The MAGA terror has begun
Their leader is glorifying political violence and weaponizing the threat of it.
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Donald Trump spent the first week of his second term using the presidency to glorify political violence and weaponize the threat of it against anyone who might consider criticizing him.
Trump pulled the security detail from former chief White House medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is an enemy of MAGA thanks to his efforts to fight covid. He also ended security details for his former National Security Advisor John Bolton and his former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, both of whom have been targeted by Iran because they worked to advance Trump’s hard-line policies during his first term.
Bolton of course is an outspoken Trump critic, but Pompeo campaigned for his former boss just last fall. Trump repaid him by using mobster logic to justify endangering his wellbeing, cold-bloodedly telling reporters who asked him last week about the decision to pull the security detail that “there’s risks to everything.” (Watch below.)
Trump claims that the withdrawal of security is a cost saving measure, but we know better. (He’s giving back pay to troops discharged over the covid vax, after all.) He’s settling scores and letting everyone within the government, past and present, know that the price of protection is loyalty to him. This is a not a new tactic for Trump, who has often used implicit or explicit threats against his opponents.
Democracies are democracies in large part because they forswear violence; political parties and actors are supposed to settle their conflicts at the ballot box. Authoritarians, by contrast, address political disagreement through terror.
The US has not always behaved as a democracy. During Jim Crow, vigilante groups like the KKK colluded with state authorities in lynchings, bombings, and other violent methods designed to terrorize Black people. Trump is attempting to revivify this American tradition by frightening his critics into silence.
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Putting a target on Dems (but not just Dems)
Trump’s moves against Fauci and company last week were overshadowed by his pardons of about around 1,500 people convicted of crimes in connection with the January 6 insurrection, including some who brutally beat cops. Trump also commuted the sentences of individuals associated with violent rightwing groups and convicted of seditious conspiracy related to their involvement in the attack on the Capitol, including Proud Boy leader Enrique Tarrio, who had been sentenced to 22 years, and Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who was sentenced to 18 years.
Sen. Chris Murphy denounced the pardons on the Senate floor in a speech highlighting the danger of Trump taking the country down this road.
“If you are engaged in violence to further Donald Trump’s political career, then you face no consequences,” Murphy said. “What happened this week is that political violence got mainstreamed in America … if they attack Democratic officials, and they’re doing it to support Donald Trump, they are likely immune … I’m just going to say it: it puts Democrats’ lives in jeopardy in particular.” (Watch below.)
The language of violence infuses Trump’s vocabulary more than ever. For instance, asked about Adam Schiff during a press event last week, Trump daydreamed about him being brutally assaulted, saying “I saw him last night on television. It looks like he got hit by a baseball bat or something. What happened to him? It look like he got beat around." (Watch below.)
Openly smirking about violence against political rivals in this way is an open signal to Trump’s fans. His base hears him loud and clear.
Trump would no doubt argue that his remarks about Schiff are just an innocent joke, and that he released J6 protestors in the name of justice, not as a threat. But excuses and deflections are not very convincing given his history.
Over his decade in political life, Trump has consistently embraced terror as a way to silence critics and boost his own power. He regularly uses inflammatory personal attacks as a way to target those he deems enemies, knowing full well that his rabid MAGA fanbase is eager to threaten (and worse) those he deems enemies.
The examples here are so ubiquitous it’s impossible to mention all of them in one piece. But to cite just a few cases: In 2015, Trump expressed support for white attackers who kicked and punched a Black protestor at one of his rallies. In 2019, he fired off an inflammatory tweet falsely and despicably linking Rep. Ilhan Omar (a Muslim) to the 9/11 terror attacks; she started receiving daily, horrific death threats. In 2022, Trump suggested that Paul Pelosi, husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, had it coming when he was attacked by a man wielding a hammer — a man who was a Trump supporter inspired in part by Trump’s demonization of his wife.
The most obvious past example of Trumpist terror, of course, is the January 6 coup attempt. On that date in 2021, Trump used his social media platforms and speech to incite a mob to storm the Capitol. There, they assaulted police officers and threatened the lives of lawmakers. As many as nine people died in the violence and its aftermath.
In particular, Trump incited rioters to attack his vice president, Mike Pence, who refused to aid in illegally overthrowing the election. In private with his staff, Trump signaled support for insurrectionists who said they wanted to murder Pence.
Trump seems to enjoy bullying and threatening others. But terror is not just a personal passion for him — it’s a tactic. He has made sure that those who oppose him, whether Republican or Democrat, have to weigh not just political factors, but also whether they’re willing to endure a torrent of threats.
Mitt Romney said that after January 6, he spoke to a number of Republican members of Congress who wanted to impeach and convict Trump, but would not vote to hold him accountable because they feared violent reprisals against their families. GOP voters and local officials have said that they worry about ostracism and bullying if they speak up against Trump.
Make America Violent Again
As mentioned above, this turn to terror is not exactly unprecedented in US history. The country has flirted (and more than flirted) with authoritarian violence in the past.
Before the Civil War, abolitionists were frequently assaulted by racist pro-slavery mobs who targeted printing presses and newspaper offices. Leading anti-slavery Sen. Charles Sumner of Massachusetts was famously assaulted with a cane by South Carolina Rep. Preston Brooks. Sumner was so badly injured he couldn’t return to the Senate for three years. Brooks only received a $300 fine; he resigned his seat but was quickly reelected.
By making sure that people like Brooks could commit violence with impunity, white supremacists encouraged further attacks and implicitly threatened all who opposed slavery. The goal was to ensure that abolitionists could not write articles, speak in public, or even debate in Congress without fear. Thus, the great prison camp of the South was maintained and policed not just by violence against enslaved people themselves, but by the sweeping threat of violence and terror against anyone, white or Black, who dared defy the slave power. This is what totalitarianism, and terror, looked like in the 19th century.
The 21st century is different in numerous ways. We should not necessarily expect mob assaults on newspapers, though Trump is trying to silence journalists through lawsuits. Nor is it likely these days that legislators will brawl on the House or Senate floor, though at least one Republican has threatened a Democratic colleague in recent weeks.
But while some things have changed, Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan expresses a heartfelt wish to reverse history. Trump would like, in particular, to go back to a time 200 years ago, or 100 years ago, or even more recently, when, if you dissented from white supremacy, or criticized the ruling elite, you would be targeted for physical violence.
MAGA has shown over and over that it is a party of terror. The first week of Trump’s second term indicates we should expect more of it over the next four years.
That’s it for today
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Thanks for reading.
Surely its time now to speak loudly and clearly: there's no way a man like this won an election fairly and without interference.
All I can add- God help us. I am thankful that my parents are no longer alive, sparing them another 4 years of Trump- this does not reflect the country that my father signed up at age 17 to defend in WW2