In a political stunt so obvious that only Representative Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) fell for it, the Lincoln Project on Friday reportedly deployed five Democratic activists dressed as white supremacists to a campaign event for Glenn Youngkin, the Republican candidate for governor of Virginia.
The optics were intended to conjure images of the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville; dressed in white shirts and khaki pants, the five human props carried tiki torches, a symbol of the protest that resulted in the death of one young woman in August 2017. Youngkin, like all Republicans, the Lincoln Project LARPers tried and failed to show, can only rise to political power on the tiki torch-wielding shoulders of racist preppies loyal to Donald Trump.
While the stunt immediately was mocked and condemned by the Right—and buried by the national news media—it highlighted the myth that violent white supremacists pose a dire national security threat. And it’s not a narrative solely promoted by journalists or washed-up Republican political consultants burning leftist cash; the falsehood that “domestic violent extremists,” code for Americans on the political Right, are the homeland’s biggest danger has the imprimatur of the Biden White House and powerful federal agencies.
In his inauguration speech, Joe Biden promised to defeat the “rise in political extremism, white supremacy, [and] domestic terrorism.” Characterizing the events of January 6 an “insurrection” carried out by white supremacist right-wing militias and using that as a pretext, one of Biden’s first official acts was to instruct his national security team to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the threat of domestic terrorism and submit the report within 100 days.
Acts of domestic terrorism, according to federal law, are
activities that involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State; appear to be intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion, or to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States.
That definition could apply to everything—or nothing at all. Many Americans might understandably argue the destructive and deadly rioting in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death last year meets that criteria far more than a four-hour disturbance in the Capitol on January 6. After all, the post-Floyd political climate has led to a spike in violent crime in cities across the country, jeopardizing the safety of millions of innocent Americans on a daily basis.
But Joe Biden and the ideologues who populate his administration are not targeting Black Lives Matter or Antifa activists; they’re too busy obsessing about unruly parents at school board meetings and Trump supporters who “paraded” in the Capitol earlier this year.
One by one, Biden’s top deputies have dutifully echoed his inaugural clarion call to root out ISIS-like countrymen ready to strike at any moment. A week after Inauguration Day, the acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security issued an urgent bulletin under the agency’s terrorism advisory system that claimed “some ideologically-motivated violent extremists with objections to the exercise of governmental authority and the presidential transition, as well as other perceived grievances fueled by false narratives, could continue to mobilize to incite or commit violence.” DHS secretary Alejandro Mayorkas advised Americans to avoid political rallies and notify law enforcement of suspicious behavior.
Avril Haines, Biden’s director of national intelligence, issued a separate report in March warning Americans of the lurking danger posed by election deniers and lockdown detractors. “Newer sociopolitical developments—such as narratives of fraud in the recent general election, the emboldening impact of the violent breach of the U.S. Capitol, conditions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and conspiracy theories promoting violence—will almost certainly spur some [domestic violent extremists] to try to engage in violence this year.”
Haines included a sketch of the U.S. Capitol building in her report.
Merrick Garland’s Justice Department is using the imaginary threat of domestic terrorism to charge hundreds of Americans with low-level offenses related to the Capitol protest. The government recently referred to Paul Hodgkins, accused of no violent crime that day, of being a domestic terrorist and urgedthe judge to send a message to other wanna-be terrorists.
“The need to deter others is especially strong in cases involving domestic terrorism, which the breach of the Capitol certainly was,” the prosecutor wrote. “Moreover, with respect to specific deterrence, courts have recognized that ‘terrorists[,] [even those] with no prior criminal behavior, are unique among criminals in the likelihood of recidivism, the difficulty of rehabilitation, and the need for incapacitation.’”
Hodgkins pleaded guilty to one count of obstruction of an official proceeding, not terrorism; nonetheless he’ll serve eight months in prison.
FBI Director Christopher Wray designated January 6 as an act of domestic terror and his agency is treating Capitol defendants accordingly, complete with pre-dawn raids conducted by armed agents; dozens of Americans, including some charged with no violent crime, have been hauled off to a special prison in the nation’s capital and denied bond to await intentionally delayed government trials.
So, nearly nine months later, after all the hyperbole and prosecutions and official bulletins, where are these American jihadis? Surely the 650 people arrested in the government’s ongoing investigation into January 6 do not make up the entire domestic terror cell, especially since roughly 80 percent face misdemeanor offenses and didn’t even realize they were committing an act of domestic terror during their 15-minute jaunt through a public building.
And the militia groups who “stormed” the Capitol? About 50 members or alleged members of the three main militia groups that Wray insists are domestic terror organizations have been charged—and only a handful face weapons or assault counts. The Oath Keepers, the government’s biggest January 6 conspiracy case, left their (legal) weapons in a hotel room in Virginia so as to not run afoul of Washington’s strict gun control laws.
Several Oath Keepers, weapon-free, entered the building in a “stack formation,” took selfies, and peacefully exited 20 minutes later.
Not exactly akin to hijacking a jetliner.
The lethal threat of domestic terrorism is yet another flat-out lie told by both the Biden regime and the news media. Not a single act of domestic terrorism has happened this year, including on January 6. Futher, despite his bluster, Garland’s office hasn’t charged a single Capitol defendant with committing terrorism. The threat is so bogus that a bunch of NeverTrump hacks had to dress up Democratic campaign workers to resemble white supremacist domestic terrorists and plant them at an event in a hotly contested governor’s race.
Meanwhile, urban neighborhoods are under siege by violent thugs whom local prosecutors refuse to hold criminally responsible and the southern border remains an open invitation for lawlessness of all kinds.
Thirteen American servicemen were murdered in August by real terrorists in Afghanistan; Biden’s White House has no clue how many terrorists the country just imported during the evacuation of that war-torn nation.
The only people who died on January 6, on the other hand, were Trump supporters; at least one was killed by a federal police officer.
Deaths in 2021 attributed to people the Biden regime considers domestic terrorists: zero.
It’s one thing for reckless journalists or vengeful government prosecutors to stoke unjustified fears of a pending domestic terror attack. It’s malfeasance for powerful government authorities, including Joe Biden, to intentionally mislead the American people on such a grave matter. Just one more in a series of dangerous lies promoted by Biden and his apparatchiks.