More recently individuals radicalised by right-wing ideology and propaganda have attacked Hispanics in a Walmart in El Paso, a synagogue in North Carolina and Blacks at a community centre in Buffalo. Murrah Federal Building, killing 168 people and injuring 680.
The worst right-wing attack in modern times occurred in April 1995 in Oklahoma City when Timothy McVeigh launched his car bomb against the Alfred P. Right-wing radicals have popped up regularly to cause trouble, whether motivated by distrust of the government and federal authorities or hatred of Blacks, Hispanics, Jews, Muslims or migrants in general that clash with their notion of white supremacy. As such, they epitomise the challenge of right-wing radicalism leading to domestic terrorism.
The Proud Boys might be angry and disgruntled, but they were motivated by a political agenda, which makes their actions akin to insurrection and even terrorism. The time when they might have been willing to act within the US institutions and democratic system to promote their beliefs and worldview had long since passed. They had undergone training, indoctrination and a specific recruitment programme. Their communications prior to January 6th make clear that they were committed to the use of violence to reinstall the Trump presidency and had come to Washington well-armed and well-organised to cause havoc. What the prosecution has made clear during the court proceedings is that the Proud Boys and other right-wing extremist groups, such as the Oath Keepers and the Three Percenters, who were also present in Washington on that day, did not act spontaneously or in the heat of the moment. Five people died in the attack, 140 policemen and women were injured and over 1,000 rioters that forced their way into the Capitol on that afternoon have been identified and charged by US law enforcement. The mob was fired up by false claims of electoral fraud, notably propagated by Trump himself and by his supporters in the media, including Fox News, and by friendly or complicit websites and social media platforms. On that infamous occasion, an angry and well-armed mob tried to disrupt Congress and prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s clear election victory over Donald Trump the previous November.
The five are all members of the Proud Boys, a group that was centrally involved in the storming of the United States Capitol on 6 January 2021. This week, the trial of five right-wing extremists is coming to a close in Washington, DC.
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