President Joe Biden has directed law enforcement and intelligence officials in his administration to study the threat of domestic violent extremism in the United States, an undertaking being launched weeks after a mob of insurgents loyal to Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol.
The disclosure Friday by White House press secretary Jen Psaki is a stark acknowledgment of the national security threat that officials see as posed by American extremists motivated to violence by radical ideology. The involvement of the director of national intelligence, an office created after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to prevent international terrorism, suggests that American authorities are examining how to pivot to a more concerted focus on violence from extremists at home.
The Republicans had a shit fit in 2009 when there was a report about the terror threat from white supremacists, because, well, hell, that's part of their base. That became clearer during Trump's 2016 campaign and then his presidency, when white hate groups felt empowered by Trump. He damn near had to be prodded at gunpoint to denounce the Tiki Torch nazis in 2017. When his supporters invaded the Capitol in an attempt to stage a coup. Trump was watching on TV, with rapt attention. He did nothing to stop them until it was obvious that the coup had failed.
So be prepared for Republicans and self-styled conservatives to have lots of butthurt over this.
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