2 weeks ago

‘Collapse is how we win’: US far right aims to make gains on election division

While Russian disinformation and election denialism are seeding mistrust in the American electoral process, some far-right extremists are already heralding this divisive election season as an unbridled victory for their cause.

To them, who wins or loses is less important than the effect: with already two assassination attempts on Donald Trump and both mainstream parties more at rhetorical war than ever before, they see signs of hope the US government is beginning to lose control of the country.

For example, one popular Telegram account on the fringes of the far right gleefully asked followers in a survey what they think the outcome of the election could be.

“Trump wins, civil war kicks off” was among the options, followed by “Kamala ‘wins,’ civil war kicks off”.

And the threat of armed conflict in the US seemed to be welcomed among respondents.

“I say accelerate, I just can’t keep living in this degenerate hellhole indefinitely,” said a neo-Nazi user inside the Telegram chat from the same channel, reviewed by the Guardian. “I just want something to happen so a bunch of us can die trying, at least.”

Another channel on Telegram in the same neo-Nazi ecosystem maligned the left and rightwing propaganda surrounding the election. Instead, the account said voting didn’t matter – an end to society was best for their movement.

“You’re being deceived, get back in the bunker,” said the Telegram post. “Collapse is how we win.”

A longstanding tenet of the far right, with roots in The Turner Diaries (one of the inspirations for the Oklahoma City bombing), is to commit acts of terrorism to accelerate the collapse of central governments. But since the Obama and Trump presidencies, the broader neo-Nazi movement has grown and seen entrenched political divisions as the possible accelerant to the Balkanization of the country or a “second civil war”.

“Accelerationism is loud right now and this pining for war is very present,” said Clara Broekaert, a research fellow at the Soufan Center who keeps tabs on the global far right. To her, these extremists wanting “collapse and violence” are a problem for before and after election day.

Broekaert continued: “For US national security, this signifies the emergence of a faction within society that believes fundamental disagreements over values and policies can no longer be resolved through democratic engagement. Instead, they view destruction – chaos, conflict and collapse – as the necessary means to achieve their goals. ”

Blood Tribe, a neo-Nazi group led by ex-US marine Christopher Pohlhaus, put out a video yesterday to an Aerosmith tune, telling followers to “let it go” and to embrace the “shared struggle” against the “enemy” amid images of fighter planes destroying the Statue of Liberty from the television show The Man in the High Castle.

Surprisingly, some of the most odious and fascistic corners of rightwing politics aren’t even cheering for the Republican party or Trump, as one might imagine.

A publication founded by members of designated neo-Nazi terrorist group Atomwaffen Division made it clear they saw pluses to either party winning.

“There are positives for us from both sides,” said one of its posts on Telegram days ago.

Their thinking goes that if Kamala Harris wins, “America is ruled by an obnoxious black woman who openly hates white people”, leading to the average white person being “alienated even further from the system” and more likely to accept neofascist and racist alternative forms of government.

If Trump were to win, on the other hand, groups like the now-defunct Atomwaffen and its parallel organization, the Base (still active), would have a lot more “breathing room” to operate, as they put it.

The publication’s post continued: “This is a positive because it makes things run less competently and traditional christian theocrats such as JD Vance types are more ambivalent towards us and obsess over [LGBTQ+] and leftist activists as their main hatred.

“We still get positives no matter who wins.”

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Yesterday, the Base posted a video in its own Telegram group telling followers “don’t vote” and celebrating the ballot box arsons in the Pacific north-west, near where the group’s Russia-based leader, Rinaldo Nazzaro, owns a property.

Nazzaro, who continues to coordinate the Base freely from the safety of Russia, openly posted on his X account that voting for Harris will speed up the vaunted demise of democracy that his group aspires to.

“May as well go fast & get it over with so we can move on to a real solution,” he posted shortly before election day, describing a vote for Harris.

The Trump-versus-Harris election has also added a layer of gender and racial hatred that fuels the far right’s obsession with destroying the present political system.

“The extreme right is focusing on civil war and collapse narratives because, in the context of online propaganda, it signals their commitment to accelerationist or other extremist ideologies that are opposed to the electoral process,” said Joshua Fisher-Birch, an expert on the far right at the Counter Extremism Project.

“They are hoping that if Harris wins, it will lead to further distrust in the electoral system and government institutions, which could lead to the growth of anti-government and white supremacist groups and movements.”

Not unlike the recent past, Fisher-Birch said the election of “Harris, a woman of color” would be used by extremists to “increase recruitment, similar to what happened after President Obama was elected in 2008”.

At the inception of his administration, Obama faced racist attacks from the mainstream GOP and the fringes, along with a spike in anti-government groups and ammunition sales across the country.

Similarly, another far-right figure with a sizable Telegram following preached on his account to stockpile military gear and avoid the inevitable urban violence that awaits.

“Do everything and anything you can to avoid cities this week,” he said. “If you have to, [AR-15 rifles] and plate carriers in the truck.”

Read more of the Guardian’s 2024 US election coverage