This country just took a giant step forward to the dictatorial banana republic that we’ve been careening toward ever since Trump came down the hideous gold escalator.  Any country with a political party that believes the government is rounding up “political prisoners” is a country one giant step closer to even more widespread violent clashes for control.

According to Creative Loafing Tampa, some Florida Republican candidates will host a rally in Tallahassee.

They intend to call for Gov. Ron DeSantis and others to put pressure on the federal government to free the “political prisoners” charged for the Jan. 6 riot. Of those charged and still held awaiting trial, more are from Florida than any other state. Florida MAGAs believe the rioters remaining in jail are victims of a fascist government. Only fascists take political prisoners:

The “Free Our Patriots Rally in Tally” will be held this Saturday, July 10, and is hosted by Luis Miguel, a far-right Republican candidate looking to primary Sen. Marco Rubio. “Folks, The patriots who have been hunted down by the corrupt, communist FBI are suffering. Many of them are veterans who fought for this nation,” tweeted Miguel. “Let’s do our part to ensure they’re liberated. We can’t allow this in America. Be there at the Florida Capitol July 10.

The leader of this rally and movement is a crazed conspiracy theorist as per the description below, but we’ll revisit why that couldn’t matter less:

Miguel, who posts a near non-stop stream of conspiracy theories from his Twitter account, has criticized Rubio for things like getting a vaccine and voting to certify the 2020 election results. Miguel also claims that the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection that resulted in five deaths (including a police officer) was in fact a “False Flag carried out by a corrupt FBI to distract from the Election Theft and target conservatives.” 

Fine. It means that this rally won’t be particularly big. But just getting the word “political prisoners” out into the mainstream media, as they already have, is the dangerous element, not this particular rally itself. Just like a forest fire, one strong gust can take the fire across a road or a block created by fighters, and it’s unleashed at a new level.

The United States doesn’t imprison people for political beliefs. The judiciary was the branch that kept our democracy together through 2020 and most – by far – of the rioters have been released awaiting trial. Those remaining in jail earned the penalty because they still represent a danger.

https://twitter.com/LuisMiguelUS/status/1410724155599646725

Turning the rioters in jails into martyrs, or at least unduly persecuted, similar to what we see happening with Ashli Babbitt, represents a significant step up in the danger posed by the MAGA movement. As the number of true MAGAs grows smaller, those remaining increase in danger.

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