MAGA's Push for Political Violence

Dark, often racist forces have played a role in American politics from the very beginning. But with the rise of Trumpism and the MAGA movement, violent speech and threats have been openly accepted into the mainstream Republican Party like never before, and that’s led to real violence against regular people. In this Unpacked, we bear witness to the ways Donald Trump has used violence as a political tool, and used social media to bring it into the center of our political discourse and the MAGA Republican party.  

The Inciter in Chief

Since his first days on the campaign trail, Trump has gleefully embraced his image as a tough guy. His early use of threats and heavy reliance on Twitter as a path to media attention only escalated once he took office, with serious proposals to shoot asylum-seekers and political protesters, and ultimately culminated in the January 6, 2021 attack on Congress. His supporters are listening: over and over again, Trump’s name has been used to justify horrifying attacks on immigrants, the unhoused, the LGBTQ community, Muslims, and more. And thanks to Trump, politicians like Josh Hawley and other Republican party leaders now tolerate, even welcome, the support of extremist groups that openly call for or engage in violence, even when those groups hatch sinister plots like the one to kidnap Michigan Gov. Whitmer.

It’s hard to capture the scale of Trump’s use of threats – it’s been a constant in our political lives over the past 6 years. Here are just a few examples:

January 23, 2016

“I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters.“

Violent Speech at Campaign Rallies:

“Part of the problem … is nobody wants to hurt each other anymore.“ // “The audience hit back. That’s what we need a little bit more of.“ // “In the good old days this doesn’t happen because they used to treat them very, very rough.“ // “Try not to hurt him. If you do, I’ll defend you in court, don’t worry about it.” // “I’d like to punch him in the face.” // “Knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously.” // “Maybe he should have been roughed up.” // “I love the old days. You know what they used to do to guys like that when they were in a place like this? They’d be carried out on a stretcher, folks.”

Trump Openly Encouraged Violence Throughout his Administration:

• In a speech to Long Island police officers: “When you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon, you just see them thrown in, rough. I said, ‘Please don’t be too nice.’”
• Trump suggests shooting families seeking asylum
• “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.” 
• Trump pushes in meetings for George Floyd protesters to be shot
• In response to Covid restrictions during the worst of the pandemic: “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!; LIBERATE MINNESOTA!; LIBERATE VIRGINIA, and save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege!” 
• Speaking approvingly of an extra-judicial killing of a suspect by police in Portland, OR:  “That’s the way it has to be. There has to be retribution.” 

January 6, 2021: The Insurrection

After losing his re-election bid, Trump became increasingly convinced that his only path back into the White House was through an alliance with his most extreme supporters, and an effort to block the peaceful transition of power. So over and over again, Trump, his advisors, and his media mouthpieces like OAN and Fox News used social media and tv to call for those supporters to travel to Washington, D.C. on the day of the electoral count. Far-right extremists heard the call, and began jubilant preparations for an attack on Congress. On the day of the rally, Trump told the armed, violent attendees “If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore,” called for them to march to the Capitol, and then stepped aside to watch gleefully as they attacked. The end result: five dead. Millions of dollars in damages to the halls of Congress. Almost 1000 convictions, for crimes ranging from assault on a police officer to sedition. A nation shattered. And Trump has never apologized for any of it.

MAGA'S Private Army: The Proud Boys

You know them. From carrying torches at the Charlottesville ’Unite the Right’ rally to leading the attack on Congress during the insurrection, one group has served as Trump’s willing attack dogs: the vile white-supremacist gang known as the Proud Boys. Their dedication to violence, commitment to the MAGA movement, and close relationship with Trump advisors has earned them the role of unofficial MAGA enforcers over and over again. They’ve been Trump fanboys since their founding in the early days of the 2016 campaign, and when Trump answered a question at a 2020 Presidential debate asking him to condemn white supremacist groups by saying instead “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by“, they didn’t just celebrate — they made the phrase part of their logo. 

And it’s only gotten worse since 2020. Several Proud Boys members have been indicted for crimes related to the Jan 6 attacks, including one leading member who recently pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy (no biggie, it’s just conspiring to overthrow the U.S. government). These members  faithfully follow the MAGA party platform in other ways, including repeatedly attacking LGBTQ community events. Trump knew full well what the Proud Boys would contribute to his Jan. 6 “rally“: violence. That’s why he commanded them to be there, and why Trump advisors like Roger Stone were in touch with Proud Boys leadership in the days before the attack on the Capitol. And they followed the marching orders of their leader, with horrifying results.

How Far Will They Go? 2024 and Threats of Civil War

“I wouldn’t be surprised if a Senator or House member were killed. What started with abusive phone calls is now translating into active threats of violence and real violence.“ Republican Senator Susan Collins, Oct. 2, 2022, 26 days before the hammer attack on Paul Pelosi

Trump’s embrace of violent rhetoric paved the way for a new crop of MAGA candidates in 2020 willing to shatter norms of decency in pursuit of online attention and donations, including Missouri Senate candidate Eric Greitens. His “RINO hunting season” ad was a twisted MAGA fantasia of shadowy military figures with machine guns, kicking down the door of any Republican who refuses to swear allegiance to the MAGA movement. Other elected officials responded enthusiastically to their new freedom to threaten anyone, including scumbag racist member of Congress Paul Gosar, who posted an anime-style cartoon that showed him slitting the throat of fellow House member Alexandria Occasio-Cortez with a sword. Luckily, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy was quick to condemn the video and call for Gosar’s removal – kidding! McCarthy condemned the censure of Gosar as “playing politics,“ and vowed to reinstate him to his committee seats if given the chance. 

After the August 2022 search of Trump’s Mar-A-Lago resort  for stolen classified documents, calls for full-scale civil war came from some of the biggest names in the MAGA-sphere. Never mind the legally-executed search warrant or piles of national secrets discovered in the search; these people were ready to go to war after their leader predicted “a backlash the likes of which nobody has ever seen.”  

October 2022 brought us to a deeply horrifying new low, with the hammer attack on Paul Pelosi, the 82 year-old husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, by a MAGA conspiracy theorist. (Perhaps even more shocking than the hammer attack, if that’s possible, was the depraved reaction to it in the right-wing media: laughter.) 

So what would a Trump 2024 presidential bid bring us? It’s not like he’s keeping it a secret. In just the past few weeks he’s called for instant execution for drug dealers, with the bullet being sent to the family in the style of his murderous strongman hero Rodrigo Duterte. He’s used racist slurs against Elaine Chao — a former official of his own administration — and said that Mitch McConnell “had a DEATH WISH“ (emphasis, disgustingly, his) because he supported basic bipartisan legislation to keep the government functioning.  And we can tell by his announcement speech: more of the same tired, boring rhetoric, interspersed with threats to send National Guard troops into American cities in pursuit of “law and order.”

Voters delivered a positive message in the 2022 midterms: they rejected many of Trump’s endorsed candidates, held the Senate for Democrats, and denied the apocalyptic ‘red tsunami’ that MAGA pundits had promised. But that doesn’t reduce the risk of violence from Trump – far from it. Scarily, Trump mistakenly believes that running for office is an effective way to avoid criminal indictment, so don’t expect him to listen to voters and take up a new line of work – instead, be prepared for him to double down in the run to 2024. 

How We're Talking About It

1. MAGA leaders know what they’re risking – they just don’t care. For years, Trump has worked to harness the power of the violent right in an attempt to maintain power. Mitch McConnell wants conservative judges and tax cuts for the rich, and he’s willing to tolerate hate speech, violence, and harassment within the Republican party to get them. And as a result, threats of violence have been normalized and accepted; what would have been absolutely unthinkable is now a feature of mainstream politics. 
2. Americans should be free to express themselves politically without fear. Whether it’s MAGA extremists showing up at protests or polling places armed, or law-makers proposing restrictive anti-protest laws that not only restrict demonstration, but may even  forgive or justify violence against protesters, fear shouldn’t be a part of the political process. We can’t believe this needs to be said, but: it should not be legal to run over a protester with your car.
3. The fastest way to step back from this precipice is by defeating Trump again, and ending MAGAism in 2024. On January 6, Donald Trump brought a mob to the Capitol, intending to use violence and intimidation to steal the election. He failed that year, but he hasn’t given up on his pursuit, or his tactics. Now he’s running for President again. We stopped him once, and we’re going to do it again.

What Else Can We Do?

• Disinformation leads to violence. Join the fight against disinformation: Join the Truth Brigade
• Commemorate Jan 6th the most appropriate way possible: by fighting back against MAGA extremism. Plan or attend a Defeat Trump: Save Democracy event in your community!