The warning signs have been building like dark storm clouds for a while now, and it appears that storm—a real one, comprised of a wave of domestic terrorism—may be about to break: According to CNN’s Evan Perez, the FBI has seen “a significant rise in the number of white supremacist domestic terrorism cases in recent months,” citing a “senior counterterrorism official.”
Yes, regardless what Tucker Carlson or Candace Owens or Michael Tracey might tell you, the threat of white-nationalist terrorism is neither “nonexistent” nor a figment of the liberal imagination: As people ranging from Poway to Christchurch to Pittsburgh can tell you, the terrorism is real, as are its victims—which includes not just the immediate victims, but the communities these acts are intended to target. Talk to Jewish and Muslim communities to ask if they think terrorism is just a problem in their minds.
We’ve been describing these warning signs the past several months—the rash of inchoate violence from angry, “red-pilled” young white men; the compounding cases of domestic terrorism piling up on our doorsteps; the surging tide of white-supremacist propaganda as well as organizing; and the signs that monitoring this tide is not a priority for the Trump administration’s Department of Homeland Security.
As we recently explained, one of the problems is that domestic terrorism by homegrown white men is not a federal crime—it’s actually a hole of sorts in the law books. CNN’s report explains how this has affected the FBI’s ability to pursue these cases:
The domestic terror cases generally include suspects involved in violence related to anti-government views, racial or religious bias, environmental extremism and abortion-related views.
The FBI wouldn't provide specific numbers to quantify the increase of the number of white supremacist domestic terrorism cases. Unlike international terrorism investigations, domestic terrorism cases pose thornier issues for the FBI because of First Amendment protections. The US doesn't have a domestic terrorism law and no government agency designates domestic groups as being terrorist organizations. That means many cases the FBI calls domestic terror-related end up with a variety of charges for violations of laws related to guns or even other state charges.
No, the rise of white nationalism—not just in the United States, but globally—is a real phenomenon, and the longer we’re in denial about it the more it will gain a foothold among the political culture of the current and future generations. When we’re talking about fascism, this is not a good thing. Its toxicity manifests in the upswing of hate crimes that has beset the nation in the past two years as well.
As the CNN story notes, DHS is also officially making clear that it is seeing the threat:
Reflecting law enforcement concern over the issue, earlier today at a hearing Acting DHS Secretary Kevin McAleenan called "white supremacist extremist violence" a "huge issue" and called it an "an evolving and increasingly concerning threat."
This is why we were glad that the House Judiciary Committee tackled this problem. It is why we cheered when key Democratic senators stood up and announced a plan to address the issue, and when Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Jan Schakowsky of Illinois joined forces to denounce the white nationalist hate that they saw attacking both their communities. It is why we were encouraged to see global leaders, including New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and French President Emmanuel Macron, at least attempting to tackle the problem through technology and other initiatives—and why we were so dismayed that the United States, under the Trump administration, chose not to participate in the “Christchurch Call.”
Considering that Donald Trump has more than merely winked and nudged at this movement since the 2016 campaign, and continued the same since becoming president with his “very fine people” remarks and dismissal of white nationalism as not a threat—all the while scripting violence for people like “MAGAbomber” Cesar Sayoc to act upon—it might be time for Democrats to realize that this is a real political issue.
