Trump’s Followers Get Even More Violent: Five Very Real Possibilities

[Al Carroll]

We as a nation have a bad habit. We cannot quit talking about this most despicable of men, a symbol of everything wrong with the American nation and society: Celebrity for the sake of celebrity, the worship of wealth and mammon, imagining that wealth or celebrity somehow confers wisdom or legitimacy, not to mention his pandering to hatreds of all kinds.

Then there is the violence he brings with him everywhere he goes, stirred by his base appeal to the most rabid and brainless bigots. As of this writing, more than 50 people have been assaulted at Trump rallies. The worst of this is not yet over. The worst is likely yet to come. We as a nation should prepare ourselves for five very likely waves of violence Trump and his followers could bring:

1. His followers form an actual militia.

This seems to have briefly already happened, with opinions split on whether it disbanded or is still around. On March 13, the Lion’s Guard formed and gained about 500 followers in less than a day. The group imitated fascist iconography, a red or yellow lion with a blue collar, similar to the British Union of Fascists’ symbol. Lion’s Guard also uses the same Mussolini slogan that Trump tweeted and then defended to media, “Better to be a lion for a day than a sheep for eternity.” Another symbol of Lion’s Guard has the slogan “God With Trump” in imitation of the Nazi slogan “God With Us” but with crosses in place of swastikas.

The militia migrated from Twitter to LionsOfTrump.net. Over 40 people responded with calls in the comments section to form militias in Arizona, California, Florida, and elsewhere. They vow to “defend against Anti MAGA far left infiltrators.” MAGA stands for “Make America Great Again, Trump’s campaign slogan. So far they have limited themselves to claiming to identify protest leaders.

Many of Trump’s followers already are in militias or other armed or violent groups, white supremacists, white nationalists, and racists and bigots and anti-government zealots of all stripes. White racists did robocalls for him in South Carolina. David Duke of the KKK and half a dozen other racist groups publicly endorse him. Jeremy DeLemus, a co-chair of Veterans for Trump in New Hampshire, took part in the armed takeover by Oregon militia.

2. Trump loses at the likely brokered convention in Cleveland. His followers not only riot. Some start shooting people. A few may even bomb their enemies, perceived or imagined.

Trump already “predicted,” that is, he proposed, encouraged, and threatened that his followers would riot if he were not the nominee. Cleveland protests and counter protests and police efforts to control them will make the Democratic Convention in Chicago in 1968 seem gentle by comparison.

We already saw the chaotic Trump rally in Chicago a few weeks ago caused by Trump campaign incompetence and the childish anger of Trump followers. Unwilling to face protests, Trump’s people postponed and then canceled their rally. The police were not consulted and were caught unprepared. Dozens were arrested or injured, and then angry Trump followers blamed the anti-Trump protesters.

Now imagine Trump followers’ anger, mixed in with the higher number of gun owners in the rural conservative areas outside Cleveland, and with militia heavy areas like Michigan close by.

There may even be bombings. Sound unlikely? Ask William Celli, a Trump supporter currently under arrest since December who plotted to target Muslims with his homemade bombs. Celli pledged online to “follow Trump to the end of the world.”

3. Trump wins the nomination. Hate crimes in his name increase.

We have already seen attacks invoking Trump’s name. The earliest was two men in Boston beating an immigrant. Trump declined to criticize them, even seemed to praise them as “very passionate.”

4. Trump is nominated and then loses the general election in a landslide. Keep in mind he only has the support of 35% of one party, about 12% of the nation, and is despised by nearly all independents and Democrats. About a quarter of all Republicans swear they would never vote for him, and will instead stay home or vote Democratic or third party. By one poll, Trump would lose to Sanders by 20 points, to Clinton by 10 points. Electorally, Trump would carry few states outside of Arizona or the Deep South.

Again, his followers do not understand this, or they deny most of it. They may riot, perhaps shoot people or bomb enemies. Hates crimes in his name would also certainly increase. His followers live in a bubble, are among the least educated or politically savvy, and feel very vulnerable in this economy, and culturally persecuted. They will not taking being “losers” lying down.

The inauguration of the new president especially will be targeted. The elected opposition and news media also could get targeted, much like during the start of the Tea Party when Black congressmen were spit on, offices vandalized, one congresswoman was shot, and militia members held armed demonstrations within sight of the White House.

5. Trump becomes the Republican Party. The old elites fade or form a minor party of their own. The Grand Old Party initials change to stand for God (only nominally since churchgoers largely support Ted Cruz), Old whites, and self-proclaimed or creatively imagined Patriotic anger. Anger and violence at elections becomes a regular feature of Republicanism.

Another Trump will take over in 2020, either literal or ideological offspring. His spray on orange tan, heavy base of white powder under his eyes, and volume of voice can’t hide the fact that he is, like most of his followers, an Angry Old Man. He will be 70 before Election Day and (a ridiculous doctor’s claim to the contrary) has had health problems since childhood. He received a medical deferment for the Vietnam War, had a brother who died from alcoholism, and has sharp unexplained weight fluctuations. Trump’s regular doctor is a specialist in internal medicine rather than a general practitioner, and that may indicate serious problems he is hiding. Many medical observers also believe he suffers from chronic insomnia, which explains his manic behavior and chronically poor grasp of reality.

Trump’s Republican or third party would need a new leader after his death, incapacity, or simple boredom. Any of his three sons, who often show the same sense of spoiled entitlement and contempt for others, would fit that bill. So would figures such as fringe conspiracy theorist and former wrestler and governor Jesse Ventura. So would such unlikely figures as Ted Nugent or Sarah Palin (after another reality TV run.) Expect the violent rhetoric, and violence at rallies and against opponents, to continue into the future indefinitely.

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Al Carroll is Assistant Professor of History at Northern Virginia Community College, a longtime human right activist, and the author of A Proposed New Constitution at proposednewconstitution.blogspot.com

[JustAnotherGen]

1. Thank you Mr. Carroll

Spot on.

[Baobab]

5. Fakeness

A lot of the incidents Ive seen remind me of the roots of the so called Tea Party which turned out to be fake grassroots groups created by a PR firm or firms.

I get the distinct impression that these days money will buy fake everything. Fake bloggers, fake right wing wackos. fake NGOs to address things but never succeed.


just saying...

[daleanime]

7. Too many Americans were raised on "fake".....

when the TV is the family's favorite babysitter this is what you get.

[Baobab]

8. No, things used to be a lot more real my friend

Especially the media.

Want to see what I mean, look at old newspapers, or old presidential candidates debates!

[daleanime]

10. I know what you mean, I call this the "Product Age"....

every thing must be shiny and nice because every thing is for sale. Including most of our presidential candidates. Let's hope we can change that while we still have a chance. Have a great evening!

[Baobab]

28. SOCK PUPPETS?

Somebody is paying people to "act up" .

I bet.

To scare people into voting a certain way.

Lets just put it his way,

TRILLIONS of dollars is riding on one issue alone, healthcare. Probably half a million dollars difference in profits PER PERSON over their lifetimes.

That amount of money will pay for almost anything.

They can't let this country escape. Then the whole BS that their way is the only future possible just falls apart.

[Jim Beard]

29. You are righ and just really visualize how much a billion dollars is.

Now just think of all the things you could do with some of that money to get your people elected.

[JustAnotherGen]

11. Disagree

These are foaming at the mouth vile racists - they have just been given a leader.

Awake then Stay Awoke.

They are out to get us - us being brown people in America.

I will not be a Tutsi and "take it". Those people are looking to "Cut the tall trees". Trump is their outlet.

There is nothing you can say or write to make me think differently.

[socialist_n_TN]

13. Actually I believe they can be both...........

fake in the organizational sense, yet still actual racists. The Tea Party were "fake" in the sense that they were a manufactured "grassroots" movement, supported by billionaire dollars and bought politicians, but they were also real in that they believed that they were "real" and represented a silent majority.

The problem with proto-fascist and outright fascist movements being supported by the bourgeoisie is that the bourgies think they can control the fascists. They ALWAYS believe they can trot them out to intimidate their opponents on the left and, when they've done that job, they can put them back in their box for the next time. And it never works that way. You don't even have to go back to Hitler to find a model for this, just look to Ukraine. The Ukrainian bourgeoisie used the fascists to overthrow the elected PM, now the fascists are not playing nice with their "owners" and are trying to take more power.

I definitely agree with the need for left, working class, brown and black militias though. The fascists don't play and they're not quelled by losses at the ballot box. Fascism is a street level movement of violence and intimidation and the streets are where they have to be confronted.

[JustAnotherGen]

15. I disagree on Militias

I believe we should leave. Black/Brown go on vacay and just never come back if Trump gets close - then wins. Why should we fight for a country that has never respected us or our contributions in the first place? Ghana is good. So is Costa Rica.

This 'movement' though - I see more Trump bumper stickers than anything in Central NJ. So it's not fakey fake phoney baloney - It's Real.

You are spot on - on the TEA Party - manufactured by the Kochs. Trump tapped into that population however - and now they can't be controlled.

The key thing is - they ARE the leadership. This thing is out of Trump's control, he knows it - one person gets killed by his followers he needs to own it. Modern Fascism is street level - but we do ourselves a disservice if we compare it to Ukraine. There isn't a racial element there like there was in Rwanda. The Muslims, the Mexicans - etc. etc. - this is things people were saying they were 'fearful' of for several years. The people at Trump's rallies thought 5 year old children from Honduras were here to murder them.

They don't see a black American child, a Honduran Child, a Syrian child as a human child - they see our children as an 'it'.

That makes them extremely dangerous.

[socialist_n_TN]

19. A worker/left/black/brown, etc militia would NOT be fighting for the "country"........

Against fascists it's primarily for self-defense. Of course the organization itself involved in self-defense militia could be used to take political power in a socialist revolution if popular and massive enough, but primarily it's about protecting yourself, your family, your identity group and your class. And I'm not sure moving to Ghana or Costa Rica would do much good against the world-wide reach of the American capitalist empire. Maybe for a while, but anytime a fascist USA wants to attack, they will attack anywhere in the world. That's obviously true of the current bourgeois American empire, so I don't see it being any different in a fascist America. That's why, IMO, it will need to be fought here.

And we ALL have a personal stake against fascism. The Jews were not the first people the Nazis went after when they took power in Germany. They went after the communists, socialists, and trade unionists first in order to secure their power because they knew that an organized and militant working class was the only group with enough societal power to stop them. Of course they used the racism of anti-Semitism to fire up the petit bourgeoisie and dissatisfied elements of the working class and criminal elements or lumpen proletariat, but they didn't go after racial minorities immediately. They had to secure power first.

And I do believe that Ukraine is a model of the societal forces involved in a fascist movement. Just because the outsider group in Ukraine was Russian speaking Slavs rather than black and brown Americans doesn't make it a different pattern. Just like the Jews weren't black or brown, for the most part anyway, in Nazi Germany. Fascism is all about the social forces involved rather than the different identity groups.

[JustAnotherGen]

20. So you mean

There's like a global powers that be you have to fight against?

[socialist_n_TN]

21. Capital is global, so workers must be too........

nm

[LiberalArkie]

26. And before the Trump rallies they very seldom met up with like minded people.

That is the scary thing, thousands of the worst exchanging e-mail and phone numbers of people they never knew.

Very scary

[socialist_n_TN]

2. All possibilities. I wonder about the Ventura prediction though.....

He seems to be more left than right populist. Which would make him unfit for the job.

[Baobab]

6. Ive repeatedly heard that Bill Clinton and Donald Trump are friends

just a data point.

[Jackie Wilson Said]

18. You are confusing Donald Trump, the ass (wont refer to him as a man) and the

movement he has orchestrated based entirely in hate, racism, and fear.

For what purpose we may never know, Donald Trump has decided to entertain himself using the 25% who to this day support George W Bush's invasion of Iraq, for example, or who believe black people should still be slaves.

At some point what Donald the ass says and what his rabid supporters do, will be divorced from each other and you will see them act the way they have wanted to act for a very long time.

I hope it does not come to that.

[Baobab]

27. Chance that they (highly visible Trump thugs) are being paid to act that way?

I think its not unlikely.

Who would do it? Maybe the same people who were paying people to go around the country and pretend to be a "Tea Party" against their own better interests, of course.

[Jim Beard]

30. Go into any low class bar and offer #1-2,000

to hire a disrupter and it will happen very quickly. All this is so easy.

[Al Carroll]

31. Ventura endorses Trump

He's generally libertarian though not a party member. Also peddles conspiracy theories.

[socialist_n_TN]

32. I hadn't seen where he had endorsed the Trumpeter.....

but it wouldn't surprise me. Ventura is a populist and those internal contradictions are part of being populist.

[safeinOhio]

3. I don't think many of his supporters

are smart enough to form any kind of organized anything. When he falls flat on his face the uneducated racist assholes will go back to watching FOX and being mad at everything.

Relax.

[LongTomH]

4. That's not even considering the possibility that Trump supporters will be armed!

There's actually a petition to allow 'open carry' in the Quicken Loans Arena during the NRA - errr, RNC Convention. I'm half-convinced it's a sick attempt at satire; and I'm really certain it won't change the Quicken Loans Arena policy against firearms.

But, I'm also reasonably certain that Trump followers marching outside will do open carry, and Trump followers inside the arena will probably have their guns in their cars.

Anyone know the lethal range of a 5.56 mm round (Caliber for the AR-15 / M16 assault rifle)?

[lastone]

9. The over/under odds of any of this

If Donnie doesn't get what he wants he'll do his best to incite whatever chaos / revenge he can.

[greatauntoftriplets]

12. Some of Trump's rallies remind me of similar events in Germany during the 1930s.

Sorry to invoke Godwin's Law, but I can't help but see the comparisons. I have relatives in Luxembourg who lived through Nazi occupation and they lived with fear. All survived, but were extremely supportive when NATO was formed because the experience of occupation through World Wars I and II.

[Initech]

14. I'm really scared to think what is going to happen at the RNC.

[JustAnotherGen]

17. I won't be there

Let them eat their own.

[1StrongBlackMan]

23. And I've invited my sister and close friends to come visit me in Arizona ...

because I don't want them anywhere near Cleveland, come July.

[JustAnotherGen]

24. Oh thank god

[1StrongBlackMan]

25. This is despite having read that the City of Cleveland has aquired $1,000,000s in riat gear. n/t

[dembotoz]

16. does not really matter how organized they are....got a bunch of yahoos armed to the teeth and really

mad

should be remembered in Oregon it was not one of the bundies who went off at the road block. it was one of the believers.

[Mc Mike]

22. Recced. Thanks, Prof. C. nt.