Pro-Trump activists who promoted the January 6 protests that became the Capitol’s fatal riot are trying to distance themselves from future unrest as politicians and police prepare for more violence before the inauguration.
Extremism experts focused on January 17, as well as on Induction Day and the days around it, as potential outbreaks of violence. An Inauguration Day threat includes a “Million Militia March” that encourages Trump’s armed supporters to descend on DC A leaflet circulating online calling for an “armed march on Capitol Hill and all state capitals” on January 17 was cited as proof of the protest, although it is unclear where the flyer originated from or how much traction he gained on the right.
Capitol Police officers are taking no chances this time. They informed Democrats on Monday of a series of potential threats, including plans for the “biggest armed protest ever on American soil” and an alleged plot to prevent Democrats from reaching the Capitol or killing them immediately so that Republicans can take control of the government.
Democrats were also warned of a more general threat of violence against politicians and police, according to a person familiar with the briefing, which was first reported by HuffPost and confirmed by The Daily Beast.
So far, however, public online discussions of alleged January 17 protests have been far less visible than the wave of conversations in pro-Trump forums that preceded the January 6 rebellion.
“We are not seeing the same level of online conversation about participating in these events,” said Lindsay Schubiner, program director at the Western States Center, a group that tracks extremists in the Pacific Northwest.
Schubiner added, however, that discussions about additional protests or violence that led to the inauguration may simply have moved to less public places online, as social media companies crack down on extremists.
“We are in an extremely dangerous period for political violence and it is difficult to say exactly what will happen or when it will happen,” said Schubiner. “But everything we are seeing makes us very concerned.”
While thousands of National Guard soldiers invade Washington, Trump supporters have suggested, without evidence, that the proposed January 17 rally is a trick to arrest MAGA fans.
Gateway Pundit, a right-wing scam blog whose owner was invited to the Trump White House, suggested that the January 17 protest was a “deep-state conspiracy” designed to set the stage for mass arrests of Trump supporters. . Mark Taylor, a former firefighter who became a far-right star after receiving a “prophecy” that Trump would be elected, warned his more than 185,000 followers on Tuesday to stay away from the Jan. 17 protests.
“Guys, any of these so-called peaceful armed protests in all state capitals and DC on January 17 is an initiative of the left,” Taylor tweeted on Tuesday. “Don’t go! It’s a trap !!”
Several Trump supporters have claimed that even the graphic design of the pamphlet, which is illustrated in red with the Statue of Liberty in the foreground, is proof that it is a scheme designed to harm Trump and his allies.
“There is no organizer listed and it doesn’t look like anything a Patriotic group would do,” Arizona State Rep. Kelly Townsend (R) tweeted on Tuesday.
This paranoia has been filtered to the state level. A Minnesota group that recently organized “Stop The Steal” events in the state capital issued a Facebook alert to followers about the January 17 event.
“This is an infiltration and tactic used to incite violence and blame us,” wrote the group, which organized a “Storm the Capitol” event in Minnesota on January 6. “DO NOT GO TO THE CAPITOLIA ON SUNDAY!”
The group told The Daily Beast that it advised people to stay home on Jan. 17. On Facebook, the group shared posters for the January 17 event and suggested they were an “anarchist” conspiracy. These posters, however, were seriously circulated by members of the Boogaloo movement, a far-right and libertarian coalition that longs for civil war. Although the Boogaloo movement has been promoting the event since last month, at least some members appear to have reevaluated after the January 6 riot, with a Boogaloo news site issuing a statement from the alleged organizers of the event, claiming that the iteration of the rally in DC was canceled.
The fear that Trump supporters might fall into a trap – or that they might be involved in the violence – has increased as the FBI and federal prosecutors pursue more people allegedly involved in the Capitol rebellion. On Tuesday, District Attorney General of Columbia Michael Sherwin said the scale of the investigation was “unprecedented” for the Justice Department, saying he had trained an “attack force” to pursue serious criminal charges. for sedition and conspiracy.
Still, the days around January 17 are also potential fireboxes across the country. The Minnesota group that asked followers to stay home on the 17th said it still plans a pro-Trump demonstration in the state capital on Saturday, January 16.
These plans coincide with the January 16 event announced last month, in which organizers say they will “begin the process of exterminating America’s democratic ideology”, “prevent Joseph Biden, or any other Democrat from taking office as president of the United States of America “and” capturing and detaining all Democratic politicians, current and former “, who played a role in Biden’s victory. The event’s website went offline, but not before users of the now closed social media site Parler took advantage of it to declare that “any force opposing” the event “will be classified as America’s enemy and treated as such with extreme prejudice, foreign or domestic. “
In Virginia, the long-planned “lobby day” protests in the state capital took place on January 18. Last year’s lobby day attracted a reported 22,000 arms fans, including members of far-right groups like the Proud Boys and members of the then embryonic Boogaloo movement. This year, the Virginia Capitol police are on high alert, citing Wednesday’s riot.
A prominent pro-gun group wrote that they would organize caravans for the event in Richmond. “There will undoubtedly be ‘rumors’ and other uses of scare tactics [sic] to keep people at home, but we know better, ”wrote the group online.
Left-wing activists are mobilizing doctors and homeless people before the January 18 event, in case the violence breaks out or the scene becomes unsafe for Richmond’s homeless population, a local activist told The Daily Beast.
Some of the most prominent figures involved in planning protests outside Congress on January 6 say they also do not plan to come to Washington. InfoWars conspiracy theorist Alex Jones said the January protests were a “false flag”.
Pro-Trump organizer Ali Alexander, who claimed to be one of the main “creators” of the January 6 protest, was banned from financial services like PayPal and Venmo, as well as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram after the event. Alexandre’s friends are distancing themselves from him and asking him to leave politics altogether, according to a member of his circle.
In an email to The Daily Beast, Alexander said he is asking Trump supporters to stay out of Washington around the inauguration, and argued without foundation that the posters promoting events in Washington were democratic inventions.
“No one should be going to DC this month,” Alexander told The Daily Beast.
– Additional reports by Sam Brodey