Far-right groups want to create chaos during the US elections

Seth Jones has spent two decades mapping the threats posed by terrorist groups in the United States. He is an expert on global terrorism, al-Qaeda, IS and the jihadist movement in Pakistan and Afghanistan. But since the anti-Semitic attack on a synagogue in Pittsburgh two years ago, he has devoted much more time to another acute domestic threat: right-wing extremists.

– The threat image of jihad is not non-existent, but it has definitely started to fade here in the US The biggest threat now is right-wing extremists, Seth Jones, a researcher at the think tank CSIS, tells DN.

Already during the first years of Barack Obama’s presidency, US intelligence services noted that white power groups and right-wing extremists had begun to mobilize for a historic offensive.

FBI: Director Chris Wray He has said in recent years that white power terrorism is the greatest domestic political threat in the United States.

A recent report from the think tank CSIS shows that violence and threats from right-wing extremists have increased during the year. In terms of political violence overall, right-wing extremists accounted for 63 percent of the country’s terror attacks and political violence, including plans that were revealed but never carried out. This year, that number has risen to 90 percent, according to CSIS.

Since the terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001, right-wing extremist violence has killed more than twice as many Americans as Islamist terrorism in the United States. Last year, right-wing extremists in the United States accounted for 38 politically motivated killings.

The image of the threat became very concrete in early October. The FBI then arrested thirteen right-wing extremist men suspected of a large-scale conspiracy to try to kidnap and assassinate two of America’s most prominent Democrats: State Governors Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and Ralph Northam of Virginia.

According to the FBI, their goal was to “provoke a civil war”. The plan for the kidnapping attempt was detailed and brutal. Among other things, they would blow up a bridge to prevent the police from reaching the site of the attempted kidnapping. The suspected men have ties to two of the known right-wing extremist militia groups. These groups are now planning, according to America’s leading right-wing extremism experts, to coordinate violent terrorist attacks to create chaos before, during and after Election Day on November 3.

Now we see signs that they are beginning to organize and coordinate actions between different groups of militias that communicate with each other.

– The internal terrorism of right-wing extremists has been widespread and decentralized for a long time. Most of the attacks have been perpetrated by individuals or small groups. But now we see signs that they are beginning to organize and coordinate actions between different militia groups communicating with each other in different parts of the country, Seth Jones tells DN.

Believe there are three factors which contributed to an increase in threats of violence from right-wing extremists. On the one hand, the crown pandemic and the extensive restrictions imposed by state governments, which have created outrage among traditional and anti-state militia groups. In part, the Black Lives Matter protests, which caused a rebound effect among white power activists. Finally, President Donald Trump himself has inspired right-wing extremists, as he has always avoided distancing himself from far-right groups and, in many cases, has made statements that have been interpreted as calls for violence by the parties. militias.

– Trump’s electoral victory raised issues involving right-wing extremists, such as immigration and alleged threats from a radical left. Right-wing extremists used to distance themselves from both Republicans and Democrats, but now we see more far-right groups clearly supporting Trump and calling themselves “Trump warriors,” says Jones.

In normal cases it decreases far-right activism in the United States when a Republican becomes president, in part because they are less likely to restrict the right to bear arms. But Donald Trump is an exception. In a series of comments, he has flirted with and defended right-wing extremists. In the first televised debate against Joe Biden, which was watched by 70 million Americans, he seemed to portray the far-right Proud Boys as allies in the fight against the Democrats. Proud Boy leaders, among other things, have praised fascist dictators like Pinochet and speak openly about the start of a new civil war.

The Proud Boys have interpreted Trump’s statement as a clear sign that they are right and proof that he views their fight as legitimate.

– The Proud Boys have always been considered Trump’s unofficial army of brown shirts. Now they have interpreted his statement as a clear signal that they are right and proof that Trump sees his fight as legitimate. For them, this has been the best month in their history, says Vegas Tenold, who includes American right-wing extremists in the human rights organization Anti-Defamation League.

He sees the kidnapping attempts in Michigan and Virginia as a sign that far-right activism may be entering a new phase.

– Shows that extremist groups are more motivated to act. Rhetoric has been turned into action, says Tenold.

this is not the first time The United States suffers from violent conflicts between groups on the extreme right and the left. In the 1960s and 1970s, right-wing extremist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, as well as anarchists and left-wing extremists such as Weather Underground participated in violent terrorist acts. In 1995, far-right Timothy McVeigh bombed federal buildings in Oklahoma City.

But one difference now is, according to the experts DN spoke with, that the supply of heavy weapons is much higher. In several states that play crucial roles in the presidential elections, such as Arizona and Texas, there has been a dramatic increase in gun sales during the year.

– We often see during these conflicts that militia groups have been more heavily armed than the police. Many of the members of the military are current or former police and military, so they have a lot of practice shooting, building bombs and fighting. Create a new kind of challenge for police to control actions, says Seth Jones.

However, experts believe DN does not say that the militias managed to disrupt the current presidential election in a way that significantly affects the outcome.

– There have been reports of right-wing militias and extremists coming together to work in polling stations on Election Day. But it is not as easy as they think to cheat in the elections. A lot of people seem to think they can sit in a polling station and throw away all the votes they don’t like, but it’s not that simple, says Vegas Tenold.

Rather, the risk is that right-wing extremist militias form a national network that could act as a paramilitary force if Trump tried to remain president, without winning the election.

– If Trump wins the election, we will probably see widespread chaos in big cities, like this summer but more explosive. If Biden wins, we would rather see a wave of isolated long-term terrorist incidents, with shootings and homemade bombs against elected officials, especially those who are not white, Jewish, Muslim, Hispanic or black.