Texas Radio and the Big Beat

BY: WESLEY HUGGETT

The Waco Siege. Photo courtesy of ABCNews.

In 1993, a religious cult in Waco, Texas, was investigated by the ATF. The Branch Davidians, and their leader David Koresh, were suspected of illegally modifying firearms without purchasing a state-approved permit. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) decided to storm the compound in a surprise raid; however, the plan backfired when the Davidians fired back at the agents. What ensued was a 45-minute Shootout between the Davidians and the ATF, which led to the death of four ATF agents and six Davidians. The FBI soon took control of the situation, and after 51 days of the Davidians refusing to leave, the FBI shot over 400 canisters of teargas into the compound. After two hours, fire was spotted inside the building, as teargas is highly flammable; within a matter of minutes, the entire compound was engulfed in flames. Once the fire was extinguished, and the deaths were tallied, 82 of the Branch Davidians were killed.

“There will be no more free Waco’s, whoever starts down this road should understand that if they understand nothing else,” said Mike Vanderbough of the Sons of Liberty Militia in a 2015 New York Times article.

The Waco Siege was significant because it showed the lengths the government would go to to get their way. A religious group was essentially taken hostage in their own home for the simple act of not purchasing a $25.00 permit. People saw the government’s actions as tyrannical and feared that severe government overreach was on the horizon. This accident inevitably kicked off the militia movement; consequently, conservatives began to stock up on weapons and ammunition in preparation for civil war and the looming threat of government tyranny. Within two years of the Waco siege, citizen militias exploded in popularity; according to the New York Times, over 450 citizen militia groups were assembled by the year 1995. While the times have changed and whether we see it or not, this antigovernment sentiment lives on in America.

April 19, 1995, exactly two years after Waco, Timothy McVeigh bombed a federal building in Oklahoma City as a direct, retaliatory attack for the fire at Waco. Photo courtesy of History. com.

“I remember talking to ranking law enforcement officials, who said all that is needed for a real carnage to happen out there is another Waco, a spark that will light the movement on fire, and bring it back in the same way that it came to life in the 1990s.” -Mark Potok, Southern Poverty Law Center. With the election a day away, the race between Joe Biden and Donald Trump is being framed as the “Battle for the Soul of the Nation.” With America amid a pandemic, struggling from divisive racial turmoil, and the confirmation of a supreme court justice a week away from the election, there is a lot at stake in the coming days. Perhaps the most damning characteristic of this election is how politically divisive the country has become. According to FiveThirtyEight, 60-70 percent of Americans consider the opposing political party to be a “serious threat to the country.” In the age of social media, information has become oversaturated. Everybody can now live in their own political bubbles and not hear anything from the other side. Both Democrats and Republicans see each other as a threat to the wellbeing of the nation. There have already been signs that America could be moving full force toward severe unrest after the election and the possibility of a looming civil war. Starting this week, Walmart has removed all firearms and ammunition from its store shelves, fearing the election’s aftermath. Accompanying this decision, businesses across the country have boarded up windows and storefronts. Americans as a whole also lack faith in peace following the election. According to a Suffolk University poll, 74% of Americans fear violence after the election. Similarly, a poll in the Morning Consultant states that 39% of Republicans don’t think that Trump should guarantee a peaceful transfer of power before the election. In the case of Donald Trump winning the election, I think it’s safe to say that there will be protests and violence. The most reasonable justification for left-wing violence and unrest will be if Biden wins the popular vote and loses the electoral college. The violence would be similar to the George Floyd protests that rocked the nation in the summer. I think that it’s safe to say that none of these demonstrations would lead to any

sort of national conflict because the left wing doesn’t have the means or the motivation to wage war against the establishment. However, if Trump loses the election, the situation immediately gets more complicated. Because Republicans will vote in person more than Democrats, Trump will likely have an early lead; however, as the mail-in ballots are tallied, Biden will likely appear to win the election. Trump and the rest of the Republican party have spent the better part of 2020 criticizing mail-in ballots claiming they are “substantially fraudulent.” Given that this is the most likely scenario for how Trump will lose, the right wing will most likely call fraud and say that Biden is an illegitimate president. I brought up the history of the Militia movement and the Waco Siege to shed light on the fact that a right-wing militaristic opposition is entirely possible. All that is needed for a conservative rebellion is for them to believe that they live in a tyrannical government. In that case, we’re going to have a real mess on our hands. While I personally think the likelihood of the election resulting in a civil war is unlikely, we should recognize that this is a significant possibility. According to Google Trends, the search term “How to join a militia” has been searched 4x more this month than the entire rolling average for 2020. If the election plays out as expected, with Biden winning due to a late tally of mail-in ballots, I think war could start in 1 of 2 ways: President Trump calls for his supporters to take up arms against the government and protect him as the rightful president, or the Biden administration does something radical that will set the right on fire. Perhaps the most likely scenario includes President Trump refusing to concede the election on the basis that the mail-in ballots were fraudulent. While this might sound absurd, the president has alluded that he won’t concede the election. On September 23, a journalist asked Trump whether or not he could commit to a peaceful transfer of power; Trump responded by saying, “We’re going to have to see what happens...the ballots are a disaster.” Trump may very well hold true to this statement and call upon his supporters to help him defend the presidency. In that case, it could easily escalate to conflict between left and right over who the legitimate president is. The second scenario for right-wing opposition is where Biden is inaugurated but does something radical early in his presidency that convinces conservatives they’re living under an oppressive regime. I think the idea of packing the court, a federal lockdown, or mandatory vaccinations are all things that could light the fuse of a side that already believes the president is illegitimate. In George Washington’s farewell address, he told the country to view each other as Americans, not left wing, right wing, Republican, or Democrat. We are all Americans, and we all want what is best for the country. By walling ourselves off from listening to others and assuming that everyone on the other side wants to see the death of America, we become closer and closer to an outcome and a reality that none of us want.

Photo courtesy of AP Archives.