Danger Of Domestic Terrorism
In Trump’s post-presidency, he is still actively pushing “the big lie” that the election he lost by more than seven million votes was “stolen” — a contention that didn’t hold water in the nation’s courts. The GOP is not just standing by Trump as he perpetuates a falsehood that stoked deadly violence in the nation’s capital and led tech companies to remove his social media megaphone, they’re continuing to make him the star of the show.
Meanwhile, pro-Trump conspiracy theories like Q-Anon are running rampant in the GOP, with some supporters of the former president still holding onto hope that he’ll be reinstalled via a coup. Along these lines, QAnon adherents have disseminated a bizarre theory that Trump would be reinstated on March 4, prompting warnings from law enforcement on the potential for further violence in Washington on the date.
In short, the Trump personality cult has reached toxic heights in 2021.
When true believers form groups, they are easy to keep track of. There are a lot of intragroup communications which can be intercepted. Informants can be recruited. Undercover agents can join the groups and report their plans. So you kinda want organized opposition groups.
What you don’t want are what are known as lone wolves. These are individuals who operate on their own. There are no communications because they aren’t communicating with anyone. There is no group to infiltrate because they don’t have fellow conspirators. They exist in their own little dark little worlds stewing about perceived injustices and plotting violent revenge on the people or groups that they blame for those injustices.
Lone wolves sound pretty harmless. How much damage can one person do?
Well, let’s take a look.
Timothy McVeigh killed 168 people when he blew up the Murrah building in Oklahoma City. Stephen Paddock killed 60 people and wounded 411 when he opened fire on a crowd attending a concert in Las Vegas. And then we have all the school shootings committed by lone gunmen which killed or injured a total of 356 people.
So one person can do a lot of damage. And they are nearly impossible to find and stop before they kill anyone.
Here’s why I’m worried. Trump has been dropping a lot of hints that he plans to run for president again in 2024. We have already seen that he considers violence to be an acceptable election tool.
Now imagine him running. Instead of militias and right wing groups marching through the streets, we could have a lot of aggrieved Trump supporters who are willing to do anything, including murder, to make sure that he wins.
How do you keep track of them? How do you prepare for their violence? How do you protect opposing candidates? How do you protect voters?
When you don’t know what the violence will be or where it will come from, you can’t prepare. You can’t protect society.
And for those of you who are hoping that Trump will be convicted and jailed for his crimes, take a moment to imagine the amount of violence th
