Trump’s Late Dog Whistle
It’s increasingly likely that the US Presidential election campaign may end in violence as the far-right militia that have been courted by Trump circle the failing tycoons political career. Tonight it was announced that a Joe Biden event was cancelled after armed Trump supporters threatened the campaign bus at an event in Pfluggerville near Austin, Texas.
At a rally in Lansing Michigan this week Trump jokes about Joe Biden being shot. Slurring his words he drawled: “Three weeks in, Joey’s shot, let’s go Kamala you ready?”
Ivanka has raised $13 million in a week for father’s campaign, Roger Stone is campaigning for Doug Collins in Georgia, Kyle Rittenhouse is facing homicide charges in Wisconsin. But Trump, who is often considered a buffoon has stepped up his rhetoric as his polls slump and his days in office dwindle.
In an extraordinary speech he called Biden “a grimy, sleazy, and corrupt career politician” before going on a bizarre dog-whistle diatribe:
The keynotes of “destroying the suburbs” and a rambling incoherent slur about a liberal elite moving to “gated communities” (LOL) continued referencing them “taking your guns”.
Trumps suggestion that “there’s only one way to defend your dignity and your family and your country” — was as open and honest an appeal to his militia as his debate call to the Proud Boys and represents the dying embers of his fateful presidency. He goes on to promise a ‘law and order” second term that would mean they would “finish and win the war on MS13” and boasted that they’d “taken thousands out of our country” and in the next breath “we will completely dismantle Antifa and we will reclaim our streets”.
But while this slightly desperate attempt to portray Joe Biden as a dangerous radical seems absurd, this is true only if this is thought of as a conventional electoral ploy. But Trumps endgame may be just to sow enough anger and confusion among his base, rather than to reach out beyond it. In this sense, this is perfect pitch.
According to a report issued this week by by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) five states are facing a high risk of election-related armed violence from militia groups.
The report, entitled ‘Standing By: Right-Wing Militia Groups and the U.S. Election’ was released last Wednesday by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) in collaboration with MilitiaWatch. It cites Georgia, Michigan, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin to be at high risk of increased militia activity in the lead-up and following the 3 November election.
“There is an increasing narrative and trend that groups are organizing to ‘supplement’ the work of law enforcement or to place themselves in a narrowly defined ‘public protection’ role in parallel with police departments of a given locale”, said the report.
Whilst the Trump militia are derided as “Gravy Seals” there is no doubt that they are heavily armed emboldened and unhinged. The entire narrative created by Trump and his outriders of rights under threat and the suburbs about to be over-run by black/left/communist radicals gives permission for groups working within a hermetically-sealed sub culture.
This is an America on the brink of a fascist civil war, at the crossroads between a terminal decline and a soporific centralism. Just when you think there is no further for Trump to fall, he falls further. Everything about his psychological makeup suggests he will burn the country down rather than leave office with any dignity. You think 2020 can’t get any worse?
Watch this space.
By Mike Small
Published on 31st October 2020
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