thugs Archives - Ramblin' with Roger

Thugs are usually associated with, er, a certain demographic. For me, when 13 people were charged in a plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, the term “thugs” came to mind.

In the spring of 2020, folks with guns gathered in Lansing to decry the governor’s stay-at-home order to try to stop COVID-19. Some brought signs that read ‘Tyrants Get The Rope.”
And IMPOTUS egged them on. “[She] should give a little.” Obviously, this is a different response than his reaction to other protests in America in 2020.

Governor Whitmer said, “When our leaders speak, their words matter. They carry weight. When our leaders meet, encourage, or fraternize with domestic terrorists, they legitimize their actions and they are complicit. When they stoke and contribute to hate speech, they are complicit.” The accused Michigan terrorists also discussed ’Taking Out’ Virginia Governor Ralph Northam.

But, wait! There’s more!

Beyond the plot of kidnapping, a mock trial, and possible assassination, there are more disturbing elements. There were additional plans to blow up a bridge near her home to delay law enforcement response. Another idea involved killing “police officers in the hope that Black Lives Matter supporters would be blamed, thus sparking a new civil war.”

The Michigan contingent is “very cozy with law enforcement—including Barry County Sheriff Dar Leaf.” Leaf, in fact, said, the accused terrorists were within their rights to conduct a citizen’s “arrest” of Gov. Whitmer.

Take a listen. Fox 17 reporter “Aaron Parseghian caught up with Leaf to get his thoughts” on the men facing charges. He expressed no regrets “appearing on stage with these men at a May 16 rally in opposition to the lockdown orders.

“Leaf belongs to a far-right fringe group who call themselves the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officer Association (CSPOA). If that sounds familiar, it’s because some of the whackiest and cruelest sheriffs in the news over recent years all belong to this organization.” This includes “the Trump-loving disgraced former Milwaukee sheriff, David Clarke.” He’s the black guy with lots of medallions who was at the 2016 Republic National Convention.

“In short, they (wrongly) believe the Constitution gives them the ultimate authority in their county and that they can enforce—or not enforce—whatever laws they want. They also frequently espouse anti-government views. Like many of today’s far-right groups, their ideas are founded in white supremacy.”

Of course, the defense says Gov. Whitmer kidnap plot was just ‘big talk between crackpots’. Ah yes, boys being boys. Or thugs.

The oddest political statement this weekend may have come from Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on Sunday. He said he’s not entirely sure why white supremacists, neo-Nazis and other groups feel DJT is sympathetic to their cause, that “they believe they have a friend in Donald Trump.”

The mayor of Charlottesville, VA knows why: There is a “direct line” between how President Donald Trump’s campaign played on the nation’s “worst prejudices” and the rioting that ended in the deaths of three people in his city, plus lots of other violence, Mayor Mike Signer said Sunday. “Look at the campaign he ran,” Signer told Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I mean, look at the intentional courting, both on the one hand of all these white supremacists, white nationalists, a group like that, anti-Semitic groups, and then look on the other hand the repeated failure to step up, condemn, denounce, silence… put to bed all those different efforts, just like we saw [Saturday].”

Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke knows why: At the start of “Unite the Right” rally kicked off in Charlottesville, Virginia, Duke said the gathering of white supremacists, neo-Nazis and far-right individuals pointed to a future fulfillment of Trump’s “promises.” For instance, when he picked Steve Bannon, who had been executive chair of “Breitbart News, a far-right news, opinion, and commentary website,” to participate in his campaign and then become his White House chief strategist.

Graham urged the Donald to immediately condemn the hate groups. “They are enemies of freedom,” but DJT “missed an opportunity” in his comments Saturday to disavow any relationship with racist organizations.

Or as John Oliver coarsely put it, ‘Idiot’ Trump Managed To Screw Up Disavowing Nazis. “Nazis are a lot like cats. If they like you, it’s probably because you’re feeding them.” Yet, DJT was able to lash out at an African-American C.E.O. who quit an advisory panel over the response to Charlottesville.

Meanwhile, several Republicans, including Orrin Hatch, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, and even First Daughter Ivanka Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence, had strongly denounced the white supremacists and their allies, as did the chancellor of Germany. The “evil attack” by a driver on a crowd of counterprotesters in Charlottesville was domestic terrorism, the attorney general said.

When the White House offered its weak tea rejection of the Nazis and their allies, Duke warned Trump, “Remember it was white Americans who put you in the presidency.” Trump did eventually recite something, too little and too late.

I understand that we need to talk to each other, but what does one say to someone at the rally so utterly oblivious to his xenophobia? These are people who fancy themselves the victims of the so-called politically correct assault on American democracy, “a false narrative that helped propel Mr. Trump to victory. Each feeds on the same demented lies about race and justice that corrupt true democracy and erode real liberty.”

Here a map of hate groups in the United States. It is mourning in America. “God” Responds To White Supremacist Terrorists.

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