Pro-Trump activists promoting the January 6 protests that turned into the fatal Capitol riot are trying to distance themselves from future unrest as politicians and law enforcement prepare for further violence ahead of the inauguration.
Extremism experts have focused on January 17, as well as the inauguration day and the days surrounding it, as potential hotspots for violence. One of the inauguration day threats includes a “Million Militia March” encouraging armed Trump supporters to come to DC. protest, although it’s not clear where the flyer is coming from or how much traction it has gained on the right side.
Capitol Police officers are not taking any chances this time. They informed House Democrats late Monday of a range of possible threats, including plans for the “ largest armed protest to have ever taken place on U.S. soil ” and an alleged plot to stop Democrats from reaching the Capitol or killing them outright, so that Republicans will not can take over the government.
Democrats were also warned of a more general threat of violence against politicians and police, according to a person familiar with the briefing, first reported by HuffPost and confirmed by The Daily Beast.
So far, however, public online discussions of the alleged January 17 protests are much less visible than the wave of talks in pro-Trump forums that preceded the January 6 riot.
“We don’t see the same level of online chatter about attending those events,” said Lindsay Schubiner, a program director at the Western States Center, a group that tracks extremists in the Pacific Northwest.
However, Schubiner added that discussions of additional protests or violence leading up to the inauguration may have simply moved to less public online venues as social media companies crack down on extremists.
“We are in an extremely dangerous period of political violence, and it is difficult to say exactly what will happen or when it can happen,” said Schubiner. “But everything we see is of great concern to us.”
As thousands of National Guard troops pour into Washington, Trump supporters have suggested, with no evidence, that the proposed January 17 rally is a ploy designed to trap MAGA fans.
The Gateway Pundit, a right-wing hoax blog whose owner has been invited to Trump’s White House, suggested the January 17 protest was a “ deep-state plot ” intended to pave the way for mass arrests of Trump. followers. Mark Taylor, a former firefighter who became a star on the far right after receiving a “ prophecy ” that Trump would be elected, warned his 185,000+ followers Tuesday to stay away from the January 17 protests.
“People one of these so-called peaceful armed protests in all state capitals and DC January 17 has been set up by the left”, Taylor tweeted on Tuesday. “Don’t go! It’s a trap !!”
A number of Trump supporters have claimed that even the flyer’s graphic design, which is illustrated in red with the Statue of Liberty in the foreground, is proof that it is a plan intended to hurt Trump and his allies.
“There is no organizer on the list and it doesn’t look like a patriotic group would release anything at all,” Arizona State’s Kelly Townsend (R) tweeted on Tuesday.
That paranoia has been filtered down to the state level. A Minnesota group that recently hosted “Stop The Steal” events in the state capital has issued a Facebook warning to followers about the January 17 event.
“This is an infiltration and tactic used to incite violence and blame us,” wrote the group, which hosted a Minnesota “Storm the Capitol” event on January 6. “DO NOT GO TO THE CAPITAL ON SUNDAYS!”
The group told The Daily Beast that it advised people to stay at home on January 17th. On Facebook, the group shared posters for the January 17 event, suggesting they were an “ anarchist ” plot. However, those posters were seriously circulated by members of the Boogaloo movement, a far-right and libertarian coalition longing for civil war. While the Boogaloo movement has been promoting the event since last month, at least some members appear to have reassessed it after the January 6 riot, with a Boogaloo news site releasing a statement from the event’s alleged organizers claiming that the DC iteration of the meeting was canceled.
Fears that Trump supporters will be trapped – or involved in violence – is growing as the FBI and federal prosecutors pursue more people allegedly involved in the Capitol riot. On Tuesday, Acting US District Attorney Michael Sherwin said the scope of the investigation was “unprecedented” for the Justice Department, and said he had authorized a “strike force” to prosecute serious charges of sedition and conspiracy.
Still, the days around January 17 are also potential tinder boxes across the country. The Minnesota group urging followers to stay home Jan. 17 said it is still planning a pro-Trump rally in the state capital on Jan. 16.
Those plans coincide with the January 16 event announced last month, in which organizers claim they will “begin the process of eradicating America’s democratic ideology,” preventing Joseph Biden, or any other Democrat, from becoming inaugurated as President of the United States of America “and capture and detain” all Democratic politicians, both current and former “who played a role in Biden’s victory. The event’s website has since gone offline, but not before users on the now-closed social media site Parler took advantage of it to declare that “any opposing force” against the event “will be classified as an enemy of America and as such will be addressed with extreme prejudice, foreign or domestic. “
In Virginia, the long-planned ‘lobby day’ protests in the state capital fall on Jan. 18. Last year’s lobby day reportedly attracted 22,000 firearms fans, including members of far-right groups such as the Proud Boys and members of the then-embryonic Boogaloo movement. This year, the Virginia Capitol Police is reportedly on high alert, citing Wednesday’s riot.
A prominent pro-gun group wrote that it would host caravans to Richmond for the event. “There will no doubt be ‘rumors’ and other scare tactics [sic] to keep people at home, but we know better, ”the group wrote online.
Activists on the left are mobilizing medics and homeless people ahead of the Jan. 18 event, in case violence breaks out or the scene becomes unsafe for the unhidden population of Richmond, a local activist told The Daily Beast.
Some of the most prominent figures involved in planning protests outside of Congress on Jan. 6 say they have no intention of coming to Washington either. InfoWars conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has claimed the January protests are a “false flag.”
Pro-Trump organizer Ali Alexander, who claimed to be one of the lead ‘initiators’ of the January 6 protest, has been banned from financial services such as PayPal and Venmo, as well as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram in the aftermath of the event. According to one member of his circle, friends of Alexander distance themselves from him and ask him to leave politics completely.
In an email to The Daily Beast, Alexander said he urged Trump supporters to stay out of Washington around the inauguration, claiming unfounded that the posters promoting events in Washington were democratic fabrications.
“No one should go to Washington this month,” Alexander told The Daily Beast.
-Additional reporting by Sam Brodey