During recent months there have been a lot of disturbing news about the violent plans and fantasies of the American far right. As the trials regarding the Capitol riot have continued, over 1,000 people have been charged for their participation in the riot on the 6th of January 2021. Nearly 85% of the people who have been facing charges do not have any known connection to extremist groups. (1) 14 members of far-right group Oath Keepers and four members of another far-right group Proud Boys, including their former leader Enrique Tarrio, have been found guilty of seditious conspiracy and other felonies. The Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys were accused of planning an “all-out war” and “violent overthrow” of the US Government. (2, 3, 4, 5) One far-right extremist, who took part in the riot, allegedly wanted to “wipe out” Jewish population in the USA (6). Republican far-right congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene said in December last year that if she and Steve Bannon, ex-strategist of former president Trump, had been in charge of organizing the insurrection at the Capitol, the attack “would have been armed” and they would have won (7). During his recent campaign trip, Trump embraced and praised a woman, who is an ardent supporter of Trump and who was jailed because of her participation in the Capitol riot and who believes that the members of Congress who voted to certify Biden’s presidential election should be executed. Trump has said that if he becomes president again, he will issue full pardons and a government apology to the rioters who stormed the Capitol. (8, 9)
Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson has expressed some controversial comments about the political violence during the Capitol riot. In March, Carlson caused outrage by showing selected security footage from the Capitol during the riot and by trying to portray violent attackers as peaceful protesters and tourists (10). Last week it was reported that Carlson wrote in one text message (11):
“…watching video of people fighting on the street in Washington. A group of Trump guys surrounded an Antifa kid and started pounding the living shit out of him. It was three against one, at least. Jumping a guy like that is dishonorable obviously. It’s not how white men fight. Yet suddenly I found myself rooting for the mob against the man, hoping they’d hit him harder, kill him. I really wanted them to hurt the kid. I could taste it. — …somewhere deep in my brain, an alarm went off: this isn’t good for me. I’m becoming something I don’t want to be. The Antifa creep is a human being. Much as I despise what he says and does, much as I’m sure I’d hate him personally if I knew him, I shouldn’t gloat over his suffering. I should be bothered by it. I should remember that somewhere somebody probably loves this kid, and would be crushed if he was killed. If I don’t care about those things, if I reduce people to their politics, how am I better than he is?”
Carlson’s text message about the video he saw reportedly caused panic among Fox’s board and top-level executives, and officials were worried that the contents of Carlson’s messages could become public and prove embarrassing for the network.
According to polls, majority of Americans are worried about political violence. Last November, week after the attack on the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 88% of American adults were “concerned that political divisions have increased the risk of politically motivated violence” in the USA. However, supporters of the two main parties blamed each other: 66% of Democrats blamed the Republican Party for the risk of violence, and 56% of Republicans blamed the Democratic Party. (12)
Several polls have also revealed that some Americans accept political violence. According to a poll that was published in March this year, 27% of Republicans approved the Capitol riot on the 6th of January 2021 and 54% of Republicans thought that the rioters “participated in legitimate political discourse” (13). Last year, University of California published a vast survey that had quite disturbing findings. According to the survey, roughly 20% of American adults believed that political violence is justified at least in some circumstances and 3% believed that political violence is usually or always justified. Around 41% agreed with the idea that “in America, native-born white people are being replaced by immigrants” and roughly the same proportion of the respondents believed that “our American way of life is disappearing so fast that we may have to use force to save it”. Over 12% said that they would be willing to “threaten or intimidate a person” and 10% were willing to “injure a person” in the pursuit of their political objectives. Quite shockingly, 7.1% said that they would be willing to kill a person to advance an important political goal. 50.1% of the respondents agreed with the contention that in the next few years there would be another civil war in the USA. (14)
References:
1) “1,000 people have been charged for the Capitol riot. Here’s where their cases stand” NPR 25.3.2023
https://www.npr.org/2023/03/25/1165022885/1000-defendants-january-6-capitol-riot
2) “Six Additional Oath Keepers Members and Affiliates Found Guilty of Charges Related to Capitol Breach” U.S. Department of Justice 21.3.2023
3) “Enrique Tarrio, three other Proud Boys convicted on seditious conspiracy” The Hill 4.5.2023
4) “Oath Keepers called for ‘violent overthrow’ of US government, trial hears” The Guardian 18.11.2022
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/nov/18/oath-keepers-trial-closing-arguments-capitol-attack
5) “Proud Boys were ready for ‘all-out war’ before January 6, prosecutors argue” The Guardian 24.4.2023
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/apr/24/proud-boys-jan-6-attack-trial-closing-arguments
6) “Military Veteran Who Allegedly Wanted To ‘Wipe Out’ Jews Convicted In Capitol Attack” Yahoo! News 7.3.2023
7) “Marjorie Taylor Greene: Capitol attack ‘would’ve been armed’ if I was in charge” The Guardian 12.12.2022
8) “Donald Trump embraces Jan. 6 defendant who wants Mike Pence executed” NBC News 28.4.2023
9) “Trump vows pardons, government apology to Capitol rioters if elected” The Washington Post 1.9.2022
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/09/01/trump-jan-6-rioters-pardon/
10) “Fox News’ Tucker Carlson distorts capitol attack footage to push pro-Trump conspiracy theories” Le Monde 8.3.2023
11) “Tucker Carlson text about ‘how white men fight’ alarmed Fox leaders before ouster: report” The Hill 3.5.2023
https://thehill.com/homenews/3985372-tucker-carlson-text-white-men-fox-leaders-before-ouster-report/
12) “Americans express broad concerns about the risk of political violence: POLL” ABC News 4.11.2022
13) “More than a quarter of Republicans approve of Capitol attack, poll shows” The Guardian 16.3.2023
14) “One in five US adults condone ‘justified’ political violence, mega-survey finds” The Guardian 20.7.2022
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