Trump on a purported antifa sympathizer who allegedly killed someone in Portland being killed by federal forces: “This guy was a violent criminal, and the US Marshals killed him. And I’ll tell you something — that’s the way it has to be. There has to be retribution.” pic.twitter.com/WfIP9b37sA
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 13, 2020
A few weeks ago, a white supremacist in Portland was killed during protests there. Shortly after, law enforcement began the hunt for the killer. Eventually, they identified their suspect as Michael Reinoehl who identified himself as a supporter of Antifa.
A task force of U.S. Marshalls was formed to apprehend him. They located him in an apartment complex in Lacey WA where he was hiding.
An eyewitness says the suspect was unarmed and holding a cell phone and candy in his hands as he walked to his car. Two cars filled with federal agents pulled up and, according to the witness, opened fire without identifying themselves or giving him a chance to surrender. Thirty bullets later, the victim lay dead, murdered execution-style.
Though other witnesses recall a somewhat different version of events, Donald Trump gave an interview today in which he not only assumed Reinoehl was executed, but endorsed the murder:
This guy was a violent criminal, and the US Marshals killed him. And I’ll tell you something — that’s the way it has to be. There has to be retribution.”
Unfortunately, we’ve become inured to the excesses of Donald Trump. But endorsing summary execution by federal agents of U.S. citizens has to be a new low.
Trump’s relish for an act of state terrorism parallels a policy adopted by Israel security forces in their battle against Palestinian militants. Not only do the Shin Bet and Mossad employ assassins to murder Palestinians, they use attack drones and staged shoot-outs, in which the suspect allegedly goes down shooting in a blaze of glory. Most of these incidents are summary executions.
Israel rarely arrests and tries any Palestinian who has engaged in a terror attack. Either they are executed on the spot or, if they escape, they are executed when apprehended. I’ve reported here on a number of such incidents.
Israel does not believe in the rule of law when it comes to such security cases. The only law it upholds is the law of the gun. Bullets serve as judge, jury, and executioner.
I’ve regularly noted here that the world’s most controversial counter-terror tactics are developed and tested by Israeli agents against Palestinian victims. Then they are exported to nations like the U.S., which adopt them in their own fight against terrorism.
In that sense, Israel’s gross violations of international law and human rights become normalized not just in the region, but throughout the world. This facilitates the gradual coarsening and decimation of human rights standards and civilization itself.
While we may rail against Donald Trump as the most egregious example of connivance with Israel’s murderous policies, he is not alone in this. Barack Obama ordered the summary execution of Osama bin Laden along with the drone murders of thousands of terror suspects in the region. Joe Biden, who appears to have been one of the few members of the administration who raised any compunctions about this, is so pro-Israel that he will never offer any criticism of such Israeli tactics. The only thing we can hope is that he will renounce them here on our soil and will rein in their use abroad. Though that is by no means guaranteed.
Trump is utterly unhinged at this point, demanding a third term after demanding an extra two years for “payment” over the failed impeachment last year. His litany of failures and lies is well known, the subject of a ream of books. We know his administration is staffed with the worst people possible, and that his own vice president is probably only hanging on so he can claim the presidency if Trump suddenly dies. My point is that we have reached a Moment: the Republican Party allowed Trump to win the primary, tolerates his stupidity (because he appoints screaming loony or Party-hack judges “approved” by that hack factory the Federalist Society), and lets him sit on his hands in a pandemic. Can we allow this party of incompetent neo-Confederates, bond trader scum, Creationists, hidden John Birch Society members, Ayn Rand fans, QAnon conspiracists, crypto-Nazis, and other political basement dwellers continue to exist? I say the GOP should be disbanded for all the misery it has caused since Eisenhower’s time. We need responsive political parties, and the POP and the GOP stopped cutting the mustard in the 1980s.
@Streinikov
Trump runs the U.S. Government as his personal business enterprise … surrounded by his New York gangsters and Florida contacts to International oligarchs and Nation States. He is doing quite well with leading actors as his son and especially Jared Kushner. Pay-back to Israel and family friend, co-conspirator Bibi Netanyahu … Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed and Mohammed bin Salman (through Shiite province of Bahrain) will attempt te secure another four years for Trump with PR stunt of “peace” while expanding wealth of the Planet’s true master race till G*d comes calling. Trump’s life motto: Quid pro quo!
You wrote that Michael Forest Reinoehl was a white supremacist. Can you provide a source that supports this claim?
It is what you would demand from any commenter.
@ Jeal R: No I didn’t. Read that paragraph again. I said that someone killed a white supremacist in Portland. And that the alleged killer of the white supremacist was Reinoehl. I added that he was alleged to be associated with Antifa (not white Supremacists).
Sorry if that wasn’t clear enough in the post.
I too have spend the past 4 years being outraged by Trump, for all of the reasons that don’t need to be listed.
The subject of this post just adds to the list
For my own sanity I have tried to give up on outrage, partially out of realizing the futility
Every day another revelation, which doesn’t even move the needle for his cult like supporters, or his criminal Republican enablers in the legislature and administration.
Shamefully I must admit that some of my own very normal and reasonable relatives have been conned by him and are considering voting for him, to my horror.
No amount of anonymous or non-anonymous revelations makes a difference, people are numb to it
When I make the comparison to pre-nazi Germany, people accuse me of calling his supporters Nazis and making an ad-Hitlerum argument.
Democracy is being willingly surrendered
Its very depressing, seeing America elect a criminal and con man.
True that