With everything that's going on right now that reminds us that our American democracy is far more fragile than many of us supposed just a few short years ago, there are two major news stories that seem to have particular relevance in this regard. The first, of course, would be the findings of the January 6th Committee. But the Alex Jones case is also revealing some interesting things as well. After all, Jones was one of those right-wing extremists who participated not only in the disinformation campaign, but also specifically in the January 6th attack on the Capitol building. He just lost his case and was penalized about $50 million, although there may be more ramifications for him. We shall stay tuned regarding that.
However, it does not stop there. Even if Alex Jones has to pay more, and hopefully even does significant jail time, it does not end there. Hell, it will not even end if Donald Trump and his team of advisors and supporters - people like Roger Stone and Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, among others - finally get their day in court and are convicted, which is not a given. Yet even if that happens, it will not be over. Because there are other fringe elements who supported the attack and feel that they need to "take back their country," even if it requires arms and violence.
Bill Maher made a very poignant and interesting point regarding what happened on January 6th. He compared it to the two attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, and said that the 1993 WTC bombing was nowhere near as successful, but that the second time around, terrorists had learned their lesson from the failure. When they tried again, which Maher argued was inevitable, we got 9/11, which changed everything.
He basically argued that January 6th was the trial run. Sometime in the not too distant future, we will see another, far more serious coup attempt. And this one could very well succeed.
I do not want to sound like an alarmist, but my suspicion is that he is right. What happened on January 6th was indeed shocking to many Americans. Yet, it feels to me like this was just a first taste of what's to come. If you thought that attempted coup d'états only happened in far away, third world countries, think again. To me, January 6th was nothing short of being an attempted coup d'état. They were trying to derail democratic proceedings and impose a president who had lost both the popular election and the Electoral College in the previous election in November of 2020. In other words, they were trying to impose someone who had clearly lost the election, and who failed to furnish any kind of proof of the "massive voter fraud" that he and his team kept insisting was real.
Despite the Trump team having had numerous days in court and reusing to argue their case for "massive voter fraud" in court (one hardly needs to wonder why they did not have such big mouths when it came to actually making such allegations under oath, where there are actual consequences for lying), many Trump supporters still believe that the election was indeed stolen. Moreover, they feel so strongly about it - despite a complete lack of concrete evidence - that they still appear willing to take up arms in order to try and impose the kind of government that they want in charge. And that, my friends, is a direct threat to American democracy, without any kind of exaggeration. Hell, that is the definition of an internal threat to democracy.
Still need convincing that the threat is real?
Click on the link below and take a look at this article by MSNBC. There are right-wing sheriffs - not insignificant extremist elements, but guys who hold some legal power and sway - who are trying to do some organizing against our American democracy, so that they can help impose the kind of government that they want, subverting the will of the voter. We already know that our democracy (again, what's left of it) is seriously compromised by numerous attacks on it, including but not necessarily limited to a massive and well-organized disinformation campaign, enormous sums of money in our elections, blatant corruption, gerrymandering, and an Electoral College system that has already twice in the past quarter of a century imposed on the nation "winners" of elections who did not actually received a majority of the votes nationally. All of that, plus an extremist Supreme Court that seems intent on eroding the traditional separation of Church and State, and you have threats seemingly everywhere to our democracy.
Yes, the threat is real. And we need to prepare for the inevitable (not merely possible) second coup d'état attempt. Because we cannot kid ourselves into believing that this is just alarmist talk, or a remote possibility. Even in the best case scenario, where Donald Trump is not only indicted, but spends well-deserved time behind bars (perhaps especially if this happens), you can bet that there will be those who only believe what they want to believe, facts be damned, and are ready to take action. The right-wing extremists are very real, and so is the threat that they pose to our fragile democracy.
Right-wing sheriffs are doing some really shady political organizing against the election system, Aug. 1, 2022, 7:12 AM EDT By Zeeshan Aleem, MSNBC Opinion Columnist:
The rise of increasingly radical police forces inspired by radical sheriffs across the nation poses real dangers in the future.
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/right-wing-sheriffs-are-undermining-election-system-through-absurd-activism-n1297499?fbclid=IwAR192bJuDnEr4XK5XzFWRKX7MnnLU_hv5fgShf6ExgA9dxH3IGJH8JLuSyc
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