# WTF is MAGA Night?! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 30, 2020, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-maga-night/854729 "2020-05-30T14:53:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![HelenGawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@HelenGawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelenGawn)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-maga-night/854729/41 "2020-05-31T04:03:41Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > I guess this must be it. > > \*\*[Trump suggests ‘MAGA’ fans gather, makes military threat](https://a.msn.com/r/2/BB14O8dh?m=en-us&referrerID=InAppShare)\*\*Film @ 11. :rolleyes: This. Like he said, the Secret Service were professional. Buncha pussies, let’s get some _real_ men in there! ---
**Author:** ![slumtrimpet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@slumtrimpet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slumtrimpet)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-maga-night/854729/42 "2020-05-31T13:14:11Z")
My first reaction to\*\* Aspenglow’s\*\* idea of astroturfing was that they were straying into tin-foil territory. But now it seems that [journalists are being targeted](https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/30/media/protests-journalists-arrested-assaulted/index.html) mostly by officialdom, but also by ‘protesters’ (in scare quotes because at this point, who knows if it’s actual protesters or agent provocateurs). And who’s been promoting hate against journalists for the past few years? It doesn’t take much to light the fires. A quiet word to the ‘rotten apples’ to target black people more than usual\* - not hard, they seem to be happy to do it regardless. A strong emphasis on ‘law and order’ and ‘we won’t tolerate violence’ by tptb. A chorus of ‘we’re investigating’ when any abuses of power are shown. A few provocateurs sown in here and there - the ‘freedom to get a haircut’ groups have already been shown to have support and organization from, I’m not sure what to call those backers with ties to far right-wing wealth. And viola’, race war. Curfews. Fear. Military in the streets. Success! Covid what? Election; nyet- too dangerous. \*if nothing else, the look on George Floyd’s murder’s face throughout the video convinced me that this is a plan. Hands in pockets - deadpan ‘I’m just doing my job here’ look. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-maga-night/854729/43 "2020-05-31T17:46:02Z")
> [@slumtrimpet](#): > > My first reaction to\*\* Aspenglow’s\*\* idea of astroturfing was that they were straying into tin-foil territory. But now it seems that [journalists are being targeted](https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/30/media/protests-journalists-arrested-assaulted/index.html) mostly by officialdom, but also by ‘protesters’ (in scare quotes because at this point, who knows if it’s actual protesters or agent provocateurs). And who’s been promoting hate against journalists for the past few years? Thank you. I knew it sounded tinfoil-ey when I wrote it. But that’s how a lot of people reacted when the idea of Russian subversion in the 2016 election was first raised, too. That just sounded nuts, didn’t it? Yet we now know that they were not just a little bit involved, they were heavily involved – and they remain involved. > [@slumtrimpet](#): > > It doesn’t take much to light the fires. A quiet word to the ‘rotten apples’ to target black people more than usual\* - not hard, they seem to be happy to do it regardless. A strong emphasis on ‘law and order’ and ‘we won’t tolerate violence’ by tptb. A chorus of ‘we’re investigating’ when any abuses of power are shown. A few provocateurs sown in here and there - the ‘freedom to get a haircut’ groups have already been shown to have support and organization from, I’m not sure what to call those backers with ties to far right-wing wealth. > And viola’, race war. Curfews. Fear. Military in the streets. Success! > Covid what? Election; nyet- too dangerous. Exactly. It’s just not that much of a lift. Inflaming tensions and engineering property destruction in the hope of escalating conflict is nothing new. One of the things that moved me further down this track was hearing Jim Cavanaugh, a 30+ year terrorist analyst, talking on the first night of the horrible fires in Minneapolis. He didn’t hesitate. He said it appeared to him those fires had been lit by very experienced people who knew exactly how to make things burn in a hurry. He pointed out how the fires were started very fast at both the front and the rear of the buildings to ensure a thorough burn. These were not regular protestors carrying signs and chanting. Ali Velshi, a seasoned journalist on MSNBC, was reporting live in Minneapolis last night in the midst of a group of peaceful protestors. The police/military rolled up, split the protestors into two groups, started lobbing tear gas and firing rubber bullets. One hit Velshi in the knee. He repeatedly identified himself and his crew as press. The police/military group responded, “We don’t care!” That’s new. I don’t believe they can stop an election. But chaos helps them and it is one of Trump’s treasured strategies. He employs it constantly. If he can get military/white nationalists into the mix, he can intimidate Biden voters and make voting a much more perilous prospect for them. > [@slumtrimpet](#): > > \*if nothing else, **the look on George Floyd’s murder’s face throughout the video** convinced me that this is a plan. Hands in pockets - deadpan ‘I’m just doing my job here’ look. That image… it haunts me. Completely aware he was being filmed. The look to me was more than, ‘I’m just doing my job here’. I saw, ‘Yeah? I can do it, and get away with it, too.’ So deliberate. Oh. And it was just announced that DOJ will designate Antifa as a “terrorist” organization. Nothing about the white nationalist organizations who intimidate lawmakers with open carry guns or who were actually observed and noted as present at the Minneapolis protests. (Last I heard, [Antifa were making hand sanitizer](https://www.oregonlive.com/coronavirus/2020/04/portland-anti-fascists-are-making-hand-sanitizer-for-essential-workers-homeless-residents.html).) Trump is clearing the way for the race war he’s dreamed of all these years. I’ll bet every night will be MAGA night soon. ---
**Author:** ![slumtrimpet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@slumtrimpet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slumtrimpet)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-maga-night/854729/44 "2020-05-31T18:00:50Z")
All of the above and it makes me physically sick. But on a brighter note, here’s something the Guardian blog just shared: [These Cops love You](https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=84&v=kDbKAkb8oLs&feature=emb_title) Brilliant. If the cops joined the protesters and marched with them, they’d not only generate massive amounts of good will, but hmmmm, they’d be right there on sight if things went pear shaped. Unless, of course, they don’t want to be there. And they don’t want to actually catch the perpetrators in action. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-maga-night/854729/45 "2020-05-31T18:13:56Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > (Last I heard, [Antifa were making hand sanitizer](https://www.oregonlive.com/coronavirus/2020/04/portland-anti-fascists-are-making-hand-sanitizer-for-essential-workers-homeless-residents.html).) It’s just a cover for making napalm cocktails. (I joke, but hand sanitizer is actually pretty flammable and sticky.) ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-maga-night/854729/46 "2020-05-31T19:07:51Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > It’s just a cover for making napalm cocktails. > > (I joke, but hand sanitizer is actually pretty flammable and sticky.) :smack: Of course! ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-maga-night/854729/47 "2020-05-31T20:02:51Z")
I’ll just mention too that Nafeesa Syeed of Bloomberg reported that [“[t]he most-tweeted link in the Russian-linked network followed by the researchers was a petition to declare Antifa a terrorist group”](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-01/russia-linked-bots-hone-online-attack-plans-for-2018-u-s-vote). (Bloomberg, paywalled) Huh. I wonder where TrumpBarr got the idea to do that today. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-maga-night/854729/48 "2020-05-31T20:10:58Z")
Missed edit window. And [more journalists deliberately targeted and attacked](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-minneapolis-police-protest-update/reuters-camera-crew-hit-by-rubber-bullets-as-more-journalists-attacked-at-u-s-protests-idUSKBN237050). (Reuters) > [@](#): > > Two members of a Reuters TV crew were hit by rubber bullets and a photographer’s camera was smashed in Minneapolis on Saturday night as attacks against journalists covering civil unrest in U.S. cities intensified. > > \ > > “Usually if you get hit by this stuff it’s because you are between the police and the protesters - you’re taking the risk by being in the middle,” Jackson said. “During this they are actually aiming at us.” ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-maga-night/854729/49 "2020-05-31T20:32:32Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > It’s just a cover for making napalm cocktails. > > (I joke, but hand sanitizer is actually pretty flammable and sticky.) And the aloe is built right in, so kind of a two birds, one stone situation. ---
**Author:** ![Borborygmi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/borborygmi/32/217_2.png) [@Borborygmi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Borborygmi)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-maga-night/854729/50 "2020-06-01T00:49:49Z")
> [@slumtrimpet](#): > > \*if nothing else, the look on George Floyd’s murder’s face throughout the video convinced me that this is a plan. Hands in pockets - deadpan ‘I’m just doing my job here’ look. Please don’t think I’m sticking up for the cop or running interference for him or anything like that, but after also first thinking his hands were in his pockets, I now instead think he was wearing gloves the same color as his pants, making his hands below his wrists hard to see. ---
**Author:** ![slumtrimpet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@slumtrimpet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slumtrimpet)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-maga-night/854729/51 "2020-06-01T01:06:23Z")
> [@Borborygmi](#): > > Please don’t think I’m sticking up for the cop or running interference for him or anything like that, but after also first thinking his hands were in his pockets, I now instead think he was wearing gloves the same color as his pants, making his hands below his wrists hard to see. Could be. I can only watch so much of it. Doesn’t change the look on his face though. And the completely casual ‘nothing to see here’ attitude of the other assholes. ---
**Author:** ![Chisquirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Chisquirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chisquirrel)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-maga-night/854729/52 "2020-06-01T06:12:37Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > Nothing about the white nationalist organizations who intimidate lawmakers with open carry guns or who were actually observed and noted as present at the Minneapolis protests. Uh…[it looks like they’re shooting at cops](https://kstp.com/minnesota-news/chopper-5-civil-unrest-minneapolis-twin-cities-st-paul-phillips-park/5745798/). On another note, when offered a ridiculously easy chance to score good PR, Cincinnati cops [instead flew the “Thin Blue Line”](https://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/hamilton-county/cincinnati/sheriff-thin-blue-line-flag-was-raised-outside-hamilton-county-justice-center). Because cops are more important than America, duh. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-maga-night/854729/53 "2020-06-01T14:53:08Z")
Meanwhile, right across the river from Philadelphia in Camden, [cooler heads](https://www.inquirer.com/news/camden-george-floyd-peaceful-protests-20200531.html?outputType=amp) prevail. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-maga-night/854729/54 "2020-06-02T02:22:04Z")
Anybody know how FOX NEWS is covering the riots and trump’s response? (Didn’t want to put this in the check-in thread.) ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-maga-night/854729/55 "2020-06-02T02:28:45Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Anybody know how FOX NEWS is covering the riots and trump’s response? > > (Didn’t want to put this in the check-in thread.) Top story on Fox news web site is: **RIOTS RETURN Cities see new looting, police outnumbered despite stronger National Guard response, curfews** [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-maga-night/854729.md?page=2)