"This is Trump's America now!": MAGA diehards jumpstart a new year of political violence

"This is Trump’s America now!": MAGA diehards jumpstart a new year of political violence
There are already calls for vigilantes to round up "brown folks" to imprison in camps

By Amanda Marcotte
Senior Writer
Published December 30, 2024 6:00AM (EST)


(Salon) Donald Trump isn't in office yet but his fans are already getting excited about hurting and stealing from people of color. Last week, Mother Jones reported on a letter circulating through Lincoln County, Oregon, calling on locals not to wait for Trump officials to start the promised mass deportations, but to take action for themselves. "Sit in your church’s parking lot and write down the license plate of brown folks," the letter instructed. "Schools, as you wait in line to pick up the kiddos or the grandkiddos—if you see brown folks—record the plate. Your neighborhood—you know where the brown folks live in your neighborhood—again record the plate."

The goal, the letter explains, is to gather information to help Trump's incoming appointments for Homeland Security in their quest to deport millions of non-white people, which will necessitate rounding them up in concentration camps. The letter ends with a promise of material rewards for people who participate. "When the brown folks are rounded up, their properties will be confiscated," the letter promises. "So, within a short term, there will be a whole lot of homes on the market for us white folks to purchase and with the inventory so high—the prices will be very low and affordable."

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This brownshirt impulse has always been a part of Trumpism, as we saw with the rise of the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and other paramilitary gangs during the first Trump administration. It was one of the earliest and strongest indicators that MAGA is a fascist movement, and they later proved instrumental in the attempted coup on Jan. 6, 2021. Since that failed, the organized paramilitary arm of MAGA has died down, though far-right violence against minorities has continued to rise. The lengthy sentences that Proud Boys and Oath Keepers received — especially compared to the much lighter sentences for the unorganized insurrectionists — appear to have had a chilling effect on those who would want to keep paramilitary fascist violence going.

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Earlier this month, police in Colorado arrested Patrick Thomas Egan, 39, accusing him of assaulting TV reporter Ja’Ronn Alex, who has Pacific Islander heritage. Witnesses say Egan followed Alex in his car for 40 miles, yelling, "Are you even a U.S. citizen? This is Trump’s America now!" When Alex, who had been out reporting, returned to the station, Egan allegedly tackled him and strangled him so hard people on the scene feared he couldn't breathe. .............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2024/12/30/this-is-trumps-america-now-maga-diehards-jumpstart-a-new-year-of-political-violence/