jlehtone wrote: ↑Sat, 9. Aug 25, 16:49
matthewfarmery wrote: ↑Sat, 9. Aug 25, 14:15
But how the hell can he invite an enemy of America on American soil?
There is a warrant on Putin. To be arrested if he leaves realms of friendly dictators ...
Maybe a good opportunity for an assassination if not an arrest. I bet many had thought of that as well.
Observe wrote: ↑Sat, 9. Aug 25, 15:41
Perhaps Democrats should ask themselves what it is that people hate them so much for, that they would vote for such a vile person?
I have the answer for you to this question in the article below: “Our side won the election”
matthewfarmery wrote:
Who said that Russia is an enemy of America? What betrayal? Ukraine ceding land to Russia has been an obvious outcome for years already.
Russia said so, to democratic state of USA at least. But you are correct that to authoritarian / white USA, Russia is an ally.
Ukrainian ceding territorry, independence, and its people to concentration camps have been indeed what Russia has been asking for years. And MAGA supports that. I agree.
...
so
an important point when supporting MAGA, that needs to be continiously hammered.
“Our side won the election,”
https://www.reuters.com/investigations/ ... 025-08-08/
HOCHATOWN, Oklahoma - Wearing cargo shorts, flip-flops and a baseball cap shading his eyes from the sun, Dalton Henry Stout blends in easily in rural America.
Except for the insignia on his hat. It bears the skull and crossbones of the infamous “Death’s Head” SS units that oversaw Nazi Germany’s concentration camps – and the initials “AFN,” short for Aryan Freedom Network, the neo-Nazi group Stout leads with his partner.
From a modest ranch house in Texas, the couple oversee a network they say has been turbocharged by President Donald Trump’s return to the White House. They point to Trump’s rhetoric – his attacks on diversity initiatives, his hardline stance on immigration and his invocation of “Western values” – as driving a surge in interest and recruitment.
Trump “awakened a lot of people to the issues we’ve been raising for years,” Stout told Reuters. “He’s the best thing that’s happened to us.”
While the Aryan Freedom Network and other neo-Nazi groups remain on the outermost edges of American politics, broadly regarded as toxic by conservatives and mainstream America, they are increasingly at the center of far-right public demonstrations and acts of violence, according to interviews with a dozen members of extremist groups, nine experts on political extremism and a review of data on far-right violence.
Several trends have converged since Trump’s re-election, Reuters found. Trump’s rhetoric has galvanized a new wave of far-right activists, fueling growth in white supremacist ranks. Trump’s pardons of January 6 rioters and a shift in federal law enforcement’s focus toward immigration have also led many on the far right to believe that federal investigations into white nationalists are no longer a priority.
And the boundaries of the far right itself are shifting. Ideas once confined to fringe groups like the Proud Boys – who helped lead the January 6 siege – are now more visible in Republican politics, from election denialism to rhetoric portraying immigrants as “invaders.” Trump’s public support and pardons for far-right figures helped normalize those views, the researchers said. As the Make America Great Again movement has come to define the party’s identity, the line separating the far right from mainstream conservatism has grown increasingly difficult to draw, they added.
What was once extreme now blends more easily into the broader far-right, not because those extreme groups have changed, but because the terrain around them has, said Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, a nonprofit that tracks hate speech and extremism. “A Proud Boy doesn’t even seem that scary anymore because of the normalization process,” she said.
That shift has coincided with a surge in white nationalist activity. White extremists are committing a growing proportion of U.S. political violence, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data project, a nonprofit research outfit that tracks global conflicts. In 2020, such groups were linked to 13% of all U.S. extremist-related demonstrations and acts of political violence, or 57 of the events ACLED tracked. By 2024, they accounted for nearly 80%, or 154 events.
...
Trump has batted away accusations of racism. At a campaign rally last year, he declared, “I’m not a Nazi. I’m the opposite of a Nazi.” A few months earlier, he told an interviewer that he can’t be racist because he has “so many Black friends.”
Even as he has made inroads with non-white voters, Trump has consistently drawn support from white nationalist and extremist groups while using racially divisive rhetoric. He promoted the false claim that Barack Obama, the nation’s first Black president, was not born in the U.S. In his 2024 campaign, he suggested immigrants commit violent crimes because “it’s in their genes,” a remark condemned by many as racist.
Stout said his group opposes violence. Yet the Aryan Freedom Network openly advocates preparing for a “Racial Holy War.” It promotes white superiority ideology, seeks to unify elements of the broader white nationalist movement and actively recruits former members of other extremist groups.
The Trump administration has scaled back efforts to counter domestic extremism, redirecting resources toward immigration enforcement and citing the southern border as the top security threat. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has reduced staffing in its Domestic Terrorism Operations Section. The Department of Homeland Security has cut personnel in its violence prevention office.
...
In another echo of the Klan, its signature cross burnings, swastikas are set alight at AFN gatherings. In an AFN video posted online, Stout stands on the bed of a pickup truck, masked and flanked by armed guards, arm raised in a Nazi salute.
“White power!” he shouts in a hoarse Texas drawl, wearing a chest rig for rifle magazines. His audience returns the Nazi salute. “White Power!” they call out.
At the restaurant in Oklahoma, asked why he believes his group is gaining momentum, Stout offered a simple explanation.
“Our side won the election,” he said.
"WE'RE UNDERSIEGE! We don't know who by, or what crime, but... BATTON DOWN THE HATCHES".
