The HuffPo story jumped off the page at me this morning.
Fresh off a week in which we learned that the Trump administration — back over a year ago — disbanded the DHS unit tasked with watching far right extremist groups, we now learn that the real “fake news,” the stuff polluting Fox, formed the basis of some of the justification.
Some thoughts from an internal email by a DHS official named Katie Gorka, written early in the administration, upon hearing then DHS Sec. Kelly was “upset” about media coverage that they revamped the RW Extremism division:
But “it would also be important to get the data on the actual threats right now,” she added, “because my understanding is that the far-left groups (Antifa, or anti-fascist) are currently on the rise.”
Yeah, good idea to “get the data.” It doesn’t exist. The only place in which Antifa constitutes a “rising threat” is within the pointed heads running the propaganda division of Fox State Television.
Wonder if she ever got the data? Wonder if she ever learned the “real threat”?
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Read this and weep, literally. HuffPo just obtained emails from early in the Trump admin, which practically proves that they desperately wanted to fan the flames of Right-Wing extremism, aka “Nazis,” all along:
The emails, which date from February to August 2017, show Gorka and other Trump administration officials working diligently to find reasons to strip government funding from two organizations selected as CVE grant recipients under the Obama administration: the Muslim Public Affairs Council, which was planning to use its $393,800 grant to expand mental health and counseling services in Muslim communities, and Life After Hate, which was going to use its $400,000 to help white supremacists leave the movement.
They stripped funding from a group set up to help white supremacists leave the movement.
Oh, and if that last name sounds familiar, if you already associate “Gorka” with Nazis for some reason, good job. Because that same “Gorka” is a “Gorka” because she’s married to the original administration Nazis, Sebastian Gorka.
“Our pillow talk is the Islamic State and al-Qaeda,” he once said of their relationship. Although less recognizable than her husband, Katie Gorka has her own history of anti-Muslim fearmongering. As a Breitbart columnist, she warned of Muslim Brotherhood influence in U.S. politics and “sharia finance” in London. She took issue with the idea that Islam is a religion of peace. And she claimed that the Obama administration was “supporting Islamist groups abroad” and “allowing Islamists to dictate national security policy.”
How romantic. A marriage based upon hate. And boy am I glad they got the “Muslim Brotherhood” covered since that’s sure a threat.
More importantly, these thoughts, where fake news/anti-data meets a longing for days when racist fascists were feared, not arrested, might well have resulted in deaths.
We can’t know which group where might’ve been detected, arrested beforehand, or maybe turned to a life of peace. We know the FBI does all they can, and has made arrests that presumably save lives.
But John Kelly, his employee Katie Gorka and DHS had other priorities, political priorities, we can only presume. After all, every fascist out there is a reliable Trump voter, and maybe one of the “tough guys” that can be counted upon if Trump is ever held to account.
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The claims in the DHS email are “just cut and paste from the Islamophobes like Robert Spencer and Daniel Pipes,” he said in an interview, referring to far-right conspiracy theorists who have accused him — and most other Muslims — of being terrorist sympathizers.
That is what they sound like.
I am not up on “Antifa” — though, I have to tell you, “Anti-Fascist” doesn’t immediately make me think of criminals or criminalization. I couldn’t tell you whether anyone has died due to Antifa, and I don’t trust Google on it because I don’t want to run up against a bunch of Breitbart stories that can’t be trusted.
I just know this: The death toll from RW fascists rolls too easily off the top of my head, the only place I’ve ever heard talk of “Antifa” is from Trump and Right-Wing sites, like Fox News.
Which is, ironically, exactly where DHS employee Katie Gorka “Heard they were on the rise,” only she was in a position to make that fiction policy.
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We have to get rid of these people, forever.
Trump had a bad bad week.
- Congress demanded his taxes.
- House Judiciary voted to subpoena Mueller report.
- Leaks about security clearance abuse, Kushner’s especially, really getting bad.
- Mueller’s staff pushing back on Barr
- House voted to stop war in Yemen, Senate, too. Forcing Trump veto.
- Trump makes healthcare the nightmare of Repubs running in 2020.
- Trump threatens to “shut down border” which even Ted Cruz knows is bad.
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Don’t tell me “nothing works against Trump,” don’t tell me “he always gets away with it,” don’t tell me “the rich always protect each other,” and prove how cynical and cool you are. It leads to nothing but inaction, and inaction is a moral failure against these people.
Lives depend upon getting rid of Trumpism forever, moving on from the “fascist scare” of the 20-teens.
Keep working.
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Peace, y’all.
My novels.