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    • Election-related extremism was limited, but there was action elsewhere
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    Election-related extremism was limited, but there was action elsewhere

    Online Niel Posted on

    It’s extremism week from USA TODAY

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    There were bomb threats and a possible arson attempt at the US Capitol, but otherwise no large-scale extremist activity marred Election Day. Meanwhile, a racist text message campaign is sent to black Americans in several states, a white supremacist is accused of plotting an attack on a power substation, and two racist far-right groups merge.

    It’s extremism week.

    Bomb threats, suspected arson foiled on election day

    Despite the concerns of expertsTuesday’s presidential election was largely free of extremist violence or harassment and intimidation at the polls. However, at least five battleground states saw voting temporarily disrupted by fake bomb threats, and a man was arrested at the US Capitol with a firearm and bottles of petrol in his possession.

    • Fears election day violence from domestic extremists did not materialize across the country on Tuesday or the rest of the week. Experts worried that the close election could lead to domestic extremists committing violence fueled by belief in conspiracy theories, but with Donald Trump soon emerging as the clear winner, no such incidents occurred.
    • Bomb threats at polling stations briefly disrupted voting in Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Arizona, according to the FBI. The threats were quickly dismissed as false, and the top US cybersecurity official said Wednesday that they had not had a material impact on the election result or the ability of voters to vote.
    • In one notable incident, Austin Olson, 27, of Michigan, was arrested at the US Capitol in possession of a firearm, gasoline containers and a “political thesis.” According to court records, Olson planned his “thesis” to go viral by being arrested on Election Day.
    • According to the statement of facts attached to Olson’s arrest warrant, he “denied that he intended to start a fire or start his own fire” and “denied any intent to harm anyone.”

    Racist text messages sent to black Americans

    On Thursday, reports came in from several states that Black Americans had received racist text messages in what appeared to be a coordinated attack.

    • The messages, which appear to have targeted black students, contained variations on a racist cotton-picking trope.
    • Authorities are investigating the incident, which shocked domestic extremism experts who said they had never seen the tactic used by hate groups before.
    • “This is the first I have ever seen such a racist attack using texts. It’s frighteningly personal and frightening,” Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, told USA TODAY. “Also, I’ve never seen this kind of racist messaging that directly threatens people.”

    White supremacist planned an attack on the power plant

    The day before the election, Skyler Philippia 24-year-old white supremacist from Tennessee, was arrested and charged by federal authorities with plotting to use a weapon of mass destruction to attack an electrical substation in Nashville.

    • According to prosecutors, Philippi told confidential sources that he planned to attach explosives to a drone and drop it on an electrical substation to cause power outages. He previously told informants he wanted to commit a mass shooting at a YMCA, but changed his mind about the drone attack.
    • Philippi expressed his willingness to commit terrorism to promote his belief in “accelerationism”—a white supremacist philosophy that seeks to foment a race war and resulting dystopia to bring about a new global order based on race. He told informants that he had previously been involved with the white supremacist group Atomwaffen Division.
    • Philippi was arrested while gathering the explosives and the drone for the attack.
    • This was the latest in a string of arrests of a white supremacist accelerator planning to attack the power grid.

    Report: Two white supremacist groups to merge

    In its first edition aa weekly newsletter devoted to extremism, the Anti-Defamation League reported that two white supremacist groups have announced a merger.

    • The founder of the National Socialist Front posted on the secure messaging app Telegram in late October that the group would merge with the Patriot Front group.
    • According to ADL’s analysis: “The elimination of the NSF appears to be less a carefully prepared marketing decision than a response to growing legal pressure and new legislation in Florida. NSF founder Joshua Dan Nunes has been suggesting a change for some time; in a July 2023 interview with a neo-Nazi streamer, he announced that the group would focus on ‘building camaraderie'”
    • The Patriot Front, headquartered in Texas, has tried to portray itself less as a neo-Nazi group and more as a “defender” of white European heritage and “Western values.” Leaked internal communications have shown, however, that it is a white supremacist hate group.

    Stat of the week: 16 percent

    That’s the proportion of Republicans polled by Gallup in October they took issue with the then-presidential candidate’s ties to extremists.

    Forty-one percent of all American adults polled by Gallup said they are “very concerned” that Trump is too closely aligned with people who hold radical views.

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