Thuggish and Present Danger

The Plot Against Gretchen Whitmer Shows the Danger of Private Militias: These groups have no constitutional right to exist.

"In the swirls of disinformation that now pollute our political discourse, one is particularly dangerous: that private militias are constitutionally protected.

Although these vigilante groups often cite the Second Amendment’s “well regulated militia” for their authority, history and Supreme Court precedent make clear that the phrase was not intended to — and does not — authorize private militias outside of government control.

Indeed, these armed groups have no authority to call themselves forth into militia service; the Second Amendment does not protect such activity; and all 50 states prohibit it.

The danger of these groups was brought home on 20-10-8 with the announcement that the F.B.I. had thwarted a plot by people associated with an extremist group in Michigan to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and overthrow the government.

Court documents say that the group discussed trying the governor for treason and murdering “tyrants.” Six men now face federal kidnapping conspiracy charges, but unauthorized militia activity continues in Michigan and elsewhere.

The unnamed militia involved in the kidnapping plot is part of a growing number of private paramilitary groups mobilizing across the country, wholly outside of lawful authority or governmental accountability. These organizations — some of which openly refer to themselves as “militias,” while others reject the term — often train together in the use of firearms and other paramilitary techniques and “deploy,” heavily armed and sometimes in full military gear, when they deem it necessary."

...

"Most alarmingly, some of them are planning their own poll-watching and openly training in preparation for the post-election period.

Whatever their stated purpose, their conduct is unlawful and not constitutionally protected. Even before the adoption of the Constitution, the colonies recognized the importance of a “well regulated” militia to defend the state, in preference over standing armies, which they perceived as a threat to liberty. The militia consisted of able-bodied residents between certain ages who had a duty to respond when called forth by the government.

But “well regulated” meant that the militias were trained, armed and controlled by the state. Indeed, 48 states have provisions in their constitutions that explicitly require the militia to be strictly subordinate to the civil authority.

Likewise, state constitutions and laws then and now generally name the governor as the commander in chief of its armed forces — and only the governor or a designee has the power to call forth the able-bodied residents for militia service."

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/08/opinion/militias-gretchen-whitmer.html .

[I wonder whether Nationalist-in-Chief plans to make himself even more unpopular by pardoning them. If so, he will do it after the election during a temper tantrum tirade of destroying anything still in his power to destroy.]

cf Desperate Plots ..

Petulous-in-Cheat "Is Killing the Economy Out of Spite": So what will he do if he loses the election?

"Last year Infant-in-Chief called Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker, a “nasty, vindictive, horrible person.” Actually, she isn’t — but he is.

Agent Orange’s vindictiveness has become a major worry as the election approaches. He has already signaled that he won’t accept the result if he loses, which seems increasingly likely though not certain. Nobody knows what chaos, possibly including violence, he may unleash if the election doesn’t go his way.

Even aside from that concern, however, a defeated Narcissist-in-Cheat would still be president for two and a half months. Would he spend that time acting destructively, in effect taking revenge on America for rejecting him?

Well, we got a preview of what a lame-duck DUHnocchio UNpresidency might look like 20-10-6. Narcissist-in-Cheat hasn’t even lost yet, but he abruptly cut off talks on an economic relief package millions of Americans desperately need (although as of 20-10-8 he seemed to be backtracking). And his motivation seems to have been sheer spite.

Why do we need economic relief? Despite several months of large employment gains, America has only partly recovered from horrific job losses in the early months of the pandemic — and the pace of recovery has slowed to a relative crawl. All indications are that the economy will remain weak for many months, maybe even years."

...

"Warnings about the dangers of failing to provide more relief aren’t just coming from progressive Democrats; they’re coming from Wall Street analysts and Jerome Powell, the chairman of the Federal Reserve."

...

The question is, why did Dimwit-in-Chief choose to reject even the possibility of a deal less than a month before Election Day? True, it’s too late for legislation to make much difference to the state of the economy on Nov. 3, although a deal might have averted some corporate layoffs. But it would surely be in tRUMP’s political interest to at least look as if he’s trying to help Americans in distress. Why would tRUMP choose this, of all moments, to torpedo economic policy?

As far as I can tell, nobody has offered a plausible political motive, any way in which refusing even to try rescuing the economy helps tRUMP’s prospects. What this looks like, instead, is vindictiveness.

I don’t know whether tRUMP expects to lose the election. But he’s already acting like a deeply embittered man, lashing out at people he feels have treated him unfairly, which is basically everyone. And as usual he reserves special rage for smart, tough women; on 2--1o-8 [the widely acknowledged monster] called Kamala Harris a “monster.”

Yet getting a relief deal would have required accepting a compromise with that “nasty” woman Nancy Pelosi. And it seems that he would rather let the economy burn.

The thing is, if he’s behaving like this now, when he still has some chance of winning, how will he act if he loses?

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/08/opinion/donald-trump-economy.html .

[As above, very, very badly. After all, DUH is already encouraging RepuGNicans to risk long-term health problems, possibly death for being foolish enough to believe a word he says. One wonders how some of his fans managed to "graduate" from grade school.]