By LESLIE EIKLEBERRY
Salina Post
United States Capitol Police say they have intelligence showing there is a “possible plot” by a militia group to breach the U.S. Capitol on Thursday.
According to a report by the Associate Press, the new threat appears to be connected to a far-right conspiracy theory, mainly promoted by supporters of QAnon, that former President Donald Trump will rise again to power on Thursday.
Up until 1933, when the 20th Amendment to the Constitution moved the end date of a presidential term, and, thus, the inauguration of the incoming president, to Jan. 20, March 4 was the date of presidential inaugurations.
The latest threat comes as FBI Director Chris Wray on Tuesday told the Senate Judiciary Committee that the violent Jan. 6 breach of the Capitol was "domestic terrorism." After a nearby rally earlier on Jan. 6, thousands of supporters of then-President Donald Trump descended on the Capitol, where Congress was meeting to certify Democrat Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election. More than 800 people are believed to have made it inside the building during the siege, the Associate Press reported. Five people died as a result of the melee, including a Capitol police officer who was struck in the head with a fire extinguisher.
Wray also shot down claims that members of antifa and anarchists posing as Trump supporters were really the ones attacking the Capitol.
“We have not, to date, seen any evidence of anarchist violent extremists or people subscribing to antifa in connection with the 6th,” Wray testified.
During his testimony Tuesday, Wray also warned of a rapidly growing threat of homegrown violent extremism that law enforcement is scrambling to confront, the Associated Press reported.
How we got to this point
Hatred for people who believe differently and belief in conspiracy theories have both exploded in recent years, with fear and anxiety at their root, according to Dr. Tor Wynn, associate professor of sociology and criminology at Friends University.
Several sources of fear and anxiety stand out, Wynn noted.
"First, 9/11 fundamentally changed this country. It made us question our safety from the violence of the world and accelerated the decline of trust we have for other people in our community," he explained. "For example, the Uniform Crime Report shows that crime in the United States steadily and rapidly declined up until the past two years, but surveys (Gallup, etc.) over the last 20 years show that Americans feel that crime is steadily getting worse. Not coincidentally, that divergence between reality and public attitudes started in 2001."
Wynn also noted that the Great Recession of 2007-2010 "brought into stark relief the economic fear that grips the vast majority of the population. Income and wealth inequality have been rising for 50 years and with greater job instability people are recognizing that the system is stacked against them."
According to Wynn, a third source is what he calls "the generational effect."
"Every 75-85 years the U.S. reaches a crisis point and cries out for national revival. The three greatest presidents in the U.S. history were those who led the nation out of these crises. Roosevelt in the 1930s and 40s, Lincoln in the 1860s, and Washington in the 1780s. And that rough beast is slouching toward Bethlehem once again. Polls show that Americans have become less trusting of others for the past few decades and instead worship at the altar of individualism," he explained.
An additional factor, according to Dr. Michael A. Smith, professor of political science and chair of social sciences at Emporia State University, is the rise of social issues over economic ones.
"It is much harder to compromise on issues perceived as moral imperatives than it is to compromise over funding or taxes. Both sides believe they are fighting for moral imperatives and that makes compromise nearly impossible. The discrediting of the 'mainstream' news media by many on the right also means that we are no longer working from a shared set of facts," Smith explained.
The whole situation is complicated, Smith noted.
"I recommend the book, Super Mad About Everything All the Time, by my friend Alison Dagnes. Basically, she argues that we have become separated because we can now self-select our sources of news. Humans already have a strong bias toward self-selecting stories or interpretations of stories that fit our pre-existing biases rather than challenging them, and the existence of separate news 'bubbles' only makes this worse," he explained.
Wynn maintains that 21st century media, including 24-hour television and internet news, as well as social media, fuel the fear.
"Ted Turner turned out to be one of the most heinous architects of our current dysfunctions. CNN seemed like a good idea, a place Americans could go to catch up on the news of the day anytime from any television. The problem is that there isn’t enough news (about and of interest to Americans) to fill up 24 hours. As such they decided to bring on talking heads to offer opinion pieces on the news. The more outrageous things these people would say the higher the ratings their shows received, the more money in the pockets of everyone," Wynn explained.
Those issues only intensified as the internet overtook television and became people's primary source of information and cash-from-clicks began, he added.
"The way to get clicks was by using outrage to monetize users fear and hate. Content providers understood quickly that out-of-context clips, creative editing, and making things up whole cloth, could readily turn innocuous events into outrageous acts that would catch and hold interest," Wynn noted.
The bubbles came into play again as "programmers developed algorithms ensuring that dubious sources of anger and misanthropy had their platforms supersized while those who were more evenhanded and honest were pushed aside. These same algorithms promoted information sources -- YouTube videos, social media friends, etc. -- based on those you had clicked previously, creating distinctive ‘bubbles’ of information that further pit groups and internet communities against each other," Wynn explained.
According to Wynn, "The research shows that even though social media purports to be all about building communities, in reality they build anger, antagonism, and mistrust among users. One of the key findings from my research is that heavy social media use significantly increases people’s belief in every type of conspiracy theory."
Wynn noted that "since the advent of the internet, the USA has become increasingly energized by fear and hate and increasingly susceptible to conspiratorial thinking." Political conservatism, however, also has played a role.
"My research showed that political conservatism was the second most important factor — after social media use — in terms of increasing belief in conspiracies, particularly anti-government conspiracies," he added.
The QAnon phenomena and Jan. 6
One of the more heard of conspiracy espousing groups is QAnon. QAnon adherents had a major presence in the Jan. 6 breach of the Capitol. But what is QAnon? Smith explained recently in a blog post on the Midwest Political Science Association MPSA website.* The following paragraph is from that blog post.
"QAnon is short for Q Anonymous. Its basic tenent is that leading members of the Democratic Party operate a child trafficking ring in which abducted children are bled in order to obtain a substance called adrenochrome, which is naturally synthesized from adrenaline by the human body. Members of the cabal supposedly drink this chemical in order to get high and seek eternal life. QAnon adherents also believe that these leading Democrats worship Satan. One target particularly hated by the followers is billionaire currency trader George Soros, who gives a great deal of money to Democratic candidates and nonprofits. Soros is also Jewish, and for centuries Judaism has been a popular target for conspiracy theories worldwide, particularly when connected to wealth and banking. Others named include Bill and Hillary Clinton, Bill Gates, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, celebrities including Oprah Winfrey, Sandra Bullock and Ellen DeGeneres, and of course the late pedophile and investor Jeffrey Epstein, who had friendly relationships with both former President Clinton and former President Trump. QAnon followers focus only on his relationship with Clinton."
"The insurrectionists were true believers, flailing around to make sense of an increasingly uncertain world. They landed on conspiracies that demonized liberals, Democrats, and RINOS — including the vice president — as traitors, pedophiles, and cannibals who served an international cabal bent on the destruction of everything Americans hold dear," Wynn noted. "The woman shot by the Capitol police officer is a good example of this. Through social media she tried out several different philosophies to make sense of the world. She finally settled on one that, despite being complete nonsense, gave her a sense of importance, a feeling of control over the tide of history."
Both Smith and Wynn noted that many hard-core Trump supporters view him more as one would a religious leader rather than a politician.
In discussing those who stormed the Capitol, Wynn explained, "These true believers found their messiah in the 45th president, a man who gave voice to their burgeoning beliefs about the world. As it became increasingly obvious that November’s election was lost and Trump was about to be put out to pasture, they became increasingly agitated. The election clearly demonstrated that their worldview was accepted by only a small minority of Americans and was continually being refuted by real-world events. Research clearly demonstrates that when confronted with the evidence that their belief system is false, conspiracy believers double down and become increasingly upset and unhinged from reality."
"QAnon views Trump as a savior. This is literal, not a metaphor. Followers have produced comic book-like depictions of Trump with the stigmata in his hands. (Stigmata are the wounds Jesus sustained when being nailed to the cross). They believe that at some point, called the storm, Trump will have members of the cabal arrested and either incarcerate or execute them," Smith wrote in the MPSA blog post*.
A part of the conspiracy was that on Jan. 6, Trump would step in at the last minute, and remain president for another four years. Then he was supposed to, at the last moment, stop Biden's inauguration on Jan. 20, and stay in the White House for four more years. When that didn't happen, hardcore believers bought into another change in the timeline for Trump resuming the presidency. That change was to Thursday (March 4).
"QAnon and other conspiracy theories capture the hardest core of Trump supporters, people who have a deep emotional commitment to the former President and his promise to 'Make America Great Again,'" Smith explained. "He made sense out of their world and promised to make it better. They are not emotionally ready to let go."
. . .
*"QAnon: The Conspiracy Theory Behind the Capitol Seizure" by Dr. Michael A. Smith, Midwest Political Science Association, Jan. 19, 2021.