The Week that Was Bracing for Trouble
Security and police forces are bracing for violence by the more violent among Trump supporters and an assortment of other extremists, on two dates: The first is 9 February, which is the first day of Trump’s second Senate impeachment trial. The second is 4 March, which was the U.S. original inauguration date until it was moved to 20 January in 1937 (there were five exceptions: George Washington was sworn in on 20 April, and on four occasions, 4 March was a Sunday, so the inauguration was moved to 5 March). QAnon, still reeling from Trump’s loss on 3 November, has been feeding its gullible followers the fantasy that Trump has not really lost the election – but, rather, that he had won, but that he has chosen to be sworn in as president on 4 March, the original inauguration date.
Security and police forces are bracing for violence by the more violent among Trump supporters and an assortment of other extremists, on two dates: The first is 9 February, which is the first day of Trump’s second Senate impeachment trial. The second is 4 March, which was the U.S. original inauguration date until it was moved to 20 January in 1937 (there were five exceptions: George Washington was sworn in on 20 April, and on four occasions, 4 March was a Sunday, so the inauguration was moved to 5 March).
QAnon, still reeling from Trump’s loss on 3 November, has been feeding its gullible followers the fantasy that Trump has not really lost the election – but, rather, that he had won, but that he has chosen to be sworn in as president on 4 March, the original inauguration date.
Security officials are worried that the inevitable disappointment by extremists when they realize that their candidate is not going to become president on 4 March, may lead to violence against what they perceive as the “Deep State” which has thwarted their champion.
Disturbing chatter on social media platform is keeping the security authorities on their toes, but the fact that Trump can no longer use Twitter to spread his disinformation and incite his followers, combined with the fact that the Trump-supporting media, now under the threat of massive defamation lawsuits, has toned down its rhetoric about the fantasy of a “rigged” and “stolen” election, may lessen somewhat the potential for violence.
Lawmakers on Thursday heard from experts that the threat from domestic terrorism may last ten to twenty years. There appeared to be a bipartisan majority on the House Homeland Security Committee for the idea of new laws to address domestic terrorism, even though experts testifying at the hearing differed in their recommendations.
The committee’s chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), said he expected the committee’s investigation to result in concrete legislation to punish and dissuade such attacks, and better monitor and regulate the environments in which extremist ideologies proliferate.
