Read on Twitter
I remember how back in 2009, DHS released a report warning that right-wing extremist groups would try to capitalize on fears about immigration, racism, and an economic downturn for recruitment purposes, comparing it specifically to how McVeigh was radicalized. https://twitter.com/colinpclarke/status/1305657807216300033
The tl;dr was that things could be like the 90s, but worse because of the internet https://fas.org/irp/eprint/rightwing.pdf
Naturally, right-wing media freaked out over it, accusing the Obama administration of targeting them (it was compiled during the end of the Bush administration, but hey, they weren’t ones to let the facts get in the way of their outrage) https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/conservative-media-freak-out-claim-obama-dhs-targeting-conservatives-report-right-wing
One of the authors of the report wrote about it again in 2017 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2017/08/21/i-warned-of-right-wing-violence-in-2009-it-caused-an-uproar-i-was-right/
A big part of the backlash was that conservatives argued that they were being targeted by Obama. But the truth is that DHS had just issued a similar assessment on the threat of left-wing extremist groups months earlier. https://fas.org/irp/eprint/leftwing.pdf
The backlash to the 2009 report is one of those things that made me *truly* realize how much more Republicans cared about holding power than they did about doing the right thing. They knew their backlash was contrived. They knew it was opening the floodgates to a right-wing ...
... extremist groups, a resurgence in the militia movement. But this was a chance to score some quick points against Obama, so they did, fully aware where ignoring these threats could lead.
Again, 2009. They turned it into a pity party for themselves, distorting what that report said https://www.mediamatters.org/sean-hannity/hannity-north-falsely-claimed-dhs-says-right-wing-extremism-number-one-threat-american
One of the biggest freak-outs back then came from @JoeNBC. I wish he’d acknowledge the role he played in paving the path to the present. https://www.mediamatters.org/morning-joe/scarborough-ignores-bush-fbi-report-claim-obama-administration-stoking-fear
But anyway, here we are in 2020 and DHS is *actually* using the department for partisan purposes, trying to suppress reports that “make the president look bad” (actual quote from a whistleblower). And right-wing media is still playing the same game. https://www.mediamatters.org/trumprussia/how-fox-news-dismissing-new-dhs-whistleblower-report-against-trump-and-covering-its-own
So when I see people ask questions like “When will politicians/media/etc. hit a breaking point with the country’s slide into fascism?” I look back at stuff like this and realize the answer is never.
