“Anti-Riot” Trump Supporters Ironically Riot Before Departing Washington D.C.
By: Johnny Silvercloud
Tags: Million Maga March, Politics, Trumpism, Riots, White Supremacy

Right-Wing Violence is the #1 Terror Threat in America

Among Domestic Violent Extremists (DVEs), racially and ethnically motivated violent extremists — specifically white supremacist extremists (WSEs) — will remain the most persistent and lethal threat in the Homeland. ~ Department of Homeland Security

When I saw many “we don’t riot” posts on social media from conservative/republican types, I was planning on writing about the arrogance of the notion. Most American terrorists are conservative Republicans. Terrorists.

I was going to speak on how conservative republican types are responsible for various forms of grave violence and destruction, ranging from shooting up churches and schools to bomb threats. Conservatives in America are even accountable for attempting to kidnap a governor. Trump supporters literally tried to loot a governor. Republicans, who never say no to or critique anyone calling themselves republican, hold the most dangerous and destructive criminals in the United States, adding the fact that white supremacist/right-wing terrorism is the #1 terror threat in the United States, as tracked by FBI intelligence. I could talk about all of these facts, but I don’t have to after last night (Nov 14th, 2020). I can say, “Well, actually, you guys do riot.”

There’s just something strange about this. Why so much malice at faces and names of the dead? It’s almost like they want to kill — eradicate — Black people, twice.

Trump Supporters Rioted in Washington D.C.

Do Trump supporters think the regular public placed these BLM signs up? These Black Lives Matter signs were created and placed up by the private companies and corporations at which they hang. Trump supporters literally defaced private property in Washington, D.C. | 20 Jun 2020 | Photography Credit: Johnny Silvercloud

On November 14th, 2020, Trump supporters were at a political loss and decided to organize a march in Washington, D.C. While it would seem like support for the failing Donald Trump is a constant factor, the Million MAGA March crowd — which wasn’t a million people — was diverse. I’ve met screaming Karens and sweet racist white ladies — some young women who support Trump, for whatever reason. I met New York Puerto Ricans decked out in MAGA hats and Tims (Timberland boots). I met NRA gun enthusiasts. I met conservative media agitators, looking for loaded, flawed debates fed into their microphones. I met libertarians and Boogaloo Bois. I met numerous Alex Jones fans, conspiracy theorists, and crypto-fascists. The better Trump supporters, or Republicans, I met were military vets who loved feelings of a shared brotherhood between themselves and me (because you know, I’m an Army vet). I did not knowingly meet any Proud Boys, but not because they were not there, but because they might have been not uniformed and identifiable in my presence, and I instead did not seek them out. If I saw white supremacists literally assaulting people in the street, my PTSD will flip, and I rather not go berserk in public. I don’t need to be violent, not good for the home team. If a picture is worth a thousand words, and the pen is mightier than the sword, then a reliable analytical writer/photographer is worth at least 10,000 fighting men.

There were numerous attempts to place hands on the hundreds of Black faces placed onto the northern White House fence-line.

Although all Trump supporters claim not to be racist, it was strange to see so many attempts to touch Black bodies in the figurative sense and rip down the names and faces placed on the Black Lives Matter Memorial Wall.

There’s just something strange about this. Why so much malice at faces and names of the dead? Why erase memory of the Afro-American deceased?

It’s almost like they want to kill — eradicate — Black people, twice.

The BLM Memorial Wall was touched here and there, only to be quickly renovated by the public. Numerous protesters, more or less indigenous to Washington D.C. and the greater D.C., Maryland, and Virginia (DMV) area protected this wall. The D.C. Metropolitan Police (MPD), with a milquetoast reactive disposition, also attempted to protect the wall by periodically limiting civilian movement.

Many Trump supporters of the Million MAGA March found significant commonality with Trump that was not just the racism this time. Like their dear cult-of-personality leader, their time in the District was meeting its end. As Donald wishes to destroy democratic people power, this MAGA crowd sought to destroy Washingtonian cultural artifacts of Black empowerment. Time is ticking, and many cannot afford changing flight tickets with hotels drinking coin from their vault.

LIUNA Building Assaulted By Out of Town Trump Supporters

Laborer’s International Union of North America building in the background, at 12:24am. The focus is on the Arkansas military vet Trump Supporter, but the annotations in the background point to the Black Lives Matter signs that Trump supporters later tore down. This man was not a part of the Trump rioters, and the destruction caught him by surprise. He did not support the act of destruction. Trump supporters frequently speak of a disdain of rioting, but in destroying a corporation’s BLM sign they are effectively destroying private property, literally becoming those who they hate, and who they construct highly punitive laws against. | 15 Nov 2020 | Photography Credit: Johnny Silvercloud

While police, reactionary as they were, blocked off the public from being in the vicinity of BLM Memorial Wall, the desperate Trump supporters circled around moving east to west on I Street and tore down the Black Lives Matter signs off of the Laborer’s International Union of North America building (LiUNA).

Let’s talk about the significance and irony of this.

Trump supporters and American conservatives as a whole tend to exercise a deep disgust for rioting and rioters. Typically, the conservative opinion on rioting never digs deep to understand why rioting occurs. The Conservative view only prefers to demonize those who do. Property over people is what that is. In conservative thought — a riot — is the worst of the worst. By the time of this publishing, the current governor of Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), effectively argues for murder immunity in his state concerning rioting. This logic of his seems very popular within the conservative Trumpian milieu.

Technically, by their own argument, LiUNA Building employees and other random civilians in observation would be in their legal right, capable of rolling up with guns blazing, shooting the crap out of them the moment a sign was grabbed out of malice. Conservative logic concerning property destruction would have had these Trump supporters dancing in a hail of gunfire, getting aired out like a John Woo action flick.

A Strange Irony

Various BLM signs destroyed by Trump supporters. These are corporate Black Lives Matter signs, technically private property. Is private property being destroyed — rioting — okay only when conservatives do it? | 15 Nov 2020 | Photography Credit: Chuck Modi

The conservative standpoint on rioting, property destruction, and violence seems not to be based on a moral understanding but of control of an oppressed and persecuted populace, on top of a unique ability to flex white privilege.

This destruction — is a white privilege flex.

Much like President Trump’s whole presidency, this is another white privilege flex. Trump destroyed the name and standing of the United States of America in international circles. Trump supporters destroy property. It’s hard to say you don’t hate Black people when you hate Black people speaking up so much you attack black plywood boards.

We can always have a conversation on counterfeit corporate activism. We can speak on the laissez-faire disposition of companies and corporations concerning this civil rights struggle. The point here is when Trump supporters attack these Black Lives Matter signs, they are attacking companies, corporations, other private businesses, and private properties. They are doing what they say they are against.

Perhaps conservative Americans are immune to their hypocrisies. It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t call it out when it happens.

Tells a lot about their character.