In October, the Department of Homeland Security released its annual assessment of violent threats to the nation. That report named White supremacists and other “domestic violent extremists” as the most persistent and lethal threat to the US.
The first annual “Homeland Threat Assessment” by the DHS showed they accounted for more fatal attacks in the country than any other domestic violent extremist group since 2018. The report considered threats including natural disasters, illegal immigration, COVID-19, and election interference.
We spoke with Stanley Wade Shelton, UGAF Professor Cas Mudde in UGA’s School of Public and International Affairs, and Shannon Foley-Martinez, consultant at PERIL at American University.
Foley-Martinez says adherents justify violence as a reasonable political tool.
“The likelihood to engage in violent action, particularly in this country by the far-right, has shown itself over the last several years. The likelihood that at least one, if not several members will engage in violence, at some point, after consuming enough of this content and viewing the world through this lens is incredibly high.”
Mudde also addressed the issue.
“We have more than enough data to show that the far-right has been the most important domestic terrorist threat for the past decades. And this mindset creates the impression that they have a right to defend themselves and given that they feel very easily threatened, that is potentially a very violent situation.”
According to the DHS, white supremacy extremism accounted for eight of the 16 violent attacks reported from 2018 to 2019. It also caused the majority of related deaths with 39 of 48.
You can hear more from Professor Cas Mudde and Shannon Foley-Martinez on this week’s edition of Athens News Matters.
