Washington looks like an entrenched camp two days before the investiture ceremony. The entire city center is cordoned off and the National Guard patrols all strategic places in the capital…

"It is the beginning of the golden age of the extreme right in the United States"

Rehearsal of the investiture ceremony at the Capitol in Washington, January 18.

REUTERS - POOL

Text by: Anne Corpet Follow

6 min

Washington looks like an entrenched camp two days before the investiture ceremony.

The entire city center is cordoned off and the National Guard patrols all strategic locations in the federal capital.

Two weeks after the violent intrusion of supporters of Donald Trump on Capitol Hill, security forces fear an attack by far-right militias on the day of the inauguration, even if the weekend went off without violence contrary to the fears expressed by the authorities.

Interview with Colin Clarke, political director of the Soufan Group, a group specializing in internal security advice.

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RFI: What risk for the investiture ceremony of January 20?

Colin Clarke:

The threat remains on inauguration day.

There is no doubt about it.

Even though the Capitol in Washington is protected by the arrival of twenty-five thousand members of the National Guard, it remains an attractive target for the most virulent extremists, because of the symbol.

Let us not forget that an important part of terrorism lies in its psychological component, in a communication strategy, and the world is watching what is happening on Capitol Hill.

All of these elements combined make the ceremony a very attractive target for all kinds of extremists, especially those seeking the collapse of this country through gun violence.

The FBI is sifting through the 25,000 National Guard troops deployed in Washington.

Do you think there is the risk of an attack from within?

I think we cannot rule out any hypothesis.

During the Capitol uprising on January 6, we noticed many people who had police or military training.

There was even a retired Air Force lieutenant who wore handcuffs and tactical gear.

The individuals who assaulted the Capitol were clearly trained.

You could see them communicating with each other, so yes I think the risk is higher than ever, given once again the visibility of the event, that there will be many high-ranking political figures.

It is the center of American democracy so for violent extremists there is no better target.

What's their point ?

What do they want?

We are talking about a large coalition of far-right groups, it is a whole myriad of organizations.

There are white supremacists with Nazi leanings, there are militias hostile to the government and conspirators like the members of Qanon, and there are these people I call "Trump zealots" who are there just to the president, who want him to stay in power for all eternity.

They worship him and see him as a spiritual figure.

So there are all kinds of variations in this constellation.

Most of these groups existed before Donald Trump was elected.

Did he strengthen them as president

There is no doubt.

Donald Trump's violent rhetoric laid the groundwork for possible political violence not for weeks, but for months or years.

He tried to delegitimize the Biden administration, and it didn't happen overnight.

He has cultivated this for years.

I disagree with those who say this is the logical conclusion of the Trump era.

I think it's actually the beginning of something, rather than the end.

I think we are entering the golden age of right-wing extremism in the United States.

Have the authorities done enough in recent years to fight against these militias

The FBI has been at the forefront of tackling this phenomenon, but I think it is a global system failure.

Across the country, this threat has not been taken seriously enough.

Social media has let disinformation thrive on their platforms for years, guns are circulating intensively, there are all kinds of factors that have gotten us to this point.

We live in a country where mass killings are already normalized.

There have been so many.

I am concerned that I now see the trivialization of political violence in the months and years to come.

If you look at the extent of the war on terror, we have spent the last two decades focusing on threats from Salafi or jihadist groups like al-Qaida and the Islamic State and we have basically ignored the growing threat to our country. clean soil, even after the attacks that occurred in Pittsburgh, El Paso and elsewhere.

The Biden administration has a long list of priorities, but I think the fight against these militias must be among the most important.

Do you think that the exclusion of these groups from social networks a few days before January 20 was a good thing

?
This makes their stalking more difficult ...

It is undoubtedly a decision with a double effect: it is good to send these conspirators and their dangerous theories to the margins, where they belong, but it is true that at the same time, the more we reject these individuals in the world. shadow, the harder it is to pinpoint the threat they pose.

But overall I think it's a good thing that these dangerous agitators can no longer have a large audience, like the one they got from platforms like Twitter and Facebook.

"It is the beginning of the golden age of the extreme right in the United States"

"It is the beginning of the golden age of the extreme right in the United States"

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