Trump's Ministry of Revenge and Retribution
Malcolm Nance SubstackALSO SEE: Malcolm Nance | Special Intelligence
For all the hubbub about this comment, I am seeing the exact signs that led me to write my last book, “They Want to Kill Americans,” just before the 2020 election. Throughout that tumultuous summer, I monitored right-wing extremist websites and forums. Most were extremely giddy at the prospect of Trump’s re-election. However, within these discussions was always an element of paramilitary planning. Many Trump supporters were the guys with guns who had fantasies taken straight out of the 1980s movie “Red Dawn.” They dreamed of fighting special forces-like gun battles and raids on their “Communist” enemies. All that summer, I felt an armed revolution was being planned. People were encouraged to go to “tactical training schools” and get the “skills” they needed for what was coming.
As an intelligence professional, I knew trouble when I saw it. I had said on MSNBC that if Trump won in 2020, these armed self-appointed militia would act as his armed Brown Shirt-like street enforcers. On the other hand, if Trump lost, then we were in for a period of turmoil. I am seeing all of those signs again.
One of the principal intelligence indicators was that the price of 5.56 mm ammunition for the AR-15 rifle had dramatically increased from $.31 to over a dollar per bullet. That meant millions of rounds of ammunition were quietly being purchased and stored by civilians. It drove the price up.
Even as the votes were being counted, I went on Real Time with Bill Maher to warn that this would not be a period of reconciliation but that what was happening was that the Trump followers were planning an “insurgency.”
Fifty-two days later, I would be proven right when all of the planning and discussions, training, and weapons manifested themselves in the attack on the capital on January 6. Many of these groups had staged weapons in northern Virginia with the intent to snatch them up once they got violent. They saw themselves as Trump's private army.
I am seeing those danger signs again. The same planning is happening, and the sentiment is that Trump will deputize the entire world of armed white men and set them loose on liberals.
The comment by Roberts was not just some random Heritage Foundation watercooler fantasy. He was spelling out clearly what is now being spoken aloud in the right-wing militia world. Trump will pardon everyone who took part in the January 6 uprising. Being a January 6 “political prisoner” is already a badge of honor in the Trump world. Heritage and other groups have promised to give them positions of honor in a new Trump government. They will reward insurgency and insurrection by allowing them to internally dismantle the very government that imprisoned them for breaking laws.
Robert’s comment that the coming second American Revolution will be “bloodless if the left allows it.” It indicates the talks at the highest levels of conservatism, not just the foot soldiers. They likely have formulated what I call The Rittenhouse Doctrine. This collective self-deputizing will allow white Trump supporters to self-deputize and kill Americans they disagree with in the name of establishing order.
There is also a belief in Trump’s world that it is liberals who are inherently violent. They point to the George Floyd summer and now to the Free Palestine movement as the thugs that are destroying America. They tell each other they need to be ready to protect their homes and violently put down the liberals they believe are coming for their families. They cite Kyle Rittenhouse, the teenager who killed two men while parading with an AR-15 rifle, as their role model and hero. If you recall, Rittenhouse claimed he had joined a band of white men who were protecting a car dealership from rioters. The police viewed them as armed auxiliaries and even gave them water and directions. When Rittenhouse had just shot two men dead, the police went after the protesters and drove by him and his long rifle. The right-wing extremist view this is both proper and good. Because there is a time coming when they fully intend to kill Americans, and their actions will be “deputized” by the police, the National Guard, and the President of the United States himself.
Groups heretofore had never heard form, such as the Patriots Front, are now marching as recruiting ads. They cover their faces to act as modern Klan hoods. They are marching with American flags designed to invoke patriotism. Their formations are supposed to show discipline. They invoke the white pride of the Hitler-Jungend. What you don’t see is them wearing body armor helmets and carrying out tactical drills at a shooting range, which virtually all of them do. I see these Andrew Tate and Nick Fuentes toxic Incels at my shooting range all the time. They wear extremely expensive or cheap Chinese gear and play soldiers, claiming they are “training with the gear they will fight in.” It's beyond cosplay; it’s a live-action-adventure game they are preparing g to spring onto America once Trump wins. Many law enforcement officials will see them as self-deputized allies if their America comes to pass.
The Rittenhouse plan is waiting for a moment when civil disobedience and unrest allow them authority under a future Trump presidency. Led by radicalized veterans they will likely start calling themselves “Minutemen.” They will form teams of self-appointed armed militias to intimidate or kill anyone who stands against Trump. A popular reason to constantly be armed is to “Stay strapped or get clapped,” an allusion to fighting to the death or getting arrested.
The extremists are not shy about it anymore. The top-rated right-wing podcast run by extremist Tim Pool stated, “Should Democrats be in jail? No question. When Donald Trump gets elected, should he start locking them up? No question. Should there be a list of Democrats that need to go to jail? 100%. The reason for that is that they committed crimes.” His deranged co-host Laura Loomer chimed in, “Not just jail; they should get the death penalty.”
This is the revolution they are talking about.
The mainstreaming of killing liberals is no longer the crazy talk of the fringe. It is now a serious subject all pro-Trump Republican decision-makers must entertain to maintain legitimacy.
Current North Carolina Lt. Governor Mark Robinson, who is running for governor, flatly stated
“We now find ourselves struggling with people who have evil intent. You know, there was a time when we used to meet evil on the battlefield, and guess what we did to it? We killed it!”
He wasn’t finished his rant.
“Some folks need killing! It’s time for somebody to say it. It’s not a matter of vengeance. It’s not a matter of being mean or spiteful. It’s a matter of necessity!”
Robinson then inferred he meant for the army and law enforcement to do the killing. The message was applauded loudly.
The pastor of the church echoed his sentiments and tried to justify it: “Without a doubt, those he [God] deemed worthy of death [were] those seeking to kill us… ”
The Rittenhouse Doctrine allows anyone who opposes Trump to be designated an evildoer. Hence giving them a religious justification for killing them. This is discussed widely among the Trump supporters. Still, the news media ignores the glaring indicators that mass murder, armed intimidation, and legalized paramilitary seizure action are the fantasies these Trump supporters harbor. A few journalists have sounded the clarion call. Amanda Marcotte from Salon gets it. But the theme that they seriously intend to intimidate, hurt, or kill Americans gets lost in the next news cycle.
But it can get much worse. Trump has already implied he would transform the Department of Justice. He would make the Department of Justice, Homeland Security, and National Intelligence community into a Ministry of Revenge and Retribution.
Now that the Supreme Court has indemnified Trump, if he becomes President and so much as whispers that he deputizes any of his followers to assist law enforcement or supplement the National Guard -he cannot be held for any crime that may ensue. It will be an official act of a President, and he has absolute immunity and pardon power. He could legally order his followers to facilitate theft, detention, or even mass murder … just like Hitler’s supreme court.
Be warned.