American occupiers (Opinion) – By Ryan Cooper (The Week) / Aug 31 2020
In Portland, Oregon on Saturday night, a man was shot and killed. Though the exact circumstances of his death are still not clear, he was reportedly associated with Patriot Prayer, a far-right extremist group. Earlier in the day, there were several brawls between the group and leftist counterprotesters during a large parade of Trump supporters through the city.
It is of course tragic when anyone is murdered, and should this turn out to be a premeditated political killing of some kind, it would be an extremely disturbing indication of where the country is headed. But we must be clear that the broader context of political violence is something the Trump-supporting far right is welcoming, celebrating, and trying to create, even as they insist that only Trump can be trusted to restore “law and order.”
Patriot Prayer is a flavor of Trump-supporting militia that tendentiously claims to be against racism despite supporting a racist president, associating with other openly-racist gangs like the Proud Boys, and receiving regular praise from racist outlets like The Daily Stormer. It’s basically the alt-right with a slightly more respectable brand.
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