Jan 20

Jan 20 Breaches & Fissures: Capitol Siege & The Next Phase Of Far Right Terror / Spencer Sunshine

Journalist, activist, and researcher of far right movements, Spencer Sunshine returns to the podcast to discuss the MAGA siege on the Capitol on January 6th, what led up to it, and what to expect from the far right as we transition into Joe Biden’s presidency.

This discussion begins by addressing the years-long harassment Spencer has experienced by far right actors, such as being labeled the "leader of Antifa," and most recently as the "QAnon Shaman” (who famously participated in the Capital riot) — an accusation make by Lin Wood, Trump's attorney who worked on the Kraken election fraud lawsuit.

So how did I come to be the face—or, rather, the name behind somebody else’s face—of a right-wing campaign to deny crimes committed by other right-wingers? What unfolds is a decade-long tale of an ever-morphing conspiracy theory about me, originally forged in the crucible of neo-Nazi anti-Semitism and developed by a variety of small-time far-right figures before a Trumpist grifter injected it onto a national stage. And it’s also a story about how purely anti-Semitic conspiracies get toned down and then circulated more broadly, while retaining the same storyline and targeting the same individuals. (http://bit.ly/2XTXfoi)

From there, I ask Spencer about the escalation of far right terror in the United States over the past year, culminating in thousands of Trumpists invading the US Capitol on January 6th with murderous intent. As he states in a recent article published the day after the event:

The dramatic events yesterday at the U.S. Capitol further open worrisome possibilities for future far right violence and disruptions. An escalation in aggressive actions seems likely, especially in the remaining two weeks of Trump’s term, but the effect may last much longer. However, there is also the possibility that both this and similar recent events could further widen the internal fissures on the right, to the detriment of the Trumpists. (http://bit.ly/3bXbscg)

Unfortunately, these acts of violence by the far-right have steadily increased over the past several years. In the aftermath of the Capitol riot and the Trump presidency, Spencer expects a continued escalation of far right terror in the US over the coming months, and he explains why.

BIO:

Spencer Sunshine, PhD, is a researcher, writer, activist, speaker, and political consultant regarding far right movements. In 1990, he co-founded an anti-racist youth group in the metro Atlanta, Georgia to combat the influence of the Nazi skinhead movement, which was hegemonic in the local punk scene. Since 2005, he has written extensively about the US Far Right. This includes postwar fascism, the Patriot/militia movement, left-right crossover movements, as well as antisemitic currents on both the Left and Right. Sunshine was present at the armed takeover of Oregon’s Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in January 2016. In August 2017 he was part of the counter-demonstration against the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and was in the crowd during the car attack which killed Heather Heyer and injured about 30 others.