MSNBC’s resident Nazi-whisperer has a bold proposal for fighting fascism in America: Imprison select members of Congress.
Honest to God, it’s as if they can’t hear themselves.
This week, MSNBC contributor Frank Figliuzzi, who served formerly as the former assistant director for counterintelligence at the FBI, endorsed imprisonment and prosecution for lawmakers suspected of encouraging the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
When dealing with terrorism, he said during an appearance on the left-wing cable network, you’ve got to go after the people at the top, which may mean “people sitting in Congress right now.”
“What happened on Jan. 6 is domestic terrorism,” Figliuzzi said. “What have we learned from our experience with international terrorism? In order to address that problem, arresting low-level operatives is merely a speed bump, not a roadblock. In order to really tackle terrorism, this time domestically, you’ve got to attack and dismantle the command and control element of a terrorist group.”
This is obviously insane. It’s one thing to condemn incendiary rhetoric. It’s one thing to condemn the lawmakers who’ve downplayed the seriousness of the riot, going as far as to excuse the violent mob that stormed the Capitol building and the former president who egged them on.
It’s another thing entirely to call for the arrest of political opponents for supposedly engaging in such rhetoric. Show me the actionable crime, and then perhaps we can revisit the idea of arresting lawmakers. Until then, what Figliuzzi is advocating, imprisoning lawmakers for speech, is the stuff of genuine tinpot dictatorships.
“Unfortunately,” he said, “and I know this is painful to hear — that may mean people sitting in Congress right now, people in and around the former president. That’s how you do this. Otherwise, recruitment, inciting, and cult-like leadership continues to recruit people to violence.”
WATCH: “Arresting low-level operatives is merely a speed bump not a road block,” @FrankFigliuzzi1 says.
“In order to really tackle terrorism … you’ve got to attack and dismantle the command and control element.”
“That may mean people sitting in Congress right now.” pic.twitter.com/Cn6HlTS9Zq
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) June 8, 2021
Forget for a moment the irony of Figliuzzi suggesting the best way to fight fascism in America is to imprison duly elected lawmakers and let’s focus on his professional background.
He is not just a former FBI agent. The man served as the FBI assistant director.
It’d be one thing if a former low-level agent endorsed the imprisonment of members of Congress for supposedly aiding and abetting a riot. But the fact that Figliuzzi was at one time a high-ranking intelligence officer — who now advocates strongman, authoritarian tactics — raises a whole slew of uncomfortable questions about the FBI and the caliber of the men and women serving in its highest positions.
Indeed, after his appearance this week on MSNBC, we may need to thoroughly investigate Figliuzzi’s career at the FBI because we have good reason to believe he has both a tenuous grasp of the rights of American citizens and an apparent willingness to abuse said rights.
Did he advocate this sort of thing when he served in the FBI? If so, when? If so, how often? Etc., etc.
When Figliuzzi alleged in 2019 that former President Donald Trump gave white nationalists a win when he ordered flags to be lowered to half-staff until Aug. 8 (because Aug. 8 looks like 08-08 on a calendar, “H” is the eighth letter of the alphabet, and “H-H” stands for “Heil Hitler” — This is a real thing Figliuzzi alleged on live television), it was easy to write him off as a crank.
However, after this week, Figliuzzi seems far more dangerous than a crank. He seems downright insidious.
