Richmond Braces for Invasion of Extremists As Trump Fans Flames

Members of a "Lightfoot Militia" - these are
NOT sportsmen or those focused on self-defense.

The husband and I have a number of friends in Richmond, know a number of members of the Virginia General Assembly, and are friends with Governor Northam and the First Lady of Virginia.  It is with horror that we watch that city braces for a possible invasion by some of the ugliest elements in America.  A piece at NBC News looks at the fear gripping Richmond where businesses will be closed and some are staying in other parts of the city away from the Capitol area. Making maters worse, Donald Trump, a/k/a Der Trumpenführer on this blog, is fanning the flames of hate on the right and then suggesting Republicans will win in Virginia in 2020, suggesting just how delusional Trump is - he is widely hated in Virginia and, if Richmond sees violence tomorrow, rest assured the so-called urban crescent of Virginia will vote even more heavily Democrat.  A piece in Vanity Fair looks at Trump's dangerous and irresponsible behavior:

A tweet from President Donald Trump Friday, one of the sort that Speaker Nancy Pelosi might categorize as “crazy,” drew sharp criticism for seeming to fan the flames of unrest ahead of a gun-rights rally in Richmond, Virginia.

Trump’s social-media eruption warns Virginians that their 2nd Amendment rights are “under attack,” and offers a sarcastic “thank you” to Virginia Democrats who will “take your guns away.”

Sherrilyn Ifill of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund called Trump’s comment “irresponsible and utterly, truly unconscionable.”
 After the deadly events in nearby Charlottesville during the “unite the right” rally in 2017, [Trump] the president was sharply criticized for blaming violence on “both sides.”

Trump seemingly wants violence so he can use further fear mongering with his hideous base of support that increasingly seems to consist of outright racists, white supremacists and evangelical "Christians" (who in general are also racists/white supremacists in my view having followed right wing  "Christian" organization for over 20 years)

As for some of the types of out of state extremists on their way to Richmond, the Washington Post has more information.  Belatedly, Republicans who for years have given a wink and a nod to some of the dangerous extremists in the party base seem to have awoken to the danger these people pose to the public.  Here are artile highlights:

RICHMOND — The convoys and militias are coming, if social media posts are to be believed, headed to Virginia's capital to take a stand for gun rights — or, in the words of some, to fan the flames of a civil war.

“I’ll be rolling into town early. I can’t give you my exact time for security reasons,” said Christian Yingling, head of the Pennsylvania Light Foot Militia and a leader at the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville in 2017.

“I organized a convoy, places we can meet up and drive up together. I’ll be leading it,” said Tammy Lee, a militia activist in Oklahoma.

Both Lee and Yingling were members of groups that signed consent decrees never to return to Charlottesville while armed, part of a lawsuit settlement over the violence there. But there is no restriction against coming to Richmond.

Thousands will join them, they say, for a rally Monday on Capitol Square to protest plans by the new Democratic majority in the General Assembly to pass gun-control laws. State and federal officials were preparing for a volatile mix of weapons, passions and anti-government fervor. Central Richmond was braced for road closures and extensive police presence.

The Federal Aviation Administration has issued temporary flight restrictions for Richmond airspace, making it illegal to fly planes or drones above the city on Monday. Northam has said officials are concerned about threats from weaponized drones.

The pro-gun rally is always the most visible event, but this year it has virtually wiped out everything else. The Virginia Citizens Defense League has appealed for 10,000 supporters to show up unarmed to fill Capitol Square and asked several times that many stand outside with weapons.

One of Richmond’s staunchest gun rights Republicans, who needled Northam over the ban earlier in the week, closed ranks with the governor after a closed-door briefing on the security threats Friday.

“Any group that comes to Richmond to spread white supremacist garbage, or any other form of hate, violence, or civil unrest isn’t welcome here,” House Minority Leader Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandoah) said in a written statement Saturday. “While we and our Democratic colleagues may have differences, we are all Virginians and we will stand united in opposition to any threats of violence or civil unrest from any quarter.”

Gilbert declined to discuss the content of the briefing, but his statement referred to efforts to “infuse” the event with a “twisted or extreme worldview.”

National militia and extremist groups have mobilized, with some making threats against elected officials. Many promise to use Virginia as the place to take a stand against what they see as a rising tide of anti-gun sentiment, invoking language of insurrection and civil war.

Lee, the convoy leader from Oklahoma, has promoted the Richmond rally in Facebook live videos. “I can absolutely not wait,” she said in one. “This may possibly be the first time that almost the entire patriot movement is there.”

But in a video posted Friday, she also expressed dread. “If you’re not apprehensive about going to this event, then I would worry about you and your mental state and your thought process,” she said.

In an interview, Lee said the convoy would kick off in Oklahoma on Saturday morning and swing through 10 states before its scheduled arrival in Richmond on Sunday afternoon. She declined to say how many vehicles or people would be involved.
In a recent video, she indicated that the gun rights movement was fractured over whether the out-of-state militias would help or hinder their cause in Richmond.

“While some don’t want outsiders coming in, it’s too late for that,” she said. “There are so many people woke to what’s happening … that I don’t think you could keep people away if you wanted to.”

I hope sane Virginians are watching and will punish Republicans further at the polls come November, 2020.

Can Anyone Save the GOP?

The answer to the question posed in the caption is probably no.  It's the conclusion I came to two decades ago when I left the Republican Party and the situation has become even more dire in the age of Trump with the party base now firmly controlled by evangelical Christian extremists and white supremacists and white nationalists. True, a group of former Republicans will be airing anti-Trump ads on Fox News - during two of Der Trumpenführer's favorite shows - and a few individuals are struggle to mount a primary challenge to Trump, one such individual being Bill Weld, a former Republican Massachusetts governor.  Given the toxic nature of the GOP base and the efforts of state parties in some states to block any challenge to Trump, Weld's effort is an extremely long shot as noted in a column in the New York Times. One can only wish Weld well and meanwhile hope Republican senators in Congress will belatedly put their oaths of office first (don't hold your breath).  Here are column highlights:

Bill Weld, the former Massachusetts governor and current long-shot — make that, loooooooong-shot — candidate for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination, is a keen student of New Hampshire politics. In an interview with me this week, he noted the following fact: Every time an incumbent president of either party faced a significant primary challenge in the Granite State, he failed in his bid for re-election.

It happened to George H.W. Bush in 1992 after Patrick Buchanan took 38 percent of the New Hampshire vote.

It happened to Jimmy Carter in 1980 after Teddy Kennedy took 39 percent.

It happened to Gerald Ford in 1976 after Ronald Reagan took 48 percent.

It happened to Lyndon Johnson in 1968 after Eugene McCarthy took 42 percent.

It happened to Harry Truman in 1952 when Estes Kefauver beat him outright, 55 percent to 44.

So, Weld reasons, why not try to make it happen to Donald J. Trump, too?

That’s the hopeful thought in what otherwise seems to be Weld’s hopeless bid to derail [Trump] a president whose support among Republicans was 89 percent last month, according to Gallup.

But he’s also wise enough to know that losing well can achieve great things, like bringing down a president who, he said, “regards the law as something to be evaded.” Can that be done between now and Feb. 11, the date of the New Hampshire primary? Weld rests his hopes on two things: New England Republicanism, which remains alive and well despite reports of its demise; and Trump’s trial in the Senate, whose result may not yet be a forgone conclusion. On the former, note that Vermont, Massachusetts and New Hampshire all have G.O.P. governors, who, like Weld, are relative moderates compared to the rest of the party. On the latter, Weld knows a lot about the impeachment process, having worked on the House Judiciary Committee’s staff as a young lawyer in 1974 as it considered articles against Richard Nixon. Nixon, Weld recalled, “was essentially forced to withdraw from the presidency because he had been caught lying on television to the American people on one topic” — a foothill of a deception compared to Trump’s Karakoram range.

Weld also knows how quickly things can turn in the course of a trial. “Cases don’t look the same at the end as they do at the beginning,” he noted, recalling his prosecutions of public corruption in the 1980s as United States attorney for the District of Massachusetts, where he won 109 convictions in 111 corruption cases. He believes that if four Republican senators join Democrats in voting to call witnesses — Ohio’s Rob Portman could provide the decisive vote — then anything is possible.

Maybe that’s right, assuming devastating testimony from John Bolton, the former national security adviser; former Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas; and who knows who (or what) else. Not that any kind of testimony is likely to sway the 67 senators needed for a conviction. But it’s not quite out of the question that it might, in the coming weeks, sway a large fraction of New Hampshire Republicans to vote against the president, thereby setting into motion forces that could bring him down. That’s the hope, at any rate. The odds against? I’d say 20 to 1 — which is to say, still worth a shot. If it fails, Weld said he would not run as an independent. Unlike in 2016, when he ran with Gary Johnson on the Libertarian ticket (and won 4.5 million votes) he has no interest in playing the spoiler to anyone in the race except Trump.

The larger question if it fails is what becomes of the G.O.P. Weld compared the party to the late-stage Whigs of the early 1850s, which were riven between the nativist Know Nothing faction and the antislavery wing that would become the Republican Party of Abraham Lincoln. Fortunately, the good side won that time.

And this time? The best conservative case for rooting for a Democrat to win this fall — any Democrat, including Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren — is that it might be the only way to save the Republican Party from itself. That could happen if a critical mass of conservatives repudiates Trumpism or forms a new party on the Lincoln model. Weld calls it the Liberty Party.

Alternatively a Sanders or Warren victory could send the G.O.P. to even further extremes. . . . . Democrats who want to see Republicans recover their center need to protect their own. In the meantime, wish Bill Weld well in his Granite State carom shot.

Probably far to optimistic.  Moral, moderates left the GOP long ago with Trump having accelerated the exodus. That said, one can always hope for a miracle.

A Harsh New Reality for Virginia Republicans

House of Delegates chamber.

This morning Virginia Republicans wake to a new and harsh reality: they are now the minority party with Democrats controlling the legislature and every statewide office.  Some will be quick to try to blame the debacle on anti-Trump animus - Trump's approval rating in Virginia over the summer was under 30% - but much of the fault lies with the Republican base in Virginia which increasingly racist, homophobia and anti-modernity itself and toxic organizations like the NRA and The Family Foundation (the leading hate group in the state) have set the GOP agenda.  That agenda has been one of unlimited guns, feigned "religious freedom" trampling on the rights of other citizens, and efforts to disenfranchise anyone who isn't a white evangelical.  Finally, a majority of Virginians, especially in the so-called urban crescent said "enough!"  It will be interesting to see how the leading hate merchants try to spin this to avoid accepting their own significant role in making the GOP repulsive to more and more Virginians.  Articles in the Washington Post and Yahoo News look at some of the realities of today's morning after for Virginia Republicans.  Here are excerpts from Yahoo News:

Virginia Democrats promised swift action on a host of liberal policy proposals now that they've won full control of state government for the first time in more than two decades.

Democratic leaders said Virginians should expect a higher minimum wage, new gun restrictions and greater abortion rights after their party flipped control of the state House and Senate in Tuesday's election. They also promised ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment, making Virginia the final state needed for possible passage of the gender equality measure.

Suburban voters turned out in big numbers to back Democratic candidates, continuing a trend of once GOP-friendly suburbs turning blue. This is the third election in a row in which Virginia Democrats made significant gains since President Donald Trump was elected.

The Democrats' big win was a warning sign for the president and Republicans ahead of next year's election. Higher-educated and more affluent suburban voters — particularly women — have revolted against Trump's GOP both in Virginia and nationwide.

Democrats were keenly focused on gun issues during the election, saying Republicans should be held accountable for failing to pass new restrictions after a mass shooting in Virginia Beach earlier this year.

Tuesday's election could help cement Democratic rule for the next decade, because the winners will decide who controls the next redistricting process.

Poll after poll showed that Virginians want gun control and believe in non-discrimination protections for LGBT citizens. They also are repelled by the GOP's efforts to undermine the Affordable Health Care Act.  Republican refusal to deliver what so many voters want came home to roost.  The Post piece continues some of this analysis:

But singling out Trump as the reason for Republican failures in 2019 “is too easy,” said Mark Rozell, a George Mason University professor of public policy. Rather, he said, Virginia’s GOP over the past decade has gravitated toward the right on social issues and alienated moderate voters.

Gillespie, for example, embraced a hard-line anti-immigrant stance during his 2017 gubernatorial race after having preached the importance of the Republican Party adopting a more tolerant message to attract voters.

“Democrats have had an easy time characterizing the Republicans as out of the mainstream on issues,” Rozell said. “Republicans in Virginia need to rebrand, refocus and broaden their appeal.”

Even before results were announced Tuesday night, leaders of gun-control groups were taking a victory lap at the Democrats’ rally at the Hilton Hotel in downtown Richmond. John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, said a key turning point in the campaign was GOP lawmakers move to shut down a special legislative session in July on gun control, in the wake of the May 31 mass shooting in Virginia Beach.

“I think what we’re going to learn tonight is that was a huge political mistake,” he said. “I think Republicans really turned their backs on citizens of the commonwealth by not taking up a single gun safety measure.”

[D]emographic changes in large portions of the state, including a population explosion in Northern Virginia from the early 1990s through 2010, turned the commonwealth from red to purple.

And now?

“At this point, Virginia has become a blue state — how can you call it anything else,” Rozell said. “In a state that was long considered leaning red and two-party competitive at best, who could have predicted that the Republican Party would fall so dramatically and quickly?”

But how Democrats handle their newfound power could determine whether the party remains dominant in Virginia. If Democratic lawmakers push a progressive agenda, for example, the party risks alienating centrist voters. . . . a Democratic operative, said the party’s core of moderate lawmakers — headed by Northam and state Sen. Richard Saslaw (D-Fairfax), who is to become Senate majority leader — retain enormous influence over policy.

“They’re both centrists,” he said. “You’re not going to see a coup from the far left. There aren’t enough votes for that.”

It is definitely a new day in Virginia.  Democrats worked hard to get to this point, but Republican extremism and obstruction of the popular will made their job far easier.  Will the Virginia GOP learn from this debacle?  Probably not given the insanity and toxicity of its party base.