'Targeted Assassinations' Coming if Civil War Breaks Out: Adam Kinzinger

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

If a civil war breaks out in the United States, Representative Adam Kinzinger believes it won't be reminiscent of the 19th century Civil War because it'll take the form of "targeted assassinations" and not state against state.

Once an unthinkable theory, growing political divisions have fueled speculation that a civil war could be looming. While some see it as inevitable, others have pushed for people to resist the possibility, and Kinzinger told The View on February 10 that it's not "too far of a bridge" to believe another civil war could happen in the United States.

However, if it does occur, he warned that it wouldn't take the same shape as it did in 1861. Instead of the traditional form of war the Civil War took, where it was "blue against gray," this time around, it would be "armed groups against armed groups," according to Kinzinger.

"Targeted assassinations, violence–that's what a 21st and 20th century civil war is," Kinzinger said. "We're identifying now by our race, by our ethnic group, we're separating ourselves and we live in different realities."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/targeted-assassinations-coming-if-civil-war-breaks-out-adam-kinzinger/ar-AATKbqK

Sounds like the 1960s when two of the Kennedys and Martin Luther King were assassinated.

[mopinko]

1. i think we're headed for our version of 'the troubles'

sorta looks like ireland might be sliding back into conflict. thx brexiteer morons.

[Oneironaut]

2. Russia will fund rebel groups. It's almost guaranteed.

The US and Russia can’t fight each other in full-on warfare anymore. Therefore, if you haven’t noticed, they’re trying to rot each other from within. Russia and the US are essentially at war now, but, it’s an information and proxy war.

We’re using Ukraine as an attack dog, and they’re using the alt-right as an attack dog.

There’s been a lot of smoke recently with Russia and US politicians and far-right groups. There’s a fire somewhere in there that I think the US government knows about but isn’t revealing to the public.

That’s my theory, anyways.

[lagomorph777]

8. There's zero evidence of Ukraine attacking Russia.

We're not using them as an attack dog, though of course we do see them as a buffer.

[Oneironaut]

43. True. "Buffer" is a better term.

[tenderfoot]

9. I think billionaires like DeVos, Mercer, Thiel, Koch, Uihlein, etc... will do the funding

The call is coming from inside the house.

[albacore]

15. Are they bulletproof? nt

[jalan48]

19. +1

I agree. Focusing on an outside threat is easier than facing the reality that our Fascism is home grown.

[wnylib]

37. Home grown but foreign supported.

[jalan48]

41. Yep though I don't think the Kochs and Mellon-Scaifes need the foreign support. They are able to

start and fund astro-turf organizations to spread lies and disinformation on their own.

[wnylib]

42. But Putin has an interest in what happens here.

[jalan48]

44. I'd say the Koch's have a bigger interest. I'm not saying foreign oligarchs and dictators

aren't working behind the scenes to help but I think American citizens working to overthrow or change the type of government we have pose a bigger problem.

[wnylib]

45. I think they are quite cooperative.

[Irish_Dem]

47. It is the global oligarchs. Not just US.

[jalan48]

48. It's easier to focus on those who aren't American citizens though because we really have zero

control over them. So foreign oligarchs help fund disinformation campaigns, what can we do? Arrest them, jail them? Not gonna happen. Focusing on those who are US citizens would require action and I'm not sure our US law enforcement is up for that.

[Irish_Dem]

49. Maybe, but the US criminal justice system doesn't go after the very wealthy.

[jalan48]

50. Very true. I'm hoping the rich oligarchs trying to undermine our government face sone serious

jail time when all is exposed.

[Irish_Dem]

51. I hope so too. But won't hold my breath.

[jalan48]

52. We may have to follow John Lewis's advice and get into some good trouble.

[Irish_Dem]

53. Yes indeed, it is getting to that point.

Who would have predicted we would have to get active again, protesting for a democratic form of government.

[wnylib]

36. Agree with most of what you said.

I would call Ukraine a potential proxy war.

Biden is not alone in telling his citizens to get out of Ukraine NOW. Latest news report that I heard (5 minutes ago) said that the UK, Netherlands, and Israel have closed their Ukraine embassies and ordered their citizens home.

It occurs to me that, although Biden said he will not send troops to fight in Ukraine, he did not say that he would not use drones or missiles fired from outside Ukraine.

[Klaralven]

3. It would use the "color revolution" playbook

Developed by the CIA and a plethora of government and non-governmental organizations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colour_revolution

Blowback....

[intheflow]

4. "...we're separating ourselves and we live in different realities." No, Adam, you're wrong.

Who is this 'we' that you speak of? To my mind, 99% of minority group separation doesn't come equally from all sides, or didn't originally. Slavery, Jim Crow, the New Jim Crow, redlining, "separate but equal" - it is white people who have worked to perpetuate and expand an unequal society, as most of us still do (though some more than others, cough, cough, GQP). All other population groups in the US have self-segregated in direct response to white rejection of anyone we perceive is not like us.

[Metaphorical]

14. Gaslighting and normalization

I don't think this separation belief is true even of whites in general, but is specific to the conservative movement, which is not really even conservative anymore. A lot of Conservative money was dropped in the 1970s, buying up seminaries (most of which were barely solvent at that point) and restructuring them towards producing prosperity evangelicals of varying stripes, especially in the rural South, Midwest and Plain states. News outlets were bought up, again at an initial loss, with a very specific array of conservative messaging, to the extent that a significant percentage of the country now listens to Clear Channel run radio stations, Fox, and related Murdoch TV news, and a whole host of Internet sites that were either bought out intact with new staff, created directly to look like legitimate sites, or run off the road entirely.

This has been a very deliberate gaslighting effort, one that went into overdrive when Facebook sold significant "advertising" that was never labeled as such from Cambridge Analytics. None of this is ever talked about on that side of the fence, because to do so would undermine everything that they have done to date to shape political opinion towards the supremacist viewpoint. Yes, it goes back pretty much to the founding of the US, but until the last half-century. I don't think there was deliberation to shape the message.

[genxlib]

5. I would say he is being dramatic

But I imagine that his inbox shows a pretty steady stream of threats, hatred and intimidation.

I suspect he has plenty of very personal reasons to believe what he says

[oswaldactedalone]

6. OTOH

I think he’s spot on.

[temporary311]

11. Its crazy that people

are still clinging to "can't happen here" nonsense post-Jan 6th. It already happened, and they came within inches of mass murdering congress and installing a former game show host as dictator. I'm not sure what it's gonna take to shake some folks awake.

[wnylib]

38. Absolutely. People seem to misunderstand

what Kinzinger means when he says various groups against each other. I believe that he means that instead of a geographical divide, we have an ideological divide of left vs. right, red vs. blue. We all know that many of us live in ideologically mixed areas, so fighting would be against neighbors and relatives, with militia types leading the reds.

As for targeted assassinations, they are very possible. If members of the House are willing to carry weapons into the House, as they have done, what's to stop them from designating some of their members to take out other members? First on their list would be Speaker Pelosi.

Not possible or likely? I remember zip ties, a noose for Spence, arms stashes outside the Capitol, and explosives near party headquarters.

[Buckeyeblue]

7. Could you say there was a small Civil War in the 60's

Given some of the big political assassinations that took place. It's an interesting take on what a civil war could be.

[DFW]

10. If there is a Civil War brewing (which I doubt, based on today's lay of the political land)

The targeted assassinations will not be as a result of it, but rather an early warning that it is about to come.

[KS Toronado]

29. Along my way of thinking also

I see FailedCoupGuy unleashing his magaloons to stay out of prison and they'll go after their enemy (Democrats)
with targeted assassinations, law enforcement will step in quickly and end it. I've got a target on my back in my
red town by one deeply disturbed trumper because I've said something negative about his Fuhrer.

[DFW]

55. Yes, funny thing about our Republican «patriots»

They will even resort to lethal violence to defend the right to say anything they agree with.

[Fiendish Thingy]

12. That's not a civil war, that's domestic terrorism or conflict like Ireland.

Nuclear powers don’t have civil wars.

[IronLionZion]

22. Or ISIS or Hamas or many other conflicts around the world

these days paramilitary organizations control land and local governments

[Johnny2X2X]

13. Roles will be reversed somehwat

I think the Republicans will flat out steal an election and seize power, and the Liberals will be the ones rioting in the streets. And the media will paint them with the same bush the 1/6 Insurrectionists are painted with.

[Hekate]

16. "Northern Ireland." That's what a neighbor dog-walking with my husband said the other day....

The Troubles. Thirty damn years of senseless bloody feuding, an eye for an eye until the whole world is blind.

I know it has crossed my mind as well.

Alternatively: Mexico. That’s a place you get targeted assassinations, ongoing — newspaper reporters, teachers, small-town mayors, honest police chiefs.

Kinzinger is a brave man, and perceptive.

[roamer65]

17. Fine. Two can play at that game.

[Roc2020]

18. Exactly. Careful what you ask for

.... around and find out.

[bucolic_frolic]

20. If the US is self-absorbed in civil conflict, who will defeat fascism around the world?

[Auggie]

21. We'll see more regional grouping based on ideology ...

followed by a mass migration of folks: liberals fleeing highly conservative areas and conservatives fleeing liberal areas.

Some violence, yes, definitely intimidation and social outcasting like what has been developing and is currently on display in Ottawa and Shasta County, CA.

And ... enhanced voter suppression (in conservative areas) and gerrymandering, more recalls, merchants not selling to those whose ideologies differ (think bakeries that won't sell wedding cakes to lesbians and gays), book banning/burning, stronger abortion laws, etc., but of a larger scale and scope. Again, not the norm, and regionalized.

[cab67]

23. what's scary -

(to me at least) is the utter nihilism that would propel right-wing terrorists.

What, other than "owning libs," do these people actually want to accomplish when they're in power? They obviously don't want to govern, and they don't have much in the way of policy goals other than "not what the Democrats are doing."

They'd take over and then - what?

(I don't think they'd take over, and I'm not convinced we're that close to this sort of thing in the first place.)

[WestMichRad]

35. "They'd take over- and then what?"

The point for them is that they don’t want “liberals “ to have any say in government. Their goal is to have the reins of power. No policies are needed, if they have control, they’ll figure the rest out later.

We saw how well that works (or rather; doesn’t work) with the 45 administration.

[DanieRains]

24. I Will Have To Renew My ANTIFA Card

Okay....

[Kaleva]

25. Are we allowed to talk about folks here getting arrested and possibly killed?

Or is that something that will happen to other people?

[Initech]

31. No doubt these fuckheads would try that!

[mountain grammy]

26. I've always felt the assassinations and violence in the 60's were targeted.

From Medgar Evers and JFK and the Birmingham church bombing in 1963 to Marting Luther King Jr and Robert Kennedy in 1968 with plenty of carnage in between.

I think the right took on the left and the right won with the election of Ronald Reagan.

[wnylib]

39. That's my take on it, too.

[Achilles Skye]

27. Who's side will you be on Kinzinger?

[Gore1FL]

40. So far he has been on the side of the U.S. with Liz Cheney.

I don't see him suddenly being lured by fascists after giving this warning about them.

[Aviation Pro]

28. There's a phrase I learned a long time ago: speaking it into existence

How about we stop this bullshit by applying the law and quit fucking around.

M'kay, law enforcement.

[Hortensis]

30. The "Hitler Party" of the early years engaged in targeted assassinations,

many over the years, and vicious beatings, blackmails and character assassinations, to take out people who opposed or were problems to them. One of the reasons they got away with it was that the authorities in many areas were hard right and protected them from prosecution, or gave appallingly light sentences.

Authorities in many areas here are now hard right and in sympathy with what's happening on the right.

It seems obvious from reading about the Nazis' rise to power that their techniques are being copied, and of course those of all the other other successfully ruthless RW authoritarians since. And before.

tRump and Putin met completely privately a few times, and there are presumably no records available for those. They also spoke privately over distance over a dozen times, and the Biden administration should have access to them.

[William769]

32. Why not just use the word terrorist.

That's what they will be.

[maxrandb]

33. No Adam, "WE" are not "living in different realities"

That's all your side bucko.

There is only ONE reality. Most of the sane people would welcome if the Retrumplican Party would join us here.

You know, the real world, where

- There are no Gazpacho Police

- Ice Fishing Prostitutes are not a serious concern to a major political party

- Capital Hill Police are not dressing up like The Village People to spy on Retrumplican congressmen

- Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Paul Gosar, Laurena Boebert, Gym Jordan or Louis Gohmert are not taken seriously

- Teachers are not passing out crack pipes during Kindergarten CRT lectures

- Where a political party doesn't have its entire head, so for up a fucking Circus Clown with an Earl Scheib spray tan and a shaved Golden Retrievers butt on his heads ass, that they can see torn bits of the Constitution.

Your fucking party created that fucking alternate reality. Don't start blaming us for the shitshow your amoral fucking party created.

[DallasNE]

34. While He Is On The Right Track

I don't see it playing out, per se, like he envisions - armed group against armed group. Where are the armed groups on the left? I could see the military fracturing with an insurrection within the military, thanks to Fox News being the network of choice. And, clearly, there will be targeted assassinations.

But it would quickly morph into a guerrilla war because initial conflicts will be one-sided. And it will likely be exported to foreign nations as well.

[Irish_Dem]

46. Jebus.

[Farmer-Rick]

54. Kinzinger doesn't seem to understand what happened in the Civil War

"Instead of the traditional form of war the Civil War took, where it was "blue against gray," this time around, it would be "armed groups against armed groups"."

The civil war WAS armed groups against armed groups. Geez, he seems to be a bit out of touch about what happened in the civil war.

The plantation owners, the cotton kings, in the south weren't going give up their slave labor. The filthy rich industrialist in the north didn't want to I compete against slave labor because they knew they would lose out. So, they both agitated the population to instigate a war.

But today if assassinations are going to happen, it will be over money and wealth. The rich poisoning and suiciding each other. The next wars in the US are going to be one filthy rich man's army against another filthy rich man's army. You know like the Koch bros against the Zuckerbergs. Or the Waltons against the Bezos.

They are fighting among themselves trying to get the biggest piece of America to rule over right now. It won't be conservative vs liberals. It will be rich men wanting to be kings and getting rid of their competition like in the last civil war.