Far-Right Extremists Are Hoping to Turn the George Floyd Protests Into a New Civil War

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Armed extremists are showing up to protests and urging a “boogaloo” — code for civil war — online.

Vice said:
Far-right extremists are showing up, with guns, to the protests against police brutality that have exploded across the country.

Others are egging on the violence from behind their computers, urging followers to carry out acts of violence against black protesters with the goal of sparking a “race war.”

Their presence makes an uneasy addition to the escalating unrest, which was triggered by the death of George Floyd, a black man who was choked to death by a white Minneapolis police officer earlier this week.

But there’s a range of motivations that’s driving far-right interest toward the protests, which are being led by community members and Black Lives Matter, and bolstered by antifascists.

For example, the so-called Boogaloo Bois — a group of armed anti-government extremists made visible by their Hawaiian shirts — have reportedly shown up to some of the protests.

The “boogaloo” is code for impending civil war or violent confrontation with law enforcement, and that’s what they’re hoping to get out of the protests. Their main reason for being there is their antipathy toward law enforcement, and so they’re trying to position themselves as allies of Black Lives Matter protesters. They’ve made police brutality one of their central issues, which was explored at length in a Bellingcat article this week.

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ElaineA

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And Bill Barr took to the podium to lay it all on the left. As if every government official in Minnesota hadn't just said it was coming from the rights, that they'd seen evidence online and in the people they'd arrested.

I don't deny there are probably some Antifa participants in this. It isn't, wasn't, and will never be all one-sided. But there is ample evidence that neo-Nazi and White Supremacy groups are organized to sow chaos in this. It couldn't be a more golden opportunity for them.
 

ElaineA

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I want to raise my hand because I think they very much want to push toward this, but I can't envision how he would actually make marital law happen. I mean, I guess the MAGAts around the country can turn out in a Brownshirt force, but I don't see how they can be managed in 50 states. He can't stop state elections, just ignore them. He won't leave the White House, but I can't see how he enforces martial law from Washington to Florida, California to Maine, not to mention Hawaii & Alaska.

I guess he doesn't have to, though, does he? All he has to do is sit there and not let anyone else have a say in the rule of the country. It'll work for a while, I suppose.
 

Brightdreamer

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I want to raise my hand because I think they very much want to push toward this, but I can't envision how he would actually make marital law happen. I mean, I guess the MAGAts around the country can turn out in a Brownshirt force, but I don't see how they can be managed in 50 states. He can't stop state elections, just ignore them. He won't leave the White House, but I can't see how he enforces martial law from Washington to Florida, California to Maine, not to mention Hawaii & Alaska.

I guess he doesn't have to, though, does he? All he has to do is sit there and not let anyone else have a say in the rule of the country. It'll work for a while, I suppose.

For four years, I've been hearing "he can't do this" and "he won't do that" and "don't worry - even his own party won't allow..."

Yet somehow he can, he does, and they do allow - and reward it, even.

All he (or they, rather - I still believe he's more of a distraction and figurehead for a deeper, possibly international metastatic group with its own agenda, much as he may believe his own lies of leadership) has to do is start enough fires in enough places, destroy enough norms, paralyze enough institutions and utterly destroy the concept of normality itself... and boy has he succeeded on all those fronts.
 

mccardey

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I'm always surprised, given the gun thing, how this never seems to reach actual civil war. It's like it's a safe vent. Unless you're black, of course.
 

MaeZe

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While I'm loathe to contradict Frank Zappa's "it can't happen here," I'm with Elaine. Trump can have his baby tantrums from now until November but he cannot use his ignorant and often impotent Executive Orders to take over the country.

These protests are nothing, (in a relative sense, not in their importance). A lot of us thought Nixon was going to declare Martial Law during the Vietnam War protests, especially after Kent State. It didn't happen then and it isn't going to happen now.

I'm not sure who the pollsters are polling that finds Trump with 42% positive support, but he doesn't have the support of many military leaders. This is the guy who fires anyone who annoys him. He only has lackeys left around him. He has not amassed an army. He just pretends he has.
 
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MaeZe

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I'm always surprised, given the gun thing, how this never seems to reach actual civil war. It's like it's a safe vent. Unless you're black, of course.

Oh, Trump might have a bunch of wanna-be revolutionaries with their AK 47s and whatnot. But those arm-chair idiots are not an army.
 

mccardey

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Oh, Trump might have a bunch of wanna-be revolutionaries with their AK 47s and whatnot. But those arm-chair idiots are not an army.
That makes (deplorable) sense
 

ElaineA

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While I'm loathe to contradict Frank Zappa's "it can't happen here," I'm with Elaine. Trump can have his baby tantrums from now until November but he cannot use his ignorant and often impotent Executive Orders to take over the country.

I didn't mean to say he couldn't become, essentially, a dictator. If that's how it came across, let me clarify. I think he can do just about whatever he wants at this point. I just don't think he can enforce martial law from coast to coast. The thing is, even his supporters, when faced with soldiers patrolling their streets, are going to find themselves outraged when they have to be in bed by 6.

Short of that, I 100% believe there is no opposition capable of stopping anything he wants to do at this moment. He's proven no one can either stop him or make him do anything, and like the man-child he is, he'll just keep pushing. Unless the GOP rises up (not holding my breath on that), I assume there will be an election in November (because states will hold one), but he won't adhere to any result he doesn't like. They've all got the taste of raw power in their mouths now.
 

Chris P

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Oh, Trump might have a bunch of wanna-be revolutionaries with their AK 47s and whatnot. But those arm-chair idiots are not an army.

They're kids playing army or fan-boying on survivalism. In the rural parts of Michigan were I lived a couple years (and where my wife grew up and much of my family now live), these militia types are typically hunters and landowners (hunting camps, mostly) in a fairly restricted locale, such as along a common road through a wooded area. It's kind of like a creepy homeowner's association. They have very little, if any, ability to communicate with other such groups, much less coordinate action, despite social media and such. They are still acting mostly out of individual interest and band together only to the extent necessary to protect that interest. What they have absolutely no ability to do is mobilize beyond their local area. They might be able to take over a county court house or to caravan to the state capitol building (provided the authorities look the other way--had the group invading the Lansing not been white, I can guarantee there would have been calls for the National Guard) but to mobilize as an "army" for widespread defense of the country (whatever they think that means) is not going to happen. True, many such groups could rise up locally and cause tons of damage, but it will be scattered. Fixing this is what Unite the Right and other groups are attempting to do.
 

Kjbartolotta

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What they have absolutely no ability to do is mobilize beyond their local area. They might be able to take over a county court house or to caravan to the state capitol building (provided the authorities look the other way--had the group invading the Lansing not been white, I can guarantee there would have been calls for the National Guard) but to mobilize as an "army" for widespread defense of the country (whatever they think that means) is not going to happen. True, many such groups could rise up locally and cause tons of damage, but it will be scattered. Fixing this is what Unite the Right and other groups are attempting to do.

We had them out in Silverado Canyon when I was growing up (kinda the back part of Orange County, wild place in the 90's). My one association with them, besides the way they're all plugged into white supremacy networks but have no real organizing capability, is that they're the ones who's meth labs keep catching fire. Like many groups, a lot of them are plain-as-day criminals using far right politics as a veneer of legitimacy.
 
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frimble3

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Okay, a basic rule should be 'If you cannot successfully run a meth lab, you cannot run something as volatile and explosive as a country'.
 

MaeZe

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I didn't mean to say he couldn't become, essentially, a dictator. If that's how it came across, let me clarify. I think he can do just about whatever he wants at this point. I just don't think he can enforce martial law from coast to coast. The thing is, even his supporters, when faced with soldiers patrolling their streets, are going to find themselves outraged when they have to be in bed by 6.

Short of that, I 100% believe there is no opposition capable of stopping anything he wants to do at this moment. He's proven no one can either stop him or make him do anything, and like the man-child he is, he'll just keep pushing. Unless the GOP rises up (not holding my breath on that), I assume there will be an election in November (because states will hold one), but he won't adhere to any result he doesn't like. They've all got the taste of raw power in their mouths now.

I think we might be defining "do anything he wants" differently when it comes to his power.

Trump is a classic bully. He can't do anything he wants really. An awful lot of what he threatens or claims he's done isn't true. A lot of times he says 'I will do' or 'we will see' or 'they better do X or watch out for Y'. Then he starts a new news cycle of outrageous things and the threat is never carried out. Or he writes and Executive Order that either has no real teeth or it is simply tied up in the courts (similar to his threats to sue everyone** before he was POTUS). It does cost people a lot of money but even with all this federal bench stuffing, he has lost most cases so far.

Take this example, there are dozens (more?):

Breitbart News: Exclusive – Trump on Campus Free Speech Executive Order: ‘We’re Going to Do a Very Big Number’ Probably ‘Next Week’
President Donald Trump says he expects “to do a very big number” regarding an anticipated executive order on free speech on college campuses potentially next week.

“When they don’t allow free speech, we’re going to do a very big number,” the president responded when asked by Breitbart News’ Deputy Political Editor Amanda House about the executive order he teased during his speech this month at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) hosted by the American Conservative Union (ACU).

“You know we give billions of dollars to these universities and they won’t allow free speech? That’s not what our country’s all about,” he said.

“I’ll probably be doing it next week,” Trump revealed, adding his administration is planning to make it “very tough.”
So just what did he do? Nothing. He does this kind of thing all the time. It makes him feel powerful. And it makes people believe he's powerful, not because they believe all these blowhard threats, but because they are left with the image he carries these threats out.

Here's a more recent hollow threat: HuffPo: Trump Campaign Threatens TV Stations That Air Ad Critical Of President
Not removing the ad about rising U.S. coronavirus cases “could put your station’s license in jeopardy,” the Trump campaign warned.
First the campaign sent the cease and desist letter and when that failed, Trump sent it.
The Trump campaign has asked Twitter to tag videos claiming that Trump called the virus a hoax as “manipulated media,” but, so far, the social media network hasn’t complied, according to The Hill.

Meanwhile, Priorities USA doesn’t seem too worried about the legal threats ― especially since they’ve helped the video go viral:
(The Twitter threat is ironic.) The message might be going both ways, his base hears the video is false; while calling attention to it gets it free air time on TV news stations and in the social media.

The bottom line is, he makes these threats all the time. Sadly the effective Ex Orders that are successful are the ones devastating the environment but even some of those are hollow. Which coal burning company is going to dismantle their smokestack scrubbers knowing the next POTUS is going to reverse the order? And car manufacturers are not going to take pollution controls out anytime soon. Even his claim he's going to let coal mining companies dump dangerous chemicals in the waterways didn't increase coal mining or mining jobs. There is a shrinking market for coal.

That doesn't mean he hasn't done tremendous damage. There is no question he's done that. But he's not the all powerful authoritarian he pretends to be.



**USA Today: Exclusive: Trump's 3,500 lawsuits unprecedented for a presidential nominee
Just since he announced his candidacy a year ago, at least 70 new cases have been filed, about evenly divided between lawsuits filed by him and his companies and those filed against them. And the records review found at least 50 civil lawsuits remain open even as he moves toward claiming the nomination at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in seven weeks. On Tuesday, court documents were released in one of the most dramatic current cases, filed in California by former students accusing Trump University of fraudulent and misleading behavior.

The legal actions provide clues to the leadership style the billionaire businessman would bring to bear as commander in chief. He sometimes responds to even small disputes with overwhelming legal force. He doesn’t hesitate to deploy his wealth and legal firepower against adversaries with limited resources, such as homeowners. He sometimes refuses to pay real estate brokers, lawyers and other vendors.

As he campaigns, Trump often touts his skills as a negotiator. The analysis shows that lawsuits are one of his primary negotiating tools. He turns to litigation to distance himself from failing projects that relied on the Trump brand to secure investments. As USA TODAY previously reported, he also uses the legal system to haggle over his property tax bills. His companies have been involved in more than 100 tax disputes, and the New York State Department of Finance has obtained liens on Trump properties for unpaid tax bills at least three dozen times.

And despite his boasts on the campaign trail that he “never” settles lawsuits, for fear of encouraging more, he and his businesses have settled with plaintiffs in at least 100 cases reviewed by USA TODAY. Most involve people who say they were physically injured at Trump properties, with settlements that range as high as hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The man threw around threats of "I'll sue you" whenever he didn't get his way. He might have had the ability to bankrupt people with legal bills, like a bully. But he didn't win those lawsuits often. And he got sued himself almost as many times.
 
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Lyv

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The white supremacists inside law enforcement seem pretty emboldened. This cop knows he's being filmed (police are committing on- camera acts of violence against peaceful protesters with no fear at all) and threw a white power sign at a protester. He and his fellow officer had a good laugh over it. NY AM Tish James saw it and asked for a complaint to be filed with her office. I would love to know the percentage of law enforcement officers who are white supremacists. I don't think that number's ever been very low, but I bet it's gotten bigger over the last few years.
 

MaeZe

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Cuomo is saying now in a news conference videos of police brutality will be reviewed. I do hope there will be followup.
 

frimble3

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I would love to know the percentage of law enforcement officers who are white supremacists. I don't think that number's ever been very low, but I bet it's gotten bigger over the last few years.
I don't think it's gotten bigger, I think the numbers are probably about the same, but they're no longer bothering to hide it. Either that they're white supremacists, or that they joined up to facilitate their bully-boy tendencies.
Not that all police are bad, but that it's not a job for the shy and meek, and for some people, a little petty authority goes right to their heads.
 

Roxxsmom

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And the man who insisted there were "good people on both sides" when a man drove his car into the crowd (killing Heather Heyer and injuring several more people) in the Charlottesville "Unite the Right" rally, is now insisting the violence at the current protests is the fault of the Left.

https://www.npr.org/2020/05/31/866369727/trump-lays-blame-for-clashes-on-radical-left-anarchists

Antifa could be involved in escalating things, but so could any or all of the Right Wing groups out there in the US. At this point we don't really know. I also can't help but notice how differently police in many parts of the country are handling these protests compared to the anti lockdown yahoos who showed up with guns.

https://www.vox.com/2020/5/27/21271811/george-floyd-protests-minneapolis-lockdown-protests

There are also people who are simply angry as hell and have given up on due process and reasonableness as means of extracting justice, let alone enacting change.

Even so, most of the people protesting are peaceful.

https://abc7news.com/protesters-antifa-white-supremacists-george-floyd-protests/6222958/

I wish the conversation about the protests and riots themselves aren't going to eclipse their underlying cause, but I suppose that's a vain hope indeed.
 
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darkprincealain

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I saw a Boogaloo (the guys who are part of the movement anyway) on the street on Saturday morning. First time I’d seen one in person. Frightening, but because I’m white, I have visible tattoos, I have connected mutton chops, as long as I don’t say anything I can pass for straight and I hadn’t yet put on my N95 mask, I could easily have been mistaken for one of them. He was frightening. I think it’s time to have done with these people, however that has to happen.
 

Roxxsmom

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Short of that, I 100% believe there is no opposition capable of stopping anything he wants to do at this moment. He's proven no one can either stop him or make him do anything, and like the man-child he is, he'll just keep pushing. Unless the GOP rises up (not holding my breath on that), I assume there will be an election in November (because states will hold one), but he won't adhere to any result he doesn't like. They've all got the taste of raw power in their mouths now.

By insisting that mail-in ballots are an instrument for election fraud, especially in states he "needs" like Michigan, he is already laying the groundwork for challenging any election results he doesn't like.

If the courts don't deliver for him, I suppose he could move on to the next step of defiance and simply refuse to cooperate with transition of power. Basically plant his ass behind the desk in the Oval Office and challenge law enforcement, the military, or whomever else is supposed to deal with such things, to come get him. Would it be the Federal police, the National guard, the Secret service?

I think this would be extremely disruptive, because such behavior would be unprecedented in the history of our country. I don't know that we even have a mechanism in place for forcefully removing a recalcitrant POTUS from the physical premises of the White House. It's possible the branches of federal and local government charged with enforcing the law are filled with Trump sympathizers. Would a group of "his people" defy their own oaths of office to assist him? Would he have a small bevy of armed supporters, or a larger one?

It's also possible to simply allow him and any supporters
to barricade himself in the White House basement or wherever and to swear in and install a new POTUS in temporary quarters, until the standoff is resolved. But a lot might depend on what happens with the Congressional elections, and again, what the courts decide. Meanwhile, his MAGA goons could well be out on the streets, waving guns around while counter-protesters try to oppose them. And police in many localities have already shown with whom they most sympathize. It could get really ugly, dwarfing the current levels of civil unrest, even if the powers that be in Washington are attempting to move on and not legitimize his petulance.
 

Diana Hignutt

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The white supremacists inside law enforcement seem pretty emboldened. This cop knows he's being filmed (police are committing on- camera acts of violence against peaceful protesters with no fear at all) and threw a white power sign at a protester. He and his fellow officer had a good laugh over it. NY AM Tish James saw it and asked for a complaint to be filed with her office. I would love to know the percentage of law enforcement officers who are white supremacists. I don't think that number's ever been very low, but I bet it's gotten bigger over the last few years.

What's the meme going around? The reason we never see cops going after KKK rallies is the same reason we never see Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus at the same time.
 

Roxxsmom

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More than ten years ago, the FBI warned that White Nationalists were infiltrating law enforcement. The outrage and push for further investigation, let alone reform, has been rather underwhelming.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/fbi-white-supremacists-in-law-enforcement

I think there's a pervasive issue here. Most White Americans are more afraid of crime than they are of being killed by the police, so they don't tend to support reforms pro-police organizations insist will interfere with cops' ability to catch criminals. And considering how much of the narrative in local news has been focused on looting and violence at the protests, rather than police brutality and on systemic racism and corruption--the actual reason people are rising up, I'm finding it hard to be optimistic that this will open the eyes of the more moderate White voters.
 

regdog

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They tried to flood Twitter with Wh*teLiv^sMa^^er and Blu+Liv*sMa&&er and Koren Pop fans more commonly known as KPop fans, flooded both hashtags with videos and pictures of K-Pop and the Bl*e was also overtaken with pitcures of blue cartoon, anime and other characters.

A small way to fight back but fight back they did and owned both hashtags.