As Donald Trump threatens legal action against his adversaries, particularly after Charlie Kirk’s assassination, he’s repeatedly talked about using one federal law: the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO.

Trump wants to bring racketeering charges against left-wing groups he’s accused of promoting violence. Some influential Republicans agree with him and have been pushing to include rioting as one of the crimes that falls under the racketeering statute, a decades-old law once aimed at cracking down on organized crime.

Kirk’s death and the resulting calls by influential conservatives to crack down on the left using the federal government’s official powers has called new attention to that push. Trump and his aides have said publicly they plan to channel the mounting conservative anger over Kirk’s killing into efforts to take on the president’s political rivals, including potentially pursuing RICO charges and seeking to designate some liberal groups as domestic terrorist organizations.

  • xxce2AAb
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    12 hours ago

    Now all that’s needed is redefining having a different opinion as being political violence, and America’s transformation into a fascist dictatorship will be complete.

    In fact, I think this approach was summarized best in Borderlands 2: “Did you know littering in [the city of] Opportunity is punishable by death? If not, you also ought to know complaining about Opportunity’s laws is considered verbal littering.”

    • Verdant Banana@lemmy.world
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      12 hours ago

      feels like Kirk was made a martyr by his own just for this

      can’t even sell a dime bag on the street corner without immediate arrest but dude rifles someone in broad daylight and gets away for a whole day

      whole thing sounds too wrapped up and clean not to be another narrative controller

      • Stovetop@lemmy.world
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        11 hours ago

        That’s just the complete incompetence of the FBI under Kash Patel.

        Plenty of people are still out there selling dime bags without issues, trust me.

        • xxce2AAb
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          11 hours ago

          Plenty of people are still out there selling dime bags

          And bless them too.

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        11 hours ago

        The thing about induced stochastic violence is that you can’t really plan for the details, but you don’t have to either. All someone morally bankrupt enough to leverage it has to do is… Stir shit up and wait for the enevitable opportunity, then pivot to exploit it.

        Chaos is a ladder, indeed.