Renewed Threats of Violence From GOP Extremists

America’s right-wing extremists have been hankering for a civil war for a long time now, and in particular have been eager to start using their guns in defense of Donald Trump ever since he came onto the political scene. They tried to start a civil war on Trump’s behalf after he lost on Jan. 6, 2021.

So to no one’s great surprise, they’re currently flooding social media and right-wing media bandwidth with vows to begin a civil war on Trump’s behalf after the FBI executed a search warrant at the ex-president’s Florida waterfront estate, Mar-a-Lago, and seized evidence in an investigation of his theft of classified documents. The rhetoric is mostly a mixture of over-the-top hysteria and dark threats, and it’s being wielded by everyone from congressional Republicans to anonymous militiamen

Back when Trump was facing his first impeachment, he tweeted out a hint that the proceedings might unleash a civil war—which did unleash a deluge of militiamen and Trump supporters vowing to do exactly that. The sentiments they voiced then were remarkably similar to the threats of violence directly preceding the Jan. 6 insurrection.  Right after news of the Mar-a-Lago search broke, mentions of “civil war” on Twitter suddenly spiked, as Donie O’Sullivan reported.

The most prominent elected Republican to weigh in on the matter was Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, whose tweets became increasingly militant as the day progressed. They started out in typically unhinged fashion:  "The FBI is raiding President Trump’s home in Maralago!  This is the rogue behavior of communist countries, NOT the United States of America!!!  These are the type of things that happen in countries during civil war.  The political persecution MUST STOP!!!"  Later in the day, Greene’s tone became threatening: “What is happening will NOT be tolerated!!!” she wrote. “We are coming.”

Trump-loving right-wing pundits were similarly running around with their hair on fire, urging their audiences to prepare for war—and not just the metaphorical kind.  Jesse Kelly—the right-wing radio talk-show host who believes fascism is an inevitability for the American right, and is good with that—gave a shout-out to the so-called “constitutional sheriffs” who have threatened to get involved in the nation’s election apparatus in defense of Trump. “Do you have a county sheriff who will stand between you and a federal agent trying to violate your rights? If you don’t, you better get one. Or better yet, BECOME one,” Kelly tweeted.

Far-right pundit Candace Owens had a regular meltdown on Twitter: "The FBI must be legally and formally dissolved.  What happened to President Trump is positively stunning and a mark of unchecked government power.   I no longer recognize the country I live in. Left or right, we must all come together to fight this evil."

White nationalist pundit Jack Posobiec, who now hosts a daily show for the right-wing campus organization Turning Point USA, posted a series of tweets that essentially urged his audience to gird their loins for a real shooting war:  "The federal security state has declared war on Donald J Trump and his supporters.  The country you grew up in no longer exists. We are living through the times our forefathers warned of.  Preemptive coup.  Welcome to the end game."

These same sentiments could be found throughout right-wing social media, being voiced by ordinary trolls at large and often at high volume.

• “Is this the first shot of a civil war? Is this the tyranny mentioned in the 2^nd Amendment? The Founding Fathers would have started shooting a long time ago!”
• “It’s time for a civil war. The deep state has proven they are real, they are corrupt, they are dictators.”
• “Civil war! Pick up arms people!”
• “The fbi just declared war on the republic. Treat them accordingly.”
• “August 8, 2022 will be remembered forever. The start of Civil War II.”
• “Our government is pushing for a civil war. Americans are only going to take so much.”
• “I already bought my ammo”
• “Civil War 2.0 just kicked off.”
• “Let’s do the war.”
• “FBI is headed by Jews. I warned you about these demons.”
• “It’s going to be wonderful to see FBI agents get killed in the future!”

“Prior to the attack on the Capitol on January 6th, we saw unprecedented plans online to conduct real-world violence,” observed Advance Democracy president Daniel J. Jones, a former Senate Intelligence Committee staff member, in a statement to NBC News. "The online outrage was based on false allegations of voter fraud and bizarre theories of coordinated government corruption. The raid by the FBI has provoked similar violent rhetoric online—including from at least one individual charged in relation to the insurrection on January 6th.”

Jones added: “The promotion of broad government conspiracy theories by political leaders, elected officials, and political entertainers continues to undermine our democracy—and will likely lead to additional political violence.”  

Jones' warning couldn't have been more prescient-- several days after the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago, an armed man named Ricky Shiffer  attempted to break into the FBI building in Cincinnati, OH.  Shiffer, who was shot and killed after a standoff with police, was at the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection, the Associated Press reports.  The 42-year-old man from Columbus had ties to extremist groups, including the Proud Boys, the Wall Street Journal reported.  Shiffer posted messages on Truth Social, Trump's media platform for conservatives, about attempts to gain access to the FBI building.  In another post, he also called for people to prepare themselves for "combat" in the days after the FBI searched Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence for national security materials.  "We must not tolerate this one," said one post. Another urged people to kill the FBI "on sight, and be ready to take down other active enemies of the people and those who try to prevent you from doing it."