Trump Incites Violence Against the FBI

     As I've said before, the alt-right is by far the biggest terrorist threat in the United States, far bigger than those posed by the left and by Islamic terrorists. From the January 6th insurrection to the Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot to violence against abortion providers and election workers, the right in general is growing increasingly into a terrorist movement that seeks only to sow division and, incapable of winning votes on that lack of a platform, resorts to violence and intimidation that one might expect to see in 1863, not 2023. 

     One new area that should be explored is how Trump is inciting violence against the FBI. For all the flaws of the agency, violence of any kind, especially political violence, should be condemned, especially as it is nearly all targeted toward low-ranking officers with no role in tactical or operational decision-making. These are people who put themselves at risk to enforce the law and protect and serve communities, not people with any political agenda. 

     And yet, it appears there is no area of American life in which Trump will not use his divisive, selfish words and actions to incite violence. In North Carolina, Steven "Jike" Williams was arrested after he threatened members of an anti-Trump organization, cursed and spat at FBI agents who came to his property to interview him, and then made TikTok videos threatening to murder the agents after they left. In Michigan, Neil Matthew Walter was arrested for threatening FBI Director Christopher Wray and Democratic Representative John Garamendi on a Facebook livestream while brandishing a weapon and spouting the QAnon conspiracy theory. Adam Bies of Pennsylvania was arrested soon after the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago for threatening FBI agents on Gab, a social media site popular among Nazis. Ohio's Aron McKillips, a "Boogaloo Boi" (AKA someone who believes in a race-based civil war), was charged for threatening to blow up the IRS and White House and threatening FBI and CIA agents. More arrests are expected.

     Unfortunately, as bad as these types of threats are, they are far from the worst things Trump and his supporters have brought upon the FBI in recent months. On August 11th, 2022, Americans watched as Ricky Shiffer, a white supremacist and domestic terrorist who had participated in the United States Capitol insurrection, was shot dead after assaulting FBI agents at a field office in Cincinnati, Ohio.

     Perhaps the most disturbing case to date was the arrest of Edward Kelley and Austin Carter of Tennessee. Kelley, a January 6th insurrectionist out on bond for assaulting law enforcement at the Capitol, planned to murder the FBI agents investigating his case, or, more specifically, planned to pay Carter $10,000 to conduct an attack on the Knoxville field office. They each face up to life in prison if convicted.

     These are just some of the more noteworthy examples and only those that have happened in the past few months. Unfortunately, with the new narrow GOP House majority, these attacks will have the implicit endorsement of one branch of government and will likely increase. There are tens of thousands of violent Trump supporters who belong behind bars. For the sake of our democracy, we need to do everything in our power to make it happen.