Before the US election: "Proud Boys" are planning another outbreak of violence - even actions if Trump wins

Merkur Before the US election: "Proud Boys" are planning another outbreak of violence - even actions if Trump wins Kilian Beck • 1 hour • 4 minutes reading time "Prepared for November" with weapons depot Trump's lie about the "stolen" US election is catching on: Right-wing extremist militias want to march in swing states. A threat to democracy. Washington D.C. - The capital of the USA, Washington D.C., is preparing for possible unrest after the presidential election on November 5th. The right-wing extremist militia "Proud Boys", which stormed the Capitol on January 6th, 2021 to violently support former President Donald Trump's claim of the "stolen" 2020 US election, appears to be working towards another outbreak of violence. This was reported by the daily newspaper Wall Street Journal. There are fears of uprisings by the extreme right, especially if Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris wins against Trump. Nevertheless, no immediate danger is seen in the capital, Washington D.C. Before the US election: Trump's election party and Biden and Harris' official residences are particularly secured The central institutions of US democracy, including the White House, the official residence of incumbent President Joe Biden, the official residence of Vice President Harris and the Capitol, the seat of both houses of parliament, were extensively secured on Sunday. According to the Washington Post newspaper, however, there is "no need" to worry, according to the police chief of Washington D.C. In contrast, the Democratic governor in the state of Washington on the west coast has mobilized the National Guard to be prepared for possible unrest after the US election. Trump's election party in Florida is also being particularly secured. Trump's lie about the "stolen" US election catches on: Ex-"Proud Boys" leader sentenced to 22 years in prison The "Proud Boys" are showing increasing activity in the crucial swing states, reports the Wall Street Journal. Members of this militia, founded in 2016, whose former leader was sentenced to 22 years in prison in 2023 for his involvement in the storming of the Capitol, continue to believe Trump's claim of the "stolen election". In North Carolina, the militia plans to position itself near polling stations. In Arizona, a picture of a weapons depot was published, with the note that they were "prepared for November". Recently, members of the militia have increasingly marched armed at Trump events. Before the US election: Fear of violence at polling stations The polls on Monday (November 3) before the US election showed that Trump and Harris were less than one percentage point apart in North Carolina. The outcome of the US election was uncertain due to the narrow majority in the swing states. Observers on the Democratic side feared that important voters would not vote for fear of outbreaks of violence. Think tank observes increasing calls for violence ahead of US election The think tank Global Project Against Hate and Extremism recently documented a tripling of calls for violence related to conspiracy theories about alleged electoral fraud in the US election. Posts from the circles of right-wing extremist militias that spoke of an "inevitable civil war" and called for "shooting" alleged "illegal voters" were quoted. Representatives of the Republicans recently repeatedly claimed, without any factual basis, that the Democrats were bringing illegal immigrants into the country to vote in order to gain majorities. Trump spread right-wing extremist conspiracy narrative before US election Conspiracy narratives like this are closely linked to the central conspiracy narrative of modern right-wing extremism of the "great population exchange". This racist and anti-Semitic narrative states that unnamed "globalist" elites would "exchange" the white majority populations of Western states for migrants from states in the global south. This conspiracy narrative is the ideological linchpin of modern right-wing extremists on both sides of the Atlantic and has driven right-wing extremist terrorists around the world. Before the US election, Trump repeatedly spread elements of this narrative, for example in the TV duel against Harris. Expert warns of attacks on voters and election workers in US election Amy Cooter, research director of the Center for Terrorism and Extremism Research at the Middlebury Institute for International Studies in Monterey, emphasized in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that within the so-called militia movement in the USA, the hard-line right-wing extremists such as the "Proud Boys", "Oath Keepers" or "Three Percenters" are a minority, but by no means harmless. While the majority of militias probably see themselves as more "defensive", this means that these groups would only want to defend themselves in the event of "tyranny" of the government.