On democracy, insurrection and the ghost of Timothy McVeigh [column] – LancasterOnline

Democracy is a fragile enterprise, as events in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6 have reminded us. And to quote from a preeminent white nationalist who lauded the April 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, Terrorism is nasty business.

Politicians and commentators have expressed shock and bewilderment at the assault on the U.S. Capitol during the Electoral College vote count. Five people died (a sixth has committed suicide) and others were terrorized as Capitol chambers and congressional offices were violated. That the president of the United States could incite a mob to insurrection is unprecedented, but not necessarily surprising in this instance.

What played out in Washington can be framed as an alarming three-act political drama shaped by the terrible and resilient forces of conspiracy theories, extremist social ideology and a culture of grievance. QAnon, the Proud Boys, other apostles of hate and an opportunistic paramilitary vanguard were all actors on the stage Jan. 6, as were Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump Jr. and other confidantes of President Donald Trump.

Giuliani, Trump Jr. and the president himself repeated the screeds angry and baseless claims of a stolen election that had been preached by pardoned Trump allies Michael Flynn and Roger Stone on Jan. 5 at another pro-Trump rally, which served as a curtain-raiser for the main show.

As in any movement or mob, there were leaders and followers, and here was a chief executive who exhorted them on with a promise to march with them to the U.S. Capitol before he headed in another direction. Many, but not all, of the rioters wore Trump caps, shirts and jackets, and Trump banners were everywhere, including the House and Senate chambers. Fight for Trump! was the battle cry as hundreds vaulted up the Capitol steps and into the building.

A prologue might be the November presidential election and its outcome.

Act One is the subsequent long buildup to Jan. 6 that includes false accusations of fraud and official misconduct fueled by the president and his allies. It concludes with the U.S. Senate runoff elections in Georgia on Jan. 5 and the curtain-raising twilight Rally to Revival that very evening on Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C.

Act Two includes the Jan. 6 rally and assault on the Capitol, and the chaos and destruction that followed.

Act Three encompasses the failed insurrections immediate aftermath and the calls for Trumps resignation or impeachment as participants are arrested in places near and far from Washington.

Finally, the epilogue, which is yet to be written, will focus on criminal prosecutions and hearings to ascertain how security breaches and other institutional failures came to be.

The actions of the mob that stormed the Capitol represent the latest and perhaps most public example of purposeful political violence in American history.

The litany of anti-government violent protest includes Pennsylvanias 1794 Whiskey Rebellion; anti-draft riots during the Civil War; anarchist bombings after World War I; the 1960s Weather Underground bombings; Charlottesvilles 2017 Unite the Right insurgency; and the events in the nations capital in this years first week.

The Jan. 6 insurrection reminds us of the danger of far-right domestic terrorists who creep from the shadows of our political culture to foment revolution in defense of a perverse notion of national renewal.

This convergence of sentiments was not accidental, nor was it spontaneous. The Jan. 6 morning rally on the Ellipse, like the Capitol break-in itself, was well planned through a network of social media and internet postings that encouraged like-minded people from as far away as Arizona and the Pacific Northwest to join in the melee.

Law enforcement did not take seriously the many early warning signs, including an armed protest last spring inside the Michigan State Capitol and the horrifying attempted kidnapping of that states Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer.

I digress, but not without a reason. Watching events unfold Jan. 6, I could not help but think of the ghost of Timothy McVeigh that haunts our collective experience, and the parallels between the assault on the Capitol our temple of democracy and the destruction of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in 1995 in Oklahoma City.

President Trump and his allies may have lit the match that sparked the larger conflagration on Jan. 6, but it was the apocalyptic vision of The Turner Diaries, a 1978 novel by the neo-Nazi leader William Luther Pierce, which animated anti-government militiamen and white nationalists in a common front to upend the voting process and thwart democratic institutions.

McVeigh was a devotee of that novel; he sold copies at gun shows and extremist venues and endorsed the novels radical message. Lest we forget, this domestic terrorist claimed to be an American patriot and soldier at war with his own government.

The Turner Diaries is considered the bible of the extreme far-right anti-government hate culture. (I found my copy decades ago at a now-defunct bookstore near Park City Center.) Pierce tells the fictional tale of a white nationalist insurrection to overthrow the U.S. government and take back the nation by exterminating liberal politicians, race traitors and other social groups he views as undesirable. It is a rambling and incoherent tome, but at its heart is a messianic call for redemption and renewal through racial and political violence. Washington, D.C., is the stage for much of this incendiary fictional conflict, and amid the confrontation the Department of Justice and other government buildings are destroyed.

The Turner Diaries is not well known outside the extremist subculture, but it has inspired numerous acts of political violence and domestic terrorism, including McVeigh and Terry Nichols plot to blow up the Murrah Federal Building and its regional FBI office. Savagely dismissing the 168 people who were killed as collateral damage, McVeigh claimed he was trying to send the government a wake-up call.

It is worth noting that like the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in 2001, the Murrah Building and the U.S. Capitol were symbolic targets that carried a meaning larger than the structures themselves.

In Washington on Jan. 6, the iconography of radical anti-government and hate culture was on full display. The Confederate battle flag was proudly paraded through the Capitols hallways; anti-Semitic and racist chants echoed through the chambers; and a gallows reserved for Vice President Mike Pence was erected on the grounds. Disillusioned white males, much like McVeigh, were especially vocal in their avowed grievances against the status quo.

Wherever President Trump goes after his presidency ends this week, this subculture of anti-government violence will not disappear. Already there is great fear about what might happen on Inauguration Day on Wednesday and in these few days leading up to it. A well-publicized armed march is being promoted by the very groups behind the assault on the U.S. Capitol. State capitols are in jeopardy as well.

One can only hope that the reports of intended mayhem that are now circulating will be taken seriously unlike Jan. 6 by law enforcement and security officials and order can be maintained. Lest the past be merely a foreshadowing of what is to come, it is essential we cultivate a sense of historical perspective.

Otherwise, the forces of homegrown anarchy stand every chance of overwhelming democracy.

Dennis B. Downey, Ph.D., is professor emeritus of history at Millersville University. His most recent publication is Pennhurst and the Struggle for Disability Rights (Penn State Press 2020).

Success! An email has been sent with a link to confirm list signup.

Error! There was an error processing your request.

See the rest here:

On democracy, insurrection and the ghost of Timothy McVeigh [column] - LancasterOnline