Vigilante Nation. How State-Sponsored Terror Threatens Our Democracy.
The Bill Press Pod
BP Pods
4.7 • 601 Ratings
🗓️ 15 October 2024
⏱️ 40 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Bill talks with David Noll, one of the co-authors of Vigilante Nation. How State-Sponsored Terror Threatens Our Democracy. The new and important book examines the threat of state-sponsored vigilantism in the United States. The book traces the history of vigilantism in America, such as the Fugitive Slave Act, and Noll argues that the MAGA movement is now trying to institutionalize and normalize the use of vigilante power to enforce its agenda. Examples include Texas' bounty system for reporting on abortion providers, laws in states like Florida and Georgia that enable citizens to challenge voter eligibility, and efforts in states like Indiana and Florida to enable vigilantes to police teachers and libraries. Noll says these state-level experiments with vigilantism could be a blueprint for a future Trump administration to nationalize and further empower vigilante groups, such as by aggressively enforcing the Comstock Act to restrict access to abortion pills. When bill asks Noel what can be done he calls for Blue state legislatures to more actively push back against these state-level efforts to enable vigilantism, rather than leaving it unchallenged.
Today's Bill Press Pod is supported by The United food and Commercial Workers Union. More information at UFCW.org
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hello, friends and neighbors. |
| 0:08.0 | Good to be back with you for another episode of the Bill Press pod. |
| 0:12.1 | Thank you for joining us. |
| 0:13.8 | As we all know, there's a lot of talk these days, and rightfully so, about the threat of |
| 0:19.2 | international terrorism. |
| 0:23.5 | But a new bookout warns us about the dangers of homegrown terrorism. Yeah, various forms of terrorism already operating here at home |
| 0:30.2 | by American vigilante groups targeted at American citizens and get this, with the support of state or federal governments. |
| 0:40.3 | The chilling details are laid out in a new book called Vigilani Nation, |
| 0:44.8 | how state-sponsored terrorism threatens our democracy. |
| 0:49.1 | It's written by Professor John Michaels of UCLA and Professor David Knoll of Rutgers |
| 0:54.0 | and should serve as a warning |
| 0:56.0 | to all of us about how dangerous things are now and also how much more dangerous they be |
| 1:02.0 | were, God forbid, Donald Trump ever to get back in the White House. |
| 1:06.3 | Co-author David Noll joins us on today's podcast. |
| 1:09.6 | Professor Noel, congratulations on publication of |
| 1:13.2 | Vigilante Nation, and welcome to the Bill Press Pod. Thanks for joining us. Thanks. It's great to be |
| 1:18.6 | here. So I have to ask you, first of all, you know, vigilantes, isn't that, if you go back to, |
| 1:25.2 | well, the Wild West or slavery proponents in the South, |
| 1:30.8 | isn't vigilante justice kind of a part of the American tradition? |
| 1:36.2 | Absolutely. |
| 1:37.1 | And part of what John Michael, is my co-author and I, are trying to do in this book, |
| 1:42.6 | is show that as the MAGA right has turned to vigilantism |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BP Pods, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BP Pods and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.