Another January 6? Experts fear unrest in Texas as extremists flock to Abbott's blockade
Could another far-right standoff with the federal government on the scale of the January 6 Capitol attack be brewing at the southern border in Texas? Experts fear it's a possibility, reports The Washington Post.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has refused to stop erecting razor wire to blockade portions of a state park in the border community of Eagle Pass to obstruct migrant crossings, even as Border Patrol agents warn it's impeding their ability to do their jobs and even after the Supreme Court gave the federal government permission to remove it. Former President Donald Trump has even encouraged GOP-controlled states to send their own National Guard troops to supplement Abbott's project.
"Extremism researchers warn that Abbott’s stand against federal orders is communicated in language that glorifies vigilantism and promotes white supremacist talking points, the latest example of the GOP’s hard-right swing in the Trump era," reported Arelis R. Hernández and Hannah Allam. Experts have sounded the alarm that this impasse is a "slow-motion secession," with the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism's Heidi Beirich saying, “This rhetoric, combined with Texas’s standoff with the federal government, is applauded by the same far-right movements that engage in hate crimes, domestic terrorism and were prominent at the January 6 insurrection.”...
