Flynn's general message is that there is a global cabal that runs the world, which is controlled by elites who want to erode national sovereignty. The supposed global elites use the media, universities and other institutions to manipulate and control the population. Part of these claims is that there is a "deep state" of career civil servants and government officials who really run things and that elected officials do not.
I am most concerned with supervisor of elections and secretary of state races. These officials in swing states, most of whom were establishment Republicans, refused to go along with the Big Lie and did their duty in 2020. That is why it is a high priority for Trump, Flynn, Bannon and others to replace them. These are low profile and low dollar races that can be won with far less effort than others. These are also races that the GOP is intensely focused on and the Democrats are not. If election fraud conspiracy theorists take over the offices that run and administer our elections, coupled with all the new "voter fraud" legislation, that would be a huge threat to the survival of our democracy.
