Thread by @jimsciutto

I’ve covered Intl terrorism for 20 years & the parallels to the US domestic terror threat are real & frightening.

- radicalization online
- demonization of the ‘enemy’ to justify violence
- draw to a cause greater than themselves
- devotion to a cultish leader 1/

2/
- belief in a false reality
- deep feeling of humiliation and victimization

What’s different and more dangerous about the domestic terror threat is that a former US president willfully echoes their rhetoric & feeds their anger.

3/ Moreover, they have virtually unfettered access to weapons given US gun laws and, unfortunately, military and law enforcement veterans in their ranks with training that can be dangerously useful in the cause of violence.

4/ Federal law enforcement has known this and highlighted this for years - and the data on attacks, plots and deaths have shown right-wing and white supremacist extremists to be a greater threat than even Islamist groups. But Trump appointees deliberately downplayed the threat.

5/ Even now, just 21 days after a violent mob carried out an organized assault on the Capitol, many GOP lawmakers are attempting to “move on” from Jan 6. Imagine a similar push following an Islamist terror attack. Partisan politics have infected even the gravest security threats

6/ And of course Jan 6 wasn’t the only recent warning. The Michigan kidnapping plot was an attempted act of terrorism and the training video had all the hallmarks of ISIS:

cnn.com/videos/politic…