The Republican party’s attacks on the FBI have roots in the ideology Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh that were promoted decades ago, Salon reported Friday.
She said McVeigh's core belief was that the government – and its law enforcement arms – were actively working against the freedoms of Americans and that the same concept was being echoed in today's accusations of "weaponization."
Amanda Marcotte illustrated her point by writing about the case of Jan. 6 protester Ray Epps – a Trump supporter who, according to right-wing conspiracy theorists, conspired with the FBI to lead a breach of the Capitol to embarrass fellow MAGA demonstrators – reflects the GOP’s effort to depict a federal law enforcement agency as a conspiratorial arm of the woke mob.
Epps on Wednesday filed a defamation lawsuit against Fox News alleging the right-wing network tried to scapegoat him for the insurrection. The former Marine’s lawsuit claims former Fox host Tucker Carlson played a key role in promoting the conspiracy theory.
Epps is seen in video from the night before the insurrection encouraging fellow protesters, saying "We need to go into the Capitol!" but on Jan. 6 he strikes a different tone, offering to help authorities in their efforts to quell the riot.
Marcotte notes that that Epps is not your typical defamation plaintiff, noting his far-right ideology that brought him to the Capitol in the first place.
Marcotte writes that “Epps has to convince a jury that he sincerely wanted to overthrow the U.S. government to install a fascist dictator and that anyone who suggests otherwise is a dirty, rotten liar.”
The suggestion that Epps and the FBI conspired to keep Trump out of office has gained traction on the right.
Marcotte writes that “The simplest explanation for his behavior is that Epps, like many newbie criminals, got cold feet once he realized he was in too deep. But, led by the now-fired Tucker Carlson of Fox News, right-wing conspiracists have spun out a fanciful tale about how Epps was secretly working for the FBI in a plot to trick conservatives into rioting. The right's attention continued for months. So now Epps is suing Fox News. That's how a modern Republican protects his reputation these days: By getting a court to rule that he was quite sincere when he backed a fascist insurrection.”
Marcotte sees parallels between the conspiracy theories of today’s far-right and those promoted by McVeigh, who in 1995 killed 168 people in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.
Marcotte notes that during Thursday’s House Judiciary Committee hearing GOP House members during questioning of FBI Director Christopher Wray promoted bizarre conspiracy theories that echoed the same ones McVeigh advanced in the 1990s.
Marcotte writes that “McVeigh's views would have been right at home with what House Republicans were spouting Wednesday: That the U.S. government is being secretly run by a decadent "elite" that wants to brainwash right-wing Americans.
