🗽UNITED STATES POLITICS 🦅
<Final Warning, Leftoids EditionThread for the hellish discussion related to
the scourge of the earth, the destroyer of nations, the father of fascism, the enabler of ethnostates, the treatlerite tyrant, the protector of pedophiles, the exporter of ecocide, the captain of capitalism, the king of coups, the sultan of sanctions, the emir of the embargo, the autocrat of austerity, the doge of deregulation, the baron of busting unions, the prince of privatization, the lord of loan sharks, the patron-saint of proxy wars, the sponsor of settlers, the guarantor of genocides, the Divided $nakkkes of Amerikkka™
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>>2472344Remember to filter mass tor baiters, feds, and trollsNot reporting is bourgeoisViolators will be launched from trebuchet>>2473878I've heard their civil war fantasies and a lot of it boils down to:
>"BASED RIGHT WING FARMERS WILL STOP GIVIN' FOOD TO THEM CITY-SLICKERS AND THAT'LL TEACH 'EM A LESSON"or
>"They'll try and invade our small town then we'll just shoot one of them and the rest will run away scared."I think before he developed Schizophrenia, WhatIfAltHist wrote this insane claim that the InCel Fedaykin would be the stormtroops of The Right because it'd be a quick way to get pussy.
I really don't think they're prepared for how brutal an actual civil war would be, or understand just how much industry and populace are in the cities they despise. However I also think the Left just isn't organized enough and this idea that "Society will collapse then we'll get Communism" is cope.
>>2473943lmao it’s the same guy vidrel
This whole age seems like a crack-induced fever dream.
>>2473995Houdini could never
he'd use obscure language and hipster aesthetics, so nobody would care except his 3 Appalachian friends
>>2473943>>2473990lmfao.
personally I'm a fan of this guy
>>2474011The suspect, 37-year-old Yordanis Cobos-Martinez, was involved in an argument Wednesday morning with the victim, 50-year-old Chandra Nagamallaiah.
Both men worked at the Downtown Suites motel. A witness was cleaning a room with Cobos-Martinez when Nagamallaiah came to tell them not to use a washing machine that was broken.
The witness told police that Cobos-Martinez became upset with Nagamallaiah for having the witness "translate the communication instead of speaking to [Cobos-Martinez] directly."
Police say video evidence then showed Cobos-Martinez leave the room, pull out a machete and start attacking Nagamallaiah. The victim ran screaming, still under attack, toward the motel office where his wife and son were located.
Nagamallaiah's wife and son tried to intervene several times, police said, but Cobos-Martinez pushed them away and continued the attack. Cobos-Martinez then took Nagamallaiah's cell phone and key card from his pockets before again resuming the attack until Nagamallaiah's head "was removed from his body," police said.
"The suspect then kicked the [Nagamallaiah's] head twice into the parking lot and proceeded to pick it up and carry it to the dumpster and put it inside," the detective wrote.
As Cobos-Martinez walked away from the scene, police said a Dallas Fire-Rescue truck arrived and saw Cobos-Martinez still carrying the machete and covered in blood. The DFR unit followed Cobos-Martinez until police officers were able to take him into custody.
>>2474019"Heads up, the washing machine is broke."
"I'LL SHOW YOU HEADS-UP MOTHERFUCKER!"
Years of lead this years of lead that MY ASS
you burgers could never gift us such gems:
Nazi-Maoism was a political movement and ideology that emerged in Italy around 1968,[1] with the formation of a group known as Struggle of the People (Lotta di Popolo). This group of students, from the Sapienza University of Rome,[2] took heavy inspiration from the writings and theory of Franco Freda,[3] and advocated for a combination of ideas from both the far-left and far-right. According to the neo-fascist group Terza Posizione, Nazi-Maoism had a stance of "neither capitalism nor communism, neither reds nor reactionary".[4] Nazi-Maoists such as Freda wanted to form a "Fascist dictatorship of the proletariat",[5] by using the Maoist guerrilla strategy of people's war to overthrow the government and the bourgeoisie.[6]
Nazi-Maoism is believed to have mostly faded away after the Lotta di Popolo group dissolved in 1973. Some forms of Nazi-Maoism continued in other similar groups into the late 1970s, albeit not as active as the Struggle of the People. Some slogans can be found in numerous groups of the extra-parliamentary right, such as Terza Posizione and Forza Nuova. Despite an accentuated anti-communism and nationalist positions typical of the far-right, they have a strong attention to social problems, as well as a violent anti-Americanism and anti-Zionism.[7][8][9]
>>2474079if Destiny went out in public more, he would have been shot a long time ago
he has the most infuriating demeanour out of all these influencers/debaters/pundits etc
You have actual nazi scum who do not make my blood boil like destiny
With him, it's not just his actual points and arguments, but his demeanour. He was clearly never punched in life and that's a shame
>>2474086>if Destiny went out in public more, he would have been shot a long time agoit would be so funny if some conservatives got him as revenge for kirk
everyone here would be like picrel
>>2474099that guy is a fucking actor lmao
what a fucking lame dooooooork jesus
>>2474099One thing I've noticed in /pol/ is that a lot of times, anons will take pride in their complacency
Usually some shit about
>Us whites are just more peacefulI don't think they have any real desire for a civil war at all. Reminder that they did fuck all during the BLM summer of 2020 outside of Rittenhouse.
Why are Americans like this?
>>2474099>rightoidsendlessly yap about how they're gonna shoot leftist personalities
>leftoidsshoot rightoid personalities
>>2474058>For years these petty bourgeois manchildren played with fire profitting off of rage and growing unrest but thinking the system can keep things "civilized" impotent contained, now they are realizing they can get burnt too as the system itself begins to buckle under its own weight and contradictions.Good post. Like what are they going to do? Demand people act crazier and even more unhinged?
>>2474065>Years of lead this years of lead that MY ASSThis "Years of Lead" stuff that people are saying doesn't quite work, because that involved actual organizations like the Red Brigades kidnapping the Italian prime minister. These are random killers. Deranged normies from hell. And somehow our society has generated these murder maniacs who are now attacking debate-me-bro streamers and "activists." There was a schizo that tried to kill Nick Fuentes and it was completely random, he just showed up at his house.
>>2473846There will be retaliation for this
Rightoids will definitely try to off Hasan or other leftwing influencer
Now, please excuse a slight detour. Let's leave aside the Orem situation for a moment. Even despite picrel.
The Founding Fathers were basically aristocrats living according to British social mores of the 18th century, right? Some of them were plantation owners from the South - Washington, Jefferson - some others were businessmen from New England - Franklin. They were all more or less well read and educated. They valued a kind of etiquette and of social conventions that clearly separated them from the lower classes as if differences in wealth weren't already evident. They generally presented themselves as men of refined tastes, gentlemen practicing restraint in their public life. They fashioned themselves as figures of Greek and Roman antiquity to larp as le liberators vanquishing le tyrants. They styled themselves as reasonable, balanced and equitable. They were for the most part religious, but very diverse in their beliefs, tolerant toward those of others and they espoused secularism in government.
Well… How does the modern magas, conservatives, groypers, tea parties, q-anon, bible thumpers, karens and the rest of the lunatic asylum relate to the Founding Fathers? What would the Founding Fathers think about them? Would have they risen up in arms against the King's armies if they knew about all of that circus?
>>2473980I say
covfefe. Do you remember
covfefe? He was already having ministrokes almost a decade ago and he was tweeting during them.
>>2473943>>2474136 (me)
guys is Mexican/Samoan, and some want him deported already, lmao.
>>2474099>One more shot from your sideAnd? You're just gonna post
>One more shot from your sideagain and I wouldn't be sure if it's because you're a cuckold or just showing signs of dementia due to old age, kek!
>>2474137>The Founding Fathers were basically aristocrats living according to British social mores of the 18th century, right? Some of them were plantation owners from the South - Washington, Jefferson - some others were businessmen from New England - Franklin. They were all more or less well read and educated. They valued a kind of etiquette and of social conventions that clearly separated them from the lower classes as if differences in wealth weren't already evident. They generally presented themselves as men of refined tastes, gentlemen practicing restraint in their public life. They fashioned themselves as figures of Greek and Roman antiquity to larp as le liberators vanquishing le tyrants. They styled themselves as reasonable, balanced and equitable. They were for the most part religious, but very diverse in their beliefs, tolerant toward those of others and they espoused secularism in government.
>Well… How does the modern magas, conservatives, groypers, tea parties, q-anon, bible thumpers, karens and the rest of the lunatic asylum relate to the Founding Fathers? What would the Founding Fathers think about them? Would have they risen up in arms against the King's armies if they knew about all of that circus?the founding fathers have passed into legend. people who worship at the altar of US civil religino don't really care what the founding fathers were actually like. They have been retconned from secular deists into christian fundamentalists. They have been retconned from slave owning plantation heirs and worker-exploiting business heirs into self-made bootstrappers. They have been retconned from hesitant secessionists into Robespierrist revolutionaries. MAGA is a backwards looking movement. the second A in MAGA imagines a past that america must RETVRN to but it is also an ahistorical movement that doesn't have a clear understanding of the past, nor even a clear idea of which "great" era to RETVRN to. So they are stuck spinning their wheels.
>>2474173who holds the leash of the NATO/EU? the burger
>>2474166SHAT AHP VE ARE TRYZING TO HAVE ZE MOMENT OF BURGER
>>2474219>abraham was a debatebro in a world where people were throwing their kids into volcanoeslolwat. abraham took his son to the top of a mountain and was literally seconds from killing him because god told him too and then only stopped because god said syke bitch
>major religions start with people doing debatebro shit in tentsholy idealism batman. a lot of the old testament is the israelites killing people, taking their women, and making more israelites with them.
>>2474220To be frank, I think people need to reckon a lot more with the "boring" aspects of radicalism. Of course they don't like that, in fact one could even say they deeply hate that. The imagined revolution is one of paintings where you charge the bastille with a torn tricolor or whatever.
I'm sure Fascists would get plenty of volunteers, they've just got better internet infrastructure and outreach. But they're also retarded, so they'll prolly send some overweight guy straight to the front with only the most basic-bitch training (Patriot Front style "march in formation" shit) and he'll get bored when he can't play his Gacha games or whatever.
>>2474231>they've just got better internet infrastructure and outreachWhat kind of net infrastructure does the communist movement need?
Is this about their telegram grooming channels, or their grande booj social media and news ownership?
>>2474266>where we actually organize shit What the heck are you going to organize on a discord channel? Raids? At best, it seems like generating propaganda or promoting local events are the only real things one could do there.
If I were magically admin of one of those groups, I'd give people a "internet loser" tag until they prove they're involved in an org or otherwise doing something.
>>2474286nta and not burger but I didn't hear of more than one. pls list
>>2474288what the fuck are you talking about? are you off meds or something?
>>2474285kek
>>2474288literally no one understands what youre trying to say
>>2474319lol
lmao
All he had to do was keep talking about fucking freezing rent and public grocery stores.
>>2474319why do they always do this?
people voted for him over Cuomo BECAUSE he was left-wing, so why pivot towards the right?
>>2474382He has a wife you know
You know what she's called?
>>2474378>If u scared go 2 church– Ice Cube
>OKAAAY– Lil Jon
>>2474364>people voted for him over Cuomo BECAUSE he was left-wing, so why pivot towards the right?Democrats ALWAYS
ALWAYS shoot for moderate republican votes over even mild progressive let alone leftists. And it NEVER works.
>>2474419The dude is a GigaConsoomer
He loves the system
>>2474364>why do they always do this?>people voted for him over Cuomo BECAUSE he was left-wing, so why pivot towards the right?Because the role of socdems is not to actually challenge liberalism, but to avert revolutionary change which would. The bar is so fucking low in the USA, that all it takes is a series of bait and switches within the political system. Barely any actual givs.
Mamdani's job is done. The energy is sucked out of people, they are more cynical than they started. Some will stay within the democrats to make activism careers or huff the copium. Some will be disgusted and recoil to the populist right, and some will just give up. Most will wait for the next totally genuine Democrat spawn promoted by the likes of Hasan to back again.
<We need to back this socdem politician because he's a genuine socialist who will effect change<We need to back this socdem politician because of negative polarization from his opponents in the culture war<They are just hiding their power level, once they are in office it will be different. They are actually a socialist, you'll see.<So what if he's backtracking on everything? I never expected them to be a socialist they were just better than the alternative <<< You are here<Actually it, it was the right thing to do at the time and I stand by backing class collaborator #1014758601 >>2474319honestly I think this is only kicking the can further down the road. whenever one of these progressive Democrats fucks over their constituents like this it only proves that the system is truly beyond reform and that there's no path forward besides direct revolutionary organizing. of course, the organization is not there in the US at fucking all, but things have been getting pushed in that direction since Bernie and if the Democrats weren't a bunch of incompetent retards they would be smart enough to recognize the need to concede to the left even if only a little bit to contain it from becoming a bigger problem for the establishment.
of course this also means that leftoids in the US have to actually get their shit together in order for any of this to matter.
>>2474461>If you're a TERF you're objectively not a leftist. Who decides that? TERF ideology is the same ideology the USSR and CCP had regarding feminism, and until fairly recently was the dominant left-wing position tbh. I don't agree with it but there are many self-described leftists that have weird views on gender.
Burkina Faso recently criminalized homosexuality despite having a left-wing leader. Do we still cooperate with them in our hypothetical left-wing support network?
I guess my point is, what are you willing to give up in the name of avoiding infighting in left-wing networks? Are you willing to die on the hill of calling TERFs reactionaries even if they agree with you on everything else? Or are you willing to include TERFs even while believing they are pieces of shit if it means accelerating the revolution? What is the correct position?
If we extend this to left-wing religious people, like Christians or Muslims or Buddhists, that have very left-wing economic views but are fairly socially conservative due to their faith, what is the correct position on cooperating with them as well? Are only atheists permitted in our Left, or what's the deal? Mamdani himself is a Muslim that supports LGBT rights so there's clearly some room for negotiation here.
>>2474346Lol yesterday I was reading up on my local police department pumping out propaganda against a referendum that would nuke the pig union and one of the arguments was "it would be bad for black and brown communities".
The police and fire departments make up like 60% of the budget.
>>2474478>Who decides that? Actual communists and anyone that has actually engaged with terfs for any length of time. They're reactionaries that are trying to preserve traditional gender roles and they use trans hysteria as a means of doing it.
Get a fucking clue.
>>2474478>Who decides that?Me, I decide it.
There has never been a productive debate about this on leftypol, we discussed it endlessly for years, stop relitigating it because no one cares. This is what the site is now, suck it up.
>>2474438Leftism has nothing to do with communism
CTRL + F Marx + Left = 0 results
CTRL + F Engels + Left = 0 results
CTRL + F Lenin + Left = 0 results
CTRL + F Marx + Leftism= 0 results
CTRL + F Engels + Leftism = 0 results
CTRL + F Lenin + Leftism = 0 results
>>2474402RICO charges got thrown on the people organizing against Cop City in Atlanta, so there's your innovation.
(Although said racketeering charges got dropped a few days ago)
>>2474478>TERF ideology is the same ideology the USSR and CCP had regarding feminismIncorrect and irrelevant as we are not trying to mimick the USSR and China
>Burkina Faso recently criminalized homosexuality despite having a left-wing leader. Do we still cooperate with them in our hypothetical left-wing support network?Burkino Faso is not "left wing" in any meaningful sense in the first place and even if it was that's an entirely different country. We're talking about revolution in America, if Sankara 2 Electric Boogaloo wants to be homophobic that's nothing to do with us.
>I guess my point is, what are you willing to give up in the name of avoiding infighting in left-wing networks? Are you willing to die on the hill of calling TERFs reactionaries even if they agree with you on everything else? Or are you willing to include TERFs even while believing they are pieces of shit if it means accelerating the revolution? What is the correct position?The thing is if you dont believe in ending discrimination and oppression then we have no use for you. Shrimple as. If your commitment to equality comes with asterisks and terms and conditions then you are not committed to equality.
>>2474484I'm aware that there's a lot more nuance and conflict on this topic, but that's kinda beside the point. Those feminists were still left-wing despite actively engaging in debate over a wide range of topics. They still tried to find common ground.
>>2474486Admittedly I'm relatively new to leftypol, I only started reading/participating here last year, but I find it odd that we can agree on how harmful sectarian infighting is on the Left but any question of "okay, so are we willing to admit flawed people into the movement?" is met with a resounding "kill yourself" lol.
>>2474488'Leftism' is not even a term.
Define it in a useful way. I dare you.
>>2474478>Burkina Faso recently criminalized homosexuality despite having a left-wing leader. Do we still cooperate with them in our hypothetical left-wing support network?Burkina Faso doesn't have a left-wing leader. It's a rather conservative government in reality. BTW, there were Burkinabe soldiers in Washington D.C. to work with the D.C. National Guard just a few weeks ago.
>If we extend this to left-wing religious people, like Christians or Muslims or Buddhists, that have very left-wing economic views but are fairly socially conservative due to their faith, what is the correct position on cooperating with them as well? You cooperate with them on points of agreement in concrete social practice. Like if we work at the same job, and we are forming a union, do we litigate our disagreements about transgender people and either I submit to your opinion or vice-versa? I don't think so. Nor do we exclude a trans people at the same job from joining the union. We want to increase unity.
>>2474508>never read the bookxddddddddddddddddddd
Yes Lenin hated you leftist faggots and it was a critique of councilcucks.
>>2474515< It will be a small party, not owing to our will or choice, but because of ineluctable necessity. While thinking of the structure of this party, even in the IIIrd International’s epoch of decadence, and in countless polemics, we rejected – with arguments that it is now unnecessary to recall – several accusations. We don"t want a secret sect or élite party, refusing any contact with the outside, owing to a purity mania. We reject any formula of workerist or labourist party excluding all non-proletarians; as it is a formula belonging to all historical opportunists. We don’ t want to reduce the party to an organisation of a cultural, intellectual and scholastic type, as from polemics more than half a century old; neither do we believe, as certain anarchists and blanquists do, that a party is imaginable which is involved in conspiratorial armed action and in hatching plots. >>2474518Denier.
>>2474522>And yet that's exactly what its become.Denier, falsifier.
>>2474505the most intelligent accelerationist strat right now would be offing both Hasan and Ethan in a precision strike within the next 3-5 days to take advantage of the current momentum and chaos. America would never recover.
Probably Israel's next move.
>>2474443 (nta)
Boston mass-shooting.
>>2474530I understand that, and I do not personally wish to "engage" with terfs in a gender debate, but they're just an example of the varied and often contradictory beliefs of many people on the left. It's easy for us to say "Terfs aren't leftists" but I've met quite a few leftists(mostly lesbians) that are pro-palestine, anti-capitalism, anti-ccp, pro-ukraine, anti-american imperialism, pro-lgbt, and yet also terfs because they just hate men and extend that to hating "former men" or whatever. People are inherently just a ball of flaws and contradictions and I find it easier to seek out common ground with them than to challenge them on their contradictions and just get in a fight. I don't know man, I've met literal socialist black israelites that wish death to America and also want to lynch every gay person. I'd rather put trust in a vanguard party to keep these people far away from any meaningful positions of power and just use them for political utility than like, rejecting them from an already tiny local Communist group that is desperate for volunteers.
>>2474538Yeah pretty much. I think you can find common ground with idiots on the Left(or who consider themselves on the Left, I guess) and just shut them down when they get too cocky and start shitting up the place.
I wouldn't mind sitting in the trenches with a black israelite and a terf lesbian during the war against capital, but I'd need to have faith in the Party to set them straight(or deal with them) after the war is over. Putting the ideological purity cart before the horse is where I think a lot of leftists fail at organizing. But idk, I've also never organized shit.
>>2474552it's not my fault that every communist party that has existed did so, seated the utter-most left side of every parliament, congress, or assembly.
>mfw>>2474556<NOT REAL COMMUNIST PARTYyou did the righ-wing meme, congratz.
bordigabro doesn't know where the ICP seated in the Italian congress) >>2474568>every communist party that has existed didRenegades.
>ICP seated in the Italian congress)Never have been, ICP is abstentionist. uygha.
>>2474584>evernot sure
>mostAbsolutely.
Some communities do need curation. Many absolutely don't.
>>2474597Loooooooool that's not the ICP
click, here, retard:
>>2474593I'm struggling to think of communities that need moderators besides ones aimed at children tbh.
The month where Twitter had zero moderation because Elon fired everyone felt no different from what Twitter was before.
>>2474621>I'm struggling to think of communities that need moderators besides ones aimed at children tbh.- small vulnerable groups that tend to get raided
- any serious community that isn't just a chatroom
- anything with no barrier of entry (there are tons of CP ads on imageboards, basically daily, if you haven't seen them then thank your local faggot jannies) - pic rel, text shown only but still disgusting
>>2474614when the dust settles and the shooter is caught, and turns out to be a right-winger, I want to see everyone of these fuckers shut. and it'll be so cool to poke them.
>>2474612nice moving goalpost, lmao.
>>2474219You’re telling me the world could have been spared all the Abrahamic religions if they merced one guy in a tent?
Damn, that’s wild yo.
>>2474651When has the truth ever mattered after the initial outrage?
People still talk about Oct 7 rapists.
>>2474797I am the anon who you are responding to in this post. My first post to you was this:
>>2474688I have no idea who Chad Jibidi is or why he lives rent free in your head. Please explain.
>>2474897They gave him a Stalin…
CREDIT CARD?They had the BALLS to give one of the greatest revolutionaries of all time…
A
STALIN
CREDIT CARD??????? >>2474929Simultaneously an average unimportant guy whose targetting proves that no one is safe and a guy being shamelessly glazed by every major political institution and figure in the country (and even in other countries).
Simultaneously a centrist moderate whose targetting proves the insane standards of the woke left and a guy who described his own views as very very radical and hung out with old Donnie Trump.
Simultaneously a guy who didn't deserve what he got because words are always okay and never violence, but also anyone making even light fun of him is a monster who deserves to have their life ruined.
It's enough to drive you crazy. People overuse the word but if anything can be called gaslighting this whole discourse/narrative/media cycle/whatever is it. Any idiot helping maintain this farce, intentionally or not, should be looked at with absolute suspicion.
>>2474929>>2474929"All men must die, but death can vary in its significance. The ancient Chinese writer Szuma Chien said, "Though death befalls all men alike, it may be weightier than Mount Tai or lighter than a feather." To die for the people is weightier than Mount Tai, but to work for the fascists and die for the exploiters and oppressors is lighter than a feather."
- Mao Zedong, "Serve the People!", 1944
>>2474965The vast majority of which was caused by disease.
Which doesn't excuse the genocide and atrocities that really did happen, but I'm deeply suspicious of people who encourage leftists to spout easily falsified, hyperbolic nonsense when history is generally on our side and it's completely unnecessary.
>>2474973>easily falsifiedok then prove it's wrong
>hyperbolic nonsenseIt's at the least among the biggest cases of genocide in history. Hyperbolic would be if it was just a little genocide or something.
>>2474985My guy, I don't even know of a source that claims that the North American Great Dying was caused primarily by colonists directly killing Native Americans. Everything out there says that it was overwhelmingly caused by disease, especially smallpox.
Unless what you're claiming here is that the largely unintentional spreading of disease by the Europeans constituted genocide.
>>2475047Alright, leftypol.
You are in the battlefield for Civil War Part II, and you see pic rel staring you down
What do?
https://archive.ph/3rPM9https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/congress-scared-charlie-kirk-assassination-canceling-events-rcna230632'People are scared to death': Members of Congress fear for their safety after Charlie Kirk assassinationRepublicans and Democrats, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Nancy Mace, are canceling upcoming events and taking other security precautions.WASHINGTON — The assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk is sending shock waves through Capitol Hill, with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle expressing fears for their own safety and taking greater security precautions following a summer of political violence.
Members are beefing up their security, moving public events indoors or canceling them altogether. One is even vowing to carry firearms.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., the progressive star who has faced numerous death threats over the years, said Thursday she had postponed two public events planned for this weekend in North Carolina, including a rally in Raleigh set for Sunday.
“From the moment I was elected, I have felt that I accept a certain level of risk in doing this job,” Ocasio-Cortez told reporters. But she added that security protocols for members of Congress are “for a bygone time. … They’re not designed for a digital threat environment era.”
Other lawmakers are saying they won’t hold any large town halls or public events — just small, private events.
Republican Rep. Nancy Mace, who is running for governor in South Carolina, said she is canceling all outdoor and public events for the foreseeable future, including an upcoming speaking gig on a college campus.
An outspoken critic of transgender people and accommodations for them, Mace said she’s been experiencing an uptick in violent threats since a recent floor spat she had with a House Democrat and has requested additional protection from the Capitol Police and House sergeant at arms. Since Kirk's assassination, Mace said, she also got local police to patrol her district office and plans to start carrying a firearm wherever she can.
“I will have a firearm on my person all the time, and I will have security,” Mace told reporters outside the Capitol.
Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., who has faced death threats in the past, said that earlier this year he ramped up his security and stopped holding outdoor events.
“People are scared to death in this building. I mean, not many of them will say it publicly, but they’re running to the speaker talking about security, and that’s a lot of Republicans in there. People are scared, really scared,” he said.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said he’s been fielding calls from members concerned since the shooting, and has assured lawmakers that they are undertaking “a very thorough review of the existing options and how we might need to enhance that to ensure members’ security and safety.”
Threats to members of Congress were already on the rise before Kirk’s death. By the end of this calendar year, the U.S. Capitol Police said it is on track to work through 14,000 threat assessment cases involving members, up from 9,000 last year.
But Johnson also acknowledged there are limitations to protecting all 535 members of Congress, pointing out it would cost billions of dollars and thousands of additional police officers to provide a security detail for every member, which is just unrealistic.
“There are many security measures in place for members of Congress, at their homes, at their offices and when they go about. But we live in a dangerous society, and it’s difficult to cover even the president of the United States from every angle,” Johnson said. “The problem, ultimately, at the end of the day, is the human heart, that’s what we got to address.”
Kirk, 31, the co-founder of Turning Point USA who is credited with turning out the youth vote for Donald Trump’s successful comeback in 2024, was fatally shot by an assassin as he addressed a large crowd on the campus of Utah Valley University on Wednesday.
The gunman is still at large, though the FBI has released photos of a person of interest and said it had recovered the firearm used in the shooting.
“Unfortunately, violent rhetoric plus the wide availability of high-powered guns and guns of all kinds equals vicious political violence, and we can control both of those things, but we haven’t,” said one House Democrat who requested anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter. “And on the gun issue, it is going to require serious harm to somebody in a leadership position, or, God forbid, to a loved one, to get them to change.”
Kirk’s death comes two months after an assassin targeted Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota, killing former state House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband and wounding another lawmaker and his wife. That attack had already unnerved Capitol Hill, leading to a bipartisan push for enhanced security.
Following the Minnesota shootings, “we had the first all-senators security briefing that I can recall in 13 years here,” said Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., who added that he’ll keep doing events with his constituents but that the “minuses” to doing so “seem to be growing.”
At the time, the House sergeant at arms announced that members would be eligible to receive additional funding for residential security and personal security services.
But that money increase is set to expire at the end of the fiscal year later this month, and some members said leadership needs to do more to protect the rank-and-file members.
“We’ve got to re-evaluate what we’re doing. I think we better start taking it serious,” Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., said. “And our leadership is woefully ill-prepared. … They’re surrounded in their little protective bubble, and they look at us, and it’s been weeks after the last incident before we ever got anything.”
Some voices on social media are calling for retribution against the left, even though the identity or motive of the shooter is not yet known. And many Democrats are taking steps to better protect themselves. Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, a former top Democratic leader, said on MSNBC on Thursday that his staff has canceled events in Columbia and Charleston this weekend, though he didn’t cancel an upcoming event at a church.
One House Democrat from the Northeast told NBC News that she won’t hold any town halls or large public events because of security concerns. Instead, she holds private, invite-only events with constituents and stakeholders. The lawmaker, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid being targeted, said her family is simply too important.
The U.S. Capitol Police, which fought off a politically motivated and violent mob on Jan. 6, 2021, said in a statement that it has “been operating in a heightened threat environment for a long time.”
“Our officers, agents and professional staff remain focused as they work around the clock,” the agency statement continued. “Although, for safety reasons, we cannot provide specific details about our increased security posture, we continue to work with our federal, state and local partners to carry out our critical mission.”
On Thursday morning during the House vote series, when members often walk outdoors from their offices to the Capitol, there was a noticeably stepped-up police presence outside the building. Security was already tight due to the 24th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. But it’s also become more common in recent years for the police to shut down the plaza outside the Capitol during votes because of growing threats against members, as they did Thursday.
Some Republicans argued that members of Congress shouldn’t back down from holding events.
“You can’t give into the violence,” Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said. “If we all retreat into our private spaces and close our doors and stay behind our locked doors and windows and gates, we need the opposite of that. We need to be able to come together even when we disagree.”
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who has received death threats because of his many public clashes with Trump, most recently over his push to release the Epstein files, said lawmakers should take proper precautions but shouldn’t back down from individuals, or even presidents, who are trying to intimidate elected officials.
“I, already this summer, stepped up security because of death threats. Anytime you’re in the news, you just become a bigger target,” Massie told reporters.
“I think it’s meant to instill fear in people. I mean, if somebody just wanted Charlie Kirk to be gone, it would have been easier to meet him at the movie theater or a restaurant,” he said. “This, I think, was a statement by some deranged person, most likely, and we can’t let that person win.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., grew emotional while speaking to reporters Thursday and echoed that sentiment.
“That’s what these folks try to do, they try to scare you into inaction,” he said. “And I think that that’s the last thing that Charlie would want, is for people to be quiet, whether you agree with him or not.”
>>2475055implying im not going to be a spy sabotaging their operations
read history
>>2475106Jfc
Graph enthusiasts are coping hard
>>2475106why tf are they scared? charlie was not a member of congress? what ridiculous hysterical people jfc
in any case they're public servants. they're supposed to be brave and shit and selfless ugh whatever
>>2475103I don't understand how people can fall for this shit. The American right's entire shtick is predicated on violence and then when one of them catches some blow-back we're supposed to care?
I mean I know why those in power do it but why do so many average people go along with it? I guess it's all cognitive dissonance but it's still frustrating.
>>2475106GOOD. >>2475097That's nothing.
/r/instagramreality , see top posts, skip over the "Sanity Sunday" ones
Makeup is so ingrained and normalized where I live. Sometimes I wonder if I've ever seen a real adult woman.
>>2474300>pr*gnantwait, burgers have to censor this word as well?
since fucking when?
>>2475147A lot of phone do this by default when phones are on selfie mode (i.e. the camera on the screen side, rather than the camera on the other side).
The user expects a selfie camera to act like a mirror, so the image is flipped.
A lot of them will have an option to disable this, or display the preview flipped but record normally.
>>2474507>you're going to be considereddoesn't matter what people believe.
truth only matters
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