This week we're joined by Dr. Mark Pitcavage, a leading experts on domestic terrorism and right-wing extremism in the United States. Mark has been employed by the Anti-Defamation League since 2000, where he currently serves as a Senior Research Fellow for their Center on Extremism. 

Join us as we explore the differences between various theories such as the far right/far left linear political continuum, horseshoe theory, and 4 quadrant political spectrum which all attempt to explain the different variables that characterize groups such as authoritarians, anarchists, violent extremists, and conservatives. The new "cult of personality" which describes extreme Trump followers is also considered and the concept of the lone-wolf terrorist is discussed.

Show notes and links found HERE.

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Mark: For most white supremacist movements, the core belief of white supremacists today is that the white race itself is in danger of extinction, that it is in danger of essentially being overwhelmed by a rising tide of non-white peoples who are being controlled and manipulated by Jews to hurt the white race and that if they do not do something about it, the white race will go extinct. That is the core belief for white supremacists. The core belief for anti-government extremists which differs depending upon the movement but the one thing they all share is a core belief that all or part of our government was some time ago infiltrated by a conspiracy which has essentially either replaced the government or rendered it illegitimate. And so, the government that you and I think of as a legitimate government, that we owe allegiance to, that we give allegiance to, is for them, not actually a legitimate government. And many of them want to restore government as they thought it used to be before the conspiracy got to it. So, you notice, the focus for those movements is all about the government. The focus for white supremacists is all about the white race.

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Noelle: So, when we think of the Capitol attack, I am just curious of what your opinion or if there has been research on this? I feel like in the media, a lot of it gets portrayed as these were anti-government or like, white nationalists, I mean they were there protesting that Trump had the election stolen but then there were so many images of white supremacy [...] what is your opinion about what happened at the Capitol?

Mark: There was a… sort of a convergence of a number of different fringe or other sort of other type of extreme groups and among those were a small number of white supremacists, a number of anti-government extremists primarily from the militia movement. So, other right-wing extremist groups like ‘the proud boys’ who played a prominent role in the storming of the Capitol. A variety of conspiracy theorists, especially QAnon conspiracy theorists. And then probably the majority of the people did not have ties to what you might call traditional extremist groups at all, had probably previously had no associations with them but were part of a relatively new phenomenon that you could essentially call ‘extreme Trump supporter’.

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From white supremacists, antigovernment and all the others in between, understanding the nuances between groups helps to better classify current agendas.  Because not all far right right extremist groups are created equal.

Join us for season 2 as we explore extremism, the Alt-Right, hate crimes, and the blurred lines of religion underneath it all.

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