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    Max Cleland, Vietnam Veteran and Former Senator, Dies at 79

    He lost both legs and an arm in the war. Republicans impugned his patriotism by linking him to Osama bin Laden in an infamous TV spot.Max Cleland, who lost both legs and an arm during the Vietnam War and who became a Senator from Georgia, only to lose his seat after Republicans impugned his patriotism, died on Tuesday at his home in Atlanta. He was 79.The cause was congestive heart failure, said Jason D. Meininger, a close friend. After a grenade accident in Vietnam in 1968, Mr. Cleland spent 18 months recuperating. He served in local politics in his native Georgia and as head of the federal Veterans Administration, now the Department of Veterans Affairs, before he was elected in 1996 to the U.S. Senate.But it was his treatment at the hands of Republicans while he was seeking re-election in 2002 that made him a Democratic cause célèbre.Running for another term just a year after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, he was the target of an infamous 30-second television spot that showed images of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein while it questioned Mr. Cleland’s commitment to homeland security and implied that he was soft on the war on terror.It was the ad’s images in particular that created the uproar. Even prominent Republicans, including Senators John McCain and Chuck Hagel, both Vietnam veterans, were outraged.“I’ve never seen anything like that ad,” Mr. McCain told The Washington Post. “Putting pictures of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden next to a picture of a man who left three limbs on the battlefield — it’s worse than disgraceful, it’s reprehensible.” Mr. Hagel said he recoiled when he saw the ad, and it rankled many others, who noted that Mr. Cleland’s Republican opponent, Representative Saxby Chambliss, had avoided military service.When Mr. Cleland lost the election to Mr. Chambliss, 46 to 53 percent, which helped the Republicans narrowly recapture the Senate, the ad was perceived as having made a difference.In fact, Mr. Cleland had been losing ground in the polls before the ad was aired. He was already seen as too liberal and out of step with Georgia voters.But the ad was so explosive that Democrats seized on it and made the attacks on Mr. Cleland emblematic of the low road that they said the Republicans, led by Mr. Bush’s aggressive political operative, Karl Rove, would take to achieve their ends.At a veterans event, Mr. Cleland with Senator John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee. Both were Vietnam veterans and were targeted in political ads that questioned their patriotism.James Estrin/The New York TimesIn the fraught post-9/11 era, the ad was also a harbinger of things to come. Two years later, as Mr. Cleland predicted, a small group of veterans sought to undermine the wartime record of Senator John Kerry, a decorated Vietnam veteran and the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee.At the Democratic convention in Boston, where Mr. Kerry was nominated, James Carville, the party strategist, introduced Mr. Cleland by saying he would go down in history for the injustice he suffered in 2002. Whipping up the crowd by recalling old slogans like “Remember the Alamo” and “Remember the Maine,” Mr. Carville declared: “We’re going to Remember Max.”“In some ways,” wrote The Los Angeles Times, “Cleland is more powerful as a symbol than he ever was as a senator.”Beyond what he came to symbolize, Mr. Cleland was crushed by losing the race, which plunged him into a deep depression.“It broke his heart,” Mr. Kerry recalled in a phone interview. “That ad was such a dastardly, disgraceful hit. And it set the template.”The loss of his seat and the start of the Iraq war in 2003 triggered a long-dormant case of post-traumatic stress disorder that sent Mr. Cleland back to Walter Reed hospital, outside Washington, where he had been treated after his injuries in Vietnam.“After I lost the Senate race in 2002, my life collapsed,” he told History.net. “I went down in every way you can go down. I lost my life as I knew it.”His anxiety was compounded, he said, because he had voted for the Iraq war, a stance he took, he said later, because if he had voted against it, he would have been “dead meat” in his re-election bid. He said it was the worst vote he had cast.As therapy, he wrote a book, “Heart of a Patriot: How I Found the Courage to Survive Vietnam, Walter Reed and Karl Rove” (with Ben Raines, 2009).“Through weekly counseling, medication for anxiety and depression, and weekly attendance at a spiritual Twelve Step recovery group, I began to heal,” he wrote, adding that he gained strength from being among veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. “My personal recovery and renewal have taken years.”Joseph Maxwell Cleland was born on Aug. 24, 1942, in Atlanta, Ga. His mother, Juanita Cleland, worked as a secretary for Standard Oil. His father, Hugh Cleland, was in the Navy at the time. After the war, he moved the family to Lithonia, Ga., outside Atlanta, where he worked in the granite quarries. He later became a traveling salesman.As a boy, Max, as he was called, became enthralled with cowboys, and for the rest of his life, he loved watching Westerns. Even as an adult he kept pictures of the Lone Ranger and Roy Rogers on his wall, among those of other heroes like Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt.Max was a top student and star athlete at Lithonia High School, excelling in baseball, basketball and tennis and graduating in 1960.At Stetson University in Florida, he majored in history before graduating in 1964. He later received a master’s degree in history from Emory University. It was during a summer semester at American University in Washington in 1963 that he resolved to become a senator.But first, he would enlist. His father and most of his male relatives had fought in World War II, and Max did not want to miss the war of his generation. He joined the Army in 1965 and volunteered for Vietnam in 1967.On April 8, 1968, just days before his tour was to end, Capt. Cleland was on a rescue mission in the village of Khe Sanh when he noticed a hand grenade on the ground. He picked it up and it detonated, instantly severing his right leg and right arm; his left leg was amputated within the hour. He was later awarded the Bronze Star and a Silver Star for meritorious service.After recuperating at Walter Reed, he moved back to Georgia and at 28, became the youngest person elected to the Georgia State Senate, where he helped make public facilities accessible to people with disabilities.Mr. Cleland and President Jimmy Carter, who had named him head of the Veterans Administration, at a Veteran’s Day celebration in 1977.Teresa Zabala/The New York TimesPresident Jimmy Carter, a fellow Georgian, named him head of the Veterans Administration in 1977, and Mr. Cleland soon instituted psychological counseling for vets. After Mr. Carter lost the presidency, Mr. Cleland returned to Georgia and wrote about the challenges of being a triple amputee in a memoir, “Strong at the Broken Places” (1980), taking his title from Hemingway’s “A Farewell to Arms.” He also was a consultant on the movie “Coming Home” (1978), starring Jane Fonda and Jon Voight as a disabled Vietnam veteran.Mr. Cleland was elected secretary of state in Georgia and served for 14 years, until 1996, when Senator Sam Nunn of Georgia, a Democrat, announced his retirement. Mr. Cleland ran for the seat and narrowly defeated the businessman Guy Millner.In the Senate, Mr. Cleland was liberal on social issues and conservative on fiscal matters. He was a reliable vote for increased military spending but was wary of committing troops overseas. In 2001, he broke with Democrats to vote for tax cuts proposed by Mr. Bush, but by and large he went along with the Democratic agenda.With the Senate race in 2002 drawing national attention, President Bush, who was popular in Georgia, visited the state multiple times on behalf of Mr. Chambliss. By Election Day, polls showed Mr. Cleland retaining a small lead. But they failed to predict a huge turnout by rural white men, many of them angry that Gov. Roy Barnes, a Democrat, had removed the Confederate battle emblem from the state flag. Both Mr. Barnes and Mr. Cleland were tossed out of office.Mr. Cleland later taught at American University, in the same program that had inspired him as a youth. He served briefly on the 9/11 Commission before President Bush nominated him to a four-year term on the board of the Export-Import Bank.Through it all, Mr. Cleland commemorated the date of his accident, April 8, which he called his “Alive Day.”“He’d call me and say what he was grateful for,” Mr. Kerry said. “Usually it was his gratitude about his fellow vets.”Mr. Cleland left no immediate survivors but had maintained a circle of close friends. For the last three decades his caretaker was Linda Dean, who also managed his affairs.In 2009, President Barack Obama appointed Mr. Cleland secretary of the American Battle Monuments Commission, the federal agency that manages monuments and cemeteries in 17 countries honoring the tens of thousands of American servicemen and servicewomen buried overseas and the more than 95,000 troops missing in action in foreign wars.Mr. Cleland in Alabama in 2004, trying to build support for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry among veterans.Dave Martin/Associated PressMr. Cleland said in an interview with ABC News that he expected the job to give him “a sense of meaning and purpose.”He then quoted a line from a poem, “The Young Dead Soldiers Do Not Speak,” by Archibald MacLeish, in which the dead address the living: “We leave you our deaths: give them their meaning.”“It is really up to us, the living,” Mr. Cleland added, “to provide that meaning for those who have given their all for this country.” More

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    El experto militar en desinformación que formó parte de la turba del Capitolio

    #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }Capitol Riot FalloutVisual TimelineInside the SiegeNotable ArrestsThe Global Far RightAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyEl experto militar en desinformación que formó parte de la turba del CapitolioLa presencia en Washington de un exmiembro de la unidad Seal de la Armada que fue entrenado para identificar la desinformación refleja la política partidista que ayudó a provocar el asalto.Adam Newbold, exmiembro de las fuerzas de operaciones especiales de la Armada, se sentó en una motocicleta de la policía cerca de los escalones del Capitolio durante el asalto del 6 de enero. Newbold dice que no entró al edificio.Credit…William Turton28 de enero de 2021Actualizado 10:13 ETRead in EnglishEn las semanas transcurridas desde que Adam Newbold, exmiembro de la unidad Seal de la Armada, fue identificado como parte de la multitud enfurecida que asaltó el Capitolio el 6 de enero, ha sido entrevistado por el FBI y renunció, bajo presión, a sus puestos de trabajo como mentor y como entrenador de lucha libre voluntario. Cree que su negocio perderá importantes clientes por sus acciones.Pero nada de esto lo ha hecho cambiar su creencia, contra toda evidencia, de que las elecciones presidenciales de Estados Unidos fueron robadas y que gente como él tuvo razones para rebelarse.Es sorprendente porque los antecedentes de Newbold parecen blindarle mejor que a la mayoría contra el atractivo de las teorías de conspiración sin fundamento. En la Marina fue entrenado como experto para determinar lo que era información y detectar la desinformación, además formó parte de un comando clandestino que pasó años trabajando en inteligencia a la par de la CIA, y una vez se burló de la idea de los oscuros complots antidemocráticos.Sin embargo, al igual que otros miles de personas que acudieron a Washington este mes para apoyar al presidente Donald Trump, Newbold se creyó la teoría inventada de que las elecciones fueron amañadas por una oscura camarilla de poderosos liberales que llevaron a la nación al borde de la guerra civil. Nadie pudo convencerlo de lo contrario.Las fotos del Capitolio muestran a Newbold con una camiseta negra que tenía la frase “Nosotros, el pueblo” y a horcajadas sobre una motocicleta de la policía del Capitolio, a pocos pasos de donde los agentes se enfrentaban a los alborotadores.Newbold ha dicho que no entró en el Capitolio y que no ha sido acusado de ningún delito. Pero su presencia allí refleja el volátil brebaje de la política partidista y la desinformación viral que ayudó a provocar el asalto.Su visión del mundo queda clara en su cuenta de Facebook. En un video combativo lleno de improperios que publicó una semana antes de los disturbios, repitió afirmaciones desacreditadas pero que circularon ampliamente sobre las elecciones, diciendo que “es absolutamente increíble, existen montañas de pruebas sobre el fraude electoral y el fraude en la votación y las máquinas y las personas que votaron, hay muertos que votaron”. Cuando los comentaristas lo desafiaron, respondió con improperios y réplicas como “sí, sigue riendo, te vas a reír cuando te pisoteen”.Un aspecto sorprendente de la multitud iracunda que asaltó el Capitolio es que muchos de sus miembros no provenían de los márgenes de la sociedad estadounidense, sino de entornos de la clase media —como bomberos y agentes de bienes raíces, un ejecutivo de mercadeo y un miembro del Ayuntamiento— se trata de personas que fueron cautivadas por extrañas teorías de la conspiración. La presencia de Newbold mostró cuán persuasiva se había vuelto la historia de las elecciones amañadas.En teoría, su experiencia laboral debía convertirlo en un hombre difícil de engañar. Unos años antes, cuando ayudó a organizar un ejercicio de entrenamiento militar conocido como Jade Helm 15, estaba en el otro extremo de ese fervor infundado y potencialmente peligroso sobre un supuesto complot siniestro del gobierno, y se reía de eso.Sin embargo, después de los disturbios en el Capitolio expresó que no se había dejado engañar por las elecciones.“He estado en países de todo el mundo que están adoctrinados por la propaganda”, dijo Newbold en una larga entrevista telefónica la semana pasada, y agregó que sabía cómo se puede usar la desinformación para manipular a las masas. “No tengo dudas. Estoy convencido de que las elecciones no fueron libres y justas”.Dijo que creía que las élites anónimas habían logrado ejecutar un golpe manipulando el software electoral, y advirtió que el país todavía estaba al borde de la guerra.En un video de Facebook publicado el 5 de enero, Adam Newbold dijo que los simpatizantes de Trump como él deben respetar a la policía y a las tropas de la Guardia Nacional. Pero agregó: “Estamos muy preparados, somos muy capaces y somos patriotas muy hábiles que estamos listos para la pelea”.Credit…Facebook vía Associated PressNewbold, de 45 años, vive en las colinas rurales del este de Ohio, y es uno de los tres hermanos de su familia que se convirtieron en comandos de las fuerzas especiales SEAL de la Marina. Pasó 23 años en la fuerza de élite, según los registros de la Marina, incluyendo siete en la Reserva Naval, antes de retirarse como suboficial mayor en 2017. Recibió dos medallas de Elogio de la Marina por su valor en los despliegues de combate y varias por buena conducta.Un antiguo marine que sirvió con él en la Base Expedicionaria Conjunta Little Creek, en Virginia, dijo que Newbold era inteligente y tenía una buena reputación en los equipos SEAL, y que había trabajado con la CIA en tareas de recopilación de información.Tras su carrera en la Marina, Newbold se trasladó a la pequeña ciudad de Lisbon (Ohio), abrió una cafetería y fundó una empresa llamada Advanced Training Group que enseña tácticas al estilo de las fuerzas SEAL a miembros del ejército y de la policía, y mantiene un gimnasio y un club de tiro para los lugareños.A través de su empresa, se involucró en el diseño y la ejecución de Jade Helm 15, un ejercicio de entrenamiento militar de ocho semanas en Texas y otros estados del suroeste en el verano de 2015, que incluyó a más de mil tropas de operaciones especiales y convencionales que practicaban misiones simuladas, incluyendo el reconocimiento encubierto y las incursiones nocturnas.Cuando se filtró una diapositiva de PowerPoint que resumía el ejercicio, fue aprovechada por grupos marginales de Facebook y promotores profesionales de teorías conspirativas como Alex Jones, que comenzaron a afirmar que Jade Helm era un complot encubierto para que las tropas federales invadieran Texas, confiscaran las armas de los ciudadanos e impusieran la ley marcial. Circularon rumores infundados sobre “helicópteros negros” y tiendas Walmart que supuestamente se habían convertido en campos de detención.La tormenta de paranoia política suscitada por un simple ejercicio militar llegó a ser tan feroz que algunos miembros del Congreso empezaron a exigir respuestas, y el gobernador Greg Abbott ordenó a la Guardia Nacional de Texas que se mantuviera alerta.Al final, el ejercicio se desarrolló sin problemas. Newbold dijo que él y los otros exmiembros de las fuerzas de operaciones especiales que planearon el ejercicio de entrenamiento se rieron de la paranoia, e incluso hicieron camisetas que decían: “Fui a Jade Helm y lo único que obtuve fue este sombrero de papel de aluminio”.La semana pasada, reconoció que el frenesí de desinformación que rodea a Jade Helm podría haber sido letal. Los residentes locales en Texas habían estado asustados hasta el borde de la violencia. Tres hombres fueron arrestados después de planear atacar el ejercicio con bombas caseras.“De hecho, algunos agricultores y terratenientes amenazaron con disparar si alguien entraba en sus tierras, por lo que había preocupaciones reales”, dijo Newbold. “Es gracioso, pero es algo que debemos tomar en serio”.En ese momento, desestimó esa situación como desvaríos marginales, sin saber que era un precursor de las fantasías que llegaron a absorber a muchos más estadounidenses incluyendo a soldados, oficiales de policía, miembros del Congreso y un presidente en funciones, sin mencionar al mismo Newbold..css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-c7gg1r{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:0.875rem;line-height:0.875rem;margin-bottom:15px;color:#121212 !important;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-c7gg1r{font-size:0.9375rem;line-height:0.9375rem;}}.css-rqynmc{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:0.9375rem;line-height:1.25rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-rqynmc{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-rqynmc strong{font-weight:600;}.css-rqynmc em{font-style:italic;}.css-yoay6m{margin:0 auto 5px;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-yoay6m{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-1dg6kl4{margin-top:5px;margin-bottom:15px;}.css-16ed7iq{width:100%;display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;-webkit-box-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;justify-content:center;padding:10px 0;background-color:white;}.css-pmm6ed{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;}.css-pmm6ed > :not(:first-child){margin-left:5px;}.css-5gimkt{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:0.8125rem;font-weight:700;-webkit-letter-spacing:0.03em;-moz-letter-spacing:0.03em;-ms-letter-spacing:0.03em;letter-spacing:0.03em;text-transform:uppercase;color:#333;}.css-5gimkt:after{content:’Collapse’;}.css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transition:all 0.5s ease;transition:all 0.5s ease;-webkit-transform:rotate(180deg);-ms-transform:rotate(180deg);transform:rotate(180deg);}.css-eb027h{max-height:5000px;-webkit-transition:max-height 0.5s ease;transition:max-height 0.5s ease;}.css-6mllg9{-webkit-transition:all 0.5s ease;transition:all 0.5s ease;position:relative;opacity:0;}.css-6mllg9:before{content:”;background-image:linear-gradient(180deg,transparent,#ffffff);background-image:-webkit-linear-gradient(270deg,rgba(255,255,255,0),#ffffff);height:80px;width:100%;position:absolute;bottom:0px;pointer-events:none;}#masthead-bar-one{display:none;}#masthead-bar-one{display:none;}.css-1amoy78{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-1amoy78{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-1amoy78:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}.css-1amoy78[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-1amoy78[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-1amoy78[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-1amoy78[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-k9atqk{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-k9atqk strong{font-weight:700;}.css-k9atqk em{font-style:italic;}.css-k9atqk a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;border-bottom:1px solid #ccd9e3;}.css-k9atqk a:visited{color:#333;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;border-bottom:1px solid #ddd;}.css-k9atqk a:hover{border-bottom:none;}Capitol Riot FalloutFrom Riot to ImpeachmentThe riot inside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, followed a rally at which President Trump made an inflammatory speech to his supporters, questioning the results of the election. Here’s a look at what happened and the ongoing fallout:As this video shows, poor planning and a restive crowd encouraged by President Trump set the stage for the riot.A two hour period was crucial to turning the rally into the riot.Several Trump administration officials, including cabinet members Betsy DeVos and Elaine Chao, announced that they were stepping down as a result of the riot.Federal prosecutors have charged more than 70 people, including some who appeared in viral photos and videos of the riot. Officials expect to eventually charge hundreds of others.The House voted to impeach the president on charges of “inciting an insurrection” that led to the rampage by his supporters.Newbold es un republicano registrado desde hace tiempo que dijo haber votado por Trump. En los últimos cuatro años, a medida que la cobertura sobre el presidente por parte de los principales medios de comunicación se hizo más rigurosa, y el apoyo a veces estridente de Newbold en Facebook atrajo más reproches, emigró a fuentes de noticias y salas de chat que compartían sus puntos de vista.Para fines del otoño de 2020, pasaba tiempo en páginas privadas de Facebook donde proliferaban las charlas de extrema derecha. Publicaba largos videos, a menudo furiosos, sobre cómo se estaban robando al país. Parecía estar cada vez más convencido de que la gente estaba conspirando no solo en contra de Trump sino también en contra de la Constitución, y como veterano era su deber defenderla.Newbold comenzó a celebrar reuniones privadas en su club de tiro con otros miembros de ideas afines, según un exmiembro que dijo que dejó de asistir porque se sintió alarmado ante el creciente extremismo.“Se convirtió en algo muy parecido a una secta”, dijo el exmiembro, que habló con la condición de mantener su anonimato por temor a represalias. “Intenté razonar con él, mostrarle los hechos, y estalló como un loco”.Después de las elecciones de noviembre sus publicaciones de Facebook que pronosticaban una guerra preocuparon a algunas personas en Lisbon, al punto de que al menos una dijo que alertó al FBI.La semana pasada, cuando habló sobre sus convicciones, Newbold desestimó las docenas de decisiones judiciales que rechazan las impugnaciones a los resultados de las elecciones y se encogió de hombros ante los obstáculos logísticos para manipular una elección realizada por funcionarios independientes en más de 3000 condados. Sin citar ninguna prueba, sugirió que era ingenuo asumir que los resultados no habían sido manipulados.En un largo video publicado a finales de diciembre, el exmiembro de los Seal predijo una toma del poder por parte de los comunistas si la gente no se levantaba para detenerla. “Cuando las cosas empiezan a ponerse violentas, entonces estoy en mi elemento”, dijo en el video. “Y defenderé este país. Y hay muchas otras personas que también lo harán”.Una semana después, Newbold organizó a un grupo de empleados de su empresa, miembros del club y simpatizantes para viajar en caravana a Washington, y se unió a la multitud que ondeaba banderas camino al Capitolio el 6 de enero.En un video publicado esa noche, dijo que los miembros de su grupo habían estado en la “primera línea” de los disturbios. “Chicos, estarían orgullosos”, narró Newbold para sus espectadores. “No sé cuándo fue la última vez que asaltaron el Capitolio. Pero eso es lo que ocurrió. Fue histórico, fue necesario”. Añadió que los miembros del Congreso estaban “temblando de miedo”.En la entrevista de la semana pasada, Newbold trató de restarle importancia a su participación en los sucesos del Capitolio. Dijo que se sentó en la moto de la policía solo para alejar a los vándalos y que había viajado a Washington no para incitar a la violencia, sino para proteger el Capitolio de los liberales furiosos, en caso de que el Senado accediera a suspender la certificación de la elección.Tras el ataque al Capitolio, borró algunos de sus mensajes más incendiarios en internet. Pero lo ocurrido en Washington no parece haber logrado que cuestione sus creencias. Dijo que estaba seguro de que las elecciones fueron robadas y que el país estaba en camino hacia una autocracia global.Y en un video publicado seis días después de los disturbios, cuando se supo que habían fallecido algunas personas, Newbold dijo que en el Capitolio había sentido “un sentimiento de orgullo por el hecho de que los estadounidenses por fin se levantaron”. No descartó recurrir a la violencia.“No me disculpo por ser un hombre rudo dispuesto a hacer cosas rudas en situaciones rudas”, dijo. “A veces es absolutamente necesario, y lo ha sido a lo largo de nuestra historia”.Dave Philipps cubre temas sobre los veteranos y los militares, y ganó el Premio Pulitzer de Reportajes Nacionales. Desde que comenzó a trabajar en el Times, en 2014, ha cubierto la comunidad militar. @David_Philipps • FacebookAdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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    From Navy SEAL to Part of the Angry Mob Outside the Capitol

    #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }Capitol Riot FalloutVisual TimelineInside the SiegeNotable ArrestsThe Global Far RightAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyFrom Navy SEAL to Part of the Angry Mob Outside the CapitolThe presence in Washington of a longtime member of the Navy SEALs who was trained to identify misinformation reflects the partisan politics that helped lead to the assault.Adam Newbold, a former member of the Navy SEALs, sat on a police motorcycle near the steps of the Capitol during the riot on Jan. 6. Mr. Newbold says he didn’t enter the building.Credit…William TurtonJan. 26, 2021, 5:00 a.m. ETIn the weeks since Adam Newbold, a former member of the Navy SEALs, was identified as part of the enraged crowd that descended on the Capitol on Jan. 6, he has been interviewed by the F.B.I. and has resigned under pressure from jobs as a mentor and as a volunteer wrestling coach. He expects his business to lose major customers over his actions.But none of it has shaken his belief, against all evidence, that the presidential election was stolen and that people like him were right to rise up.It is surprising because Mr. Newbold’s background would seem to armor him better than most against the lure of baseless conspiracy theories. In the Navy, he was trained as an expert in sorting information from disinformation, a clandestine commando who spent years working in intelligence paired with the C.I.A., and he once mocked the idea of shadowy antidemocratic plots as “tinfoil hat” thinking.Even so, like thousands of others who surged to Washington this month to support President Donald J. Trump, Mr. Newbold bought into the fabricated theory that the election was rigged by a shadowy cabal of liberal power brokers who had pushed the nation to the precipice of civil war. No one could persuade him otherwise.Photos from the Capitol show Mr. Newbold wearing a black “We the People” T-shirt and straddling a Capitol Police motorcycle, just a few steps from where officers were battling with rioters.Mr. Newbold says he did not enter the Capitol, and he has not been charged with any crimes. But his presence there reflects the volatile brew of partisan politics and viral misinformation that helped lead to the assault.Mr. Newbold’s worldview is plain from his Facebook account. In a combative video laden with expletives that he posted a week before the riot, he repeated debunked but widely circulated claims about the election, saying that “it is absolutely unbelievable, the mountains of evidence of election fraud and voter fraud and machines and people who voted, dead people who voted.” When commenters challenged him, he responded with expletives and rejoinders like “Yeah keep laughing, you’re going to be laughing when you’re stomped down.”One striking aspect of the angry crowd at the Capitol was how many of its members seemed to come not from the fringes of American society but from white picket-fence Main Street backgrounds — firefighters and real estate agents, a marketing executive and a Town Council member, all captivated by flimsy conspiracy theories. Mr. Newbold’s presence showed just how persuasive the rigged-election story had grown.His experience ought to have made him hard to fool. A few years earlier, he had been on the receiving end of the same kind of baseless and potentially dangerous fervor about a supposed sinister government plot that became known as Jade Helm.Even after the Capitol riot, though, he expressed certainty that he had not been fooled.“I’ve been to countries all over the world that are indoctrinated by propaganda,” Mr. Newbold said in a long telephone interview last week, adding that he knew how misinformation could be used to manipulate the masses. “I have no doubts; I’m convinced that the election was not free and fair.”He said he believed that unnamed elites had quietly pulled off a coup by manipulating election software, and warned that the country was still on the precipice of war.In a Facebook video posted on Jan. 5, Adam Newbold said pro-Trump demonstrators like himself should respect the police and National Guard troops. But he added, “We are just very prepared, very capable, and very skilled patriots ready for a fight.Credit…Facebook, via Associated PressMr. Newbold, 45, lives in the rural hills of eastern Ohio, and is one of three brothers who all became Navy SEAL commandos. He spent 23 years in the elite force, Navy records show, including seven in the Naval Reserves, before retiring as a senior chief petty officer in 2017. He was given two Navy Commendation medals for valor in combat deployments, and several others for good conduct.A former SEAL who served with him at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek in Virginia said Mr. Newbold was smart and had a good reputation in the SEAL teams, and had worked with the C.I.A. on intelligence gathering.After the Navy, Mr. Newbold moved to the small town of Lisbon, Ohio, opened a coffee shop and started a company called Advanced Training Group that taught SEAL-style tactics to members of the military and the police, and maintained a gym and shooting club for locals.Through his company, he got involved in helping to design and conduct an eight-week military exercise in Texas and other border states in the summer of 2015 that was called Jade Helm 15.When a PowerPoint slide summarizing the exercise was leaked, it was seized upon by fringe Facebook groups and professional conspiracy-theory promoters like Alex Jones, who began claiming that Jade Helm was a covert plot to have federal troops invade Texas, seize citizens’ guns and impose martial law. Baseless rumors circulated about “black helicopters” and Walmart stores that had supposedly been turned into detention camps.The storm of political paranoia whipped up over a straightforward military exercise became so fierce that some members of Congress, who later questioned the election of Joseph R. Biden Jr., began demanding answers, and Gov. Greg Abbott directed the Texas National Guard to keep watch.In the end, the exercise went off without a hitch. Mr. Newbold said in the interview that he and the other former special operators who planned the training exercise laughed at the paranoia, and even made T-shirts saying “I went to Jade Helm and all I got was this tinfoil hat.”Last week, he acknowledged that the frenzy of misinformation surrounding Jade Helm could have been lethal. Local residents in Texas had been scared to the edge of violence. Three men were arrested after planning to attack the exercise with pipe bombs.“There were actually some farmers and landowners who were making threats that if anyone was on their land, they would shoot them, so there were real concerns,” Mr. Newbold said. “It’s funny, but it’s stuff we have to take seriously.”.css-1xzcza9{list-style-type:disc;padding-inline-start:1em;}.css-c7gg1r{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:0.875rem;line-height:0.875rem;margin-bottom:15px;color:#121212 !important;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-c7gg1r{font-size:0.9375rem;line-height:0.9375rem;}}.css-rqynmc{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:0.9375rem;line-height:1.25rem;color:#333;margin-bottom:0.78125rem;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-rqynmc{font-size:1.0625rem;line-height:1.5rem;margin-bottom:0.9375rem;}}.css-rqynmc strong{font-weight:600;}.css-rqynmc em{font-style:italic;}.css-yoay6m{margin:0 auto 5px;font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-weight:700;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.3125rem;color:#121212;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-yoay6m{font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.4375rem;}}.css-1dg6kl4{margin-top:5px;margin-bottom:15px;}.css-16ed7iq{width:100%;display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;-webkit-box-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;justify-content:center;padding:10px 0;background-color:white;}.css-pmm6ed{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;}.css-pmm6ed > :not(:first-child){margin-left:5px;}.css-5gimkt{font-family:nyt-franklin,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;font-size:0.8125rem;font-weight:700;-webkit-letter-spacing:0.03em;-moz-letter-spacing:0.03em;-ms-letter-spacing:0.03em;letter-spacing:0.03em;text-transform:uppercase;color:#333;}.css-5gimkt:after{content:’Collapse’;}.css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transition:all 0.5s ease;transition:all 0.5s ease;-webkit-transform:rotate(180deg);-ms-transform:rotate(180deg);transform:rotate(180deg);}.css-eb027h{max-height:5000px;-webkit-transition:max-height 0.5s ease;transition:max-height 0.5s ease;}.css-6mllg9{-webkit-transition:all 0.5s ease;transition:all 0.5s ease;position:relative;opacity:0;}.css-6mllg9:before{content:”;background-image:linear-gradient(180deg,transparent,#ffffff);background-image:-webkit-linear-gradient(270deg,rgba(255,255,255,0),#ffffff);height:80px;width:100%;position:absolute;bottom:0px;pointer-events:none;}#masthead-bar-one{display:none;}#masthead-bar-one{display:none;}.css-1amoy78{background-color:white;border:1px solid #e2e2e2;width:calc(100% – 40px);max-width:600px;margin:1.5rem auto 1.9rem;padding:15px;box-sizing:border-box;}@media (min-width:740px){.css-1amoy78{padding:20px;width:100%;}}.css-1amoy78:focus{outline:1px solid #e2e2e2;}.css-1amoy78[data-truncated] .css-rdoyk0{-webkit-transform:rotate(0deg);-ms-transform:rotate(0deg);transform:rotate(0deg);}.css-1amoy78[data-truncated] .css-eb027h{max-height:300px;overflow:hidden;-webkit-transition:none;transition:none;}.css-1amoy78[data-truncated] .css-5gimkt:after{content:’See more’;}.css-1amoy78[data-truncated] .css-6mllg9{opacity:1;}.css-k9atqk{margin:0 auto;overflow:hidden;}.css-k9atqk strong{font-weight:700;}.css-k9atqk em{font-style:italic;}.css-k9atqk a{color:#326891;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;border-bottom:1px solid #ccd9e3;}.css-k9atqk a:visited{color:#333;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;border-bottom:1px solid #ddd;}.css-k9atqk a:hover{border-bottom:none;}Capitol Riot FalloutFrom Riot to ImpeachmentThe riot inside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, followed a rally at which President Trump made an inflammatory speech to his supporters, questioning the results of the election. Here’s a look at what happened and the ongoing fallout:As this video shows, poor planning and a restive crowd encouraged by President Trump set the stage for the riot.A two hour period was crucial to turning the rally into the riot.Several Trump administration officials, including cabinet members Betsy DeVos and Elaine Chao, announced that they were stepping down as a result of the riot.Federal prosecutors have charged more than 70 people, including some who appeared in viral photos and videos of the riot. Officials expect to eventually charge hundreds of others.The House voted to impeach the president on charges of “inciting an insurrection” that led to the rampage by his supporters.At the time, Mr. Newbold dismissed what he had witnessed as fringe ravings, not knowing it was a forerunner of the fantasies that came to suck in many more Americans, including military troops, police officers, members of Congress and a sitting president — not to mention Mr. Newbold.Mr. Newbold is a longtime registered Republican who said he voted for Mr. Trump. In the past four years, as mainstream media coverage of the president grew harsher, and Mr. Newbold’s sometimes strident support on Facebook drew more rebukes, he migrated to news sources and chat rooms that shared his views.By the late fall of 2020, he was spending time on private Facebook pages where far-right chatter proliferated. He posted long, often angry video soliloquies about how the country was being stolen. He seemed to become increasingly convinced that people were plotting not just against Mr. Trump but against the Constitution, and as a veteran it was his duty to defend it.Mr. Newbold began holding private meetings at his shooting club with other like-minded members, according to a former member who said he quit because he was alarmed at the growing extremism.“It became super cultlike,” said the former member, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was afraid of retaliation. “I tried to reason with him, show him facts, and he just went nuclear.”After the November election, Mr. Newbold’s Facebook posts predicting a coming war worried some people in Lisbon to the point that at least one said she alerted the F.B.I.Last week when discussing his beliefs, Mr. Newbold dismissed the dozens of court decisions rejecting challenges to the election results, and shrugged off the logistical obstacles to rigging an election conducted by independent officials in more than 3,000 counties. Without citing evidence, he suggested it was naïve to assume the results had not been rigged.In a long video posted late in December, the former member of the SEALs predicted a communist takeover if people did not rise up to stop it. “Once things start going violent, then I’m in my element,” he said in the video. “And I will defend this country. And there’s a lot of other people that will too.”A week later, Mr. Newbold organized a group of his company’s employees, club members and supporters to travel in a caravan to Washington, and joined the flag-waving crowd that surged toward the Capitol on Jan. 6.In a video posted that evening, he is seen saying that members of his group had been on the “very front lines” of the unrest. “Guys, you would be proud,” Mr. Newbold tells his viewers. “I don’t know when the last time you stormed the Capitol was. But that’s what happened. It was historic, it was necessary.” He adds that members of Congress were “shaking in their shoes.”In the interview last week, Mr. Newbold sought to downplay his involvement in the events at the Capitol. He said that he sat on the police motorcycle only to keep vandals away from it, and that he had traveled to Washington not to incite violence but to protect the Capitol from angry liberals in the event that the Senate agreed to stop the certification of the election. After the attack on the Capitol, he deleted some of his more incendiary online posts. But what happened in Washington has apparently not prompted him to question his beliefs. He said that he was still sure the election had been stolen and that the country was on a path toward global autocracy.And in a video posted six days after the riot, when it was known that people had died, Mr. Newbold said that at the Capitol he had felt “a sense of pride that Americans were finally standing up.” He did not rule out turning to violence himself.“I make no apologies for being a rough man ready to do rough things in rough situations,” he said. “It is absolutely necessary at times, and has been throughout our history.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More