Confederate "Heritage" Month 2020, April 18: President Trump calls for revolt

Sometimes the ways history echoes in current events is eerie. This one fits well in a Confederate "Heritage" Month post, unfortunately.

Washington's Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee issued this statement on Friday:

The president’s statements this morning encourage illegal and dangerous acts. He is putting millions of people in danger of contracting COVID-19. His unhinged rantings and calls for people to “liberate” states could also lead to violence. We’ve seen it before.

The president is fomenting domestic rebellion and spreading lies even while his own administration says the virus is real and is deadly, and that we have a long way to go before restrictions can be lifted. (Inslee statement on Trump encouraging illegal and dangerous acts 04/17/2020)

The President of the United States, whose party includes many white nationalists who use Confederate symbols and Lost Cause narratives, is "fomenting domestic rebellion" in states governed by Democratic Governors. He published these three tweets yesterday were a big part of that:

Charlie Pierce picked up on the historical resonance of these developments (The 25th Amendment Exists for a Reason Esquire Politics Blog 04/17/2020):

He looked at those idiots in Michigan, whom he noted “like” him, which is all that matters, and saw a movement with which he could power a re-election campaign.

Now, he’s signaling that he’s on their side, which is not only stupid from a public health standpoint, it's absolutely dangerous from a political standpoint. There are certain viewpoints that history tells us are perilous when they begin circulating in our politics, and this president* has managed to mix up two of them. He created an extreme devolution of federal authority to the states, and now he’s using the power of the presidency to incite resistance to the very situation his nonfeasance created in the first place. In theory, it’s like there were four sides to the Civil War. It’s a recipe for a domestic version of the dissolution of Yugoslavia.

And is there anything from the other leaders of The Party of Lincoln? [my emphasis]

Jen Hayden provides some backgound in With a series of 'LIBERATE' tweets, Trump shows support for coups in states with Democratic governor Daily Kos 04/17/2020:

In truth, Donald Trump has courted the gun-toting former Tea Party people you see above from the start of his campaign back in 2015. He even dispatched a campaign representative to meet with the Bundy clan when they were in the midst of an armed takeover of a government wildlife refuge. That representative, Jerry DeLemus, ended up in prison for his role in another armed standoff with the Bundys in Nevada.

There is something else that’s troublesome about these “grassroots” protests. They may have started three days ago in North Carolina, but suddenly there were similar coordinated protests in Michigan and Ohio, with other planned protests in numerous other cities over the coming days. These protests have a very familiar feel about them, eerily reminiscent of the Tea Party protests that ended up being coordinated by a conservative network funded by the Koch brothers. In fact, they were small groups of people being propped up by big-time funding from the Koch brothers, the DeVos family, and other billionaire donors.

Dave Neiwert describes the incidents in Michigan (Fringe right closes down Michigan capital with 'gridlock' protest against coronavirus measures Daily Kos 04/16/2020):

Called “Operation Gridlock,” the protest—organized primarily by the Michigan Conservative Coalition, a group with connections both to far-right extremists and to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos—successfully shut down all traffic in and around Lansing. That included traffic to and from Sparrow Hospital, the city’s main coronavirus treatment center, as well as in and out of the Capitol building, whose entrance at one point was blocked by a truck bearing a large sign for the Michigan Proud Boys.

Most of the vehicles were pickup trucks, many of them adorned with signs and flags. Ordinary American flags, yellow “Don’t Tread On Me” Gadsden flags, and deep blue Trump flags dominated the scene. A couple of Confederate flags—including one modified to feature an AR-15 silhouette—were also in the crowd. The Michigan Militia also was present. [my emphasis]

He also tweeted:

Today's series of tweets from Trump targeting states where anti-COVID-19-restriction protests have occurred -- accompanied by red-capped crowds bearing Trump banners -- are wink-and-nudge signals to the #Boogaloo crowd. This one especially. https://t.co/YrNoXvySLi

— David Neiwert (@DavidNeiwert) April 17, 2020

What is #Boogaloo? The Boogaloo: Extremists’ New Slang Term for A Coming Civil War ADL 11/26/2019