Violent Insurrection |
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by Jim Tarbell
For a country that claims to cherish the rule of law and has always embraced the peaceful transition of power, the violent January 6, 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol has been a wakeup call that is not going away. According to the Public Religion Research Institute, 30% of Republicans believe “true American patriots may have to resort to violence” while 11% of Democrats and 17% of Independents agree with that statement. Overall they estimate that almost 62 million Americans think they may have to resort to violence to solve America’s problems.
It is a sentiment set in motion by big-monied groups claiming the 2020 Presidential election was stolen, mainstream media is lying, and our political leaders are monsters. Julie Jenkins Fancelli, the scion of Publix Super Markets donated $300,000 to the cause, and corporate CEO of My Pillow, Mike Lindell, has spent over $25 million to convince America that the election was rigged.
They were both involved in the January 6, 2021, pro-Trump “Save America” rally that ignited the passions of the thousands of people who eventually overran the Capitol later that day. At the rally, the crowd shouted “Fight for Trump, Fight for Trump, Fight for Trump . . . ” while Trump exhorted them to “fight like hell, and if you don’t fight like hell you’re not going to have a country anymore.”
Event coordinators raised $3 million through a series of dark money organizations that obscured the source of those funds. A lot of it came through the Republican Attorney Generals Association and their Rule of Law Defense Fund that blasted out robocalls to get people down to the Washington Mall to “march to the Capitol Building and call on Congress to stop the steal.” They did this despite the fact that there was no permit to march to the Capitol, and what happened there was certainly not respecting the rule of law.
Funders of the groups that energized the attack on the Capitol, like the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, are lost in the shadows of dark money. Only Christian crowd-funding platforms failed to hide their money trail.
The violence that day — from the killings, to the zip-tie handcuffs meant for the politicians, and the hangman’s noose meant for Vice President Mike Pence — has been well publicized. It is a day well seared in the conscience of the entire world.
Initially, corporations responded to that day by pledging to stop making financial contributions to the 147 members of Congress and 8 US Senators who challenged the election results. Unfortunately, that pledge has slow disappeared, and as the chart above shows, corporate support for politicians that supported the violent insurrection is skyrocketing. Many Washington watchdog groups including AccountableUS.org, and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (citizensforethics.org) are tracking this transformation.
While their corporate funding is increasing, members of this “sedition caucus” publicly downplays the violence of that day and any chance it was premeditated. This is despite FBI intercepted, online threads that said, “be ready to fight. Congress needs to hear glass breaking, doors being kicked in, and blood . . . being spilled. Get violent…Stop calling this a march or rally, or protest. Go there ready for War. We get our president or we die. Nothing else will achieve this goal.”
Meanwhile, the New York Times reports the threat of real violence continues. A young speaker at an Idaho political rally last fall wondered when they could start killing Democrats asking, “When do we get to use the guns? How many elections are they going to steal before we kill these people?” The Times then goes on to point out that “armed confrontation is no longer limited to the fringe. . . the Republican Party is mainstreaming menace as a political tool.”
It is imperative that the American people rise up against the use of violence. It is time to adhere to the rule of law and disarm violence.
Image: Accountable.us
For a country that claims to cherish the rule of law and has always embraced the peaceful transition of power, the violent January 6, 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol has been a wakeup call that is not going away. According to the Public Religion Research Institute, 30% of Republicans believe “true American patriots may have to resort to violence” while 11% of Democrats and 17% of Independents agree with that statement. Overall they estimate that almost 62 million Americans think they may have to resort to violence to solve America’s problems.
It is a sentiment set in motion by big-monied groups claiming the 2020 Presidential election was stolen, mainstream media is lying, and our political leaders are monsters. Julie Jenkins Fancelli, the scion of Publix Super Markets donated $300,000 to the cause, and corporate CEO of My Pillow, Mike Lindell, has spent over $25 million to convince America that the election was rigged.
They were both involved in the January 6, 2021, pro-Trump “Save America” rally that ignited the passions of the thousands of people who eventually overran the Capitol later that day. At the rally, the crowd shouted “Fight for Trump, Fight for Trump, Fight for Trump . . . ” while Trump exhorted them to “fight like hell, and if you don’t fight like hell you’re not going to have a country anymore.”
Event coordinators raised $3 million through a series of dark money organizations that obscured the source of those funds. A lot of it came through the Republican Attorney Generals Association and their Rule of Law Defense Fund that blasted out robocalls to get people down to the Washington Mall to “march to the Capitol Building and call on Congress to stop the steal.” They did this despite the fact that there was no permit to march to the Capitol, and what happened there was certainly not respecting the rule of law.
Funders of the groups that energized the attack on the Capitol, like the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, are lost in the shadows of dark money. Only Christian crowd-funding platforms failed to hide their money trail.
The violence that day — from the killings, to the zip-tie handcuffs meant for the politicians, and the hangman’s noose meant for Vice President Mike Pence — has been well publicized. It is a day well seared in the conscience of the entire world.
Initially, corporations responded to that day by pledging to stop making financial contributions to the 147 members of Congress and 8 US Senators who challenged the election results. Unfortunately, that pledge has slow disappeared, and as the chart above shows, corporate support for politicians that supported the violent insurrection is skyrocketing. Many Washington watchdog groups including AccountableUS.org, and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (citizensforethics.org) are tracking this transformation.
While their corporate funding is increasing, members of this “sedition caucus” publicly downplays the violence of that day and any chance it was premeditated. This is despite FBI intercepted, online threads that said, “be ready to fight. Congress needs to hear glass breaking, doors being kicked in, and blood . . . being spilled. Get violent…Stop calling this a march or rally, or protest. Go there ready for War. We get our president or we die. Nothing else will achieve this goal.”
Meanwhile, the New York Times reports the threat of real violence continues. A young speaker at an Idaho political rally last fall wondered when they could start killing Democrats asking, “When do we get to use the guns? How many elections are they going to steal before we kill these people?” The Times then goes on to point out that “armed confrontation is no longer limited to the fringe. . . the Republican Party is mainstreaming menace as a political tool.”
It is imperative that the American people rise up against the use of violence. It is time to adhere to the rule of law and disarm violence.
Image: Accountable.us
