The latest Jan. 6 Committee hearing revealed the incestuous relationship between violent militias, extremists, and Trump’s inner circle—whose decision to march to the U.S. Capitol was deliberate, premeditated, and planned.
The committee showed a draft tweet in which Trump wrote, “I will be making a Big Speech at 10AM on January 6th at the Ellipse…please arrive early, massive crowds expected. March to the Capitol after. Stop the Steal!”
Even though the tweet wasn’t sent, Katrina Pierson, Trump’s former spokeswoman, emailed rally organizers that Trump was going to “call on everyone to march to the Capitol.” Those marchers included Ali Alexander, one of the organizers of the Stop the Steal really, who sent a text to a conservative journalist that Trump was going to “order” them to march to the Capitol. Trump also wanted Alexander and Alex Jones (who has gotten rich propagating fake conspiracy theories) to speak at the rally because Trump “likes the crazies,” according to a text exchange between Pierson and Trump activist Kyle Kremer. Pierson added, “he loved people who viciously defended him in public”.
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That included Stephen Ayres, a witness at the hearing and die-hard MAGA supporter, who said, “We basically were just following what [Trump] said.” As a result of doing his own research on the internet, Ayres was radicalized by right-wing lies, conspiracy theories, and disinformation. He assumed his dear leader wanted him to march to the Capitol, so he did, and as a result, he eventually pleaded guilty to disorderly and disruptive conduct, lost his job, and was forced to sell his home.
Ayres was joined by thousands of MAGA patriots who were going to “take back” the country that was stolen from them by the “deep state.”
There is a historical parallel between the red MAGA hat-wearing extremists who commit wanton acts of political violence in the service of an authoritarian thug, and the brownshirt militias of Nazi Germany. (Before you send an angry email falsely accusing me of saying “all Trump voters are Nazis,” read the previous sentence again.) They’re wearing different costumes and shouting different slogans, but like the stormtroopers of the past, groups like the Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, and dozens more are weaponized militias willing to use violence to cement authoritarian rule.
The question ahead of us is whether the majority acknowledges this active threat to our fragile democracy, or will we continue being “willfully blind” to appease bad-faith Republicans who are actively engaged in an ongoing coup?
The MAGA brownshirts took Trump seriously, and literally
On Dec. 19, 2020, Trump tweeted about a “big protest in D.C.,” adding, “Be there, will be wild!” Extremists online saw Trump’s tweet as a green light to start plotting and orchestrating their violent coup attempt.
The committee revealed messages in which Trump supporters fantasized about killing cops and Democrats, and referred to Jan. 6 as “the day of the rope” and “D-Day.” Another wrote, “Trump just told us to come armed. Fucking A. This is happening!” They can’t be blamed for assuming Trump wanted them to unleash hell. After all, Trump did tell the Proud Boys, an armed, right-wing group, to “stand back and stand by” when he was asked multiple times to denounce white supremacy during the 2020 presidential debates.
The Proud Boys took Trump literally and seriously.
They allegedly wrote a plan, entitled “1776 Returns,” which outlined their goal to forcibly take control of D.C.-area buildings to ensure their demands were met, which included Congress certifying that Donald Trump had been re-elected.
The night before the insurrection, the leader of the Proud Boys, Enrique Tarrio, met with Stewart Rhodes, leader of the Oath Keepers (which was described by its former spokesperson Jason Van Tatenhove as a “violent militia” that came to D.C. seeking an “armed revolution.”) Specifically, in two open letters published in December 2020, Rhodes asked Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act. He wrote “millions of American military and law enforcement veterans, and many millions more loyal patriotic American gun owners stand ready to answer your call to arms, and obey your orders to get this done.” Those willing to obey include Republican elected officials.
One could dismiss Tarrio and Rhodes as right-wing cranks; however, they represent the growing brownshirt component of the radicalized Republican ecosystem. For example, at least 28 elected officials currently have ties to the Oath Keepers, which includes Arizona Republican Mark Finchem, who is running for secretary of state and actively promotes the Big Lie. The Oath Keepers are also connected to Roger Stone and Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser and a popular fixture in the MAGA-verse and QAnon conspiracy circles.
Flynn sits on the board of Defending the Republic, the group created by Sidney Powell, which made millions trying to overturn the 2020 election and promote conspiracy theories. Powell was so committed to the Big Lie that she allegedly told Trump to have the federal government seize state voting machines, and he almost appointed her as special counsel to investigate election fraud. There are also suspicions that she’s the Oath Keepers’ sugar mama. A judge has ordered Rhodes to reveal if Powell’s group is improperly paying for his legal fees.
Although Rhodes and Tarrio (along with other leaders of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys) have been charged with seditious conspiracy, they are not the only MAGA supporters willing to use violence to further their ends. A recent PRRI poll revealed that a third of Republicans believe “true American patriots may have to resort to violence” in order to “save the country.”
The far right has manufactured its villains, whom they believe are best vanquished with guns—which now have more rights than women thanks to an increasingly radicalized right-wing Supreme Court.
GOP heroes now include Kyle Rittenhouse, a young man who shot and killed two people at a Black Lives Matter protest, and Mark McCloskey, who, along with his wife, illegally brandished firearms against peaceful BLM protesters. The couple was rewarded with a primetime slot at the 2020 Republican National Convention to warn white families about Black and brown people invading the suburbs. The couple was also pardoned by the Republican governor of Missouri.
To draw an obvious parallel between the past and the rising political power of the modern-day brownshirts, GOP Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar both spoke at a white nationalist conference hosted by the racist and antisemitic Nick Fuentes, who was also present at the Jan. 6 insurrection with his Groypers group. According to the Southern Law Poverty Center, Fuentes allegedly told insurrectionists to “break down the barriers and disregard the police.” Reps. Greene and Gosar have not been censured by GOP leadership and remain members in good standing with their caucus.
In his rise to power, Trump’s vulgarity, cruelty, and invitation to use violence was what separated him from the pack of Republican presidential wannabes. It was his call to authoritarianism—rather than politics as usual—that Republican voters fell in love with. They loved when he encouraged his supporters to beat up protesters, demonized the press as the “enemy of the people,” and called for a plainly racist “Muslim ban.”
Even with Trump out of office, the GOP has shown it only cares about national security if it involves Muslims, Black people, and immigrants. Violent insurrections, mass shootings, and the rise of white power movements (the No. 1 domestic threat in America), barely rate on their list of concerns.
It’s up to the Justice Department and law enforcement to aggressively investigate violent extremist movements—and their political allies—and hold them accountable before the 2024 election. Mainstream institutions, especially the media, must keep educating themselves about this threat and warning the public—much like they obsessed over Muslims during the endless War on Terror.
This time, the threat is domestic, homegrown, and increasingly normalized by the GOP and Trump.
Don’t take my word for it. Just listen to Tatenhove, the former Oath Keeper, who warned the nation: “If a president who is trying to instill, and encourage, to whip up a civil war among his followers using lies and deceit and snake oil, regardless of the human impact, what else is he going to do if he gets elected again?”
We all saw the sneak preview on Jan. 6. It’s up to our institutions, especially the Justice Department, to ensure we don’t see the bloody feature in 2024.
