Social violence is near as Republican elites attack law enforcement and the FBI

Freeze Peach mentioned this little news item from yesterday. Mediaite writes:

Breitbart Publishes Names of FBI Agents Involved in Mar-a-Lago Raid 

That DOJ Sought to Keep Hidden

A handful of media outlets reported on Friday the contents of the search warrant executed at former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate, but Breitbart also published information about the FBI agents involved that the Department of Justice had sought to protect.

Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, Politico, and Breitbart all reported on the contents of the warrant, which indicate the DOJ is investigating the former president for a possible violation of the Espionage Act, as well as obstruction of justice.

Breitbart, the far-right publication once helmed by former Trump White House adviser Steve Bannon, published the names of FBI employees involved in Monday’s search. Breitbart reported the FBI gave two receipts listing the seized items to Trump’s attorney.

“The longer receipt was signed by FBI Special Agent [REDACTED] and the shorter receipt was signed by the name: [REDACTED] and includes [REDACTED],” Breitbart’s article stated, while not redacting the names as Mediaite has done here. “It is unclear who that person is, and the handwriting is not the clearest.”

My initial reaction to the reaction of the Republican Party leadership and its propaganda Leviathan was that the GOP was now openly attacking the rule of law. It is the case that the GOP has been undermining the rule of law for years. However, the GOP reaction to the search warrant of the traitor's Mar-a-Lago residence felt different. It felt a lot more direct and more immediately deadly. But that was just an initial personal reaction. I've been accused of over-reacting and being wildly alarmist multiple times.

Events in recent days have reinforced my initial reaction that we're approaching violence. In my opinion, American conservative politics and the Republican Party, including its rank and file, have passed a point of not only reason and reality. It is now in the process of passing a point of restraint against violence. Is that an over-reaction? Maybe. I hope so. But I now doubt it.

In my opinion, Republican Party fascism is starting to make its final move to normalize and foment violence. Its got God on its side, so the ends justify all means, including civil war based on lies.

Sad history

Sadly, Americans wars are usually based on lies to a non-trivial extent. Some historians see the Declaration of Independence as a gigantic propaganda piece that seriously distorted reality to whip up pro-war sentiment among Americans. That historical argument seems reasonable. There was a major propaganda by land owning elites in the South before and during the Civil War to con poor White people into supporting the mass slaughter. The government's gigantic propaganda effort, the Committee on Public Information, to con Americans into a pro-war sentiment before entry into World War 1 is well known. We all know about Vietnam, as moral philosopher Sissela Bok wrote:

“[Johnson repeatedly told the American people] ‘the first responsibility, the only real issue in this campaign, the only thing you ought to be concerned about at all, is: Who can best keep the peace?’ The stratagem succeeded; the election was won; the war escalated. .... President Johnson thus denied the electorate of any chance to give or refuse consent to the escalation of the war in Vietnam. Believing they had voted for the candidate of peace, American citizens were, within months, deeply embroiled in one of the cruelest wars in their history. Deception of this kind strikes at the very essence of democratic government.”

And now, we have an openly fascist, radical right Republican Party riding on the vicious, cruel winged dragon called Demagoguery. The dragon has been flying and sowing its poison for decades, e.g., Faux News, Rush Limbaugh, Alex Jones, Steve Bannon, etc. 

In accord with solidly established American tradition, Demagoguery is lying, deceiving, slandering, emotionally manipulating, and normalizing and fomenting pro-war sentiment among as many American minds as the beast can deceive and poison. 

No one can say that what is happening now has not happened here before. Looks like it is going to happen again, if the poll data below is a reasonable indicator of where American sentiment is going.

Qs: Is it reasonable or unreasonable to see the doxxing of the FBI agents as Breitbart has done as a Republican Party attack on law enforcement? Does it matter that there has already been an attack on the FBI in recent days**? Can bad words lead to bad behavior**?

** NPR: An attack on an FBI office raises concerns about violent far-right rhetoric

MAGA reaction to FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago. pic.twitter.com/6DO9BF05pi

— Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) August 8, 2022