A guest on an MSNBC panel Tuesday night drew criticism on social media for suggesting a 9/11-type response to right wing extremists, on the scale of things like the Patriot Act and the Department of Homeland Security.
“We’re in a battle for hearts and minds, and there are people who are on the fence, we’ve got to have leaders and messages and messengers and programs that get to those people, that bring them over to community organizing, into non-profit organizations and away from the Patriot Front and the Oath Keepers,” Army veteran and author Paul Rieckhoff told Nicolle Wallace on MSNBC Tuesday night.
“After 9/11, we created the Department of Homeland Security,” Rieckhoff said. “There was the Patriot Act. There was massive change in our entire society to face the number one threat, at least what was communicated as the number one threat.”
“I think we need the same kind of tectonic shift,” he said about how to deal with right wing extremists. “It’s got to be much more than ‘see something’ but maybe our laws need to change to respond to the fact that someone like Mike Flynn, the former national security director, is openly calling for violence consistently.”
Army veteran and author Paul Rieckhoff, left, and an Oath Keeper demonstrator. (Getty Images)
Rieckhoff ’s call for a bigger government response to conservative groups drew criticism from people who accused MSNBC of promoting a government crackdown on opinions that are not shared by liberal Democrats.
“Nicolle Wallace has been running segments like this virtually on a daily basis since 1/6; every day they’re complaining about how our terrorism laws need to be revamped to make it easier to orient our entire national security apparatus against enemies of the liberal establishment,” Grabien founder and journalist Tom Elliot posted on social media. He said the segment is an example of “ripping apart American society.”
“As they claim to be targeting extremism, they’re utterly oblivious to just how radicalized they themselves have become,” he said. “Every day I watch as they push each other a little further, constantly reminding each other how important they are & how dangerous are those who think differently.”
Then-President Trump supporters occupy the West Front of the Capitol and the inauguration stands on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
“In the battle to win hearts and minds, he wants a new PATRIOT Act and DHS,” Center for Renewing America fellow and author Steve Friend tweeted. “Grow government to shut down alternative political views.”
“Notice what he says about the aftermath of 9/11 and ‘what was communicated as the number one threat,’” columnist and author Derek Hunter tweeted. “That’s very telling about this guy…”
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A demonstrator wears an Oath Keepers anti-government organization badge on a protective vest during a protest outside the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., U.S. (Getty Images)
President George W. Bush signed the Patriot Act into law in October 2001 which gave the government sweeping authority to investigate and prosecute terrorists which includes broad surveillance powers that many have argued amounts to a violation of personal freedoms.
