The alleged plot described by prosecutors is terrifying. According to the indictment filed last week in a federal court in the state of North Carolina, the four men – three of them with ties to the United States military – hoped to galvanise an armed white supremacist uprising against the government. They described themselves as a modern-day “SS”, in reference to Adolf Hitler’s most fanatic stormtroopers, committed to “knocking down The System”.
“Eventually we will have to bring the rifles out and go to work,” one member wrote on an online message board. “We are laying the framework for a guerilla organization and a takeover of local government and industry. This will be a ground war very reminiscent of Iraq as we will essentially be facing an insurgent force made up of criminals and gang members.”
Prosecutors
indicate that the plotters weren’t just popping off on the internet. They allegedly illegally moved guns between state lines and, in at least one incident, shadowed a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest and considered ways they could begin shooting members of the crowd.
Meanwhile, in the state of Michigan, prosecutors have suggested that a gang of right-wing militants were
scheming to take over the state capitol and begin executing politicians live on television.
Trump has repeatedly played footsie with the violent far right. The president-elect can use this opportunity to hang that albatross around the neck of the departing president’s movement, writes Borzou Daragahi
www.independent.co.uk
