After the deadly violence at the U.S. Capitol last week, terms like protest, riot and sedition are being used to describe what occurred. Make no mistake, it was a terrorist attack. An American mob constructed a gallows outside the Capitol, carried a Confederate flag through the sacred halls of democracy and placed improvised explosive devices at the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic national committees. Inside the Capitol, windows were smashed and offices ransacked. One attacker brought 11 Molotov cocktails and an assault rifle, another stalked the Senate floor with a fistful of flex-cuffs. Ultimately, a police officer was killed and dozens of other officers were hurt. The hundreds of Trump supporters who stormed into the Capitol were a fraction of the thousands who had marched there after the president exhorted them to do so. But their actions, and the presence of white supremacists and anti-government extremists scattered among those who remained outside, made manifest the documented and dangerous threat these domestic extremists have posed for decades. The discussions they are having online suggest this attack was intended to be “independence day” and the beginning of a second civil war. While images of the U.S. Capitol being overrun are terrifying, we should not be too surprised. Extremist groups have been discussing and planning audacious attacks for some time. Most recently, in October, the FBI stopped a plot by white supremacist and anti-government extremists to kidnap the Michigan and Virginia governors. These and other wicked ideas are increasingly pervasive in online forums. Extremists participating in these virtual communities are gleeful over the Capitol attack and are using it to recruit members in advance of violence on Inauguration Day.
via usatoday: Capitol riot: Trump’s exit won’t end the far-right violent terrorism threats he fueled