Opinion: Armed Rebellion Threats Confirm Trump Is A National Security Risk

There have been plenty of warnings that Trump represents a clear and present danger to the national security of the United States. One might be inclined to believe that after the events of January 6 there would be a government-wide effort to silence the treasonous Trump, but there is not. There have been ample warnings and threat assessments from the intelligence community that Trump is a national security risk, including just last week, but little is being done to stop the maniac.

The top counterterrorism official at the U.S. Department Of Homeland Security, John Cohen, says that Trump’s delusion about being reinstated in August could lead to “more political violence in the United States.”

Mr. Cohen’s assessment was confirmed last week when former FBI counterterrorism expert Clint Watts commented on the extent to which Trump remains a national security threat.

On Friday past, MSNBC host Nicole Wallace was speaking to Mr. Watts and commented that,  “It’s just jaw-dropping that the disgraced, twice-impeached ex-president’s utterances are now a national security threat on an hourly, daily basis.”

Mr. Watts responded thusly:

 “It is remarkable that it continues on. It’s also remarkable because there is still significant online discussion of this, which means —think if you’re a believer in this conspiracy, and you’ve seen everything from QAnon to January 6, the inauguration occurring, ballot recounts failing — and you still are pursuing this fantasy. How would it not lead to violence over time?”

The former FBI counterterrorism expert went on to say:

“I think one advantage we do have is that the (former) president Trump is not on Twitter, Facebook and much of social media. He’s been in a limited number of public appearances. If that were to change and the conspiracies started to pick up again — if you start to see a sizable audience gathering, that DHS assessment is right on target. It is actually articulating clear risk. The biggest risk is…. from the last person who was inside the White House.”

Within a day of Mr. Watt’s assertion, at Trump’s campaign rally in Ohio that “clear risk” showed itself to be a serious threat and demonstrated that the DHS assessment is spot on.

Covering the Trump conspiracy-incitement rally in Ohio, CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan spoke with Trump supporters and their anger was palpable. And that anger was as real as their intent to engage in a bloodier insurrection than January 6 if Trump is not reinstated in the White House by mid-August. All of the maniacs the reporter spoke with had at least one thing in common; they believed the “big lie” and that Trump’s reinstatement is inevitable – one way or another.

One attendee told Mr. O’Sullivan with frightening conviction that:

“He didn’t lose. He didn’t lose. I know he didn’t lose,”

When the reporter asked a different Trump supporter wearing a shirt claiming “Trump won,” he naturally queried which election she was referring to. She replied:

“It’s about all of them, and 2020, and the next one.”

A different supporter claimed Trump’s January 6 attempted coup “was all staged, I truly believe that.”

Another frightening individual told O’Sullivan that:

“He’s coming back soon, and you guys are going down. The military already knows it was a fraud. He won by over 80 percent. He’s coming back before the middle of August.”

Naturally the reporter asked: “And what if that doesn’t happen?”

“We’re going to be in a civil war because the militia will be taking over,” 

The Trump supporters O’Sullivan spoke to all agreed with the “big lie.” And that belief coupled with Trump’s incitement and many Republicans’ failure to call out the big lie is part and parcel as to why many Trump supports are threatening an armed rebellion.

These Trump supporters have been primed for an armed rebellion and not just by Trump’s delusion.  Remember that a sitting House representative and nasty Trump devotee, Matt Gaetz (R-FL) has done his part to incite Trump acolytes to rebellion saying:

“We have a Second Amendment in this country, and I think we have an obligation to use it. The Second Amendment is about maintaining within the citizenry the ability to maintain an armed rebellion against the government if that becomes necessary.”

And  according to conservative journalist Charles C.W. Cooke in an article for the National Review:

“I can attest that Donald Trump does indeed believe quite genuinely that he will be ‘reinstated’ to office this summer. I can attest, too, that Trump is trying hard to recruit journalists, politicians and other influential figures to promulgate this belief — not as a fundraising tool or an infantile bit of trolling or a trial balloon, but as a fact.”

It is painfully obvious that Trump’s supporters take as a fact that treasonous Trump will be “reinstated” sometime in August, and many of them are ready to take up arms against the government if their delusion fails to come to fruition.

It is difficult in a free society to muzzle a fanatic like Trump or any of his underlings like Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor-Greene. They are doing a fair share of propagating the lie that Trump really won the election, and that “real Americans” will have to remedy the situation with a 2^nd Amendment solution.

It is a perilous time in America and with a Department of Justice tirelessly defending Trump over his incitement of the January 6 insurrection because he was still occupying the White House, it is likely not much will happen when his incitement leads to what Trump’s devotees promise will be “civil war because the militia will be taking over.”