This election gets scarier by the day. It seems only a matter of time before someone gets shot. And if there are going to be shots fired, more than a few supporters of Donald Trump want to make sure they’re the ones doing the shooting.
On Twitter, and elsewhere online, Trump supporters are talking openly about bringing guns to political rallies and polling places. Some are actually taking steps to form some kind of Trump militia.
The living sack of human garbage that is Matt Forney recently Tweeted these suggestions for fellow Trump lovers:
https://twitter.com/basedmattforney/status/708811928664195072
https://twitter.com/basedmattforney/status/708516727190065153
Unfortunately, Forney isn’t the only Trump supporter talking about guns.
https://twitter.com/RobinFoxNews/status/708974116653543425
https://twitter.com/LibrtyGuerrilla/status/709103137030668288
https://twitter.com/AmbikaPadmaloch/status/709142040232071168
@FoxNews Do us Trump supporters, have to start carrying our Guns For Protection at Rally's, WE WILL…..
— Radical Republican. (@todstertodd) March 12, 2016
@FoxNews I would encourage Trump supporters, To be armed when attending Rallies. This is for Your own protection. The Left Wants WAR.
— Radical Republican. (@todstertodd) March 12, 2016
You Liberals do not want to take it the streets, we will wipe the sreets up with your Blood.
— Radical Republican. (@todstertodd) March 12, 2016
Meanwhile, discredited right-wing hack “journalist” Chuck C. Johnson posted the alarming picture below on Facebook, promising to “use the Second [amendment]” against — that is, to shoot — anyone he think is threatening Trump’s right to free speech , even though he personally supports Ted Cruz.
Johnson took the post down, but not before it was screenshotted by Charles Johnson, a non-discredited journalist who unfortunately, and rather confusingly, shares the same first and last name as the dude with the red hair and beard pictured above.
Other Trump supporters think that their candidate needs to have a somewhat more organized army of Second Amendment fetishists to protect him from the “bad people” he talks about so much.
Like, say, a militia.
https://twitter.com/FoxLegChair/status/708520806716837888
Hire them? I’m fairly certain most “militia” members would be happy to do it for free. Earlier this month, in fact, the FBI arrested the co-chair of Veterans for Trump in New Hampshire on an assortment of charges related to his alleged participation in the armed standoff at Bundy Ranch in Nevada in 2014.
But hiring or otherwise working with Bundy’s militia may not be necessary, as Trump may soon have an unofficial militia of his own.
Yesterday, RT.com reports, a new Twitter account announced the formation of something called “The Lion’s Guard,” describing itself as
[a]n informal civilian organization dedicated to protecting the safety and security of innocent, peaceful Trump supporters from violent Far-Left agitators.
While the group would remain unarmed, the organizer pledged, it would be “willing to forcefully protect people if need be.”
Whoever was behind the Twitter account took it down within hours, citing threats.
But in that brief stretch of time, RT.com reports, the account was able to pick up 500 followers and a good deal of support from other Trump fans on Twitter, including many on the far right who presumably already own the requisite brown shirts and swastika armbands.
https://twitter.com/Third_Position/status/708760325353385984?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/DonnyLateNight/status/708741461773295617
https://twitter.com/TrumpLiberals/status/708738364405649408
https://twitter.com/GeorgiaAlpha/status/708738477769289732
@wearelionsguard You are doing what needs to be done. God bless. Can I donate?
— Jordan (@realJordanIV) March 12, 2016
@Third_Position @wearelionsguard Where do I sign on
— Concierge Monthly (@ConciergeMthly) March 12, 2016
https://twitter.com/Jenixian/status/708760475354288128
https://twitter.com/lyz_estrada/status/708753037561438208
Meanwhile, over on clickhate tabloid The Daily Stormer (partially archived here), the regulars are if anything even more enthusiastic about The Lion’s Guard than their counterparts on Twitter — though some of them seem to have forgotten the bit about the group being unarmed.
On 4chan’s Trump-loving, fascist-friendly /pol/ board (archived here), some are talking about trying to resurrect The Lion’s Guard on their own.
Whether or not The Lion’s Guard is resurrected, by its founder or by sympathetic Trump fans on 4chan or somewhere else, it’s clear that the idea of a “Trump militia” has an appeal to many of the orange-faced demagogue’s fans — and not just Daily Stormer readers posting pictures of a well-armed Pepe.
Writer Sarah Kendzior, who spent many hours with Trump supporters while waiting in line to see The Donald on his recent visit to St. Louis, noted in a piece for the Guardian that
Several Trump fans vowed that the next time, they would come armed. Some warned that if Trump was not chosen by Republicans, a militia would rise up to take him to power.
On Twitter, other Trump fans are making similarly chilling “predictions” and threats.
https://twitter.com/BLang71/status/709123350233280512
https://twitter.com/DXint/status/709151004030341121
https://twitter.com/_America_First/status/708819001959276545
Normally, I would dismiss this sort of talk as empty blathering. But this time this talk is attached to a dangerous demagogue who’s managed to rile up a very noisy minority of disaffected white people, millions strong, many of them already heavily armed.
If even a fraction of those people “march on DC” or anywhere else, the results could be bloody. I really hope that things aren’t heading where they seem to be heading, because that’s a very dark place indeed.
Me too. Not that it’s proof that she’s secretly against gay rights or anything, but it is strong evidence that she wasn’t paying attention to what was actually happening at the time, which is disheartening. (The statement reads to me like someone attempting to find something nice to say about someone she hates, but come on, she could have thought of something fluffy to say that didn’t trivialize the AIDS crisis.)
@Kiss Trump’s Rump
“Shot 0 Bullets”
Then what was that about an exchange of gunfire between one of them and the feds on the highway when the car full of them got arrested?
*pumps fist into the air*
Yes, this. All of it. And a fist pump for all of antisocialite’s comment as well.
I’m dismayed by how us Americans sometimes appear to think we elect a Monarch-in-Chief. The President is beholden to Congress and the Supreme Court. Any legislation the US President wants to pass needs the support of Congress. I strongly doubt that a Sanders presidency without a Senate and House to support him would see the promises he’s making come true.
Oh, but wait. Congress and the Supreme Court are part of The Establishment and, therefore, the enemy. We must rely on Sanders (who just happens to be a 25 year veteran of Congress with a voting record that has more in common with Clinton’s than not) and Sanders alone to accomplish everything he promises! No others can be trusted because of their lack of authenticity!
I’m being a little glib, yes. Obviously, I’m talking about a specific kind of Sanders supporter. (Besides, populist anti-Establishment rhetoric is utilized just as easily by men like Trump, too.) I voted Sanders, but I want to see a Congress of Sanders (and Warrens and other progressive politicians). Because while there is a mountain of good reasons to be very critical of Congress, the fact is that that law-making body impacts a lot. As do our state and local elections. Granted, it’s difficult to get excited about local elections, as John Oliver showed. In my district, we had local elections last year with 6 seats up for election and half running unopposed. But that’s why focusing on the presidency alone to change the mess is a bad idea. For example, gay marriage was nationally ensured by the Supreme Court last year. A Supreme Court that went through two vacancies between 2009 and 2010. Vacancies filled by women picked by President Obama and confirmed to serve by the Senate of that time. Progressive change happens intersectionally, from a combined effort across the three branches of government.
Otherwise, I have nothing to add to the Clinton versus Sanders debate besides what I already said, over several comments, in the first Super Tuesday Open Thread on this site.
PS – While Trump may share a lot of the same values as other Republican candidates—xenophobia, conservative Christianity, etc—he scares me in a way that the others don’t. The others aren’t encouraging their supporters to be violent to prove how tough they can be. Listen to those who say that the world is watching America take “a national IQ test. And the results don’t look good.”
Hello.
Hmm, if i am not wrong with what i read, they do not like the black color, neither the brown one. They love, on the other hand, the white color.
So, maybe they could be more whiteshirts ? Then, after a little while, they would don an ample white robe, why not ? And then, because it is still a bit cold outside, maybe a funny pointed white hood ? That will be completely new, they should file a patent.
Ah, and by the way, maybe it is more Sealion Guard than Lion Guard ?
Have a nice day.
occasional reader, you are on form today.
Tragedy of the Commas, sad to say it, but John Oliver (along with WHTM)may be one of our best sources of information in this media climate, or at least one of our most underrated.