Tweet

@elonmusk

More from @markfollman

Mark Follman

@markfollman

Oct 28

Regarding the awful attack on Paul Pelosi: it's important not to get ahead of verified facts. We know little yet about the suspect's circumstances & motive. That said, it's worth highlighting again more broadly the dangers of #StochasticTerrorism that I’ve long written about. 1/x

We’re in an era in which the Trump-dominated GOP has more openly accepted—and participated in—dangerous political incitement. It will cause further bloodshed. And let's be clear: There is little if any equivalent behavior from the Democratic Party. motherjones.com/politics/2022/… 2/x

The incitement Trump has long used—which is knowingly enabled by his GOP and Fox News allies—has had a grim effect. As I reported recently, new research shows that Americans have grown more accepting of political violence, foremost partisan Republicans motherjones.com/politics/2022/… 3/x

Read 4 tweets

Mark Follman

@markfollman

Oct 21

NEW: Trump's ongoing incitement is feeding into a growing appetite for political violence in America, new research shows motherjones.com/politics/2022/… #January6th #StochasticTerrorism

"12 percent of 'strong' Republicans indicated support for violence to 'return Trump to the presidency this year,' and 17 percent indicated the same to 'stop an election from being stolen.' They were also more likely to agree that 'armed citizens should patrol polling places'" 2/x

Threat assessment experts I spoke with this month told me that that they continue to see alarming levels of political extremism in threat cases, foremost driven by Trump’s rhetoric and the so-called ultra MAGA movement motherjones.com/politics/2022/… 3/x

Read 6 tweets

Mark Follman

@markfollman

Sep 23

NEW: Trump continues to escalate his dangerous incitement. My latest reporting on this disturbing pattern of behavior from the ex-president motherjones.com/politics/2022/… 1/x

Trump declares on Fox News that a top elected law enforcement official really “hates” America. At a rally, he calls the FBI “vicious monsters”—knowing a Truth Social user tried to attack FBI agents with an AR-15.

Ask yourself: What is he trying to do? motherjones.com/politics/2022/… 2/x

He also knows the January 6 committee is about to return to the headlines with further grim evidence of his malfeasance. As Liz Cheney just put it, Trump's rhetoric about possibly being charged represents a “direct” and “credible” threat of violence motherjones.com/politics/2022/… 3/x

Read 4 tweets

Mark Follman

@markfollman

Sep 15

NEW: Trump has spread incitement of violence throughout the GOP. Here's my latest reporting on the growing danger from one of the ex-president’s darkest legacies motherjones.com/politics/2022/… #StochasticTerrorism

The temperature has risen ever since Trump and his allies went ballistic over the seizure of highly classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, with various GOP figures helping fuel the fire. Violence experts told me they’re deeply worried about the incitement motherjones.com/politics/2022/… 2/x

What’s so insidious about 'stochastic terrorism' is that politicians engaging in this form of rhetoric give themselves cover to deny responsibility for violence that isn't specifically predictable but that is likely to come from extremist followers motherjones.com/politics/2022/… 3/x

Read 5 tweets

Mark Follman

@markfollman

May 29

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1530911454538477570

It seems clear here that Dan Crenshaw does not actually understand what a ‘red flag’ law is. It’s not a criminal procedure—it’s a civil one. A judge determines whether to remove a gun temporarily from a person based on evidence that person poses a danger to himself and/or others

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1530911454538477570

@DanCrenshawTX

Shouldn’t a member of Congress first actually understand what a law is before taking a stand against it? @DanCrenshawTX

@DanCrenshawTX

Politicians like @DanCrenshawTX and @GregAbbott_TX blame mental illness as the cause of mass shootings (wrong), grandstand about keeping guns away from troubled people—and then oppose a law designed to do exactly that. Kids were just massacred. End the BS. motherjones.com/politics/2022/…

Read 4 tweets

Mark Follman

@markfollman

May 12

@WSJ

NEW: What are the warning signs of a potential mass shooter?

In this @WSJ essay adapted from my new book TRIGGER POINTS, I detail eight areas that prevention experts use to assess troubled people who may be turning dangerous wsj.com/articles/how-w… 🧵 1/x

Rage targeting women is a growing factor in mass shootings, as I further document in TRIGGER POINTS. Domestic abuse, "incel" ideology and other violent misogyny and extremism are rising concerns for threat assessment experts. [🎙️: Mark Deakins] 2/x

At the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit, I dove deep with leaders of a specialized team who do key research on shooter warning behaviors. I call them the "new mindhunters," as their profiling work is distinct from that of previous FBI agents who famously tracked serial killers. 3/x