Domestic Extremists?

As part of my ongoing effort to make my historical work relevant to the present and its issues, I read a variety of other substacks. One of these is my former dissertation advisor Heather Cox Richardson’s very popular Letters From An American. Occasionally I agree with HCR’s opinions on what’s relevant in the daily news, but often I question the perspective from which she writes and the assumptions that seem “baked in”. For example, yesterday HCR called her readers' attention to a DHS bulletin warning of potential "domestic extremist" actions that might "pose a persistent and lethal threat to the Homeland." This threat, she suggested, may be directed at minorities, schools, "the LGBTQIA+ community", faith-based institutions, and government infrastructure. But the "key factor" in the "range of ideological beliefs and personal grievances" motivating this potential violence, she said, was "disinformation suggesting that U.S. elections are rigged."

Really? Is HCR suggesting that distrust of the electoral process is the only “beef” people have? Or that a sense that democracy no longer works as it should is misplaced? I'm not talking about distrust like the Democrats' years of claiming the Russians hacked the 2016 election. I'm talking about gerrymandering, suppression of voter registration, Citizens United. These are issues we shouldn't think about? Our democracy is working just fine, thank you very much, and anyone who says otherwise is a conspiracy theorist?

HCR went on to report that some "participants" in the January 6 "attack" seem unrepentant. She mentioned an Arkansas man whom the sentencing judge said had "not shown any acceptance of responsibility" as he was sentenced to over four years in prison. I looked at an Arkansas news report about this guy. Apparently his crime was that he put his feet up on Nancy Pelosi's desk and pilfered an envelope from her office.

A non-violent 60-plus year old guy is getting 54 months for what the judge calls "disrespectful and vulgar behavior". Does this seem fair? Does it seem designed to lessen or exacerbate the impression of regular people like this guy and his friends that the system believes them to be its enemies?

HCR continues with a description of the budget negotiations and the "manufactured crisis" of the debt ceiling. While I agree with her claim that Republican tax cuts certainly exacerbated our national debt problems, I was again struck by the things not mentioned. For example, both parties seem to agree that the spending at risk is limited to entitlement programs like Social Security and food assistance, education, and law enforcement. No mention of the "defense" budget or military aid to foreign belligerents? Apparently everyone agrees these billions are sacrosanct?