The Growing Threat of Trump’s Paramilitary Forces
Experts worry we’ll see more violence in the streets as we get closer to the midterms.
Since the first day of Donald Trump’s second term as president, he’s made it clear who he thinks is on his side. By pardoning nearly 1,600 insurrectionists who participated in the violent assault on the Capitol on Jan. 6, Trump sent a message that he had their backs, and violence conducted on his behalf is perfectly acceptable. He pardoned people who violently attacked police officers, including four members of the Proud Boys who were convicted of seditious conspiracy.
We’ve seen in the months following that Trump believes that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and border patrol agents are his enforcers within the federal government, but he surely hasn’t forgotten that he has paramilitary forces outside of the government available to him if he decides he needs them. Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes – who was convicted of seditious conspiracy before Trump commuted his sentence – recently announced that he’s “rebuilding” the white nationalist militia group, in what could be a sign of things to come.
“I think that the actual organization pretty much disappeared after Jan. 6,” Sam Jackson, an assistant professor of emergency management and homeland security at the University of Albany, tells Zeteo. “There were a couple of state chapters that continued to exist after Jan. 6, but they all tried to distance themselves from the national organization.”
Doing the Militia Work for Them
We haven’t seen a lot of action from these kinds of militia groups since Trump took office, but it appears that this may be because they feel Trump is doing exactly what they want through the federal government. That said, it’s still quite possible they will again become active in the not-too-distant future when they feel the time is right – and that could happen sooner than later, as it’s becoming increasingly clear that Trump and Republicans are worried about losing many seats in Congress in next year’s midterm elections.