I’m not sure if the U.S. government is just playing dumb — or if it really is this stupid and suicidal.
I’m also not sure if our vaunted ‘free press’ is just playing dumb — or if it really is this idiotic and self-destructive.
Whatever the reason(s), our nation and its primary watchdog, our supposed ‘free press,’ are both falling down on the job and abdicating their responsibilities, big time. And the primary responsibility they’ve been abdicating is to inform and protect our nation from accelerating, severe threats from within.
The truth is, for well over a decade the threat posed by the far right and home-grown American terrorists has been growing, metastasizing, and infiltrating every level of our society.
Some ominous and terrifying developments
Whether we’re talking about our federal government, state governments, ‘conservative’ think tanks, the Republican party, or our military — the far right has been making tremendous inroads, and has expanded by leaps and bounds.
It’s not an exaggeration to say its influence has exploded, all across America — and that’s an ominous and truly terrifying development.
An August 2023 Military Times article states:
“Right-wing ideologies were behind a majority of the nearly 600 domestic terror attacks that occurred from 2010 through 2021, according to data shared with Military Times by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank based in Washington, D.C. During that period, right-wing extremists were charged with 353 plots or attacks that caused 147 deaths, the data show. In the same time frame, far-left extremists carried out 126 plots or attacks, killing 23 people.”
Put differently: today far-right terrorism is a much more pervasive and potent threat than recent left-wing terrorism.
Yet hardly anyone in our government is talking much (publicly) about this trend— or even correctly identifying and investigating the problem. Often, it’s a weirdly taboo subject.
No one wants to directly confront this problem.
Plus, Republicans have consistently opposed attempts by the military to investigate and root out far-right extremists in its ranks — while they try hard to pin any and all political violence on the left and ‘Antifa.’
And that lie/cover-up in itself is a highly concerning symptom of the completeness of this takeover.
An awful nationwide ‘zone of silence’
In any sane and functional representative democracy, the triple threat posed by the rapid expansion of far-right ideology into one of our two major political parties and into our military and law enforcement — with the full support of ex-president Trump — would have set off major alarm bells, and precipitated a major internal review and concerted domestic counter-terrorism efforts.
The fact that those ‘alarm bells’ still haven’t rung in a truly adequate fashion, and those major internal reviews and counter-terrorism efforts aren’t happening (at least, not to the extent our situation demands), should send shivers of fear down the spine of every American.
For this glaring absence, this awful nationwide ‘zone of silence,’ shows that our nation is already very far gone, and may well be entering its final death throes. The situation is that serious — and that dangerous.
As that same article explained:
“Shortly after a white supremacist killed 10 Black people at a Buffalo, N.Y., supermarket in 2022, Senate Republicans voted down a bill that would’ve ordered DHS, the FBI and the Department of Justice to set up offices inside their agencies focused specifically on the issue. The offices would’ve been tasked with issuing a report every six months about threats by white supremacists and neo-Nazis, including any instances of these ideologies infiltrating law enforcement agencies and the military….
The issue of extremism in the military has been fiercely fought on Capitol Hill and is shaping up to be a point of contention during the 2024 presidential race. In July, the House passed the annual defense authorization bill, which contained measures authored by Republicans that took a hard-right tack on numerous hot-button, culture-war issues, including one to eliminate a working group established to counter extremism in the ranks.”
Take a moment to let all that sink in: our current crop of GOP politicians think it’s a fine idea to ‘cancel’ “report[s] every six months about threats by white supremacists and neo-Nazis,” and to also “eliminate a working group established to counter extremism” in the military.
The quadruple threat we’re facing
The inescapable conclusion to be drawn from all this, in my opinion, is that there is a sizeable element within our government, the GOP, our military, and law enforcement that either fundamentally agrees with far-right ideologies or willfully insists on allowing them to flourish and spread.
In reality, it’s a quadruple threat, not ‘just’ a triple threat — because we (unfortunately) have ex-president Trump constantly supporting and encouraging far-right elements and groups, even as he’s running for president for a third time.
Scarily, his angry, paranoid, and (potentially) violence-inciting campaign rhetoric keeps intensifying, and his terrible influence keeps filtering down into our government, military, police, and almost the entire GOP.
Hell, Trump even refers to lawfully-convicted January 6 rioters and insurrectionists as ‘hostages’ or ‘political prisoners,’ while he keeps portraying himself as an innocent victim of non-stop ‘persecution’ by evil Democrats and the supposed ‘deep state.’
One of his favorite lines is “I did nothing wrong” — despite the fact that he committed many very public crimes and/or overt incitements to right-wing violence, and continues to do so (for example, his vicious, continuing attacks against his judges and their families).
But according to Trump, none of that matters. NO complaints against him are valid, he believes — so according to him (and his devoted followers), ALL the many charges against him are ‘politically motivated,’ and his ‘enemies’ are just ‘persecuting’ (not lawfully prosecuting) him.
In Trump-world, it’s always “Nothing to see here!” — except, of course, more of those horrible liberal ‘witch hunts’!
An effective far-right takeover
This would all be laughable — indeed, uproariously funny — if it wasn’t so damn influential and so dangerous for our nation, and if it wasn’t all really happening in full public view … and going on and on … and deceiving and inciting people, endlessly.
Trump’s paranoid, self-serving embrace of the far right and White nationalist and White supremacist groups should have been rejected out of hand by all patriotic, caring Americans, especially those who serve in our military or our government.
But clearly, that’s not what happened — at all.
“Among veterans and service members, far-right actors have been responsible for more than 12 times the number of violent crimes than far-left actors since 1990.” University of Maryland National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START)
What actually happened was that Trump and his hateful, paranoid ‘reality’ gradually infected, and then took over, the thinking and politicking of almost the entire GOP — to the point that Trump and his far-right propaganda now effectively ‘own’ the GOP.
And that amounts to an effective far-right takeover of the GOP, which has thrust far-right ideologies and plans into the very forefront of American politics — where today, the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, Lauren Boebert, Jim Jordan, and other ‘Freedom Caucus’ nutjobs disgrace the halls of Congress.
Is it ignorance, neglect, malice, or something worse?
In truth, the U.S. is at a very dangerous crossroads — we could even say, a dangerous precipice — and seems to be intent on its own self-destruction. Thus, my opening statement: “I’m not sure if the U.S. government is just playing dumb — or if it really is this stupid and suicidal.”
From all available evidence — including all our potent memories of everything that we’ve seen happen right in front of us over the past eight years — it does indeed look like the U.S. is intent on committing national suicide.
In a sane, caring country and society, none of these bizarre things and events should have ever happened, let alone gained so much traction and overt power.
The fact that we now face a dire quadruple threat from Trump, a groveling GOP, a supine, too-polite press, and rogue elements within our military and law enforcement is utterly horrifying and incomprehensibly creepy.
Yet, here we are. The ‘modern’ United States is now under constant siege from within — and not much at all is being done, on any level, to put an end to this madness.
It makes you wonder: Is our overall, pathetic non-response due to ignorance, neglect, malice … or something even more sinister?
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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From The Good Men Project on Medium
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