The Dark Art of Political Intimidation | 5 Minute Video
Intimidation, harassment, and blackmail have become the norm in American politics. Why? Because it works. Kimberley Strassel, author of The Intimidation Game, explains.
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Script:
This is the United States of America. You are totally free to express your political views. No one is going to tell you what you can say or how you can say it, right? But what if you thought you’d be audited by the IRS or have your business boycotted or even lose your job? Would you speak freely then?
This isn’t a hypothetical question. It’s happening to Americans right now. It’s what I call “The Intimidation Game.”
The object of this very real “game” is to make political opponents pay a high price for expressing their opinions. It was a standard technique in the Jim Crow South in the 1950’s. It was used by racist southern Democrats to shut up black civil rights groups like the NAACP. And now these tactics have been revived and improved upon by today’s Democratic Party and their allies on the Progressive Left. They want to shut up conservatives; just like racists once wanted to shut up blacks and their liberal supporters.
They do it in three ways. First, they harass; Second, they investigate and prosecute; and third, they blackmail.
Tactic number one: Harass.
They sic federal and state agencies and bureaucrats on their political enemies. Remember the IRS targeting scandal that began in 2010? That’s when the IRS systematically denied or delayed non-profit status to more than 400 citizen-activist groups, almost all conservative. These groups, representing tens of thousands of Americans, clearly met the IRS’s tax-exempt standards. But the IRS delay and denial made it impossible for these groups to raise or spend money during the 2012 presidential election. Had they been able to, would the election have turned out differently? We’ll never know. Some of these groups are still waiting for their nonprofit approval.
Democrats continue to claim the scandal was the result of some rogue IRS agents who didn’t understand the law. Not true.
We know from documents obtained through Congressional investigations and the Freedom of Information Act that the IRS was taking its cue from powerful Democrats and their left-wing allies, like MoveOn.org. For example, Michigan Senator Carl Levin repeatedly pressured the agency to investigate conservative non-profits. Meanwhile, in speeches, President Barack Obama warned about “shadowy” Tea Party groups. Lois Lerner, the head of the IRS’s non-profit division and a Democratic Party loyalist, took the hint.
Tactic number two: Investigate and prosecute.
In Wisconsin, Democrat prosecutors engaged in a bogus campaign-finance investigation into conservative groups that had supported Wisconsin’s Republican Governor Scott Walker. The prosecutors subpoenaed emails and financial records of the groups and its employees. They staged pre-dawn raids on the homes of Wisconsin conservatives, confiscating computers and correspondence. Then, they warned the victims of these phony investigations and terrorizing raids that they’d go to jail if they told anyone what was happening to them. It took the state Supreme Court to end this use of the government to suppress political opponents. But the message was sent by Democrats in Wisconsin: cross us, and you will pay a steep price.
To view the complete script, visit https://www.prageru.com/videos/dark-art-political-intimidation
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Like a fine wine,
why did this age well
This shit has actually gotten worse.
This all feels like one big straw man.
This was four years ago. It’s probably 5x as bad as it was back then. We are becoming some sort of hybrid communist dictatorship.
Far left extremism
Non-leftists DON'T fight back and the left knows it; enjoy your misery because you deserve it.
Hitler shut down his opposition and imprisoned anyone who openly disagreed with him. Hmmm…
This is one of your best videos yet!
Sadly Kimberly – we have lost ..It is clearly biased and a one way street…Intimidation, no matter how obvious, is only intimidation if you are on one side of the equation
lol. looks like they won.
https://youtu.be/l2g0jEdu8qk
You support "Citizen United" so it only got harder to track campaign financial contributions…you talk with a forked tongue
Coca-Cola is a legal mafia enterprise subducing the world with its addictive wares…but shareholders LOVE them so nothing gets done about it while ruining the health of America.. and we all pay for the diabetic epidemic that no one wants to address… and they have using strong-arm to static to moving into the 3rd world now.
I do remeber. "After sidestepping Internal Revenue Service 501(c) tax status issues for some time, many Tea Party organizations and affiliates were filing for 501(c)(4) social welfare organization status. That is the tax exemption form that allows organizations to engage in partisan political activities if those campaign activities constitute less than half of the organization’s programming. Do you think that partisan political activity is less than half of the purpose and program of national and local organizations identified with the Tea Party movement? Can you think of the social welfare functions that Tea Party groups typically have fulfilled in addition to their campaigning for the likes of Christine O’Donnell in Delaware and Sharron Angle in Nevada?
Neither can we, and probably neither can the Tea Party groups that are bristling with having to produce documentation in response to IRS requests about how and why they qualify for 501(c)(4) status." https://nonprofitquarterly.org/the-tea-party-vs-the-irs/
After looking at what he has done, I completely understand all the condemnation that's becoming of George Soros.
Great insights, but "very sad" it's not politically balanced. Both parties are skilled in this arts. Blahhhh!
The democraps are really evil.
Brainwashed kids following their evil overlords. It's terrifying to behold.
I'm a commie, change my mind
Dinesh D'Souza comes to mind 🙄
This is happening here in Sweden, right now! A liberal politician got fired from her party because she was dating a conservative man. Outrageous…
I'm so sorry for sounding like a terrorist. But anyone who thinks that way deserves to die. No American should ever feel intimidated by any lobbyist group over their own opinions. The guilty parties behind these tactics need to be arrested and charged with treason, conspiracy and obstruction of justice. And if convicted of all three, they need the death penalty.
Kimberly you are so helpful- brilliant and well-spoken. Thank you.
Nope!
Think what would happen if the citizens were somehow disarmed? The commies would murders masses of us and turn everyone else into peasants, slaves, and servants.
Easy say I don't give a damn about what you think!
Or prove them wrong every turn, and still support what you support.
So, no mention of the blacklist or McCarthy trials in the 50s, interesting.
I'd like to hear PragerU do a video of the Republican Party dirty tactics. I am sure they have them as well.
The best thing to do is put them all in prison for life. 👍
Donate here doesn't seem to work for me.
Hence, Chic Filet and others.
Democrat were behaving like Nazis.
I find it disgusting that people havnt noticed that this wasn’t only “southern “ thing , THE MAIN KKK HEADQUARTERS WAS IN INDIANA , the whole COUNTRY WAS KKK “positive “ LOOK IT UP , then , PUT IT TO REST.
She's not afraid of speaking freely. Everybody just needs to become PragerU presenters where you can say ANYTHING you want with few consequences.
Now they are doing that to Trump supporters.