The Canary in Coeur d’Alene
Just how much more incitement to violence can the Republicans produce?
Most people recognize the phrase ‘canary in the coal mine’. Back in the day, the poor birds served their purpose by dropping dead first if lethal gases rose, alerting the miners to beat feet before it was too late. Canaries are one thing, cops another, but last week the police in Coeur d’Alene Idaho, coincidentally an old mining town, also provided an early warning. Their arrest of nearly three dozen extremists rang the bell about the violence threatening this election year.
The facts are clear enough. Tipped off that 31 men, dressed ready to rumble, were loading into a rented truck, the police stopped the U-Haul and collared them. From different states, many sported the white nationalist logo of the Patriot Front. Reflecting their roots, they matched the morons who mobilized in Charlottesville’s “Unite the Right” rally in 2017. In fact, the Patriotic Front is a splinter faction from Vanguard America, one of that deadly riot’s organizers. In Coeur d’Alene the 31 were headed to confront a gay pride celebration when the cops rolled them up.
Americans could be excused for failing to recognize all the brands in the panoply of hatreds espoused by the far right. The names as well as their causes and conspiracies can be confusing. But the Patriot Front is not just an example of a psychosis. It represents the growing challenge of extremism on the move from the margins to the mainstream. One of 98 white nationalist groups, the Front has members in 30 states, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center’s count. More to the point, it barely scratches the surface of the menagerie the SPLC tracks.
In 2021 the SPLC identified 733 extremist organizations across the country, among them: 18 Ku Klux Klan; 54 neo-Nazis; 17 racist skinheads; 16 neo-Confederates; 18 anti-immigration; 65 anti-LGBTQ; 50 anti-Muslim; 61 anti-Semitic; and 265 peddling general hate. Add 92 anti-government militias armed, organized and training; 72 sovereign citizens movements that assert they are exempt from federal laws; and 52 conspiracy groups pushing various bizarre themes. Who can deny that the American asylum doesn’t stretch from coast to coast?
There is, of course, the argument ‘what’s new?’ Extremist groups, social dissenters, radical reformers, utopian movements, and off-beat religious sects have long been part of America’s political crazy quilt on the left as well as the right. Idaho, for example, remains home to various survivalists waiting to repel the UN’s black helicopters or George Soros, whoever comes first. Today’s extremists, however, aren’t just contemporary tassels on the traditional right wing fringe. They’re woven into the fabric of the Republican Party and a growing influence on its views.
Like the Democrats or anyone who aspires to higher office, state political service provides the on-ramp for Republicans seeking to run for US House and Senate seats. In the GOP’s case, that talent pool increasingly reflects elected officials with extremist political affiliations or views. Ask Mark Zuckerberg. According to the Institute for Education on Human Rights, of the 7,383 state legislators in the United States during the 2021-22 legislative period, 875—all but three Republicans—were members of one or more of 789 far-right Facebook groups. That’s 22 percent of all the Republicans elected to state legislatures across the United States.
Republicans’ affection for far right organizations and causes isn’t limited to social media ties. Pro Publica, the investigative non-profit, analyzed the 35,000 names on the leaked membership roster of the Oath Keepers, the anti-government paramilitary group whose leaders were arrested for complicity in the January 6th insurrection on Capitol Hill. Among them, Pro Publica found 48 state and local officials, all Republicans, including 10 serving state lawmakers, two former state representatives, and one current state assembly candidate.
Politicians linked to the far right may not lead the GOP, at least not yet, but their growing numbers are legitimizing extremist views. Take “replacement theory,” the fever dream of white nationalists, antisemites and other conspiracists who say white Americans are about to be sacked. It’s gotten high level attention. Scott Perry, the hyper-conservative House Freedom Caucus chair, and Senator Ron Johnson, whose paranoia rivals his late home-stater’s, Joe McCarthy, are spreading the extremist nonsense, as are other Republicans pushing the patently racist view.
That their rhetoric is a potential trigger for violence goes without saying. Recall the GOP’s proselytizing Donald Trump’s Big Lie in 2020. From poll workers harassed in Georgia to mobs demanding access to vote counting sites in Arizona, elected Republicans pushing the groundless claim catalyzed potential violence. Add House members such as Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Bobert; in 2022 the bizarre emissions from the GOP’s Q-Anon caucus and others all but guarantee such dangers will grow. In fact, a recent survey from NYU Law School’s Brennan Center revealed one out of six election officials already say they have received personal threats.
It would be naïve to believe that the far right doesn’t see the Republicans in Congress who accept its twisted causes and claims as a green light. After all, in 2020 the Proud Boys took then candidate Trump’s presidential debate answer to a question about far right extremists—Trump told them to “stand back and stand by”—as a call to arms. A few weeks ago the Homeland Security Department made clear it sees trouble ahead. “In the coming months, we expect the threat environment to become more dynamic as several high profile events could be exploited to justify acts of violence against a range of possible targets.”
From the GOP ranks that deny the results of the 2020 election, including countenancing violence to overturn it, to the party’s loony tunes members who nod at Q-Anon mantras about impending apocalyptic reckonings with pedophile elites, the Republicans are well on their way to legitimizing extremism.
The cops in Coeur d’Alene did their duty to protect their city and its citizens from one of the consequences. Their actions are also a warning. The question is, does anyone in the GOP care?