When Lone Wolves Become a Pack: The Wacko Militants of the American Political Right

Posted by Nolan Dalla on Oct 25, 2018 in Blog, Essays, Politics, What's Left | 3 comments

“My supporters are very passionate.”

                        — President Donald J. Trump

We don’t know yet who mailed several packages containing deadly bombs that were sent to Democratic leaders, liberal activists, and news organizations — all of which are outspoken critics of President Trump and his policies.

From the list of carefully selected targets — ranging from former CIA Director John Brennan to actor Robert DeNiro — a far-Right extremist does appear to be the most logical suspect.  But we don’t know anything yet for sure about a possible suspect.  Hence, unlike so many others out there fabricating their own version of the “news,” ignoring a mountain of inciteful hate speech, disregarding the long history of political violence in this country, and spreading wacko conspiracy theories with no basis in fact whatsoever, I’ll reserve my judgment about these deplorable acts and who committed them until more evidence is gathered.

What we do know for certain is the far-Right in this country has become militant and dangerous.  They’re openly marching in the streets.  They’re running for public office.  Hell, they’ve even been elected.

No doubt, the far-Right poses a deadly threat.  Sure, the extreme Right has always been around and been dangerous to the lives and freedoms of millions, certainly since the end of the Civil War.  But until Barack Obama was elected a decade ago, extremism had largely gone underground and went unnoticed.