In a sign of just how deep the political divide is in America today after an election marred by violence before and after voting, and serious allegations of election fraud in Democrat-controlled states and big tech bias against President Trump, US defense officials fear an insider attack from service members involved in securing President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration in Washington DC.

As a result, FBI is vetting all of the 25,000 National Guard troops coming to Washington for the event.

As per Associated Press –

“The massive undertaking reflects the extraordinary security concerns that have gripped Washington following the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by pro-Trump rioters. And it underscores fears that some of the very people assigned to protect the city over the next several days could present a threat to the incoming president and other VIPs in attendance.

Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy told The Associated Press on Sunday that officials are conscious of the potential threat, and he warned commanders to be on the lookout for any problems within their ranks as the inauguration approaches.

…the threats against Biden’s inauguration have been fueled by supporters of President Donald Trump, far-right militants, white supremacists and other radical groups.

The insurrection at the Capitol began after Trump made incendiary remarks at the Jan. 6 rally. According to McCarthy, service members from across the military were at that rally, but it’s not clear how many were there or who may have participated in the breach at the Capitol. So far only a couple of current active-duty or National Guard members have been arrested in connection with the Capitol assault, which left five people dead. The dead included a Capitol Police officer and a woman shot by police as she climbed through a window in a door near the House chamber.

….The major security concern is an attack by armed groups of individuals, as well as planted explosives and other devices. McCarthy said intelligence reports suggest that groups are organizing armed rallies leading up to Inauguration Day, and possibly after that.

The key goal, he said, is for America’s transfer of power to happen without incident.”

While all of US mainstream media has termed Donald Trump’s 6 Jan speech as ‘incendiary’, a close scrutiny of the transcript of his speech suggests things are not so black and white.

In a typically rambling speech, the thrust of Trump’s message was to call on ‘weak’ Republicans to oppose the electoral college vote count taking place in the US Capitol that day, and reject the election results. In particular, he wanted Vice President Pence to reject the results and send it back to the states to recertify their votes.

Trump spoke in detail about the various kinds of fraud many have alleged in these American elections – mail-in ballot harvesting, un-secure drop boxes, illegal and sudden changes in state election laws etc. He spoke about some of his administration’s very real achievements, the big tech bias which even independent data scientists have unearthed and mainstream media’s obvious left-liberal bias.

While he did tell the crowd, “you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong”, he also added, “I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”

He ended the speech asking the crowd to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue towards the Capitol.

Moreover, the way Trump has been treated ever since the election result was confirmed in favour of Biden hints at a coordinated, multi-pronged effort to remove him from the American political scene. Trump has been banned from almost all major social media platforms, banks and financial institutions have stopped their business dealing with him and his company, apps like Parler (which offered an alternative to his conservative supporters to speak freely) have been almost booted out of existence when Google and Apple removed it from their respective app stores, and he has been impeached  for an unprecedented second time just days before leaving office.

US’ domestic terrorism threat

America’s problem with homegrown White Christian supremacist terror is real. The ease with which guns, including advanced assault rifles, can be obtained in the country due to the 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution, introduced in 1791, which states, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed”, makes the threat really potent.

“A majority of the domestic terrorism cases that we’ve investigated are motivated by some version of what you might call white supremacy, but it includes other things as well,” FBI Director Christopher A. Wray told Congress in 2019.

But this is only part of the story. The threat from Islamic terror is just as real today as it was on 9/11. US homeland security must be credited for preventing multiple terror plots since 2001, but even then there have been multiple attacks by Islamic terrorists including shootings at military bases, the Orlando night club shooting, the San Bernardino attack, Boston Marathon bombing etc.

Black separatist and extremist groups like New Black Panther Party (which demands a separate nation for black Americans and has virulently anti-white and antisemitic views, expressed often by its leaders like Khalid Abdul Muhammad), or Nation of Islam (NOI) (a wealthy black organisation with a  theology of innate black superiority over whites and deeply racist, antisemitic and anti-LGBT views) pose their own set of problems. In the last few years, ‘Black Lives Matter’ protests have broken out over accusations of systemic police brutality against black Americans – some of these protests have seen violence, vandalism and looting.

And then there are far-left extremist groups like Anti-Fa (short for ‘anti-fascist’) which blend anarchist and communist views and use improvised explosive devices and other homemade weapons. These too have become increasingly active since Trump was elected in 2016.

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