Thread by @kathleen_belew

Today, Rep Thomas Massie visited Waco and talked about it as his "wake-up call". Many responded that they had been awakened by Ruby Ridge. Thread on both: (1)

At Ruby Ridge (1992), what happened is this: a family with ties to the white power movement/Aryan Nations had encamped at a remote cabin in Idaho. Parents, kids, and an adopted teenager holed up. The father, Randy Weaver, was persuaded to modify a weapon by a federal informant (2

...and this modification made it a 1/4 inch too short (illegal). Entrapment? Yes. Was Weaver sent the wrong court date? Yes. But also he never planned to submit to the court. He and his wife Vicki (also an avowed antigovernment writer) prepared for siege (3).

They were survivalists and had lots of stuff. They also had kids, from 14-y-o Sammy to 10-month-old Elisheba. Everyone but the baby carried guns everywhere they went on the property. (4)

Federal snipers surrounded the cabin, and the Weaver's dog alerted to their presence. The dog was shot, Samuel Weaver was shot and killed, US Marshal William Degan was shot and killed. And Vicki Weaver was shot and killed as she stood in the doorway, holding the baby. (5)

This was huge: for the first time the paramilitary violence the federal government had largely reserved for wielding against communities of color in urban spaces was targeted at a white family, rural, and on the news (6)

For white power activists like the Weavers, this was a clear act of martyrdom at the hands of a corrupt, tyrannical government, and was a call to action. (7)

“When the Feds blew the head off Vicki Weaver, I think symbolically that was their war against the American woman, the American mother, the American white wife,” said Carl Franklin, pastor at Aryan Nations. “This is the opening shot of a second American revolution.” (8)

They meant this literally: a race war fought through Leaderless Resistance (cell-style terrorism), armed with military weapons stolen from armories on posts and bases (like literal tons of weapons stolen from Ft Bragg) (9)

Then, the next year, a similar standoff began at Waco. This time it was a multiracial, apocalyptic cult, although they were paramilitary, too--they were manufacturing their own hand grenades in preparation for a violent End Times battle (10)

Waco, unlike Ruby Ridge, was out in the open, so when the siege ended in fire and tanks, everyone could see it on the news. Again, this was a radicalizing event (11)

Here's Timothy McVeigh selling anti-government and white power bumper stickers at the Waco roadblock. he would later watch the end of the siege in tears, and gave Waco as one motivation for the Oklahoma City bombing (12)

It's not new for politicians to use racist dog whistles. Reagan famously gave a speech on "states rights" in Neshoba County, Mississippi, near the site where civil rights protesters had been lynched (13)

But invoking Ruby Ridge and Waco aren't just about a nod to racial violence or an embrace of anti-government views. It's a wholesale greenlight of mass casualty violence, pursuit of a white ethnostate, slaughter of "race traitors," Jews, and people of color--I could go on (14)

This isn't just today. Trump kicked off his campaign in Waco. The people who know what this is know exactly what is meant by its invocation. (15)

If you'd like to learn more, all of this is in Bring the War Home (16)
Meanwhile AMA below and I'll do my best to answer.amazon.com/Bring-War-Home…

Forgot to frame up top, but I am a historian of the white power movement, particularly of Ruby Ridge, Waco and the OKC bombing. (17)

Referenced post is here, please don't give him clicks

Trump at Waco amazon.com/Bring-War-Home…