What do you think will happen in the upcoming elections when Republicans hold up domestic terrorists like those who participated in Jan. 6 as heroes? That’s what one former Republican official asked when he warned about probable violence. Add the many conspiracy theories surrounding the fake claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election and we have a perfect storm threatening our mid-term voters.
Take the conspiracy theory about “ballot mules” made popular by the QAnon-related film, “2,000 Mules.” Supposedly, hundreds of fake ballots were dropped off in the middle of the night at drop boxes, changing the outcome of the 2020 election. Despite repeated hand counts of ballots that reaffirmed the results, this conspiracy continues to gain steam. We now see armed individuals dressed in military-style tactical gear, including masks to obscure their faces, surveilling ballot drop boxes in Arizona. They photographed voters’ license plates, even as they obscured their own cars’ license plates.
Talk about intimidation. For months, the organization called Clean Elections USA urged people on Trump’s Twitter-like Truth Social to create “ballot tailgate parties” to monitor drop boxes nationwide. The organization, founded by Oklahoma minister Melody Jennings, was recently sued by the Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans and Voto Latino. They argued that Clean Elections USA violates the Voting Rights Act and Ku Klux Klan Act by intimidating people into not voting. But the intimidators feel they’re just expressing their First Amendment rights, and besides, they aren’t all that scary. Right.
The Department of Homeland Security, FBI, U.S. Capitol Police and the National Counterterrorism Center warned that political extremists inspired by this so-called “free speech” pose a “heightened threat” around the upcoming elections, especially by “lone offenders who leverage election-related issues to justify violence.” Their report cited potential targets for domestic violent extremism: “candidates running for public office, elected officials, election workers, political rallies, political party representatives, racial and religious minorities, or perceived ideological opponents.”
Was it ironic or just inevitable that this report came out the same day that a lone actor attacked Paul Pelosi, husband of Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.? We learned decades ago that lone actors pose the greatest security risk when Timothy McVeigh blew up the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City. In my FBI training shortly after the bombing, I learned how difficult it is to anticipate and deter lone actors.