During an appearance on uber-left-wing MSNBC, Paul Rieckhoff, founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and Righteous Media advocated for a post 9/11 style government crackdown as a strategy to win "a battle for hearts and minds" of Americans who may stray from the leftist ideology and become excessively patriotic, Infowars reported this week.
He actually compared the “threat” of such a scenario to the “number one threat” after 9/11 -- which, of course, was international terrorism -- effectively saying that conservatives and Trump supporters are akin to terrorists.
“A lot of Americans are up for grabs. I wouldn’t dismiss it as just something only people on the right or watching Fox News latch on to. We are in a battle for hearts and minds and their people are on the fence,” Rieckhoff asserted.
“You got to have leaders and messages and messengers and programs to get to those people that bring them over into community organizing and into non-profit organizations and away from the Patriot Front and Oathkeepers,” he continued.
Rieckhoff emphasized the necessity for "the same kind of tectonic shift" in culture that occurred in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, which led to a harsh police-state style crackdown on civil liberties.
The authoritarian-in-waiting proposed that the measures taken back then were insufficient, and he recommended that the authorities should go even further this time.
“I think the parallels of 9/11 are important. We talked about this before. After 9/11, the laws didn’t work. They made massive changes to respond to a new threat,” Rieckhoff said.
He added: “I think we have to face the fact that many structures, laws and policies may not work. After 9/11 we created the Department of Homeland Security, there was the Patriot Act. There was massive change in our entire society to face the number one threat, or at least what was communicated as the number one threat.”
He went on to claim that Americans on the right, such as former Trump National Security Advisor General Mike Flynn, are “continually calling for violence," which is a blatant lie -- it's his left-wing friends who do that. And in fact, if any political movement in America today poses a threat to our democratic republic, it's his pals, the Democrats. His own words prove that.
MSNBC guest @PaulRieckhoff: "After 9/11 we created the Department of Homeland Security. There was the Patriot Act ... We need the same kind of tectonic shift [against American right-wing threats].” pic.twitter.com/Br76pjvhDW
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) July 25, 2023
In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Congress established the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to protect the country from future threats. While the primary goal of the DHS is to ensure national security, there have consistently been huge concerns regarding infringements on democratic principles and civil liberties which Rieckhoff pointedly failed to discuss.
One of the major concerns with the DHS is the potential violation of civil liberties in the name of national security. Measures such as increased surveillance, warrantless wiretapping, and the collection of personal data have raised concerns about the erosion of privacy rights. Scores of critics have argued that these practices undermine the democratic principle of individual freedom and protection from unreasonable searches and seizures guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Another democracy concern with the DHS is the issue of transparency and accountability. The department operates in a complex web of agencies and has expanded its powers significantly since its inception.
This has led to a lack of clarity regarding the extent of its authority and the mechanisms in place to ensure oversight and accountability. The lack of transparency raises questions about the potential abuse of power and limits citizens' ability to hold the DHS accountable for its actions.
And this guy wants to expand this kind of power -- specifically to target 'wrong-thinking' Americans. What a Nazi.
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