CommentsAT LENGTH-I’ve simply had enough of the false patriot, neo-Nazi, Proud Boy militias, their enablers and fellow travelers misusing the American flag.
A particular irritant is their strange commingling of national and appropriated symbols of fascism to aid Donald J. Trump’s grift of gullible supporters. The American left needs to take back America’s symbols and remind citizens of the reason why this union of states was formed: It was formed to establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.
While the American flag has been used to justify crimes against humanity and other core American beliefs since our nation’s founding, only four conflicts in our nation’s history actually stand out as upholding our national creed — the Revolution, the War of 1812, the Civil War and World War II — all could be argued as having defended our republic and our collective freedoms.
This past Nov. 3, our current not-so-civil conflict of a national election saw more than 74.4 million patriots cast ballots to overthrow a tyrant. Seven million more than Mr. Trump received and he’s still pouting about it after the election “being stolen.” There is zero evidence of this still. His campaign was lost, and Mr. Joseph Biden is the President-elect.
What I am suggesting here is that the next time Black Lives Matter, ANTIFA, progressive Berniecrats or others line up for a demonstration, I urge them to take back the symbolism of the American flag and turn it into the promise of freedom, liberty, and justice. Wave it as a reminder to the police, sheriffs, and politicians under these colors of authority that their jobs are to “protect and to serve” us all — not just the thin blue line.
I ask the obvious question: Do we want to march for justice and peace or a battle with armed militias supporting an oligarchy bent on destroying democracy?
I have been impressed as of late by the courage of many county clerks, district judges and a few government employees who have risked their personal safety, careers, or reputations in defending the national vote and thus, our core democratic principles against the attacks of a narcissist tyrant and his surrogates. These Americans deserve the Presidential Medal of Freedom and our collective respect.
On the other hand, the Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton and 17 other state attorneys general and 126 Republican congressional representatives, who supported the Texas lawsuit to throw out the certifications of the vote in the four battleground states, need to be prosecuted for sedition along with the aforementioned militias.
Attempting to subvert or suppress the vote is an act against our republic. Acting to intimidate poll workers, threatening violence against county officials in charge of overseeing elections or showing up with guns at polls or state houses where electors vote is a crime against our republic. It is repugnant to our sense of civil self-governance and should be treated as a crime.
That the disgraced and recently pardoned Gen. Michael Flynn went on the news last week suggesting Trump institute martial law to overthrow the election is evidence of his traitorous disposition.
Flynn told the right-wing pro-Trump Newsmax channel that the president should consider martial law to remain in power. “He could order [this], within the swing states, if he wanted to. He could take military capabilities and he could place those in states and basically rerun an election,” Flynn actually said. This is the very definition of seditious speech.
This is, of course, the kind of sedition one would expect in some Third World nation where strong-man autocrats rule with impunity supported by corrupt generals. Could this ever happen here? One might believe not. But here is what Trump’s former legal “fixer” Michael Cohen told Vanity Fair recently:
I need you to think of what Trump is doing as no different than if you were watching The Apprentice. This is all a reality show. He knows he lost the election. He knows it. But the problem is he has an incredibly fragile ego and his fragile ego will not allow him to acknowledge that he is a loser, that he lost the election to Joe Biden. “I’m Donald Fucking Trump. I can’t lose the election to Joe Biden.”
This is a cash grab. When you finish a job, you’re always thinking about how to reinvent yourself. That’s what Donald Trump is doing right now. He knows that his next saga of his story is really going to be predicated around a Trump news network.
It’s why he’s fighting with Fox every day. He’s looking to steal their base. Because with his social media platform of 90 million followers, he knows that of that 90 million, 20 million are die-hard Trump fans.
He could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue, and they would be behind him 100%. From them, he just wants $4.99 a month. And for that $4.99 a month, you get to listen to all the bullshit and all the far-right-wing conspiracies that Donald Trump can dream up. That’s what he’s going to sell you. That’s $100 million a month, $1.2 billion a year. That’s going to pay for the gas in his 757.
And as Paul Rosenberg writes in this issue, “the post-election grift of Trump just continues on.” Clearly something more than the American flag should be taken away from this false patriot and his followers.
(James Preston Allen is the founding publisher of Random Lengths News. He has been involved in the Los Angeles Harbor Area community for more than 40 years.) Prepped for CityWatch by Linda Abrams.