Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 07:02 pm
*The following is an opinion column by R Muse*
Because the media is terrified of reporting on Trump’s embrace of serious extremists, both white supremacists and armed patriots, the Donald has had no fear inserting them directly into his campaign and the Republican establishment. And yes, appointing white supremacists and members of armed patriot groups as delegates to the Republican National Convention is inserting them directly into the party establishment; not unlike Bernie Sanders appointing anti-Obama extremist Cornel West to the Democratic platform committee, but that’s the subject of another article.
Last month Hannah Gais reported on a troubling sign that Trump appealed to and legitimized the “white-collar, white power” movement and specifically noted a meeting of the National Policy Institute (NPI). NPI is allegedly a conservative “think tank” but it does not conform to the definition of a typical Washington think tank, even among conservatives.
NPI appeals to white nationalists who are flocking to join its “innocuously named Identity Politics” movement. It doesn’t take a genius to comprehend exactly what “identity” Trump devotees cling to. They are the white nationalist, white pride, and white power activists who welcome a race war and likely see Donald Trump as their long-awaited KKK hero in the White House.
One of Trump’s intentions, according to NPI director Richard Spencer, is to “smash the system ‘stacked against’ white Americans.” Trump will accomplish that feat by breaking down the government that is blocking good white Americans’ fight against the disease of multiculturalism. Apparently one of Trump’s greatest appeals is his non-establishment freedom to “cut to the core issues important to real Americans; implicitly white issues that will Make America Great Again.”
It is likely why the Southern Poverty Law Center has described the NPI as the “suit-and-tie version of the white supremacists of old.” It is also why NPI’s racist director Spencer told Trump supporters “thank god for Donald J. Trump” to wild cheers over his non-stop attacks on immigrants and people of color. It is why he has easily cemented his reputation as the de facto leader of the Aryan and patriot movement; a dangerous mixture the media ignores at the nation’s peril.
Although mainstream media is relatively silent on Trump’s inclusion of racists and “anti-government patriots” into his campaign, this week Mother Jones was not. They reported that one of Trump’s acolytes who was appointed as a delegate to the GOP convention, a maniac named David Riden, said that “current government leaders may need to be killed” for not abiding by the militia movement’s interpretation of the Constitution. It is noteworthy that Riden is not the only member of the so-called “Patriot Movement” supporting Trump.
Another Trump supporter appointed as a delegate to the Republican National Convention, Caleb A. Baily, was recently indicted on federal weapons and child pornography charges. Federal investigators raided Bailey’s 75-acre compound and reported they found a “fortified subterranean room under his home stocked with grenades, tear gas, and illegal machine guns;” there is little doubt why a Trump supporter was stashing weapons of war, and despite what the Trump campaign said, the Bailey family’s anti-government mindset is well-known.
The latest Trump delegate and so-called patriot Riden said that Trump is well aware of his anti-government stance that includes claiming “all three branches of the US government are ‘way off away from the Constitution right now’ and that Americans may need to attack with assault weapons and bombs in the nation’s capital and elsewhere.” In an interview with Mother Jones Riden said,
“If the federal government were to follow the path of all other governments, at some point it will turn to tyranny against the people. And at that point, when it stops to uphold and abide by the Constitution—and we’re talking about the Supreme Court, Congress, and the executive branch, all three are way off away from the Constitution right now—the people have the right to assemble, bear arms, go to Washington, DC, or wherever necessary, and go into military battle against the government and replace those in government with individuals that will uphold the Constitution. The Constitution should remain, but the people that are abusing it should be, the polite word is, eliminated. The harsh word is killed. And they’re killed by American citizens with weapons. And if people have tanks, assault weapons, if they have bombs—they need to have the weaponry necessary to be able to overthrow the federal government.”
It is important to reiterate that the presumptive Republican nominee for the highest office in the land is well aware of maniacs like Riden and Bailey, and after vetting them they were appointed as trusted Trump delegates to the Republican National Convention. It leads one to wonder if Trump was referring to anti-government types when he said that if he doesn’t get the nomination, “I think you would see problems like you’ve never seen before. I think bad things would happen. I really do. I wouldn’t lead it, but I think bad things would happen.”
Now, this is not surprising, or unexpected from the likes of Trump, or his supporters. Although it has become relatively normal and un-newsworthy by many Americans, this idea of calling for assassinations and violent overthrow of the United States government is a serious threat. Trump has incited no small number of racists, and now heavily-armed patriot groups, to frenzy for their cause and it is no stretch to imagine a violent reaction and bloodshed on a massive scale if Trump does not win the White House. He will surely be the GOP nominee because no Republican will stand up to his outrageous racism and threat of violence if he cannot be dictator. He certainly has no intent to be president.
If one were a novice to politics it would be reasonable to assume all this nasty racism and threats to overthrow the government were all down to Donald Trump. However, over the past seven-and-a-half years as the white supremacist and anti-government ‘patriot’ mindset has grown it has been incited and aided by establishment Republicans. If the official Party was not stoking racism as a weapon against President Obama, they were supporting and emboldened the armed militia movement against the United States government; often vocally and with official calls for threats of armed violence against federal officials.
Donald Trump might be culpable for some of his supporters’ racial animus toward other Americans and threats to kill government officials and overthrow the government, but all the pre-production work and conditioning is the responsibility of the Republican establishment. Everything Donald Trump has said, is saying now, or is likely to say in the near future will ring true with a significant percentage of the population because the GOP has been saying the same thing for nearly eight years.
It is telling that despite claims to the contrary, Republican establishment types are dutifully lining up to support Trump and one cannot help but believe that behind closed doors they are congratulating themselves on a job well done. Trump may not have been their chosen candidate to take their racist and anti-federal government agenda to fruition, but they will support and defend him up until election day and likely after he unleashes his racist and patriot minions to do what Republicans have failed up to this point if he does not prevail in the general election; eliminate the federal government.
Image: motherjones
Born in the South, raised in the Mid-West and California for a well-rounded view of America; it doesn't look good.
Former minister, lifelong musician, Mahayana Zen-Buddhist.
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