What the assault on the Capitol has demonstrated is that America has produced a new type of organized crime. There were plenty of evidence of politico-criminal organizations, going all the way back to the emergence of the “militias” and the “gun rights” crazies. Recent years have brought QAnon, White Supremacists, neo-Nazis, et al. But ignorance, inertia, and cowardice caused us to turn a blind eye to these avowed terrorists. Then Trump came along and energized them, giving them the implied approval of the President of the United States and of his propagandists in the media. From then on we’ve had riots, attacks on state capitol buildings, a scheme to kidnap a governor, and finally January 6th. These groups are criminal insurrectionists in-waiting, and when summoned by their Leader, they gathered in Washington and did what they have been talking about doing for a very long time.
Citizens who monitor hate groups’ communications on the internet saw the Washington insurrection coming well in advance. The Justice Dept. and FBI have access to the same internet material. So why was government so completely unprepared for the insurrection. Are they so naïve? Are they so ill-informed? The FBI has nearly eliminated the Mafia through gathering of intelligence, the RICO act, and prompt and determined action. The same resources can be turned against domestic terrorists, so one has to ask “Why not?”
Was Trump’s alliance with these groups responsible for the unpreparedness of police and national guard and for the great delay in mobilizing the national guard? Trump and his regime not only tolerate domestic terrorists and their lawlessness, but foster them in order to create a constant threat of civil violence. Now it is time to crack down on the terrorists.
Multiple veins of criminality run through all of these groups. If appropriate diligence is applied to monitoring them and their criminal communications, and if all criminal acts are investigated and prosecuted, the threat from these violent associations could be very much reduced. I would say that doing this is a necessary precondition to the exorcism of American politics.