https://www.facingsouth.org/2019/08/how-southern-politicians-hamstrung-fight-against-right-wing-domestic-terror?fbclid=IwAR0bkyz-1P_c856I15NuUlsoLX8AGWEQpUAc9JCXTHiJzCDE0G2bpHcxBlM
"Back in April 2009, an internal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report on political violence by radicalized right-wing groups and individuals operating in the U.S. was leaked to a conservative radio host in California. Driven by coverage from WorldNetDaily, a right-wing website that promotes false conspiracy theories, news of the leak went viral in the newly ascendant tea party circles. The report, titled "Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment," was a joint project between DHS and the FBI as part of a law enforcement training module on domestic terrorism that was created in 2007 under the Bush administration. Given the recent violence linked to white-supremacist ideology, including the mass shootings on July 28 at a garlic festival in California and on Aug. 3 at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, the report is eerily prophetic. DHS laid out the increase in violent white-supremacist and other extremist groups driven by conspiracy theories. The report also discussed the role of economic hardship and global trade on demographic groups susceptible to recruitment, the danger of domestic terror groups recruiting members of the armed forces, and the burgeoning role of social media being used for indoctrination and propaganda. The report noted risk factors for domestic terrorism including the election of the first black president and the Great Recession. It also cited the tendency of domestic terrorists to use divisive issues like abortion as recruitment tools, and it devoted an entire section to illegal immigration as a motivating factor for right-wing extremists. In addition, DHS called out the rising risk of "lone wolf" and small cell attacks that come with little to no warning but with great violence. What was the reaction to the report? Congressional Republicans, driven by conservative media, had a proverbial cow. As did the exploding tea party movement."
