Category Archives: Right-wing Extremism

Timothy McVeigh: Disciple of William Cooper

2024 Trip to South West United States, Extremism, guns, Right-wing Extremism

 

Timothy McVeigh, it turns out, was listening to William Cooper on his radio talk show  talking about Waco Texas and was struck by what he heard. He caught the sickness. He was inflamed like so many in the right-wing movement. He was lapped by the flames. He believed what he heard. It radicalized him.

Like to many other conservative Americans, Timothy McVeigh  always loved guns,. After High School though he became obsessed with guns. He read Soldier of Fortune magazine as if it was holy writ. He became a vocal proponent of gun rights. McVeigh was no dummy. He joined the army and graduated at the top of his class.

 

He was disciplined for buying a White Power shirt at a KKK rally. He was bathed in White Supremacist ideology. McVeigh was transformed by his role in Operation Desert Storm in Iraq. Even though he won medals for his job as sniper, he was traumatized by the war.  His attitude underwent a sea change while he was there. He began to wonder what right he had to go to Iraq and tell Iraqis what to do in their own country but he was actually told to hurt them for not doing it his way!

 

He was considered for Special Forces work but failed because of his physical condition.  This humiliated McVeigh. He began to blame the US military rather than the people of Iraq. He saw the army as part of the socialist takeover of America. And in 1993 he was at the Waco siege hawking bumper stickers. He was the young man radically affected by what he saw at Waco. After that he roamed the country attending gun shows wherever he could. He was also awash with theories by William Cooper. He bought a video on Waco made by Cooper.  As Justin Ling said on his CBC podcast series, “Flamethrowers”, he was listening to “the Big Lie.” That is an interesting expression in the history of extremism. It became even more interesting years later.

 Cooper in his tapes asked his listeners if they would stand up like a real man and a real woman? McVeigh heard Cooper say the time was near when everyone, including himself was going to have to make a decision. It was time to be counted and McVeigh was ready. Cooper asked, on the tape, “how  many more people are you going to allow to be jailed, persecuted, burned to death, murdered, because you are a coward.”

Later evidence  makes it clear that McVeigh took this message to heart. He was brave enough for the task at hand that brought him to Oklahoma City.

Wacky Waco

2024 Trip to South West United States, Domestic Terrorism, Extremism, guns, Right-wing Extremism

 

One of the most important incidents in the history of the whacky right-wing movement in the US, occurred, appropriately near a city called Waco Texas. That incident ignited the right-wing  talk-radio hosts around the country.

On April 19, 1993 there was a tense standoff near the Mount Carmel in Waco Texas between a small Christian sect known as the Branch Davidians and nearly 900 federal agents including the FBI, Customs, the National Guard and the Texas Rangers. To many it appeared like an epic struggle between Christians and government. Of course, the   government agents brought massive amounts of fire power with them.  Nothing but overwhelming force would do against this small Christian sect. This included a dozen tanks. Inside the fortified building there are about 100 Branch Davidians that included 20 children. About half the adults were women. It didn’t look like a fair fight. But should it be a fair fight? If Antifa is rioting in the streets of Seattle or Portland should they be met with equal force?  What if the rioters are a motor cycle gang. Do the authorities have to fight them fairly? Or should we allow them to bring overwhelming force?

The Christian sect had a leader David Koresh, after whom the group was named. They were not lambs led to the slaughter.  As Justin Ling explained on his CBC podcast, “They’ve got a 50-caliber cannon, machine guns, and more than a million rounds of ammunition. They are prepared for a holy war.”        This was a very well-armed sect of Christians.

Modern Christians like to be well-armed. No lily-livered pacifism for them. They don’t turn the other cheek; they turn the other AR-15.

 One of the officers on the site said the agents had walked into “a hail-storm in reverse.” I don’t know what that means but it doesn’t sound good to me.

The initial fire fight led to the deaths of 4 officers and 5 Branch Davidians. Since then, there was a very tense stand-off. The line from the Clinton administration was about saving the children inside the compound.  But why did they need saving? There was a very different version of the events on short-wave radio.

One broadcaster from Arizona said “this was the beginning of the end for Christian America.”  The Christians believed that no one in the church was compelled to go there. Everyone was there as a result of exercising their own free will or their parents exercising their own free will. As a result, according to this view, the attack on the site was an extreme example of government over reach and tyranny—i.e. government interfering with the freedom of the people. One of those people upset with the government and who espoused this view was radio talk-show host William Cooper. Cooper said,

“The U.S government is training this massive military force on Americans who are just exercising their religious freedom. For Cooper this siege vindicated the dire predictions he had been making for years—that the socialist, liberal government is about to take away your freedom. And you might be next!”

The fears were being stoked. And once again, paranoia was bringing bad decision making in its wake.

As one right-wing pundit said,

“The siege continues in Waco Texas. A small group of men and women trapped under siege by government forces. They are fighting the second battle of the Second American Revolution. Make no mistake about it folks—we are at war.”

 

Many Americans believed exactly that.  America was at war with its own government. As a result of Waco, the American survivalist and militia movement was born. This was the group that later included domestic terrorists such as Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, and many others. The events of January 6th 2021 were a direct descendant of Waco.

 There was a young boy who came to see the action in Waco Texas. He was selling bumper sticker such as this: “Fear the government that fears your gun.” “Banning guns make the streets safe for a government takeover.” That young kid later made a lot of noise in the right-wing movement when he got a little older. His name was Timothy McVeigh.

Yearning for a Strongman Government

2024 Trip to South West United States, Death of Democracy, Populism, Right-wing Extremism, Trumpism, Tyranny and Fascism

 

Recently, I watched the Rachel Maddow show on television. She is an unrelenting liberal so I don’t watch the show very often, figuring I get enough of that already. After watching the show though, I might change my mind. I just watched a small part of the show and it was very interesting.

First, she showed brief interviews with Trumpsters who had each been asked one simple question:  “If you had a choice of 4 more years of Joe Biden or 4 more years of Donald Trump as a dictator what would you choose?”

The answers were shocking. Each one chose Trump!  One said, “This country needs a dictator. I hate to say it, but it’s true.” He looked sheepish but he said it.  Another said, “Sometimes in life we need a good paddling from the principal to set our life on the right path. And this country needs a little of that.”  A young woman said, “I’d pick Trump all the way.” She also had a sheepish grin, but again, said it.  A number of them said “Trump” with enthusiasm.  They seemed to want a dictator.

Is it really true that Americans want a dictator? Dictatorship seems to have a lot of appeal in the US. Why is that?  Rachel Maddow said, many Americans want a strong man government and think that is what Trump will give them.

Tyranny is in the Eyes of the Beholder

2024 Trip to Southwest USA, Right-wing Extremism

 

It has been cool in Arizona since we arrived. This is not uncommon in Arizona in January.  We are just grateful that it is only cool and not cold or worse, not bone-chilling cold. Recently, for the first time we went to the pool that all members of our little community are entitled to use. We enjoy it there. We get to swim, lounge in the hot tub and meet friends. If it were not for the pool, we would not have met very many people here. That is why we prefer semi-public pools to private pools. We deliberately chose our house this year because it did not have a pool. The house we rented last year lost about 80% of its back yard to the pool. A pool we didn’t use! We prefer the extra space and larger communal pool.

As soon as we arrived, we met 2 friends. They are former New Yorkers with a strong New York accident and strong New York opinions. We have enjoyed many chats with them, although we often disagree.  They are not liberals as most people around here would expect. In fact, the husband is a Trump supporter.

He was eager to talk to me about what he called was a “very disturbing incident” he had noticed on the Internet. I was leery, but interested so gladly accepted his gift of the URL when he flagged down our car on the way home from the pool. He wanted my opinion as a lawyer even though I am a lowly recovering lawyer.  So at his request I watched the YouTube report.

Rebel News played a video that apparently is making quite a splash on the Internet.  It outraged my Arizona friend. It showed a reporter approaching Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland aggressively approached by Dave Menzies a reporter for Rebel News as she was briskly walking down a sidewalk or parking lot in a city. He immediately stuck a microphone into her face as she continued walking, showing no interest in being interviewed. He wanted to know why a particular Iranian group was not listed as a terrorist and why her government was supporting “Islamo-Nationalism?”

Ms Freeland immediately veered off to the other side of the sidewalk and kept walking without talking to hm. Although the reporter walked right up to her, sticking the microphone in her face I did not see that he touched her. The Deputy Prime Minister was accompanied by her personal RCMP detail, which is hardly surprising since she has been accosted by extremists on a number of occasions. She is entitled to her security and has no obligation to talk to everyone who approaches her on the street whether a reporter or not. She had the right to ignore the reporter. The police have a duty to protect her.

In my opinion the police officers over reacted by arresting the man. They said they were arresting him and later I believe briefly charged him with assault, but quickly released him without charges. The police would have been much smarter to talk to him to make sure he was not a danger to the Cabinet Minister, and then once assured that she was not in danger, let him go. Arresting him or charging him was not necessary or even helpful in my view. Reporters do what he did, from time to time. It is rather rude and annoying but would not amount to an assault in my view. A police man claimed the reporter had pushed into him, but I could not see what he did. I suspect it was minor incident.

Menzies was upset at his treatment. While handcuffed he talked to his own cameraman and his own microphone and told viewers,

 “This is your Canada now folks. This is the Gestapo taking Black Faces’ orders [referring to Prime Minister Trudeau]. Outrageous! Meanwhile the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp is not a terrorist organization…It is against the law in Black Faces’s Canada to ask insensitive questions.”

 

But Rebel News was outraged. And so apparently is the entire right wing led by, of course, Fox News, the largest cable news network in the US.

What is my take? The police over reacted. There was no need as far as I could see to arrest him. The police  had the right to keep the reporter away since Ms. Freeland did not want to talk to him, but he did nothing as far as I could see to reason to arrest him.  However, there is also no need for the right-wing apoplexy over what happened. This was not a major gestapo incident.  Tyranny is in the eyes of the beholder. Fox News finds tyranny where it wants to. Other news outlets do the same. We viewers should watch them all with our critical lenses securely in place. We, on either side of such issues, should not make mountains out of molehills

I am afraid my America friend will be disappointed in my Casper Milquetoast answers. Maybe, he should get a better lawyer.

 

The Most Dangerous Man in America

Extinction, Rebellion and Resistance, Right-wing Extremism, World of ideas

 

The clarion call of the new right-wing was all about liberty and freedom. This was, according to Justin Ling, in his podcast aptly called The Flame Throwers, “the language of revolution.”  1998 was time for a New Tea Party. Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich saw themselves as right-wing revolutionaries. In fact Gingrich invited Limbaugh to come to Washington to fire up the new troops that had been elected. This was going to be the politics of extremism with no holds barred.

Limbaugh advised the newly elected Congressmen in 1998. “This is not the time to be moderate, this is not the time to be liked, this is no time to seek to gain the approval of the people you have just defeated.” American politics had entered the age of extremism where there was no room any more for moderation, reasonableness, or humility.

The incoming class of Republican Congressmen and women presented Limbaugh with a plaque that said, “Rush was right.”  They also assured him that there was not a single Feminazi in the bunch.  The right in America was nothing if it was not hyper- masculine. Only wimps would give in to feminists. Women were one of Limbaugh’s most consistent targets of verbal abuse.

At the time Limbaugh’s radio shows were shown on more 600 stations in the USA. He had a television show on another 225 stations. As Ling said, “Tens of millions of Americans were hanging on his every utterance. He now basically runs the Republican Party.”  This was a role later taken over by Donald Trump. As much as he loved being adored by the Republican party, there was one endorsement that he treasured above all others—he got a personal letter from Saint Ronald Reagan himself. He was in heaven. Not only that it was the best heaven of all—Republican heaven.

This is what that blessed epistle from the Saint of the Right said:

“Thanks Rush for all that you are doing for promoting Republican and conservative principles. Now that I have retired from active politics, I don’t mind that you have become the number one voice for conservatism in our country. I know the liberals call you the most dangerous man in America, but don’t worry about it. They  used to say the same thing about me. Keep up the good work. America needs to hear the way things otta be.

Sincerely, Ron”

In many ways, Rush Limbaugh was in fact the most dangerous man in America. He was ready to blow it up—in the world of ideas of course. Though it would have ramifications beyond that.

 

Newt Gingerich Revolutionary

Extremism, Hate, Moral Humility, Right-wing Extremism

 

After the massive Republican victory in the American mid-term elections of 1994, Newt Gingerich  became the new Leader of the House, and he was obviously a firebrand. Nothing else would do. Moderates were scorned.  It was time for a new Tea Party.

The Atlantic magazine said that Gingrich “turned partisan battles into blood sport, wrecked Congress, and paved the way for Trump’s rise.” Polarization in American politics was jump started. American politics would not be the same for decades (or perhaps forever?). He called himself the “most serious systematic revolutionary of modern times.”

Here is one of his early incendiary remarks for which he became famous:

“You cannot make civilization with 12-year-olds having babies, 15-year-old shooting each other, 17- year-olds dying of AIDS, and 18-year-olds getting a diploma they can’t read.”

 

Interestingly, this also established Gingrich as part of the culture wars that have taken over American politics, both on the left and the right.

Justin Ling said this about Gingrich on The Flame Throwers podcast:

 

“What he really was, was a pugilistic bomb thrower who was willing to tear down the entire American political structure with his bare hands if he had to.”

 

These were the type of guys (usually they were all guys) that the American right-wing loved. And still love! They were bombastic; they were confident, and they mocked all the namby pambies of the liberal camp. Later they referred to them as “woke.” Gingrich was Rush Limbaugh’s kind of guy! This was a guy he could support, just like Donald Trump later was the kind of guy he could support.

Gingrich, again like Trump later, called Limbaugh for advice. They ascended together. They joined in hatred of  liberals, an in particular the Clintons, and dragged a nation of conservatives with them. According to Justin Ling, “together they remade the language of politics. Liberals are anti-flag, anti-child, traitors, thieves.” Together they helped create the astonishing polarization of American politics. Their extreme language helped establish extreme hatred for “the other party.” There was no room for moderation. This was a battle between Satan and Jesus. It was the beginning of a new age of extremism in which we are still living . Humility found no home in this new movement.

And it had American talk radio to thank.

A Crusade of lies against the Clintons

Conspiracy Theories, Death of Truth, Politics & Religion, Right-wing Extremism

Rush Limbaugh was very popular among the American right, particularly in rural America. But Limbaugh was not a sterling example of a man with good character.

On the David Lettermen television show Rush Limbaugh attacked the Clintons as he always did but he even attacked their daughter Chelsea who was only 12 years old. He made a joke by comparing her unfavorably to the family dog. Nothing was too low for Limbaugh, particularly when attacking liberals. No tactics are off the table in a religious war.

He attacked them bitterly over the death of Vince Foster.  He said on his show that a Washington consulting firm was about to publish a story that Vince Foster was murdered in an apartment owned by Hillary Clinton! Foster was a childhood friend of Bill Clinton and joined the White House administration as counsel and was involved in scandals that in hindsight were pretty minor.  Nothing compared to the later Trump administration scandals. Foster was depressed, anxious and over worked. His death was investigated by 2 police agencies, a coroner, 2 independent counsels, and 2 Congressional Committees. All said his death was a suicide. But all this was nothing beside the fax that was sent to Rush Limbaugh.  The implication of the fax was clear—Clintons were murderers!  This brought polarization into American politics at a whole new level of extremism.  And Limbaugh was proud of his efforts.

Of course, there were many right-wing conspiracies about Foster. One of those was that Foster was assassinated to keep him from testifying against the Clintons. Or that he had been blackmailed by Israel over a secret Swiss bank account. Or that his death was the consequence of a secret tryst with—you got it—Hillary Clinton. Who else? Once more there was no evidence to support this. It was all lies manufactured somewhere on the right where these things are spawned. (and I am not denying that there have been lies on the left as well) But they have really found a congenial home on the right.

Rush Limbaugh helped embed conspiracy theories permanently inside the Republican party. Conspiracies were there to stay. They are still there in abundance. He had gone a long way toward convincing American conservatives that their president and a future presidential candidate were murderers who would stop at nothing to get their political way.  This was a religious crusade. And religious crusades always end badly and don’t allow truth to get in their way.

The crusade against the Clintons has been a remarkable phenomenon in American politics for about 2 decades.  And it is not ending any time soon.  Crusades can do that. American right-wing talk radio has been a big part of that.  Now I do not claim the Clinton’s were entirely innocent political actors.  I am saying though that they have been the object of an unprecedented massive campaign of lies that has been building for decades. Such a mountain of lies would be difficult for a saint to overcome, and for the Clintons it was impossible.

Many of us did not appreciate this when Hillary ran for the presidency in 2016. No matter how absurd, the lies accumulated and had tremendous effect.  After all, how could she combat a campaign that painted her as the leader of a cabal of pedophiles operating out of the non-existent  basement of a pizza restaurant basement in Washington D.C.?  No possible evidence could refute such a massive lie.

Rush Limbaugh played an important role in manufacturing, spreading, and solidifying this campaign of lies.

As Justin Ling said in his podcast series on CBC “The Flamethrowers”,

“The conspiracy theory was here to stay, thanks in large part to Rush Limbaugh. No longer were the Clintons conventional political villains. They were murderers! But whether or not the Vince Foster story really took hold in the minds of Limbaugh, he was leading a political crusade—and he was winning.”

 

 

The result was what one political commentator called “a seismic shift to the right tonight in American political thinking. It is measuring 10.0 on the political Richter scale.” It was massive; it was powerful; and it was created by Rush Limbaugh and his revolutionary cabal of right-wing radio commentators around the country.

It was intensely visible in 1998 in the American mid-term elections. The Republicans took control of the House of Representatives for the first time since 1954. They picked up 54 seats in the House and enough seats to claim the Senate as well. It was the worst loss suffered by a sitting President in 50 years.

There was one clear lesson from all of this: Conspiracy theories work.

And the Republicans did not forget that lesson then, and have not forgotten it since.

A Crusade of lies against the Clintons

Conspiracy Theories, Death of Democracy, Death of Truth, Right-wing Extremism

 

On the David Lettermen show Rush Limbaugh attacked the Clintons as he always did but he even attacked their daughter Chelsea who was only 12 years old. He made a joke by comparing her unfavorably to the family dog. Nothing was too low for Limbaugh, particularly when attacking liberals.

He attacked them bitterly over the death of Vince Foster.  He said on his show that a Washington consulting firm was about to publish a story that Vince Foster was murdered in an apartment owned by Hillary Clinton! Foster was a childhood friend of Bill Clinton and joined the White House administration as counsel and was involved in scandals that in hindsight were pretty minor.  Nothing compared to the later Trump administration scandals. Foster was depressed, anxious and over worked. His death was investigated by 2 police agencies, a coroner, 2 independent counsels, and 2 Congressional Committees. All said his death was a suicide. But all this was nothing beside the fax that was sent to Rush Limbaugh.  The implication was clear—Clintons were murderers!  This brought polarization into American politics at a whole new level of extremism.  And Limbaugh was proud of his efforts.

Of course, there were many right-wing conspiracies about Foster. One of those was that Foster was assassinated to keep him from testifying against the Clintons. Or that he had been blackmailed by Israel over a secret Swiss bank account. Or that his death was the consequence of a secret tryst with—you got it—Hillary Clinton. Who else? Once more there was no evidence to support this. It was all lies manufactured somewhere on the right where these things are spawned. (and I am not denying that there have been lies on the left as well)

Rush Limbaugh helped embed conspiracy theories permanently inside the Republican party. Conspiracies were there to stay. They are still there in abundance. And he had gone a long way toward convincing American conservatives that their president and a future presidential candidate were murderers who would stop at nothing to get their political way.  This was a religious crusade. And religious crusades always end badly.

The crusade against the Clintons has been a remarkable phenomenon in American politics for about 2 decades.  And it is not ending any time soon.  Crusades can do that. American right-wing talk radio has been a big part of that.  Now I do not claim the Clinton’s were entirely innocent political actors.  I am saying though that they have been the object of an unprecedented massive campaign of lies that has been building for decades. Such a mountain of lies would be difficult for a saint to overcome, and for the Clintons it was impossible. They are not saints. Many of us did not appreciate this when Hillary ran for the presidency in 2016. No matter how absurd the lies accumulated and had tremendous effect.  After all, how can she combat a campaign that painted her as the leader of cabal of pedophiles operating out of the non-existent  basement of a pizza restaurant basement in Washington D.C.?  No possible evidence could refute such a massive lie.

Rush Limbaugh played an important role in manufacturing, spreading, and solidifying this campaign of lies.

As Justin Ling said in his podcast series the Flamethrowers,

“The conspiracy theory was here to stay, thanks in large part to Rush Limbaugh. No longer were the Clintons conventional political villains. They were murderers! But whether or not the Vince Foster story really took hold in the minds of Limbaugh was leading a political crusade—and he was winning.”

 

 

The result was what one political commentator called “a seismic shift to the right tonight in American political thinking. It is measuring 10.0 on the political Richter scale.” It was massive; it was powerful; and it was created by Rush Limbaugh and his revolutionary cabal of right-wing radio commentators around the country.

 

It was intensely visible in 1998 in the American mid-term elections. The Republicans took control of the House of Representatives for the first time since 1954. They picked up 54 seats in the House and enough seats to claim the Senate as well. It was the worst loss suffered by a sitting President in 50 years.

The lesson: Conspiracy theories work.