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The MAGA Dog That Didn’t Bark Nonviolent power showed up on April 5, MAGA Brownshirts did not Why? [1]
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Date: 2025-04-09
Why did nonviolence show up for April 5's Hands Off protests and rallies?
Because nonviolence was peached and practiced. But it was not just a tactic, it was in the DNA of the movement that sponsored April 5. The “Hands Off” site put “nonviolent action” as the core principle, with safety trainings built into the prep – think de-escalation workshops, not just pep talks. A Richmond protestor summed it up: “Nonviolence isn’t just tactics – it’s who we are. Trump wants a fight. We gave him a wall of peace.”
The phenomenon was verified by the media, e.g., AP: “Peaceful coast-to-coast.” D.C.’s massive showing, a mile long in New York, also Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Seattle, Oakland, Tampa, San Diego, CHICAGO, etc., etc. – same deal: peaceful, massive, uneventful for law enforcement. X posts from organizers and marchers confirm it: “No arrests here,” “Cops just watched,” “We’re loud, not violent.”
MAGA Brownshirts were minuscule in number. The guy in Lafayette, LA, who pulled his AR-15 on the crowd was talked down and then coddled by police (free speech, really?), but that was the exception that proved the rule. Otherwise, the brave boys in trucks circling the block, a shove, were remarkable only for their rarity.
Why did MAGA not show up?
This question is the key to making as short a work as possible of this sad episode of fascism. It could be the Brownshirts (or their parents) need their social security, too. It’s likely more than a few were amazed when their “blue-collar billionaire” morphed (in their perception) into the mad king who crashes markets and wants to invade Canada. Before the election, most of them thought they were going to keep the deep state libs from trashing the Constitution. Afterward (out of nowhere, to them) rule by the rich was instantly institutionalized in the form of Musk and the cabinet of billionaires.
I have written about how Trump’s masterful coding of shame has exaggerated polarization and kept his base in line. That is over. The worst thing we can do now is make the newly woke MAGAs walk a gauntlet of humiliation to get back on side. They were betrayed, they will be doubly pissed, we need them. The fastest possible exit from fascism involves galvanizing everybody. (I outline a cure in Part 2 of the above. LINK)
The nasty little mad king has big ambitions: The Insurrection Act on April 20, maybe a war with Iran. He has shifted from volunteer Brownshirts (including a police auxiliary, to be sure) to official forces. He has had to shift, because since January 6, the calls for violence have gone unheeded. Since January 20, all the action upholding MAGA fecer is in the lower levels of conspiracy hell. Yes, the program of threats over the phone has continued unabated, but half of those could easily be long distance from St. Petersburg.
History has found us. We need to be ruthless and nonviolent, and let’s learn to adapt on the fly, just keep the core principles.
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