They’ll Settle For Nothing But Total Control or Civil War
The sooner we accept that fact, the better
During the protests following the killing of George Floyd, the smoke from the fires was blowing through our South Minneapolis home, as choppers circled above for weeks. It was our police precinct that burned. Our favorite restaurant was torched into a pile of smoldering ash. Our post office was, too, along with many other shops and business that were our normal stomping grounds. (See photos and videos below)
A friend who worked in a medic tent to give aid to protesters was pepper-sprayed by police, inside the medic tent, for trying to give aid to a wounded peaceful protester. We and friends throughout the neighborhoods affected by the chaos stayed up into the early mornings in online chats tracking the movements of white supremacists who had poured into our community for the expressed purpose of using the protests in order to ignite a race war, because right-wing militia groups like the Boogaloo Boys have been begging to re-do the American Civil War for decades. As Minneapolis Police were busy kettling peaceful protesters for simply breaking the curfew that was put in place, they allowed SUV’s with no license plates full of white men to speed down our street, which was a main route between different protest locations.
The first time we heard of the “Umbrella Man” was on Facebook. A friend of ours was live posting on Facebook from the protests and was commenting on a number of young white men who seemed to be acting suspiciously and who she suspected were up to something. She said they did not seem to be participating in the protest and were systematically damaging and destroying property. She began photographing them and posting the images and videos to her Facebook feed. One of the men she photographed turned out to be known as the Umbrella Man, who was a white male, wearing a gas mask and photographed and video taped by many carrying an umbrella and walking casually past businesses along Lake Street, where the worst of the damage occurred, while smashing window after window with a sledge hammer and igniting fires. His actions were not those of an angry protester. They looked more like an efficient, thoughtfully planned arsonist. It turned out that he was identified as being part of a white supremacist/nationalist group called Aryan Cowboy Brotherhood and that others from various militia groups, including, but not limited to, the Boogaloo Boys, The Aryan Cowboy Brotherhood, the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers were largely responsible for the destruction and violence that most of the nation mistakingly blamed on Black Lives Matter protesters.
A congressional report states that more than eighty percent of the people charged with violent crimes actually came into Minneapolis from outside the state with the goal of stirring up this kind of trouble. Men like Ivan Harrison Hunter of Texas, and a member of the Boogaloo Boys, who boasted online about driving from Texas to Minnesota to shoot up the Minneapolis Police 3rd Precinct, was one of many.
These white nationalist and white supremacist groups are the same ones, along with others, that gathered together about three years earlier for the infamous “Unite the Right Rally” in Charlottesville, Virginia, where a counter protester was killed, and where MAGA hats were a common sight, as were actual Nazis.
These are the same groups, expressing hope for a race war or civil war, that regularly commit acts of terrorism and violence, that are commonly referred to as domestic terrorists by federal law enforcement, that our current president, aka #3, famously referred to as “very fine people” and who he drew to Washington, DC on January 6, 2021 in order to attempt a violent coup against our government. It is also worth remembering that two of these terrorist organizations, that participated in and led the violence, were there on the payrolls of two of #3’s friends, Roger Stone and Alex Jones. They are also the same people he pardoned for their violent crimes that day and who he often refers to as “his people.”
In spite of all of this evidence, most people seem blissfully unaware that what we have happening right now is a hostile takeover of our Government by violent terrorists, that our own government officials have called our greatest terrorist threat, and that have been planning a civil war for decades. It seems fantastical to imagine that they would give up their decades-long fantasy of controlling this nation, or igniting a civil war, particularly since they have now been fully embraced by the entire Republican Party, and have even been celebrated when they have killed protesters (like when Kyle Rittenhouse got a standing ovation at CPAC) and the Democratic Party has done little more than politely offer tea while handing over the keys to the White House, even though the evidence is clear that #3 didn’t even win the 2024 election. Meanwhile, he is also saying he want to be president for life, and is working on plans to try to make that actually happen.
Whatever we are collectively going to do about all of that better start soon. This new terroristic administration is openly taking a sledge hammer to our entire government, stripping people of their rights, and pocketing massive amounts of cash for themselves and their friends. The longer we wait to stop them, the harder it is going to be.
The first step is accepting and acknowledging the reality of how really, really bad it all is. Sadly, this is the basic fact: they will accept only one of two options, either total fascistic control of everything or the civil war they have been begging for. Those are the only two choices their side is clearly offering. The sooner we accept that reality, the better because if we are going to avoid being forced into making one of those impossibly bad and destructive choices, and chart a different (and better) course forward, we are going to have to start NOW, with strong, bold actions to do things like the following:
Identifying vulnerable Republicans in the House and Senate. Currently, Republicans hold only a 3 vote majority in the House. Flipping 2 or more by convincing them to join the Democrats would give control of the House to them. In the Senate, the Republicans only have a 6 seat majority. Flipping 3 or more would give control of the Senate to Democrats. We need to identify the Republicans in those chambers most vulnerable to losing their seats and convince them they do not want the stench of this destructive MAGA attached to them for the rest of their lives, or risk at some point in the future possibly being hauled into some sort of Nuremberg-like trial sometime down the road.
Democrats in both chambers need to target these vulnerable Republicans with bold and decisive action. No more tea and crumpets. Tell their constituents what these Republicans are actually up to and rile up their constituents to also take bold action, including inspiring direct, political protest in their districts. Recent bold confrontations at some local town hall meetings between constituents and their representatives are encouraging signs of this beginning to happen.
Voters need to take to the streets, particularly in the districts of these vulnerable Republicans. Send the message that if they keep going along with the Republicans, then they are fully responsible for what is happening now and what will happen in the future. Recent protests across the country are another encouraging sign.
Send this podcast and blog to your contacts and ask that they do the same.
The time for sitting back and hoping someone does something is over. We cannot do that any more. It is time for action, or our available window to act will have past. It is just that bad. The courageous folks in our neighborhood who took to the streets to protest the killing of George Floyd are an example of what ordinary people can do. Social change is oftentimes messy and stressful. Tell that to your Senators and Representatives. Also tell your Democratic Senators and Representatives that if they wont start actively fighting this shit, then you will work to replace them in the next round of primaries with someone who will. Our democracy is at stake. Finally, tell your representatives if they do not act now when things get worse, you are going to scream in their face, “We fucking told you so.”
Some photos & videos of our neighborhood following the George Floyd protest. Damage is complements of right-wing terrorists that enjoy the full support of our current administration.
Click a photo to see it full sized
Businesses along Lake Street in Minneapolis following the arson done by white supremacists working to blame the violence on Black Lives Matter protesters.