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Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos
We've known for some time that Donald Trump's presidency unleashed a tide of right-wing domestic terrorism that was especially notable for its increasingly lethal effects in its first three years. Now, thanks to a government intelligence report, we know that the final year of his tenure featured a continuation of this trend, though with a different emphasis.
<p>The report, from <a href="https://www.jric.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">the Joint Regional Intelligence Center</a> and distributed to law enforcement officials around the nation by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), says that right-wing extremists were responsible for the majority of fatal domestic terrorist attacks in 2020. Even though anti-government violence and civil unrest was the product of "non-affiliated, left-wing and right-wing actors," the report found, "right-wing [domestic violent extremists] were responsible for the majority of fatal attacks in the Homeland in 2020."</p><script id="3d14008d7e044c36b256c61ff82728bb">
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</script><p>As <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/right-wing-extremists-responsible-for-majority-of-deadly-terrorist-attacks-181352019.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">Jana Winter at Yahoo News</a> observes, the report marks a shift from the Trump administration's <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/01/us/politics/trump-homeland-security-extremism.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">long-running record</a> of downplaying the threat of far-right terrorism. A <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/9/12/1976976/-Whistleblower-reveals-how-Trump-has-unleashed-another-plague-white-supremacist-terrorism" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">whistleblower's complaint in 2020</a> revealed that Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II, DHS' second-highest-ranking official, issued orders to modify intelligence assessments so as to make the white supremacist threat "appear less severe." He also wanted the assessments to include information on "left-wing" groups and antifa.</p><div class="inarticle_ad_placeholder" data-aa-adunit="/5931858/NatMemo_RM/NatMemo_Middle_Desktop_2" data-aaad="true"></div>
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<div id="vid"></div><p>The JRIC's analysis was based partially on data provided by <a href="https://acleddata.com/special-projects/us-crisis-monitor/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">U.S. Crisis Monitor</a>, an organization with a full set of <a href="https://acleddata.com/acleddatanew/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/ACLED_BDI_USCM2020Release_2021.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">data on political violence</a> that includes reporting on various protests around the nation.</p><p>Much of the most lethal domestic terrorism <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/11/19/1997002/-Michigan-militia-plot-Plan-A-involved-takeover-of-Capitol-followed-by-televised-executions" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">during the Trump years</a> was the work of "lone wolf" extremists who committed mass killings on behalf of various far-right causes. That situation shifted noticeably in 2020 due mainly to the COVID-19 pandemic, which reduced opportunities and targets for such terrorism—and also created new opportunities amid protests over public health restrictions and police brutality, the latter of which were left-wing protests that attracted far-right terrorists intent on amplifying the protest violence.</p><div class="inarticle_ad_placeholder" data-aa-adunit="/5931858/NatMemo_RM/NatMemo_Middle_Desktop_3" data-aaad="true"></div><p>The most stark example of this was "Boogaloo Boi" <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/6/17/1953901/-Bay-Area-Boogaloo-Bois-charged-with-ambush-of-federal-officers-at-anti-police-protest" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" title="">Steven Carrillo's shooting</a> of two federal officers at the scene of an Oakland anti-police protest in June. Less than a week later, Carrillo also shot and killed a sheriff's deputy attempting to arrest him.</p><p>Since the report only included data on fatal incidents, it did not include any of the many cases of far-right domestic terrorism in 2020 that involved preemptive arrests of would-be terrorists. This includes the arrests in early 2020 of members of neo-Nazi terrorism squads <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/1/16/1911985/-FBI-nabs-Canadian-neo-Nazi-reservist-two-others-preparing-for-violence-at-Virginia-Boogaloo" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Base</a> and <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/2/26/1922302/-FBI-busts-Atomwaffen-terrorists-around-the-country-for-targeting-journalists" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Atomwaffen Division</a> (members of these organizations were <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/10/29/1990895/-Michigan-crackdown-Two-members-of-neo-Nazi-terror-group-arrested-for-terrorizing-family" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">also arrested</a> during the year <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/11/23/1997881/-Gang-of-young-Marines-and-ex-porn-star-moved-to-Idaho-to-create-Nazi-death-squad-plot-attacks" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">for similar activities</a>) as well as <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/11/19/1997002/-Michigan-militia-plot-Plan-A-involved-takeover-of-Capitol-followed-by-televised-executions" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">the arrests in Michigan</a> of 14 militiamen who planned both an attack on the state Capitol in Lansing featuring televised executions of state officials, and to kidnap and kill Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.</p>
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