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Opinion
The following is presented as part of The Columbian’s Opinion content, which offers a point of view in order to provoke thought and debate of civic issues. Opinions represent the viewpoint of the author. Unsigned editorials represent the consensus opinion of The Columbian’s editorial board, which operates independently of the news department.
Five leaders of the Oath Keepers, a right-wing militia that played a leading role in storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, went on trial recently in Washington.
The defendants, including Stewart Rhodes, the Yale-educated lawyer who founded the group, were charged with “seditious conspiracy”: plotting to attack the federal government by force to prevent Congress from certifying the 2020 presidential election.
Prosecutors said Rhodes and others planned the assault on the Capitol, ordered their troops to bring “zombie killer tomahawks” and other weapons and stockpiled guns in hotels in case the battle escalated.
“We aren’t getting through this without a civil war,” Rhodes told his followers in a text message, according to his indictment. The trial, the first of several planned for ringleaders of the insurrection, has high stakes. It’s the highest-profile prosecution so far in the Justice Department’s massive Jan. 6 dragnet.
It’s a rare use of “seditious conspiracy,” the U.S. equivalent of a domestic terrorism law, a charge that dates back to the Civil War. The defendants aren’t accused of committing violent acts but of organizing the squad that did.
And it may have crippled the Oath Keepers, a 13-year-old militia recruited largely from military veterans and law enforcement officers that styled itself as the armed vanguard of the militant right.
“As an organization, the Oath Keepers have lost a lot of steam from this,” said Jon Lewis, a terrorism scholar at George Washington University. “Members have distanced themselves from the leadership. Their brand has become toxic.”
But the prosecutions haven’t put a perceptible dent in right-wing extremism. For example, the Proud Boys, whose leader, Enrique Tarrio, and four lieutenants are scheduled to go on trial on similar charges. The Proud Boys appear to be expanding.
“Their leadership has been decimated, but we’ve seen increased activity at a local level,” Oren Segal of the Anti-Defamation League told me. “They keep adding new chapters … and their agenda has diversified; they’re showing up at school board meetings and campaigning on LGBTQ issues.”
The militant right has survived Jan. 6 in other forms too. Based on public opinion surveys, about 18 million Americans believe violence is justified to restore Trump to the White House, Robert Pape of the University of Chicago estimates.
Terrorism scholars say the extremist right is surviving not on the strength of its organizations but on a powerful narrative that appeals to millions of discontented conservatives.
A key part of that narrative is the conviction, fed by Trump and his allies, that Democrats stole the 2020 election and will continue using illegitimate means to prevent conservatives from winning.
Now add one more phenomenon, something scholars call “stochastic terrorism”: seemingly random, lone-wolf attacks inspired by the statements of leaders like Trump.
“Some people’s response to those messages is not ‘I should go vote.’ It’s ‘I should pick up my gun and head for the nearest federal building,’ ” Lewis said.
If Republican leaders, including Trump, don’t intend that to be the effect of their words, there’s a simple remedy: They could denounce violence in all its forms — including the violence of Trump supporters on Jan. 6.
Too often, they don’t.
Their political winking at violence makes a difficult task — fighting domestic terrorism while respecting civil liberties — harder.
“It’s impossible for law enforcement to chase down every right-wing extremist who posts messages on the internet and also owns a firearm,” said Lewis. All of which means this wave of violent extremism on the right is far from over.
Before the 2020 election, Trump was asked what his message was for the Proud Boys, who were issuing threats of violence.
His answer was indulgent. “Stand back and stand by,” he said.
As congressional elections approach next month, and a presidential campaign soon after, they are standing by again.
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