Jan. 6 committee investigators got an inside look at the state of extremism in today’s America, and now they’re sharing their disturbing findings publicly, MSNBC blogger Ja’han Jones reports.
Staffers from the Jan. 6 committee investigating the attack on the Capitol spoke at the Georgetown University Law Center last month about the ongoing threat of domestic extremism.
The Feb. 23 panel discussion, which was broadcast on C-Span, addressed the motives of the rioters, the role of social media in fomenting extremism, along with ways to address the ongoing threat.
Committee investigator Marcus Childress said many of the participants were military recruits who were manipulated by a “strong leader who made them feel needed,” the report said.
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“A lot of these individuals felt that they had served their country and sacrificed — which they had — for their country in certain ways,” Childress said.
Although the insurrection featured organized groups such as the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers in leadership roles, most of those who participated were not affiliated with these groups, panelist Meghan Conroy said.
“What’s noteworthy about that, though, is no matter the diversity of this unaffiliated mob’s grievances, they all showed up to keep Trump in power,” Conroy said.
“And some of them were willing to kill or die to ensure that Trump would continue being their president. And a jaw-dropping number of people who are not part of extremist groups were willing to do those things.
“…a lot of them are kind of co-radicalizing and co-mobilizing and collaborating in online spaces, and social media platforms have allowed them to do that.”
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