RWE, Right-wing-extremists in Dallas, murdering Americans and motivated by Russian, RWE ideology.
I don't honestly know what's worse, a Texas GOP operating on a blend of US and Russian RW ideology or Greg Abbott's witting use of it for his selfish political goals.
In the Associated Press article at the embedded link, is a well-sourced piece about the motivations of the Dallas, mall shooter last week.
From the article:
“Posts by Garcia on a Russian social networking site expressed a fascination with white supremacy and mass shootings. Photos he posted showed large Nazi tattoos on his arm and torso, including a swastika and the SS lightning bolt logo of Hitler’s paramilitary forces.”
The following links are to excellent reporting on global RWE and Russia’s role in inspiring, supporting and funding such extremism. I could post hundreds of similar links to credible reporting and research, but those below will give readers all they want on this topic. Russia may not be shooting at us directly, but as the Soviets before them, we are under constant attack from the Kremlin.
That the Dallas shooter was caught up in this un-American and most lethal US extremism, is not an exception, US RWE, is indelibly linked to Russian extremist ideology and their efforts to support it globally.
White Nationalism in the United States and Russia: Transnational Ties, Domestic Impact (harvard.edu)
All U.S. extremist mass killings in 2022 linked to far right, report says (axios.com)
New-Generation Warfare and the Fringe Right: How Russian Interference Impacts Right-Wing Extremism in the US, Part III - NYU Jordan Center (jordanrussiacenter.org)
Report: Democracies at Risk From Russian Money, Meddling
(voanews.com)
Russia and Far-Right Americans Find Common Ground With Ukraine War - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
How Are Putin’s Far-Right Fans in the West Reacting to His War? - War on the Rocks
MMP: Mapping the Global Far-Right | FSI (stanford.edu)
The attacks on education, on gender, via white supremacy, anti-government attacks etc. etc. etc., are all overlaid with similar nations and movements globally, that have such a direct tie to Putin. The evidence against today’s GOP regarding collaboration on undermining all Western democracies is well-detailed in intelligence reporting and in respectable, open-source media, since prior to Trump’s infamous escalator escapade. It is ongoing, substantially.
At this point in our history, the MAGA wing of the GOP and controlling element of the party is knee-deep in this ideology. In fact, a close read of the Texas GOP, midterm 2022 platform, is exemplary of the correlations. The excerpts below demonstrate the same issues as the planks of Russian and global, far-right agendas. Of note here, are the unconstitutional undermining tactics that literally, are unconstitutional. There are countless more examples that you will find by following the link to the TX 2022 GOP platform above.
The bottom line to this brief TAT is that we cannot allow one of only two main political parties, to continue operating on ideology designed to undermine democracy with anti-American, fake patriotism. Russian activity not only helped to promote what we now experience in the US from the GOP, but also underlaid everything that occurred on January 6th, 2021.
The most tragic aspect of this issue and based on a couple decades of CT/ counterterrorism experience is that hardcore MAGA types, will never recover from the shame they have imposed on our nation. Once people cross a certain threshold where they are willing to take public action on their extremist ideology, recoveries are few and far between. Shame and peer pressure may push these extremists back from public display of their beliefs, but those parts of their identity are still deeply cut into their identity.
Much of our nation’s recovery from our currently dangerous precipice must be achieved by principled conservatives speaking out and reclaiming control from primary assailants like Greg Abbott here in Texas, DeSantis in Florida or even the US Speaker of the House, who enables the RWE in the House of Representatives.
The ball is in the court of those, allegedly principled Republicans to do their part. The FBI, DHS and several other state and local entities must stop waiting for some magical solution. They must speak up and lead or we all suffer the consequences. Even some of SCOTUS’s recent decisions would leave the father of our Constitution, Pres. James Madison, rolling in his grave. Without adherence to our true national values, the MAGA sycophants will eventually nibble away at true patriotism until American values no longer exist. If you read history, this is precisely how Hitler overturned German government in the runup and throughout, WW II.
As always, thank you kindly for reading TAT,
Paul
p.s. For regular readers… Thursday I get a new cast that will hopefully, allow me more time on the keyboard.