Don the Con is
planning to hold a campaign-style rally at the Phoenix Convention Center next
Tuesday. The Mayor’s asking him to
cancel, but Trump is so far unwilling to comply. So, will his racist-right
supporters also make an appearance, banners unfurled? And how large will the
anti-Trump demonstrations be? The stakes are high on all sides, the potential
for violence extreme.
Hitler’s
Brownshirts, formally called Sturmabteilung (Storm Detachment), originally
functioned to protect him at rallies and intimidate opponents in the years
prior to his political success. He made no public appearances without them. Although
he had its leaders murdered (the Night of the Long Knives) after he got control
of the German military, the Brownshirts were essential in the early days,
fighting off anti-Hitler demonstrators, intimidating opponents, engaging in
massive street fights with the usual collection of Communists, socialists and
anarchists. At its height, just after Hitler came to power, Sturmabteilung
claimed to have 3,000,000 men under arms, more than 30 times the size of the
German Army.
I believe the
racist-right organizations who carried those torches in Charlottesville are
waiting for Trump to call. I believe they’re convinced that he’s certain, at
some point, to order them into action. The Southern Policy Law Center keeps
directories listing America’s hate groups. One such directory, of groups who
fought in Charlottesville, contains photos of 18 flags, representing 18
organizations. Each of these hate groups believes in a violent revolution to
come, a race war they’ve already armed themselves to fight. The photos of armed
participants from the racist-right at Charlottesville are chilling, men in full
military regalia carrying assault rifles with extra magazines in pouches attached
to their bullet-resistant vests. Virginia’s governor, Terry McAuliffe, later
claimed that the State Police were outgunned and intimidated by dozens of armed
men. Leaving aside the pathetic element to that claim, what’s clear is that our
open carry laws have created tensions that cannot be defused until after the
first trigger is pulled.
Modern assault
rifles are generally fitted with 50-round magazines. They can be fired as fast
as you can pull the trigger.
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