Trump’s use of stochastic terrorism to incite the violent insurrection on January 6, 2021 has been written about in many forums. While this article was (somewhat chillingly) written back on December 17, 2020, the concept is described here:
Trump is using a tactic known as “stochastic terrorism,” says Juliette Kayyem, a national security expert and former assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security. It’s a method of political incitement that provokes random acts of extremist violence, in which the instigator uses rhetoric ambiguous enough to give himself and his allies plausible deniability for any resulting bloodshed. Violent threats or attacks linked to the rhetoric usually generate muted denials and equivocal denunciations, or claims to have been “joking,” as Trump and those speaking on his behalf have routinely hidden behind.
National Security Experts Warn Trump “Is Promoting Terrorism”
The violent insurrection of January 6th was the completely foreseeable end result of Trump’s relentless campaign of political incitement promoting extremist violence.
But here’s another, much smaller and no less tragic result of Trump’s stochastic terrorism.
Last night at 10:30 pm, my nearly 80 year old father — a proud lifelong Democrat out in Iowa — sent me a text that said “Is there a chance of martial law and the national media being seized?”
And I couldn’t answer him “no, there’s no chance,” because of course there’s a chance. MyPillow Mike Lindell’s talking points — captured on film by the Washington Post — shows that there is a chance.
This is where Trump’s acts of terror have taken us. To a place where our parents and the elderly in “safe” Middle America are so fearful that they are asking questions about martial law and eradication of the free press past their normal bedtimes on a Friday night in January. To a place where we cannot even give our parents comfort that no, it cannot and will not happen.