"The Right" Couldn't Be A Major Threat If They Tried
They wield no power, and can't agree on anything. Does "the alt/extreme right" even exist? Or is it just a political boogeyman?
On April 13, 2014, a neo-Nazi walked into a Jewish community center in Overland Park, Kansas, and killed three people.
Not long after, a white supremacist shot up the Emanuel Church in South Carolina, killing nine.
Two years later, a white supremacist killed one and injured nineteen people that were protesting a neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
And these maniacs made it clear their actions were hate-based.
To say white supremacy is not an issue these days would be outrageous.
As a result of these incidents and others, the FBI designated “far-right extremists” as the most significant domestic threat to the US in 2019.
But is white supremacy the root cause?
Or is it more likely that mental illness is at play? As far as we know, highly organized assassins do not carry out these high-profile cases.
Unstable lone wolves perpetrate these cowardly acts.
Maybe these offenders were influenced by organized groups or even belonged to an extremist organization at one time or another.
But are these hate groups as a whole the biggest threat to Americans? If so, where are they? Where’s the Klan?
More importantly, was the guy on the far right of this photo on Hate Watchers?
Who knows? Their website is down.
Wikipedia says they currently have 5,000 to 8,000 active members in the “Third Klan,” incorporated in 1946 and presently “operating” today across the US.
More people pass through your local Costco on a Saturday afternoon than there are Klansmen playing grab-ass in the woods. Klanspeople, that is.
That is likely why The Southern Poverty Law Center says the legacy association is declining, citing Klan infighting and lack of interest from incoming generations.
I’m more worried about the Klan starting a wildfire during a cross-burning than murdering people in 2023.
So who’s the threat?
Neo Nazis and white nationalists?
The SPLC says white nationalist groups counted 109 chapters last year, coming short of their 2019 record of 155.
Wikipedia lists a few Neo-Nazi organizations, such as Identity Evropa and The Hammerskins.
But what’s the threat level for these groups? Have you heard of them?
Who is Identity Evropa?
From what I can tell, they made bumper stickers and t-shirts promoting the preservation of Europeans or whites, and they fizzled out after a four-year run.
Wild stuff.
How about “The Hammerskins?”
The Hammerskins are reported to have members with criminal records, and I’m sure more than one should be locked up.
But the rag-tag gang doesn’t appear to have organized anything beyond a backyard rock show.
Most of these hate groups appear to be has-beens and burnouts.
Still, you likely heard of the Proud Boys.
According to Brittanica, the Proud Boys are a white nationalist organization started in 2016 by VICE writer Gavin McInnes, allegedly to have an “outgrowth of social gatherings.”
Over the last eight years, they’ve been known to clash in the streets with Antifa at rallies, parades, and the 2020 Summer of Love.
Proud Boys members were present at J6 and prosecuted, and their leader Enrique Tarrio received over 20 years in prison even though he wasn’t in DC on that day.
Other far-right organizations appeared in the news this year, such as the Blood Tribe, which protested in Orlando following the Dollar General shooting in Jacksonville.
The event escalated to little more than 50 guys chanting, “Jews won’t replace us,” on a highway overpass.
Not exactly Kristallnacht.
Also, last year, Patriot Front trended after the FBI claimed to have stopped them from carrying out a terrorist attack on the way to a Pride parade last year.
They were found with what looks like Captain America shields from WalMart and a smoke grenade.
Not exactly Oklahoma City 2.0.
But there’s also speculation that these far-right groups are comprised of, at least partly, federal agents.
This isn’t a crazy idea, given the “Fednapping” of Michigan Governor Whitmer.
After months of federal agents encouraging ordinary people to commit felonies, it was apparent none of these people would have organized anything beyond a neighborhood fireworks display had it not been for the feds.
And yesterday, the House released more January 6th tapes, giving us yet more evidence this thing was set up.
So who’s the threat?
If it’s not the Klan or neo-Nazis, it must be those darned “MAGA Republicans,” as Biden suggested in his primetime address from the Death Star last year.
While some Trump supporters may be racists, criminals, or violent, is there any suggestion that “MAGA Republicans” are a threat?
Are those “MAGA Republicans” looting stores?
Are those “MAGA Republicans” robbing people? Did “MAGA Republicans” “violently protest” the DNC last week?
No, those were leftists, as usual.
So who is the threat?
Christians?
The article comes after a recent FBI warning that the October 7 Hamas attack will inspire homegrown extremists.
The writer claims that Speaker Mike Johnson and other Republicans wish to fuse church and state based on nothing other than their openness about their Christian faith.
Of course, Americans don’t want to live under The Handmaid’s Tale, but many politicians have been openly Christian since before 1776.
But when we see churches draped in rainbow flags, employees getting fired for being Christian, and preachers being shot in the street, I don’t see any indication we’re going back to medieval times.
Real Threats to Everyday Americans
According to Gallup, most Americans are concerned with money, including the economy, inflation, and the federal budget.
Non-economic answers include poor government leadership, immigration, homelessness, divisiveness, and crime.
Other real threats are our evolving police state, China, and overall failed foreign relations.
But let’s assume for a second the “far-right” posed a significant danger. What would they do?
They have no power.
The left owns the media, courts, corporations, and the entertainment industry.
There isn’t really a “right” these days, anyway.
“The Right” today is made up of conservatives, independents, libertarians, atheists, and Christians, among many others—basically, anyone not on the far left.
While the left remains united on all fronts, “the right” can’t agree on whether the sky is blue.
Between Daily Wire/Stephen Crowder beef, the Ben Shapiro/Candace Owens dust-up, Israel/Palestine, abortion, and religion, “the right” can’t agree on enough to organize significantly.
“Right-wing extremism” is just a political boogeyman to justify government funding, surveillance, and removal of fundamental freedoms.
And they want you to think a garage band making bumper stickers and playing with smoke bombs is our biggest threat.
They can’t even maintain a website.
Still, there are real boogeymen out there, but they aren’t in white robes, red ball caps, or delivering meals on wheels.
The search for a scapegoat is the easiest of all hunting expeditions. -Dwight D. Eisenhower
More from Greg Berry: Full article here.