NBC’s Ben Collins Sounds Alarm on Violent Rhetoric Flooding Pro-Trump Message Boards: ‘They Are Ready to Go’

Jackson RichmanAug 9th, 2022, 3:00 pm
 

NBC News senior reporter Ben Collins warned of extremism on pro-Trump message boards in response to the unprecedented FBI raid of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home.

“Lock and load,” read the top comment on TheDonald, a popular pro-Trump message board, in the wake of the raid.

“Are we not in a cold civil war at this point,” replied another user. “They cry out in pain as they strike you,” added another, appearing to refer to Trump’s opponents.

“They will cry out in authentic pain soon,” SwampKraken replied.

“He has but to ask us. Don Jr we know you lurk…cross the Rubicon,” wrote user TexasPiper.

“Shitchyear! None of this demonstrating in the snow shit. Summertime was made for killing fields,” posted user KAGwave.

Collins also flagged right-wing comedian Steven Crowder tweeting, “Tomorrow is war. Sleep well.”

“The posts on these pro-Trump forums tonight are as violent as I’ve seen them since before January 6th. Maybe even moreso,” Collins wrote.

Collins, who covers extremism and disinformation, appeared on MSNBC Tuesday to discuss the proliferation of violent rhetoric in response to the raid.

“They are ready to go,” Collins said, noting that one person whose comments were flagged is actually a January 6 Capitol rioter awaiting sentencing.

Collins noted one of the posters said he’s “awaiting sentencing,” so the posters are “not particularly bright people, but these are people who are ready to fight. These are people who are ready to go and they’ve proven it in the past.”

The reporter added that supporters are awaiting “directions” from Trump.

“They don’t have their leader sending directions and giving specific dates and getting everybody riled up for one big day anymore,” he said.

Former FBI Assistant Director Frank Figliuzzi agreed with Collins on MSNBC, saying he would “not be surprised” if the Department of Homeland Security issued a bulletin announcing we are entering a “heightened threat environment.”

The House select committee investigating Jan. 6 revealed last month disturbing pro-Trump messages online when the then-president in December called on his supporters to descend upon Washington on Jan. 6.

The responses included “Is the 6th D-Day? Is that why Trump wants everyone there?”; “Trump just told us all to come armed. Fucking A, this is happening”; “It ‘will be wild’ means we need volunteers for the firing squad.”

Pro-Trump extremism has taken shape on social media platforms including, but not limited to, Facebook, Twitter, Gab, 4chan and Reddit.

In January, Collins reported:

One year after members of far-right groups rioted at the U.S. Capitol, the online extremist forums that telegraphed the brutality of Jan. 6 are still home to violent rhetoric.

But they also indicate a different reality: Disparate groups that once united around a shared goal are now struggling to agree on many issues, including what happened on Jan. 6 and how to interpret former President Donald Trump’s support for Covid vaccines.

Calls for violence in these online forums have become less specific, though experts warn they are still cause for concern.

…

It is a distinct shift from the days leading up to Jan. 6, 2021, when users of TheDonald.Win, an extremist forum that was relocated to an independent website after being banned from Reddit, posted pictures of ammunition in their hotel rooms and maps of the tunnels underneath the Capitol.

Last month, Collins dug into the past of Highland Park shooting suspect Robert Crimo III. He said that Crimo “is part of a much larger, deeper subculture that Donald Trump is in the past of, like this guy who grew up as a child, if Donald Trump was his president, he is trying to advance the accelerationism well past Donald Trump.”

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