1/ If you’re surprised that extremists stormed the Capitol, don’t be.
These domestic terrorists & their enablers within GOP & conservative media have fomented dangerous & racist conspiracy theories about “their country” being taken away from “them” FOR YEARS. Here’s how.
2/ Organizations like @NRA & Republican lawmakers ACTIVELY encourage followers to go out and purchase firearms to protect themselves from "tyrannical government." Some lawmakers directly advocated for a militant coup. Here’s how @NRA does it:
@NRA 3/ In 2008, the election of our first black president only accelerated the hate, racism and division.
Republican lawmakers immediately adopted a tactic of delegitimizing Obama and his policies (even if they had agreed with those policies in years past).
@NRA 5/ And yes, during his 2012 presidential campaign, even today's GOP hero Mitt Romney dabbled in this kind of racism, calling Obama “foreign to the American experience”: archive.thinkprogress.org/romney-dog-whi…
@NRA 6/ Trump set it all on fire, first with his birtherism, and then with repeated and countless direct appeals to right wing nationalists, extremists, and white supremacists.
Remember when he legitimized the central theory of QAnon and called them QAnon ppl who “love our country”?
@NRA 7/ All of this contributed to hate crimes in the U.S. reaching the highest levels in more than a decade.
Trump’s @FBI director even warned that white nationalism was the country’s biggest domestic terror threat bbc.com/news/world-us-…
@NRA@FBI 8/ I must note that for decades, the hate was amplified by social media companies which profited from permitting extremists to build community, sell guns, and cause violence in the real world.
@NRA@FBI@Facebook 9/ In 2020, we saw a huge display of right-wing extremism all across the country.
They showed up with guns to intimidate lawmakers into prematurely lifting quarantine restrictions. They showed up with firearms to intimidate Black and Brown Americans protesting racial injustice
@NRA@FBI@Facebook 10/ And in the days surrounding the election and the counting of the votes, they sent death threats to state election officials and showed up with firearms at recount centers. nytimes.com/2020/12/03/us/…
@NRA@FBI@Facebook 11/ Throughout all this, Trump & his enablers only stoked the fire, lying & spreading conspiracy theories about the outcome. And as those same extremists began to plan the January 6th insurrection, Trump tweeted out predicting that the day would be "wild." news.yahoo.com/trump-promises…
FIRST: We must stop pretending that armed extremist violence is unusual or unheard of in the United States. That’s a fantasy. Look around: it happens every day.
@NRA@FBI@Facebook 13/ SECOND: White people -- particularly those in conservative areas, the very same areas that the Trump supporters who assaulted our Capitol are coming back to -- must speak out against the racism and hate and call for ACCOUNTABILITY
@NRA@FBI@Facebook 14/ THIRD: State governments across the country must review open carry laws that allow armed individuals to use their firearms as tools of intimidation against democratically elected officials, protesters, etc...
@NRA@FBI@Facebook 15/ FOURTH: The federal government and the new administration must take immediate action to reign in social media companies that allow hate to grow unchecked on their platforms and deplatform hate groups only AFTER an incident has occurred
@NRA@FBI@Facebook 16/ FIFTH: We have to have a serious conversation about how our lax gun laws enable extremists to obtain incredibly powerful firearms that they use to intimidate and kill
We must raise the standard for gun ownership in US & outlaw certain military style weapons
@NRA@FBI@Facebook 17/ SIXTH (but certainly not last): The images and video of police fraternizing with the mob, taking selfies & opening the gates screams for systemic reforms in how our law enforcement officials apply one set of rules for white ppl and an entirely different set for non-white ppl
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27/ Here is @SteveScalise, Representative from LA-01
“Each state has a process for selecting their electors and sending them to Washington. Madam speaker, in a number of those states, that constitutional process was not followed.” nytimes.com/live/2021/01/0…
@FoxNews Fox has now moved on to having someone else on explaining that the mob is rightfully frustrated because the media has lied to them and perpetrated "the Russia hoax"
@FoxNews "When people can't trust the media, then yes, things like this will be the result," Sarah Palin tells @foxnews before claiming that the violence at the Capitol was probably instigated by antifa.
1/ I'm starting a thread of all of the Republicans who humored Trump after his loss, spread lies and misinformation about the election and created a permission structure for these domestic terrorists to cause chaos.
1/ Last night’s election in GA underscores that voters are demanding federal action to build safer communities with fewer guns.
@NRA poured millions in outside spending into the runoff, but voters rejected their “guns everywhere” agenda
@NRA 2/ GA voters rejected two "guns everywhere" GA senate candidates after a year in which gun sales spiked and our nation experienced a significant increase in gun deaths.
In 2020, Atlanta’s homicide count rose to the highest levels since 1998.
@NRA 3/ Biden & Harris ran the most ambitious agenda for reducing gun deaths in history & received most votes ever cast for a presidential ticket
Yesterday’s election results in GA demonstrate that the new admin must take *proactive action to build safer communities on day 1*
1/ Trump's claims of election fraud risk sparking political violence.
Case-in-point: Trump supporter was arrested on Tuesday after calling for crowds of New Yorkers to be gunned down in the streets while celebrating the election results gothamist.com/news/feds-heav…
2/ Brian Maiorana was arrested in Annadale, Staten Island on Tuesday morning. Federal agents who searched his home recovered:
- a semiautomatic pistol
- the upper portion of an AR 15 assault rifle
- several rounds of ammunition
3/ In a November 5th message, Maiorana allegedly posted: “The carnage needs to come in the form of extermination of anyone that claims to be democrat…as well as their family members.”
Three days later, he allegedly suggested "we blow up the FBI building for real"