Morning Briefing: 'Violent Far-Right Extremists' Threat to U.S. Electrical Grid
Morning Briefing: 'Violent Far-Right Extremists' Threat to U.S. Electrical Grid
'Violent far-right extremists' are the most likely threat to the United States electrical grid, according to a new report.
Morning Briefing: Domestic violent extremists (DVE) represent a threat to critical infrastructure, and research “indicates that violent far-right extremists are the most likely DVEs to physically attack the transmission grid and cause the most damage,” and the “two submovements demonstrating the greatest intent and capacity to carry out physical attacks against the transmission grid are white supremacists and militia extremists,” according to a new report published by the New Lines Institute.
Ahead of the 2024 presidential election campaign, “conspiracy theories that demonized Donald Trump’s enemies are morphing and spreading as the front-runner for the 2024 Republican nomination aims for a return to the White House,” and experts are warning that “the threat of politically motivated violence will intensify.”
Far right extremists have reportedly been “hijacking the national debate in the United States around the Israel-Gaza war to call for violence, division and recruitment of mainstream audiences,” according to researchers and experts.
At the Wisconsin state Capitol grounds, a group of neo-Nazis staged a protest while “waving swastika flags and chanting antisemitic rhetoric.” The group reportedly wore “red shirts identifying them as members of Blood Tribe,” a New England-based White Supremacists neo-Nazi group.
The Democratic Party offices in Belknap County, New Hampshire “was vandalized with antisemitic and white supremacist symbols and messages amid reports by watchdog groups of increases in antisemitic and other bias incidents in the U.S.”
The New Hampshire Attorney General’s office filed an appeal with the New Hampshire Supreme Court related to a case involving the Nationalist Social Club (NSC-131), the White Supremacist neo-Nazi group, “arguing Rockingham Superior Court Judge David Ruoff erred when he dismissed the state’s Civil Rights case citing the First Amendment right to political speech.”
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Dani Anguiano reports that the “Shasta county elections office was prepared for a night unlike any other. On the evening of this November’s special election, sheriff’s deputies stood inside as workers processed ballots that would decide a school board race and the fate of a proposed fire department. Security guards were stationed outside the building in Redding, the county seat, while across Shasta, observers from the California secretary of state’s office had come to ensure the election ran smoothly. Before 2020, a special election in the small northern California county of 180,000 would never have attracted this level of attention – or concern. But this rural region has risen to national prominence for its far-right politics, particularly after local officials, driven by lies about election fraud, opted to throw out Dominion voting machines and order the creation of a hand-count system.” [The Guardian]
Brock Bahler writes that Benjamin Netanyahu’s rhetoric “resonates with American Christians who, since 9/11 (and even more so since 2016), have been fed a steady stream of portrayals of Muslims as terrorists and barbarians such that, even in 2021, 74% of Republicans and 50% of all Americans agreed with the statement: ‘Islam is at odds with American values and ways of life.’ In other words, to be an American is to be a Christian. Therefore, since Muslims are portrayed as enemies of civilization—i.e. as enemies-of-Christ—a significant percentage of Americans are inspired by Netanyahu’s religious rhetoric, imagining themselves as mutually engaged in defending Western [Christian] Civilization. That Netanyahu is neither Christian nor American only emphasizes how thoroughly the transition has been made to the barbarian/civilized secular framework. The utilization of religious rhetoric for political power and the justification of violence reveals how those privileged by a colonialist history tend to read themselves into the Bible as the main characters, as virtuous, as saviors.” [Religion Dispatches]
Steven Monacelli reports that an “examination of campaign finance records shows that dozens of ultraconservative school board candidates around the state have been backed by PACs that collectively employ a handful of conservative political consulting firms. Viewed together, the connections among these individuals and organizations reveal a network of major funders and political operatives focused on winning control of the state’s local school boards. The strategy this network employs has been trumpeted in the right-wing press as a blueprint for school board takeovers: Create a PAC, endorse candidates willing to run on politicized issues, hire a consulting firm with ties to the Republican Party, raise enough to outspend opponents, and if victory is secured, pass policies that align with statewide party priorities. The biggest known backers of this network are conservative billionaires who generally don’t live in the districts being targeted but all of whom support school privatization efforts.” [Texas Observer]
What to expect from Radical Reports: Morning Briefing provides a daily round-up of reporting on the Radical Right; Extremist Links offers a weekly round-up of extremists activities including the white supremacist and militia movements; Narratives of the Right delivers weekly analysis of the current narratives in far right online spaces and promoted by right-wing media; and Research Desk provides monthly highlights research and analysis from academia on the Radical Right.
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