'Worse than we saw before': Intelligence expert warns more election violence is brewing

A private intelligence expert is concerned about a growing risk of election violence, according to Politico — and fears that what happened on Jan. 6, 2021, could just be a warm-up compared to what might be coming.

Rita Katz, who runs SITE Intelligence Group and is an expert on extremist activity online, told Betsy Woodruff Swan that the data from her site predicted the attack on the Capitol.

And it's predicting more violence. There are some differences compared to last time, though: "how proactive and organized the far right has become — that is very, very alarming for me," she said.

"They’re being organized within the same platforms that had the preparation and organization before Jan. 6 — one of the main ones was The Donald, which changed the name to the Patriots. We see the massive swell of conspiracy theories and civil war predictions. That was before. What we’re seeing today is a very, very clear, organized, mobilized election process, similar to Stop the Steal, only it started long before," said Katz.

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Another difference, she said, is Trump now has more social media platforms and parts of Silicon Valley on his side.

"These are the people who run the most profound social engineering tools humanity has ever seen — in addition to major traditional media outlets. They seem to be bending to his will, whether out of fear, agreement or simple business calculus. They know that if Trump wins, they need to kiss the ring. They know if they want to stay relevant, there is outsized risk in endorsing [Kamala] Harris. These are trademark features of fascist systems."

This comes as both Democratic leaders and election workers brace for the prospect of violence.

Some observers have warned that Trump is encouraging the threats, as he has grown less confident he will secure victory on Tuesday.

"If Trump doesn’t accept the results, it’s hard to predict. But I don’t think it would be peaceful at all. And I think that if there are calls for violence, it might be worse than we saw before," she concluded. "When you have somebody like Elon Musk who runs Twitter, if he is not going to agree with the election results… Our entire discourse and social fabric are wired to generate chaos today. And it’s going to be very difficult for law enforcement to control and fix that."