The MAGA Rally At Madison Square Garden Was A Signal For Violence
Something to keep in the back of your mind while you read this: The FBI is investigating after early Monday morning fires were set in ballot drop boxes in Portland, Oregon, and in nearby Vancouver, Washington, where hundreds of ballots were destroyed.
Right after the Madison Square Garden MAGA rally, Heather Cox Richardson wrote that she had been expecting an October surprise based on “the reality that Trump’s mental state had slipped so badly he could not campaign in any coherent way. It turns out that the 2024 October surprise was the Trump campaign’s fascist rally at Madison Square Garden, a rally so extreme that Republicans running for office have been denouncing it all over social media tonight. There was never any question that this rally was going to be anything but an attempt to inflame Trump’s base. The plan for a rally at Madison Square Garden itself deliberately evoked its predecessor: a Nazi rally at the old Madison Square Garden on February 20, 1939. About 18,000 people showed up for that “true Americanism” event, held on a stage that featured a huge portrait of George Washington in his Continental Army uniform flanked by swastikas.
Like that earlier event, Trump’s rally was supposed to demonstrate power and inspire his base to violence. Apparently in anticipation of the rally, Trump on Friday night replaced his signature blue suit and red tie with the black and gold of the neofascist Proud Boys.”
Among the MAGAts who spoke were J.D. Vance, MAGA Mike, Elise Stefanik, Byron Donalds, Elon Musk, Rudy Giuliani, RFK Jr, Tucker Carlson, Stephen Miller, Tony Hinchcliffe, Melania, Don Jr. Eric Trump & the wife, Lara… and others. Miller’s claim that “America is for Americans and Americans only” directly echoed the statement of Adolf Hitler that "Germany is for Germans and Germans only.”
“Trump,” wrote Richardson, “perhaps gave away the game with his inflammatory language and with an aside, seemingly aimed at House speaker Johnson. ‘I think with our little secret we are gonna do really well with the House, right? Our little secret is having a big impact, he and I have a secret, we will tell you what it is when the race is over,’ Trump said. It seems possible— probable, even— that Trump was alluding to putting in play the plan his people tried in 2020. That plan was to create enough chaos over the certification of electoral votes in the states to throw the election into the House of Representatives. There, each state delegation gets a single vote, so if the Republicans have control of more states than the Democrats, Trump could pull out a victory even if he had dramatically lost the popular vote. Since he has made virtually no effort to win votes in 2024, this seems his likely plan. But to do that, he needs at least a plausibly close election, or at least to convince his supporters that the election has been stolen from him. Tonight’s rally badly hurt that plan.”
Bill Kristol noted that with the Hatefest at the Garden, MAGA had put its ugliest foot forward. “Trump himself didn’t shy away from demagogic incitement, especially as you’d expect against dark-skinned immigrants. ‘A lot of people are coming from the Congo prisons,’ he declared on stage. But he was also happy to attack Americans of any color or national origin who oppose his campaign: ‘They are indeed the enemy from within,’ and ‘the most sinister and corrupt forces on earth.’ This was the grand finale of the Trump campaign, personally insisted upon by him, paid for and produced by his campaign. This wasn’t Trump appearing at an event sponsored by a wacky local party or a goofy affiliated group, where the crazed speakers were locally produced farm-to-table types. This was 100 percent Grade-A Trumpism. This is what they wanted people to see. Last night, at Madison Square Garden, they presented to us Donald Trump’s vision for America.”
But this problem isn’t just a madhouse one-night rally. Trump is getting his MAGA militia ready for election violence. Brandy Zadrozny, writing for NBC News, reported that “U.S. intelligence agencies have identified domestic extremists with grievances rooted in election-relterd conspiracy theories, including beliefs in widespread voter fraud and animosity toward perceived political opponents, as the most likely threat of violence in the coming election. In a Joint Intelligence Bulletin that was not distributed publicly but was reviewed by NBC News, agents from the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security warn state and local law enforcement agencies that domestic violent extremists seeking to terrorize and disrupt the vote are a threat to the election and throughout Inauguration Day. The report identified the potential targets as candidates, elected officials, election workers, members of the media and judges involved in election cases. The potential threats include physical attacks and violence at polling places, ballot drop boxes, voter registration locations and rallies and campaign events... Perceptions of election fraud are a “prominent narrative” for extremists who have targeted government and election officials, with at least three domestic extremist attacks and two disrupted plots being linked to such false claims since Jan. 6., according to the report. Intelligence agents also listed immigration, LGBTQ issues, abortion and the failed assassination attempts against Trump as motivations for recent calls for violence from extremists.”
A report in yesterday's NY Times, Far-Right Figures Escalate Talk of Retribution and Election Subversion, just before the MAGAts burned ballot boxes filled with ballots in Portland and Vancouver, Washington, emphasized that MAGA psychopath— who isn’t in prison, why?— has threatened that “hell” will be unleashed Señor Trumpanzee wins.” You read that right. This isn’t about the sore losers who will turn violent if Trump loses. This is about his allies who are very serious about revenge against America. Oh, don’t worry… Flynn and his cronies, like Nazi lunatic Ivan Raiklin “are warning that this year’s election will be stolen from Trump, advising supporters to take action to prevent a theft and vowing retribution once Trump is back in power.” Flynn told a Pennsylvania gathering of extremists in Pennsylvania this month that once Trump is back in power, “Katie, bar the door. Believe me, the gates of hell— my hell— will be unleashed.”
Charles Homans and Alexandra Berzon wrote that Raiklin is already urging violence against state Reps in Harrisburg when Trump loses. “Raiklin also called on Republican-held state legislatures to withhold their electors in the event of a Trump loss that Republicans consider illegitimate.” That’s illegal as of passage of the Electoral Count Reform Act, the bipartisan law passed in 2022 after Trump’s attempted coup. It passed the Senate 68-29, only right-wing fanatics like Ted Cruz (R-TX), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Rick Scott (R-FL), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Mike Lee (R-UT), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) and Rand Paul (R-KY) voting against it. “Trump has occasionally signaled his ongoing endorsement of Flynn’s activities and hinted at a place for him in a future administration, though only vaguely.”
maybe trump should go back to san juan and throw them some more paper towels.
Sure. There are several strategeries they can and will employ. They will challenge corrupt pussies to stop them. They won't. They never have.
And an unindicted treasonous insurrectionist, ineligible to run or serve as per our "goddamn piece of paper" will either win or steal the white house because... nobody ever did their fucking job and stopped him nor elected anyone who would.
once again, evil will flourish because the "less evil" did nothing.