Republicans terrified of crossing Trump due to physical threats, Democrat says
Republicans terrified of crossing Trump due to physical threats, Democrat says
Eric Swalwell says threats to them and their families are stopping GOP officials from criticizing president
Summary
Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell claims Republicans fear criticizing Donald Trump due to threats against them and their families.
He says Trump’s social media attacks provoke harassment, forcing lawmakers to consider costly security measures. This fear, he argues, is eroding GOP support for Ukraine and discouraging opposition to Trump’s policies.
Other figures, including Liz Cheney and Mitt Romney, have echoed these concerns. Elon Musk has also pressured Republicans by funding primary challenges.
Some GOP lawmakers reportedly faced FBI warnings of credible death threats for opposing Trump-backed nominees.
That's what fascism feels like.
You're not allowed to say that or invoke Hitler until we're all in gas chambers! You're only allowed to call it out after it happens! You're supposed to believe the liars until people start writing the history of the events!
-Magoos
Historically, the problem of "this is just like Hitler!!!" has been the way in which it numbs people to the invocation.
That is, in no small part, the appeal among conservatives of calling everyone from Hegel to Whole Foods a form of creeping fascism. Putting every liberal politician (and a fair number of conservatives) in Hitler Cosplay helped diminish the idea of an authoritarian police state to seat belt laws and smoking bans.
The flip side is that stodgy NYT Op-Ed Writers who casually reject that any fascist impulse exists at all. Everyone from Fransisco Franco to Sheriff Joe Arpaio was just interested in Law & Order. The game of explaining why a given genocidal policy or nakedly fascist aesthetic is actually something different, you idiot, you imbecile, goes right up to the point of denying migrant detention camps along the border and mass extermination of Semitic people in the Middle East and trillionaires doing the "Roman" salute are what they clearly appear to be.
In the end
gets you coming and going.
It becomes a casual invective to describe even the most mildly distasteful political views and a "you're just being hysterical" rebuttal to any policy that is quite literally adopting mass extermination.
Yep. Fascism doesn't work without a dedicated cult of personality, and that's exactly what Trump has with his legion of MAGA asshole-idiots who are willing to commit violence for their messiah.
Fascists are cowards. We know this.
Some GOP lawmakers reportedly faced FBI warnings of credible death threats for opposing Trump-backed nominees.
I'm not saying it's not entirely true because we've been hearing about this for years. But given who is in charge of the FBI now, I wonder how many of these "credible threats" are actually credible vs. how many of them are actually just made up by Patel to make sure they stay in line.
That said, it's one thing for a civilian to not want to put themselves in a position where they could be harmed. They didn't sign up for that. Civilians are largely in no position to do anything about it. But Senators and Representatives? This is literally what they fucking signed up for. This is what we grossly overpay them for. This is why we spend so much for their security. We elected these people and empowered them to do what we can't.
Maybe if we start seeing a couple of these town halls full of angry people exercising their 2nd Amendment rights live and in real time, they might get the message.
I’m not saying it’s not entirely true because we’ve been hearing about this for years. But given who is in charge of the FBI now, I wonder how many of these “credible threats” are actually credible vs. how many of them are actually just made up by Patel to make sure they stay in line.
If the people saying there are death threats against you are the same ones who are supposed to investigate them: There are death threats against you. It just might be a fed holding the gun.
I wonder how many of these "credible threats" are actually credible vs. how many of them are actually just made up by Patel to make sure they stay in line.
Well, he only just took office this week, and this crop of death threats have been reported for a month or so now. But I absolutely believe that Patel is going to try to return the FBI to its J. Edgar Hoover days of gathering komprimat on every single person in the country. We're gonna need another MEDBURG soon.
This is called ‘stochastic terrorism’. Publicly painting people in the most outrageous light until some of your acolytes feel called upon to realize the supposedly non-commital threats you made.
Fuck Trump. Fight the fascists.
This is called ‘
stochasticterrorism’.It's carefully timed and targeted, thus no longer "stochastic"
.... until some of your
acolytesderanged nut cases feel called upon .... - FTFY
So then you're saying they need more threats from constituents for supporting Trump?
I mean that's what they asked for. They've seen how Putin operates and Trump has shown great admiration for his methods. So they should assume he would use those kinds of threats and alleged follow-through.
Republicans: We're in charge!
Trump and ELon's SS:
You know, something like this can't happen in the USA because of the Second Amendment. I've learned this from countless of dudes on the internet that screamed endlessly about it, so this must all be a dream. Only woke nations line Nazi Germany can fall for this 🙄
So if there were threats against them for NOT standing up to him would it cancel the other threats out?
I'm excited to find out!
Tldr: Threats work and nothing will be done until they're more afraid of you than they are of fascists.
Counterpoint, send credible death threats when they DON'T oppose Trump's policies.
The tough-talking pro-gun people who, when your kid gets shot at school, says more guns are the answer, won't stick up for your kid or anything else out of fear that someone might send them a threatening message for doing so.
won’t stick up for your kid
Emphasis mine. Why would they give a fuck about someone else's kid? That is how conservatives actually think, including the ones that get fucking elected. It's literally their job and they still can't give a fuck about a thing until it literally happens to them.
The MAGA crowd are today's brown shirts. US democracy won't survive this term.
Knives are starting to feel extra long at night...
Guess we'll just just have to threaten them even more physically to get the results we want then
Wait until the threats against them for criticizing Trump and those for not protecting their subsidies and pork barrels cross the equilibrum and start to shift the balance.
Pussies
When this tension pops,
People are going to start being killed.
Please be safe
Is that true? I haven’t seen any Republican got hurt physically so far.
This is one situation where I think telling someone to “man, the fuck, up” is appropriate.
Protect your family, yes. But, also protect the fucking country. Step aside if you can’t or don’t act the victim when the blowback hits you.
Pretty soon they're going to be terrified of everyone for the same reason. Grow a spine, and do what's right for your country, not Krasnov
If a death threat makes you back down I want you out of my government. I'd consider it on par with treason or like a soldier going AWOL in combat.
Maybe we should make them more afraid of us than of them? If that's what they're signaling works.
Remember when his wife made her cause ‘fight against bullying’
It's easy. You call him a fat little bitch who sucks at everything and who only won because Republicans are all idiots.
And that's playing it neutral. If you like, you can start leaning into it a little.
Is there any mechanism for Congress to hold anonymous votes on topics that might upset the fragile man-baby?
The only thing providing ANY resistance is the fear of what happens if constituents realize their representative killed social security.
There will be no resistance whatsoever for an anonymous vote.
I don't think it would help. They would just pick whoever they thought was most likely to turn. The threat of them picking the wrong person would create a peer pressure effect towards conforming. Much like the Roman army's decimation.
I suppose fear, anxiety, stress and worry are back to being acceptable only for those not lucky enough to be monied. Moreso. Again. Smh
🇺🇸Nuke the GOP🇺🇲
All thanks to the greatest, brightest, most powerful, best at everything nation in the world🤪
They should try that with someone older. I’m 50/50 on whether I fear death or whether to look forward to eternal naps.
Where are they going to find someone older than a member of Congress?
I say they fear the media more. In deep red states the primary is the real election. Fox News plays kingmaker
Trump, quick, suck Elon's toes if this is not true.