I had wondered for decades about what could have happened if the American public had reacted differently to the Kent State massacre. What if the majority of Americans reacted with enthusiastic approval rather than shock and horror? What if there were no consequences for the guardsmen or the State? What if there was no compensation for the victims? What if we had a new paradigm going forward: protesters can be shot? Full stop.
We’d have the end of the Republic. The USA would officially become a white nationalist fascist state. We’d have a dirty war, like Chile or Argentina. Maybe we didn’t know how close we came between 1968 and 1974. It seems Hunter S. Thompson and Alan Moore did.
This week, we had a smaller incident in Kenosha, Wisconsin (two dead, one wounded, as opposed to four dead and nine wounded), but the significance could be greater than what happened 50 years ago in Ohio. This time, we had a right wing, teenage shooter, who the police witnessed and didn’t arrest. They let the shooter get back to his car, and drive back to his home in Illinois, over 30 miles away. This kid, Kyle Rittenhouse, crossed state lines twice (possibly without a driver’s license), and violated a town’s curfew to cause trouble. And then he shot first. And while brave young men tried to chase him down and prevent what they thought was a massacre in progress, he shot two more.
Before he was arrested, the police used law enforcement language to describe his terrorist act. His actions were described the way the police would describe one of their own. Kenosha police chief Daniel Miskinis sad, “Last night a 17-year old individual from Antioch Illinois was involved in the use of firearms to resolve whatever conflict was in place.” I really don’t care that the chief later condemned the violence. The fact that he used the words “individual” and “conflict” to describe a boy suspected of of a mass shooting is all I need to conclude that the police are reluctant to stop right wing gangs. And indeed, they are. Many police are members of right wing gangs themselves. They see right wing gangs as “friendlies.” And this attitude is reflected in police behavior. The Kenosha police distributed water to right wing “militia” members earlier this week, but today they arrested a group preparing free meals for protesters.
But the most disturbing news of all this week, is that the loudest voices on the right are trying to re-define who can be shot. In the case of the Rittenhouse, the right wing is arguing that an armed man being chased has the right to shoot his pursuers. This would mean that anyone being chased has the right to open fire. It becomes a license to kill. Meanwhile, the reason we have unrest in Kenosha is because a black man was shot seven times in the back and paralyzed for failing to obey police instructions. It is possible that the victim, Jacob Blake, was not told he was under arrest, and angrily walked to his Dodge Journey in defiance of the police behind him. After he was shot, police found a knife in his car, and concluded that Mr. Blake must have been walking to his car to get his knife and…stab four officers with their guns drawn? But this justification after the fact seems to imply that any black person who owns a knife, holding it or not, can be shot.
Now, the US has not yet become a fascist state where dissenters are rounded up, tortured, imprisoned or shot, but look at how quickly we got here. And we have to acknowledge that this is all tied to the rise of the QAnon conspiracy theory, which has grown significantly more popular in 2020. QAnon is a vast conspiracy, which is able to include a lot of out of context quotes and events to support the existence of a decades-long, underground child abuse economy run by powerful Democrats. It’s actually a repeat of old conspiracy theories involving children being kidnapped and forced into sex slavery. One of the pillars of QAnon, is that the left wing, being a demonic and sadistic segment of the population, need to be brought to justice in a sweeping week of arrests they call “the storm.” Alternatively, if Donald Trump -a president they believe knows about the Democratic child trafficking, rape, and even their eating of children- fails to bring them to justice, then patriots should act and attack Democrats with deadly force. That’s no exaggeration. That’s the logical conclusion a lot of QAnon followers reach in their education. The evil Democrats include celebrities, Jews, elected officials and coastal, wealthy elites. The first violent incident involving a QAnon follower that I know of was in December 2016. Donald Trump was president-elect. The next incident I am aware of happened at the Hoover Dam in June 2018. The convicted guy in that case wrote letters to Trump and was a fierce QAnon believer.
QAnon is not a benign cult or subculture within the GOP. It is aggressive, on the offensive, and is taking over the whole party. It is evolving into a violent faction of our society. And they don’t restrict themselves to Internet comments and wild conspiracy research. If true believers in QAnon are convinced that Democrats are a satanic army, then that army must be confronted and defeated. An increasing number of those under the cult’s spell are lashing out, whether it is at mask mandates, local government hearings, or at anti-racist protesters.
As one who studied the right wing militia movement from roughly 1977 through 2000, I am a little surprised that the violence from the right continued after Trump took office. The movement was known to flare-up when a Democrat was president, and cool down when a Republican took office. But now it's on the offensive -and has intensified- with a Republican president, which doesn't bode well for the future.
One of the reasons I wish Gore won in 2000 was that we'd have a chance to smother and prosecute right wing terrorist groups. But Bush won, and their activity cooled down to the point that they just attacked reproductive health clinics and the occasional mosque or synagogue, and the media didn't cover it. So if they are in-charge and angry now, imagine how furious they will be when they are no longer the ruling minority.
Or, imagine a worse scenario: Trump wins re-election, and they still commit acts of violence in our cities, while the police stand by and let them roam. They evolve into the GOP death squads, as QAnon fully takes over the party. Our nation begins to have scenes of unarmed citizens under fire, similar to the siege of Sarajevo in 1992. I will never forget the fall of Sarajevo. I saw it live on CNN International and BBC News. Aside form the obvious reactions of “this is horrible,” and “why won’t NATO and the UN stop this,” I didn’t think that something similar could happen in the US. That can’t happen here.
But my historian father, Uncle Tim has always reminded me, it can happen here. It can happen anywhere. It has happened on every inhabited continent.
In order to prevent it from happening here, Donald Trump must lose. And even then, there will be bloodshed in the weeks to come. Win or lose, the right win is going to react with extreme violence.
Be safe, everyone.