After reading this recommended diary I remembered reading THIS article about potential right wing violence in Portland. I also keep in mind Nazis using such groups before the war.
I learned long ago that coincidences are rarely that with politics.
We know that Trump has enabled right wing militias and domestic terrorism has skyrocketed under his administration. The White House has done exactly nothing about that via the bully pulpit. Their silence in the face of double the amount of domestic right wing terrorist attacks, compared to Islamists, is deafening.
So I am putting this out there for consideration.
Since early last year, the far-right groups Patriot Prayer and the Proud Boys have held more than a dozen rallies throughout the Pacific Northwest under the banner of “freedom” — and with talk of bringing weapons and declarations that “this is war,” members are threatening to make next weekend’s march the most combustible yet.
These events have always been about exhibiting machismo, but — as political divisions in the country have grown — they’ve developed a more targeted purpose: far-right activists taking out their aggression on political opponents. As Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes once put it, “Fighting solves everything.”
Or, as their slogan goes, “Fuck around and find out.”
The glorification of violence was indisputable late last month, when the Proud Boys found a new hero on the streets of Portland. At a rally hosted by Patriot Prayer, 28-year-old Ethan Nordean — a burly member of the “Western chauvinist” group who goes by the moniker Rufio Panman in a reference to Stephen Spielberg’s Peter Pan film Hook — knocked out a black-clad counter-protester in a single swift punch.
www.splcenter.org/...
Portland: show them a counter protest on August 4 so large that the domestic terrorists won’t even consider violence, or even show up. Please do be aware that Portland police are reportedly considering “mutual combat” but that is coming from a wingnut so take that with a grain of salt.
Others, including Gibson, have helped fuel the “patriots’” belief that they alone can save the liberal Pacific Northwest. In a Facebook video about the upcoming rally, Gibson told his followers that the police intend to treat the event as “mutual combat,” meaning that each side willingly engages in the fight and, therefore, will not be given police protection.