Published: 11/14/2023 2:10:47 PM
Modified: 11/14/2023 2:10:32 PM
It’s been a week or so since the Republicans finally voted in a new speaker of the House, and the nation warily sighed in relief. But I caution everyone, especially the more conservative-leaning Republicans who voted for Donald Trump, to not forget what happened during that process, or during the four years he was president.
The main thing to stay aware of is all the death threats. This is how the MAGA movement operates. If you do something they don’t like, you get death threats. If you don’t vote the way they want you to, you get death threats. If you don’t lie and somehow “find” 11,000 votes for the loser Donald Trump, you get death threats.
If you’re a governor who doesn’t toe the MAGA line, you will have MAGA loyalists plan to kidnap and torture you. If you protest against a MAGA march, you may even get run over by a MAGA extremist.
This is how thugs operate. This is how wannabe dictator fans operate. This is not how Americans should operate. But a small segment of them do, and they do so only for Donald Trump. Every neo-Nazi, alt-right, oath-keepin’ militia-boy group out there is an adherent of Donald Trump. All of them.
This is the group, over 2,000 of them, that had their “sightseeing tour” of the Capitol building on Jan. 6. Five people died that day, including a cop. One hundred and thirty-eight police officers were injured, and seven of them died by suicide in the following months. The rioters caused $2.7 million in damage to our Capitol building, the seat of our democracy.
These are the people who wanted to put the Donald back in office. By definition, they are a military mob.
And that really explains a lot. The House of Representatives’ Republican “Gang of Eight,” headed by Jim Jordan and Matt Gaetz, and the rest of the MAGA caucus, want to withdraw support from Ukraine. This is a country that is fighting to be free of Russia, and specifically Putin. But Donald Trump likes Putin. He also likes Kim Jong Un.
So, think about all that. You may like some of his policies and think he’s fun to watch, but make sure to also think about the MAGA minions crouched around his golden throne, waiting. Donald Trump is a package deal. You want him? You get the neo-Nazi MAGA extremists. Remember, he told them to stand down and stand by. They’re just waiting for his word.
Mik Muller lives in Greenfield.