Here Come the Brownshirts

You should be concerned that if you cross Trump, he might sic an emboldened mob to harm you

It took less than twelve hours for Trump’s presidency to usher in a whole new level of national sickness. Elon Musk gave the Nazi salute not once but twice while speaking at a celebratory rally in Washington. Musk and his supporters tried to dismiss the meaning of this gesture but they might have been more credible if Musk had not just told the MAGA crowd that “the future of civilization is assured” thanks to them and had he not spent the past several months relentlessly promoting AfD, Germany’s far-right, nationalist party. Three leaders of the AfD attended Trump’s inauguration yesterday.

Regardless, neo-Nazis rejoiced at Musk’s gesture. “WE ARE FUCKING BACK,” posted the administrator of a Nazi meme channel posted on Telegram. “Holy crap … did Elon Musk just Heil Hitler at the Trump Inauguration Rally in Washington DC… This is incredible,” tweeted Holocaust denier Evan Kilgore, later adding, “We are so back.”

But even if we take Musk at his word that he wasn’t doing his best Hitler impression, Trump’s actions last night laid to rest any doubt that he is assembling his own Brown Shirt militia to intimidate opponents. The president pardoned and commuted the sentences of violent January 6th insurrectionists — the ones who attacked the Capitol and its police officers with bats, fists and bear spray at his behest four years ago. So much for backing the blue.

Among the people to whom Trump granted clemency is Enrique Tarrio, who was convicted of seditious conspiracy and sentenced to 22 years in prison. According to the New Republic, “Federal prosecutors previously described Tarrio as the driving force behind the masses of self-described ‘Western chauvinist’ Proud Boys who arrived in Washington on January 6. Several of his organization’s leaders were the first to enter the U.S. Capitol.”

Trump also granted clemency to Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the Oath Keepers. Rhodes’ own family lives in fear for their safety if he is released. Tasha Adams, Rhodes’ wife, told USA Today that she welcomed his incarceration. “For Adams and her children, Rhodes’ incarceration brought a relief they had dreamed about for years. The man who they say abused, threatened and physically and mentally hurt them had finally been caged. For the first time in decades, Adams told USA TODAY, she had been able to sleep. Hold down a job. Start to enjoy small things in life.”

For all that Trump used the Jewish families of October 7th hostages as props while he ranted about the “January 6” hostages at his rally last night, he also pardoned Robert Keith Packer, the insurrectionist who wore a “Camp Auschwitz” sweatshirt over an “SS” t-shirt and who prior to January 6 already had a lengthy rap sheet. Needless to say, equating the men, women and children who were taken hostage by Hamas with violent criminals who tried to stop the peaceful transfer of power is unconscionable.

Jake Chansley, the so-called January 6th Shaman whom Trump also pardoned, tweeted “NOW I AM GONNA BUY SOME MOTHA FU*KIN GUNS!” Even more chillingly, he also reposted another tweet: “BREAKING: Trump issues full pardons for nearly 1,500 J6ers. We officially took over the Capitol

“WE WON.”

Indeed, they did.

Let’s be very clear about what this means. Donald Trump, who inspired the violence at the Capitol and only escaped accountability by dint of winning back the White House, has made it clear that violently attempting to prevent the peaceful transfer of power is acceptable. More importantly, he has created a Brown Shirt militia to commit political violence on his behalf, should he ever need it.

What kind of message does this send to anyone Trump deems his enemy? Not only should you worry about a weaponized Justice Department but you should now be concerned that if you cross Trump, he might sic an emboldened mob to harm you, which knows that he will always have their backs, no matter how violent they get. No matter if they try to hang elected officials or beat police officers within an inch of their lives.

Meanwhile, the Senate voted 99-0 to confirm Marco Rubio as Secretary of State. Every single Democrat voted to send Rubio to Foggy Bottom, despite knowing that Trump would be issuing these pardons and effectively creating an extrajudicial militia, comprised of thugs who tried to harm them all. Rubio, I might add, voted against providing Ukraine aid last April. So much for standing against authoritarianism both at home and abroad, senators.

What are these Democrats thinking? You cannot do business with someone like Trump. That means he does not get a vote for anything, no matter how meritorious. You do not provide a single ounce of support to someone who just signed an executive order to override the Constitution by subverting the Fourteenth Amendment. You do not provide a single ounce of support to someone who is establishing his own army of thugs to go after you if you won’t subvert the Constitution for him. You do not provide an ounce of support for someone who has made it clear that the oath he took “to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States” is a joke.

Can you imagine the response from Republicans if Biden had issued an executive order to ignore the Second Amendment, as Trump did yesterday when he signed an order to ignore the Fourteenth Amendment, which guarantees birthright citizenship? Meanwhile, Democrats believe they can live with some parts of Trump, like the nominees he sends up to the Hill and the immigration bill that perverts the very fabric of our criminal justice system. This is how democracy dies — chipped away bit by bit by a feeble and feckless “opposition.”

(Legacy media is also doing its best to normalize this shit. I was on ABC News last night, which toggled between the scene outside the jail that housed some of the January 6th insurrectionists and interviews with Kid Rock, who called Trump “one of the greatest men to walk the earth,” while the reporter slobbered over Melania’s Hervé Pierre dress. You saw more of the same on several other networks.)

If I sound angry, it’s because I am. And you should be angry too. When is all this going to be enough for our Democratic leaders? Is there anything on earth Trump can do to them before they use every lever at their disposal to shut him down? If Rubio is so important to Trump, get something for supporting him, like — I dunno — a commitment to keep violent insurrectionists locked up or a promise to give Ukraine the aid it needs to stave off annexation. But I fear Democrats gave him full-throated support because Rubio is also important to them, a member of their chummy, clubby senate. And, they rationalize, in the land of the blind, like Hegseth and Gabbard, the one-eyed man like Rubio is king. At least he can identify Southeast Asia on a map and doesn’t overtly suck up to dictators. Is that what they are settling for now?

Do Democrats not understand that politics in the age of Trump is a zero-sum game and that the more they normalize any single iota of his agenda, the more all of it gets normalized? I fear not.

We are on our own.