Tomorrow, Operation American Spring will attempt to flood Washington, D.C. with Tea Party activists committed to removing President Obama from office.
“[I]t will be painful, and some people may die because the government will not be non-violent; some of us will end up in a cell, and some may be injured,” organizer Harry Riley said in December, fearing that “patriots may be killed, wounded, incarcerated” in their effort to overthrow Obama.
One Operation American Spring endorser, former general Paul Vallely, has even floated the idea of leading a “revolution” against Obama.
This won’t be the first right-wing rally that has promised to occupy D.C. with millions of people until Obama leaves office, and we don’t expect tomorrow’s event to turn out any differently than the last one did.
Here are five things you need to know about Operation American Spring:
1. Plans For 10-30 Million People To ‘Shut Down’ DC
Riley has insisted that “10-20 million people” will descend on Washington, and guaranteed a minimum of 10 million: “We’re trusting there’s going to be about 10 million or more people that are going to be there to back this up, verified, validated.”
“They will be all over D.C. Wherever they can find a spot to stand, that's where they'll be. Around the White House, around the Capitol, on the Mall, all over,” Riley said. “We will wait, we will be there, we will interrupt the traffic, we will interrupt the commerce.”
“We're going to shut the city down.”
Believe it or not, Riley's is actually on the low side of attendance estimates from Operation American Spring backers.
Jim Garrow, a far-right activist and conspiracy theorist backing the effort, told fringe radio host Pete Santilli that “they’re expecting 30 million people.”
2. Right-Wing Tribunal To Replace Obama After Sending Him To Gitmo
Hoping to overthrow Obama’s “socialist-fascist-communist-Marxist dictatorial, tyrannical system,” organizers said they will install a tribunal led by GOP figures such as Sen. Ted Cruz and former congressman Allen West:
Those with the principles of a West, Cruz, Lee, DeMint, Paul, Gov. Walker, Sessions, Gowdy, Jordan, Issa, will comprise a tribunal and assume positions of authority to convene investigations, recommend appropriate charges against politicians and government employees to the new U.S. Attorney General appointed by the new President.
After forcibly removing Obama from office, Riley thinks the new government will “move” Obama “over to Guantanamo.”
3. Hoping For Militia Support
Riley claims that “militias all across the nation are mobilizing ” for Operation American Spring. While he insists “they’re not coming up there with any weapons,” he believes that it could turn violent if their movement fails: “I fear the next step, if this doesn’t happen, is going to be something that not a combat soldier wants to see. We’ve been through the carnage, we’ve seen it, we understand what happens and that’s the last thing we want.”
4. God On Their Side
Riley has said Operation American Spring is “bathed in prayer” and will have divine support: “We’re bathed—it’s under God and we’re going to move up there and trust Him that it will work out because we believe it’s noble, it’s an honorable effort.”
“God’s wind is behind us, that this is something that He’s pushing us along,” he said. “I think it will work. I think God is behind it. He is going to give us a clear path, right into Washington D.C. and that’s what we’re going to ask for.”
5. Obama Might Launch A Drone Strike On Washington
Terry Trussell, Operation American Spring’s chief of staff, and far-right radio host Mark Hoffmann are warning attendees to prepare for violence and possibly even a drone strike to “destroy the capital just to get rid of us.”
