The Capitol Insurrection Was a Warning Shot

The threat of armed protests is escalating before the Biden inauguration

Andrea González-Ramírez
GEN

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Members of the National Guard in the Capitol rotunda on January 11. Photo: Kent Nishimura/Getty Images

The extremist attacks are unlikely to stop any time soon. On Monday, House Democrats were warned of three separate violent demonstrations planned for inauguration week, one with the explicit goal of overthrowing the government by potentially murdering Democratic and Republican lawmakers. The news followed reports that the FBI on Monday had issued an internal memo warning of armed protests in all 50 state capitals and the D.C. area starting on January 16 and lasting until President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20.

Are we really surprised? The increase in right-wing extremist and white supremacist violence has been at least a decade in the making. The move from protesting to plotting harm against lawmakers should have been obvious from the moment a plan to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, both Democrats, was thwarted in October.

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Andrea González-Ramírez
GEN
Writer for

Award-winning Puerto Rican journalist. Senior Writer at New York Magazine’s The Cut. Formerly GEN, Refinery29, and more. Read my work: https://www.thecut.com/