Cliven Bundy: Clown Car or Trojan Horse?

[WilliamPitt]

Last edited Fri May 2, 2014, 02:47 PM - Edit history (1)

Cliven Bundy, a rancher embroiled in a land dispute with the federal government, speaks to the
reporters near Bunkerville, Nev., April 19, 2014. (Ronda Churchill/The New York Times)

Cliven Bundy: Clown Car or Trojan Horse?
By William Rivers Pitt
Truthout | Op-Ed

Friday 02 May 2014

The ongoing saga of freeloading Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy is, on the surface, a perfect masterpiece of right-wing clown car stupidity. I'm sure you're already familiar with the story: Bundy, who refuses to acknowledge the existence of the federal government, has been grazing his cattle on federal lands for the last twenty years while refusing to pay grazing fees, said fees amounting to about the cost of a can of Campbell's tomato soup per cow. The feds ordered Bundy to pay the fees he owed, ordered him to get his cattle off publicly-owned property, and let him know when they would be coming to enforce these orders in person.

And that's when the clown car burst open. Between the end of March and April 10th, Bundy supporters whipped each other into a frenzy on social media, grabbed their AR-15s and AK-47s, and swooped down on the Bundy ranch to defend their newest freeloading patriot hero from the federal usurpers of the Bureau of Land Management. Once they arrived at the ranch, they were asked to sign in under a large banner that read "MILITA SIGHN IN," because of course that happened.

Fox News, and especially Sean Hannity, immediately began hyping the story all day and night, elevating Bundy to the status of instant Founding Father. How could they resist? Here was a guy who denies the existence of the US government while riding his horse on federal lands with an American flag strapped to his saddle. Cognitive dissonance is the meat and mead of Fox News, and the dissonance in that one image was weighty enough to bend the very light.

It took about two weeks for everything to go sideways.

First, Mr. Bundy delivered his now-infamous rant about Black people being happier picking cotton as slaves, a statement he doubled down on later by comparing himself to Rosa Parks before saying that if Black people didn't like his opinions, it's because "Martin Luther King hasn't gotten his job done yet."

Skreeeeeeech went the needle off the record. Every right-wing media personality and politician who had rushed to publicly embrace Cliven Bundy immediately fled his presence as if he were covered in Goliath tarantulas. I think there still may be a Hannity-shaped hole in the studio wall at Fox News.

(snip)

It is all too easy to lay waste to this whole barge of absurdity with an avalanche of mockery, to blow it off, laugh it off, and enjoy the sight of Bundy's right-wing supporters heading for the hills after he went all jump-down-turn-around-pick-a-bale-of-cotton in a video that went viral in less time than it takes to misspell a banner.

But there's some very serious and troubling stuff here, and it cannot be ignored or buried beneath the eruption of stupid we've witnessed to date. First of all, these armed yahoos actually managed to successfully fend off federal agents who were attempting to uphold and execute the law. That sets a terrible precedent, one that will almost certainly inspire more armed yahoos to point rifles at people somewhere down the line. They're still on the Bundy ranch, they've started setting up "checkpoints" along the roads around the ranch, and the feds still have to execute those orders, so this thing is not over yet...

...and note you well: here in America, you can point a high-powered rifle at federal officers and get off scot-free with your gun still in your hand. Sit down at a peaceful Occupy protest on the campus of UC Davis in California, however, and you get a gushing face full of Mace for your trouble...while the cop who sprayed you gets $38,000 in compensation for "anxiety and depression."

Far more insidious is the fact that, until he pulled his little "What, Me Racist?" number for all the world to see, Mr. Bundy's most dedicated supporters were a couple of billionaire brothers named Charles and David Koch. The Koch Brothers, if truth be told, could not give less of a damn about Cliven Bundy and his band of merry men, but until Bundy blew out like an old, racist tire, they were intensely interested in using him as the avatar for a fight they've been waging for twenty years: placing control of publicly-owned federal lands back into the hands of the states, so the states can lease or sell those lands to companies like Koch Industries for cattle grazing, mining, drilling, fracking, and lumbering...

The rest: http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/23444-william-rivers-pitt-cliven-bundy-clown-car-or-trojan-horse

[Tom Ripley]

1. Camo Hoveround

[Strelnikov_]

12. Good one n/t

[appal_jack]

20. I've been saying 'Cloven Bunghole' myself. nt

[warrior1]

2. Entitled rich guy with cowboy hat.

Who doesn't believe in the federal government but still hangs out the American flag.

[Baitball Blogger]

3. Clown Cars are today's Trojan Horse.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. Well done, my dear Will..........WELL DONE.

Nothing to add.

[Javaman]

5. a trojan horse...

filled with clowns.

[demigoddess]

6. both

clown car being used as a trojan horse

[phantom power]

7. I can't think of a better way to egg on the "2nd-amendment solution" domestic terrorist crowd

Predictions that Bundy could now be "dealt with out of the spotlight" don't seem to be panning out.

[jmowreader]

8. Will, I disagree with one thing

They want to sell the lands to developers, for "peaceful country neighborhoods." (Because Gillette, Wyoming, and Harrison, Idaho, are such major metropolises, don'tcha know...) Koch Industries does not really want to own federal land...use fees are far lower than taxes.

I converted at least three teabaggers from this "take over federal lands" idea very simply: teabagger tells me he wants federal land turned over to the states. "Do you like to hunt?" Certainly they do. "Then you better pray all that federal land stays federal. If they sell it, the people who buy it will close all the good hunting grounds and build housing on the land." And the teabagger, who lived here when that exact thing happened at Cougar Gulch, Gozzer Ranch and several other once-popular state-owned hunting areas that are now covered in million-dollar houses, will admit he never thought about that. If the states have control over the commons they will sell the ones they can to finance tax cuts, and leave the rest to rot because these little states don't have money to maintain them.

It gets better: Idaho is trying to foist all the state-owned land they can onto the counties. Who have even less money.

[brett_jv]

23. I guess it's about their 'philosophy' being 'proved right' that matters to people like the Kochs

They'll fight for things that they want regardless of financial benefit ... I'd guess $$$ is often an afterthought at best. They just want to dis-empower the federal government and see their extreme RW philosophies and ideas 'win' ... cause it makes them feel good and powerful. That's what matters to these egomaniacs. They have more money than God already.

[1StrongBlackMan]

9. From the (full) OP, at the link ...

and just so everybody knows, as Booda, head of security for the Bundy family, I can swear on the white skin that covers my ass ...

That is an interesting thing to swear upon. I'm pretty sure this booda guy would have even the most empathetic and competent psycho-analyst whimpering in a corner after just one session.

[mopinko]

10. how about another unwitting puppet?

this man needs to have the koch brothers logos painted on his horse.

[stonecutter357]

11. K&R

[spanone]

13. i found nothing amusing about mr bundy and his car of 'clowns'.

they were one happy trigger finger away from god knows what

[chrisa]

14. Thanks, Will. I too see this as a power grab.

Cliven Bundy is a pawn for the State's (doublespeak translation: Corporate) rights brigade. There is an external force behind all of this, and there is definitely more than meets the eye. It's all too convenient that, all of the sudden, this all became an issue.

[calimary]

18. That's because this is exactly what it is.

It's something about which we have to be on the alert.

I was watching Elizabeth Warren on MSNBC last night and she recalled how the consumer protection agency she fostered and nurtured into reality in the Obama administration was at one point declared Dead-On-Arrival. They had three weeks before that "fact" was to be announced publicly. So she and her fellow activists rolled up their sleeves and got busy. As she put it - "we FOUGHT." They fought hard for three weeks. Got the social media cranked up. Got the word spread all over everywhere as much as they could. Determined NOT to give up and don the mourning garb already. They focused, hunkered down, went all out, and guess what happened? They reversed the course of the "death announcement" and that consumer protection agency is now ALIVE AND WELL, and KICKING! They saved it. Got it off the critical list, grabbed its gurney and rolled it out away from the doors to the morgue and ran it down the hall, into the elevator, and out the front door!

It CAN be done! We just have to NOT give up! The other side is counting on us getting discouraged and trudging away, downcast and defeated. They're BANKING on it. Especially since that's mostly our side's track record. Give up with hardly even a peep. Give up without the bad guys even having to fire a shot. Let's do something DIFFERENT, 'eh?

Remember, Howard Dean once said - "the only way you lose is if you give up." So let's NOT! NOT EVER!!!!

Besides - remember this, too: our adversaries don't give up. They never seem to give up! So why should we????? And even if they seem to have us down for the count, let's be snakes - make sure our mouths are open so our poisonous fangs are out and pointed up and at the ready. So when they try to step on you... BOOM! They've had it.

[1StrongBlackMan]

15. Great OP, Will ...

with the exception of just one paragraph:

First of all, these armed yahoos actually managed to successfully fend off federal agents who were attempting to uphold and execute the law. That sets a terrible precedent, one that will almost certainly inspire more armed yahoos to point rifles at people somewhere down the line.

As you note in the following paragraph, this ain't over and no one is gonna walk away scot free. As I wrote in another thread ... I truly do not understand this "the federal government has got to act ... right f@#%ing now, or it'll be seen as weak."

Did you catch the Sheriff's (?) statement that they have/are gathering intelligence on these guys and that they will be held to account?

This reminds me of the Two Bulls story told by the veteran cop to the anxious rookie in the 1990s movie, Colors:

"Hey Pop ... let's run down this hill and F@#% a couple of those cows?"

"Nah Kid ... Let's walk down and F@#% them all!"

I realize that everyone is concerned about the weak appearance of the Federal Government; but waiting and arresting or, should they resist, putting them all down with force, will put an end to this misadventure and would go along way to dissuading all but the most loony of this guys ... Arresting just a few will only draw this out.

No ... I suspect once a majority of the militia men have been identified, and run through W&W and background checks ... indictments will be handed down and arrest warrants, by name, will be issued. At that point, the warrants will be served with operational plan and sufficient fire-power to effectuate the service, just like any other arrest warrant action.

And, from the few members of local and county-level SWAT teams, and the few US Marshalls that I know, once the operation starts, everyone named in the arrest warrants will either be arrested, or dead ... the choice is up to the intended arrestee; but what they choose (arrested or dead), matters little to those serving the warrants.

[WilliamPitt]

19. You may be right

...and I consulted ten trusted friends, and they hope you are, too.

But the fact that these fuckwits have to date gotten away with leveling firearms at federal officials remains troubling. I'm not sure how the feds involved could get names to run if they were held off at a distance.

[1StrongBlackMan]

25. With your fan base ...

you only sought 10 opinions? Wow, they must be in rarified air! I hope they recognize this and pay you appropriate homage.

But the fact that these fuckwits have to date gotten away with leveling firearms at federal officials remains troubling.

It's not troubling for anyone with a legal background, an ego in check, or anyone without an need to be critical, at every turn, of this administration.

I'm not sure how the feds involved could get names to run if they were held off at a distance.

Okay ... Here come some really scary words: Surveillance ... Investigation ... Patience.

[JoeyT]

24. I can totally get your argument.

The reason I want the feds to hurry up and crack down is because I think more Bundies are coming. We can get rid of one, but once fifty of them are kicking around, it's going to get a lot harder to put them down.

Had Bundy not made himself a pariah that Fox and other "mainstream" right wing orgs can't be seen associating with, I think we'd already be seeing them. Fortunately for us, someone batshit enough to decide to use rifles to fend off the federal government probably isn't going to be restricted to that level of batshit and no more. The batshit almost always fills the barrel, and sooner or later some slops out.

Edited to add: By "crack down" I don't mean I want the feds to go in guns a-blazin'. I'd rather see them confined to his ranch and let the weather deal with breaking them up. The locals they're terrorizing probably aren't taking nearly as philosophical and long a view as people that aren't having guns pointed at them every time they want to go home. At the very least we need to be protecting them from these nuts. If we can't stop a bunch of armed yahoos from terrorizing towns, what use is law enforcement, federal or local?

[1StrongBlackMan]

28. Good ...

The reason I want the feds to hurry up and crack down is because I think more Bundies are coming. We can get rid of one, but once fifty of them are kicking around, it's going to get a lot harder to put them down.

The US has more than enough prison cells (and cemeteries) to accommodate them! And local/county-level and federal tactical squads are more than competent to handle the job.

Edited to add: By "crack down" I don't mean I want the feds to go in guns a-blazin'. I'd rather see them confined to his ranch and let the weather deal with breaking them up. The locals they're terrorizing probably aren't taking nearly as philosophical and long a view as people that aren't having guns pointed at them every time they want to go home. At the very least we need to be protecting them from these nuts. If we can't stop a bunch of armed yahoos from terrorizing towns, what use is law enforcement, federal or local?

Like I said ... this will (likely) be a "guns a-blazing" scenario (after these clowns refuse to lay down their arms and come out peaceably) ... just like any other warrant service.

(Oops ... that's the "authoritarian" in me revealing itself. But isn't it okay to be a little "authoritarian" in this case?)

[JoeyT]

29. Yeah, I think it'll probably end in violence too.

I'm more concerned about copy-cats and the random citizens of the area they're in that woke up and found out they're apparently in Taliban controlled Afghanistan with crazy fanatics with automatic weapons creating checkpoints so people they don't like can't get by than I am Bundy or his collection of idiots. Although if they can isolate them, I think their courage will waver pretty quickly.

However long we let them play with their dicks at his ranch, we need to stop them from terrorizing the surrounding area right now, whatever that takes. Even if it takes a phone call to them saying something along the lines of "This checkpoints shit? It ends now or you'll find out how well long rifles stand up to UAVs and close air support planes.". And being willing to do it if they don't stop.

[tea and oranges]

16. The Koch Brother's Wing

of the Republican party sure has been making the gaffes of late.

From Bundy to Scalia & his shadow - Clarence.

Yeah Yeah, living in interesting times is a curse & all, but I can hardly wait to see what will happen next!

[zeemike]

17. Yep, this is far from over.

And the objective is to put the public land in the hands of the 1%....and they will continue to use their brown shirts to do it...and it will be so much easier now that they have a victory in Bundievill...and it was a victory of intimidation that will be repeated.

And their hope is that we will be frightened by the intimidation and give them what they want...and I think that is working even here at DU.

[2naSalit]

21. Nice wrote up, however

a serious question:

"...they were intensely interested in using him as the avatar for a fight they've been waging for twenty years: placing control of publicly-owned federal lands back into the hands of the states..."

Were the states ever in control of these federally administered public lands?

http://www.nplnews.com/toolbox/history/publiclandhistory.htm

[dembotoz]

22. a call was put out for right wing armed thugs and right wing armed thugs showed up

with guns and ammo and ready to fight

we all make jokes about tea bag rallies where nobody shows up

well they showed up

i do hope that law enforcement was paying attention

the folks pointing guns were not occupy but the right wing

[Cartoonist]

26. the folks pointing guns were not occupy but the right wing

Great point!!
I never saw an occupy protestor holding, let alone, aiming a gun. Yet Fox and Wall street were terrified. Maybe the pen is mightier than the sword.

[Auntie Bush]

27. Will hits nail on head. nt

[Feral Child]

30. REC

Nothing to add.

[ThoughtCriminal]

31. "Hannity-shaped hole in the studio wall at Fox News"

I'm loving that image in my head.

[ancianita]

32. Another clown car pulling a trojan horse. The Koch Bros Theater has many plays afoot.

[Faryn Balyncd]

33. +1000

[WilliamPitt]

34. Up