Thread by @jengolbeck

I've been putting off this thread on far-right / conspiracy theory updates because I'm so tired of it, but here we go!

So in terms of the September 18th rally planned at the Capitol to protest the arrest of 1/6 insurrectionists: this doesn't look like a big movement
1/

As has been the case with every proposed event since 1/6, there is major paranoia that it's a false flag run by the FBI / government to get people arrested and that ANTIFA will show up and make them look bad. From my sources, this isn't going to be a massive event
2/

But I'm more worried now than I have been in a long time.
The talk on these platforms has mostly been anti-vaccine/anti-mask AND very focused on the AZ "audit". Since the withdrawal from Afghanistan, that has become the dominant topic.
But there is a uniting thread…
3/

The anger and thirst for violence has been growing over the last few months. In January, these groups were all pro-Trump, anti-everyone else. Now, Trump is a minor character, but the calls for violence to take down the government generally are more and more prevalent
4/

There is a lot of language about being on the precipice of something major happening, and this closely echoes the QAnon attitude from Nov '20 to Jan '21. 5/

The good news is that there's not any specific movement/person/call to action to hook on to right now. The bad news is, imo, we're one charismatic person with a national platform and a call to violence away from something dramatic happening 6/

Trump was that person, but they have turned on him in a lot of ways. He was booed last week. His disappearance from the spotlight has also made his star fade for many of his followers 7/ nbcnews.com/politics/donal…

But they are ready for a new Trump, and if one comes, they are ready to do violence. It would be really easy to start now, and it has me personally very worried 8/