US Law Enforcement Failed to See the Threat of White Nationalism-Now They Don't Know How to Stop It

[Danascot]

31. The Far Right Is Far More Dangerous

Twenty years earlier, when right-wing extremists blew up the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995, the Clinton administration went after their ilk. But even as right-wing violence began to grow again in succeeding decades, federal law enforcement devoted far greater resources to countering the jihadist threat. Such a response was understandable in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attack, when al-Qaida was clearly plotting massive attacks on American soil.

That policy makes no sense today.

Not surprisingly, however, the Trump administration has virtually disbanded the Department of Homeland Security division aimed at thwarting right-wing terror. Within the White House, presidential advisers such as Sebastian Gorka —a supposed "terrorism expert" and a figure connected with Nazi nostalgists in his homeland of Hungary — insisted Islamist terrorists were the only real threat. Gorka is long gone from the National Security Council, but his misguided outlook remains influential.

Now we know how wrong he was to discount the murderous ambitions of the far right. And we should stop deluding ourselves that "both sides" represent an equivalent threat to security and order. It is a very dangerous lie.

https://www.creators.com/read/joe-conason