Here are the opening paragraphs of Glenn Greenwald’s latest article, “The New Domestic War on Terror is Coming“:
The last two weeks have ushered in a wave of new domestic police powers and rhetoric in the name of fighting “terrorism” that are carbon copies of many of the worst excesses of the first War on Terror that began nearly twenty years ago. This trend shows no sign of receding as we move farther from the January 6 Capitol riot. The opposite is true: it is intensifying.
We have witnessed an orgy of censorship from Silicon Valley monopolies with calls for far more aggressive speech policing, a visibly militarized Washington, D.C. featuring a non-ironically named “Green Zone,” vows from the incoming president and his key allies for a new anti-domestic terrorism bill, and frequent accusations of “sedition,” treason,” and “terrorism” against members of Congress and citizens. This is all driven by a radical expansion of the meaning of “incitement to violence.” It is accompanied by viral-on-social-media pleas that one work with the FBI to turn in one’s fellow citizens (See Something, Say Something!) and demands for a new system of domestic surveillance.
Underlying all of this are immediate insinuations that anyone questioning any of this must, by virtue of these doubts, harbor sympathy for the Terrorists and their neo-Nazi, white supremacist ideology. Liberals have spent so many years now in a tight alliance with neocons and the CIA that they are making the 2002 version of John Ashcroft look like the President of the (old-school) ACLU . . .
An entire book could — and probably should — be written on why all of this is so concerning. For the moment, two points are vital to emphasize.
First, much of the alarmism and fear-mongering is being driven by a deliberate distortion of what it means for speech to “incite violence.” . . .
To illustrate this point, I have often cited the crucial and brilliantly reasoned Supreme Court free speech ruling in Claiborne v. NAACP. In the 1960s and 1970s, the State of Mississippi tried to hold local NAACP leaders liable on the ground that their fiery speeches urging a boycott of white-owned stores “incited” their followers to burn down stores and violently attack patrons who did not honor the protest. The state’s argument was that the NAACP leaders knew that they were metaphorically pouring gasoline on a fire with their inflammatory rhetoric to rile up and angry crowds.
But the Supreme Court rejected that argument, explaining that free speech will die if people are held responsible not for their own violent acts but for those committed by others who heard them speak and were motivated to commit crimes in the name of that cause (emphasis added)
. . .
And that is directly relevant to the second point. Continuing to process Washington debates of this sort primarily through the prism of “Democrat v. Republican” or even “left v. right” is a sure ticket to the destruction of core rights. There are times when powers of repression and censorship are aimed more at the left and times when they are aimed more at the right, but it is neither inherently a left-wing nor a right-wing tactic. It is a ruling class tactic, and it will be deployed against anyone perceived to be a dissident to ruling class interests and orthodoxies no matter where on the ideological spectrum they reside.
The last several months of politician-and-journalist-demanded Silicon Valley censorship has targeted the right, but prior to that and simultaneously it has often targeted those perceived as on the left. The government has frequently declared right-wing domestic groups “terrorists,” while in the 1960s and 1970s it was left-wing groups devoted to anti-war activism which bore that designation. In 2011, British police designated the London version of Occupy Wall Street a “terrorist” group. In the 1980s, the African National Congress was so designated. “Terrorism” is an amorphous term that was created, and will always be used, to outlaw formidable dissent no matter its source or ideology.
If you identify as a conservative and continue to believe that your prime enemies are ordinary leftists, or you identify as a leftist and believe your prime enemies are Republican citizens, you will fall perfectly into the trap set for you. Namely, you will ignore your real enemies, the ones who actually wield power at your expense: ruling class elites, who really do not care about “right v. left” and most definitely do not care about “Republican v. Democrat” — as evidenced by the fact that they fund both parties — but instead care only about one thing: stability, or preservation of the prevailing neoliberal order.
Unlike so many ordinary citizens addicted to trivial partisan warfare, these ruling class elites know who their real enemies are: anyone who steps outside the limits and rules of the game they have crafted and who seeks to disrupt the system that preserves their prerogatives and status. The one who put this best was probably Barack Obama when he was president, when he observed — correctly — that the perceived warfare between establishment Democratic and Republican elites was mostly theater, and on the question of what they actually believe, they’re both “fighting inside the 40 yard line” together
Greenwald then links to this video of Barack Obama. This point can’t be over-emphasized, but I fear that this point is invisible to the tens of millions of Americans who are convinced that U.S. politics can best be understood as a tribal pursuit between the “Left” and the “Right.” They are deeply trapped in an illusory matrix that has the viscosity of fundamentalist religion.
Greenwald’s articles are mostly only for subscribers, but this one is open to the public.
Greenwald’s readers are claiming he has taken a rightward turn and is defending Trump. Absolute rubbish. The struggle isn’t tribal or left-right, it’s between authoritarianism and liberalism. He may be the best journalist writing today. He identifies with the left, but I think that’s nostalgia. In the 1960s I identified with the left as a liberal, and my politics haven’t changed. What is now called left or liberal, though, sure has. It has done a 180 degree turn from progressive to regressive, from liberal to authoritarian, the real opposite of liberal. Conservative isn’t the opposite of liberal, it merely emphasizes different aspects of Western liberalism.
Bill, have you seen those illustrations of what people who are anorexic see in the mirror? It’s not what everyone else sees.
[https://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photos-anorexia-distorted-body-image-image2283008 – Used here with permission]
We are now having the same problem with all of the people firmly ensconced within political tribes. We are all heroes in our own stories, and those who crave the warm embrace of today’s various political tribes are blind to who they have become. It is thoroughly unapologetically Manichean every which way. Or so it seems. I think some Americans do see it for what it is, but the most vocal groups, the ones covered most saliently by the so-called news media, the one’s with the firmest grip on America’s sense-making institutions, are obtuse.
It takes “an asshole” like Glenn Greenwald to point this out. Society has always hated truth-tellers. They often need comedians to explain things to them cleverly, yet most comedians haven’t yet figured out how to put these issues into their comedy routines. Many, such as Ricky Gervais, have bemoaned that modern tribal thinking (especially woke thinking) has made it almost impossible to perform their craft. It’s even more dangerous than the emperor have no clothes. In modern politics, the masses cannot see the problem and the little child calling out the obvious cannot be heard.
One of the accepted definitions of terrorism in the U.N. is “the taking of innocents for political purposes.” I am concerned about government excesses in response to acts which many call terrorism. I am more concerned about our apparent willingness to excuse far right-wing domestic terrorist violence and insurrectionist acts as merely “tribal” and trivial.
I believe the persons that chose to physically storm, attack, enter, kill cops, threaten deadly force against innocents and were shot and killed for the same, who destroyed and stole federal property and stole mails and tried to sell stolen items to the Russians, who publicly urinated and defecated all over the indie of nation’s Capitol, assaulted others, fired shots at others and the building’s interiors, attempted to assault cops, staff and members of Congress and otherwise violated the laws, are terrorists, insurrectionists and criminals, all. I would also include among these criminals any who aided, assisted them or encouraged them in the commission of these cimes as accessories whether their acts were leadership, words to “fight for their rights” and “storm the Capitol” or guided tours to coordinate attacks in advance.
A West Point Combating Terrorism Center (CTC) study of far right-wing domestic terrorist incidents concluded there are far more right-wing domestic terrorist incidents when we have more Republicans in federal office, especially in the U.S. House.
Notably, after the insurrection and coup attempt on January 6, 2021, Republicans had made gains in the U.S. House last November.
Trump and Republicans were at the center of the hateful, false rhetoric which led to rioting on January 6, 2021, in the nation’s capitol where five died, including a Capitol Police officer who was repeatedly clubbed with a fire extinguisher and later died from his injuries!
Trump’s family called rioters “patriots.” Trump called them “very special” and said, “We love you.” Trump and the Republicans’ terrorist supporters made repeated calls for renewed violence across the nation in conjunction with the Biden Inauguration.
https://www.cnn.com/…/h_37e0fb71942937844ed4d363af9e6e2c
https://news.yahoo.com/ivanka-trump-deletes-tweet-calling…
https://www.washingtonpost.com/…/trump-twitter-protests/
The CTC study concluded we see fewer far right-wing domestic terror incidents when we’ve more Democrats in federal offices, especially as POTUS.
https://ctc.usma.edu/challengers-from-the-sidelines…/
Obama’s DHS did a study warning of far right-wing domestic terror in the U.S. but, GOP supporters of the right-wing groups spiked printing of it. It is likel;y the events of January 6, 2021 may not occurred absent Republicans’ stifling examination of their ties to far right-wing domestic violence and terrorst groups.
https://www.facingsouth.org/…/how-southern-politicians…
Since 1994, there have been 329 documented killings by far right-wing domestic terrorists and none by so-called “Antifa.”
https://www.businessinsider.com/right-wing-extremists…
Cop killings, deaths, rioting, death threats, property damage, thefts, arson, and kidnapping plots by #AlwaysTrumpers are the new normal against Congress, election officials, and governors by groups egged on by Trump and the Republicans’ violent rhetoric, with only the rarest of rebukes.
Oregon’s Capitol was stormed by heavily armed and violent protestors to disrupt election proceedings. Some were let in by a GOP legislator!
None of the heavily armed and violent white group of protesters in Oregon were shot or killed by police.
http://www.cnn.com/…/oregon-legislator-entry…/index.html
Far right-wing domestic terrorists supporting Trump and Republicans repeated and loud calls “for violence,” stormed the capitol, overwhelmed DC and capitol Police, broke into offices, including that of Speaker Pelosi, and marched half-naked through the hallways brandishing spears with Trump flags attached shouting hate speech over bull horns!
Bullets were fired into Capitol building rooms, floors, and walls which were all also smeared with feces and wetted with urine.
At the end of it all, five deaths were reported, including a Capitol Police officer who was clubbed to death with a fire extinguisher.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/…/MAGA-mob-rioters-smeared…
https://www.forbes.com/…/woman-possibly-crushed-to…/…
Missouri’s Congressional delegation lead the way on this stupidity with four House members supporting and first-term Sen. Josh Hawley, who’s trawling for support for a 2024 POTUS run, as the heir apparent to Trump.
Kansas City’s major newspaper opined Hawley has “blood on his hands” for his loud and repeated support for the insurrectionists, including giving them a terrorist fist-pump as he strode by them as they marched to lay siege to the Capitol!
https://www.kansascity.com/…/edit…/article248317375.html
https://kfor.com/…/sen-hawley-criticized-for-saluting…/
Trump, Republicans, and their supporters’ deliberate attempts to overthrow the civil society and government of our republic and are insurrectionist, treasonous, and seditious.
All the Republican efforts to illegally thwart our electoral process aid, assist and encourage home-grown terrorists to kill, destroy property, commit arsons, property damage, make death threats, conspire to interfere with and intimidate government officials’ in the performance of their official duties, and plot to kidnap and kill innocent public officials!
https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title18/part1/chapter115&edition=prelim
President Trump became the first POTUS to be impeached twice. The single Article of Impeachment passed by the U.S. House and enrolled to the Senate for trial charged Trump with “incitement to insurrection.
192 GOP House members voted against impeachment; many claimed they were afraid they might be killed if they voted to support impeachment and let the terrorists win!
10 GOP House members voted to impeach Trump.
https://www.cnn.com/…/h_8ecf6f48ec1a823cecafae541f5dc3c5
Our foreign adversaries are all holding celebrations around the world as the United States destroys itself from within. All it took was buying #TraitorTrump, #MoscowMitch, #LeningradLindsey, #ComradeCollins, #NovgorodNunes, and the rest of the #RepublicanComradesInCrimes to do it.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/…/americas-adversaries…/
https://www.dallasnews.com/…/how-putin-s-oligarchs…/
President Biden generally condemned terrorism, white supremacy, and racism in his Inaugural Address but, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) made it up that it was a direct attack upon Republicans. Methinks Sen. Paul doth protest too much!
https://www.msnbc.com/…/rand-paul-outraged-wrong-part…
It seems in the Trumpist era, far right-wing domestic terrorists are trying to make a name for themselves akin to that of the so-called “pro-life” movement in the U.S. which has committed decades of murders, assassinations, bombings, arsons, property damage, assaults, and arsons since 1973.
https://www.vox.com/…/abortion-clinic-attacks-mapped
It’s only a matter of time before the Trumpist far right-wing domestic terrorist movement gives us another James Fields, Dylann Roof, or Timothy McVeigh.
Now, we hear reports that Republican House members and Capitol Police may have given tours to rioters or otherwise cooperated with them before or during the coup attempt.
Even more ominously, one woman Member of the House had her office’s “panic button” removed completely without notice to her or her staff prior to the coup attempt.
Three elderly Democratic House members caught COVID-19 as they were closely confined on Jan. 6, with their maskless GOP colleagues. President Biden has ordered mandatory masking on all federal property as one of his first acts as POTUS.
https://www.cnn.com/…/capitol-insurrection…/index.html
https://www.forbes.com/…/democratic-rep-says…/…
https://abcnews.go.com/…/democrats-infected…/story…
https://www.cnn.com/…/biden-first-day-health…/index.html
Far right-wing domestic terrorist acts in the U.S. are tightly bound to the rise of the Republican Party in America since the time of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) who declared politics as warfare and anything said or done goes.
https://www.theatlantic.com/…/newt-gingrich…/570832/
Gingrich is still central to the current attempts by Trump to overthrow our elected government by urging the arrest of diligent election workers and officials whose vote counts do not agree with his and Trump’s insane alternative realities.
https://www.businessinsider.com/newt-gingrich-asks…
Now, conflict pornographers from the far-right and their media sycophants claim “both sides do it” in another false conflation, but according to two leaders in political thought; “The Republicans are the problem.”
https://www.brookings.edu/…/lets-just-say-it-the…/
We have to vote all Republicans out, Biden has to lock up the lawbreakers, or our republic is lost.
Erich, you are spot on, as usual. The illustration has significant meaning to me, father of a daughter in recovery from anorexia nervosa. I’ve found you willing to accept good ideas, regardless of source, and as an atheist you will be able to cut through the excess and bubblewrap around the Roman Catholic concept of self-examination, very similar to the Koranic concept of Jihad (which has been bastardized). Introspection is valuable and painful.
I’m impressed that O’mighty tim was able to say what Greenwald took pages to describe, just in his final paragraph. Thank you, Tim, for confirming Greenwald’s point.