White supremacists versus anti-government extremists

[LymphocyteLover]

Violent right-wing extremism is a big umbrella that is *significantly* larger today than it was four years ago.
Under that big umbrella, there are several subgroups:
White Supremacists (WS)
Anti-Gov Extremists (AGE)
Single Issue Extremists
QAnon believers
Unaffiliated pro-Trump supporters
While there are hybrid orgs that bridge multiple subgroups (Proud Boys and Boogaloos and a handful of smaller militias) the overlap between WS and AGE are not as significant as many people seem to think.
Being a racist is not the same as being an active member of a white supremacist group.
You can wear a white robe and pointy hat on Sunday and militia camo on Wednesday, but if you're violently attacking elected officials in camo on Wednesday in the company of your militia buddies, it's your AGE involvement that is relevant in that attack.
I keep seeing people compare what happened on the 6th to Charlotteville but the 2014 Bundy Ranch standoff is a much better comparison.
Charlotteville: the goal was to unite the various racist factions of the Alt-Right and beat up antifa/BLM counterprotesters.
Bundy Ranch: the goal was to force the federal gov to do their bidding using the extreme threat of an armed confrontation.
These were different events.

Why this matters: If you're a LE leader and thought that Jan 6th was going to be an extension of Charlottesville, your pressing need was to keep left wing and right wing separate to keep protesters from hurting or killing each other in the streets--not a Capitol Police issue.

If, however, you understood that Jan 6 was a Anti-Gov Extremist event (similar to Bundy Ranch) then the attack on the Capitol and elected officials inside was a distinct possibility that Capitol Police should have been prepared for.
There were many many many indicators that the 6th would be an AGE event, but even after the fact, higher ups still can't or won't see it.

So Anti-Gov groups get delegated to "other extremists."
In the hearing, former House Sergeant at Arms said, “We all agreed that the intelligence did not support the troops and collectively decided to let it go.”

They focused their risk analysis on the wrong movement.

Thread here

Link to tweet

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from JJ McNabb, an academic researcher who studies extremism