Trump's Domestic War on Terrorism
From Tesla vandals to college protesters, Americans are the new target
FBI director Kash Patel’s promise of the “world’s largest manhunt” isn’t just targeting the so-called “Deep State” of federal officialdom he blames for persecuting Donald Trump. Nor is it only pursuing foreigners, like student visa and green card holders, or those without legal status. The manhunt, events this week make clear, is also targeted at the American people.
Unlike the post-9/11 Global War on Terrorism (called GWOT), this new Domestic War on Terrorism (let’s call it DWOT) doesn’t bother to link criminal acts to officially designated foreign terrorist organizations. Trump’s DWOT is actually a war on American citizens, and one that reaches into the nation’s universities and into cities and towns across America.
This new War on Domestic Terrorism is nakedly partisan, every bit as politically motivated and vindictive as what Trump has accused Joe Biden and Barack Obama of. But there’s one crucial difference. Trump’s targets are no longer Washington bigwigs. They’re Americans whose names you’ve never heard before.
“The days of committing crimes without consequence have ended,” Attorney General Pam Bondi declared today, labeling the spate of Tesla-directed acts of vandalism as “terrorism.”
“The Department [of Justice] will no longer permit illegal support of Hamas on our campuses and elsewhere in the homeland,” says Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. “Antisemitic acts of terrorism — whether here or abroad — will never go unpunished.”
Key to understanding Trump’s DWOT is the word “terrorism.” The official federal government definition of terrorism can be found in The Homeland Security Act of 2002, which requires that acts of terrorism:
Violate a law
Be dangerous to human life or potentially destructive of “critical infrastructure,”
Be committed to either: a) Intimidate or coerce the civilian population, or b) to influence the policy of the government by intimidation or coercion, and/or c) to affect the conduct of government, that is, its workings.
This is the standard that has persisted through the Bush, Obama, and Biden administrations, as well as during the first Trump term.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) documents I’ve reviewed further refine the definition of terrorism, adding that premeditation always has to exist. Acts where people make threatening statements but take no appreciable steps to carry out an attack are therefore not classified as terrorism. In this regard, a “terrorist” has to have made at least one step towards conducting an attack, for instance, by acquiring a weapon or surveilling a target. Under this criteria, DHS says, only premeditated hate crimes designed to spread fear “beyond immediate victims or are intended to influence public opinion or official policy decisions” are considered terrorism. If the crime — including a “hate crime” — is spontaneous and merely based on race or religion, it is not terrorism.
A DHS document released in the last month of the Biden administration narrows the definition even further, declaring that acts of violence or property damage that occur spontaneously during public demonstrations or following chance encounters are not considered terrorism. Nor are, the document shows, acts of “grievance-based targeted violence,” such as school shootings or workplace attacks.
That’s the federal government’s position. Or was until now, anyway.
There are already laws on the books that can be used to levy stiff punishments against anti-Musk protestors defacing Teslas or attacking dealerships, even with fire bombs. The question isn’t whether those acts are crimes. They just aren’t terrorism.
Another target of Trump’s Domestic War on Terrorism has received decidedly less fanfare. In her first day in office, Attorney General Bondi established a task force to root out “acts of terrorism and civil rights violations by individuals and entities providing support and financing to Hamas, related Iran proxies, and their affiliates, as well as acts of antisemitism by these groups.” (Called Joint Task Force 10-7 [for October 7th], its existence was disclosed to the public on Monday.) In other words, even speech is terrorism. Trespassing, occupation, organizing, all of the things that are the hallmarks of civil disobedience are now being considered acts of terrorism, even if there is no violence involved.
For the federal government, “investigating” terrorism is not the same as investigating a non-terrorist crime. The latter involves determining law-breaking and mustering the evidence to prove that an individual charged with a crime actually committed one.
In law enforcement theory, sound and successful prosecution creates “deterrence” because focused (and non-trivial) law enforcement makes it clear that if one breaks the law, one will be held accountable. Protestors make the decisions on whether to risk arrest. The government has to also decide what crimes, from disturbing the peace to injuring and killing people, it will pursue in a court of law. Both sides need to know the rules. Crime, prosecuted without political intent, takes the power out of the hands of the government.
With terrorism, the 9/11-created objective is to stop an event before it occurs. It is literally “pre-crime.” Law enforcement (joined by “intelligence”) undertakes investigations not just of events that have already occurred (crimes) but also of potential events, of preparations and conspiracies. Conspiracies means snooping into families and friends and “associates,” a word we increasingly see in various indictments.
Throughout the past two decades, the act of “supporting” terrorist organizations, foreign or domestic, has been left vague by the federal government. Civil rights groups and experts have questioned government prosecutions of cases of “material support” to terrorism. Now “supporting” terrorism is being framed in the broadest possible way — up to and including espousing views that coincide with foreign views.
Trump agrees. Asked during a March 11 press conference if Tesla vandals should be labeled “domestic terrorists,” the president replied: “I will do that. I’m gonna stop them … You do it to Tesla, and you do it to any company, we’re gonna catch you, and you’re gonna go through hell.”
Dan Bongino, the newly confirmed Deputy FBI Director, similarly said on Wednesday in an X post: “Our teams are actively working on the Tesla incidents … to keep the Homeland safe.”
Today, Bondi issued a statement warning of a “wave of domestic terrorism against Tesla properties,” citing three cases involving suspects who are all U.S. citizens:
Daniel Clarke-Pounder, 24, resident of South Carolina, arrested for allegedly writing “Fuck Trump” and “Long live the Ukraine” on several Tesla charging stations before attempting to light them on fire,
Lucy Grace Nelson, 42, resident of Colorado, arrested for allegedly attempting to light Teslas on fire, and
Adam Matthew Lanksy, 41, resident of Oregon, arrested for allegedly throwing eight Molotov cocktails at a Tesla dealership.
The government will now need to prove (in the case of American citizens) that individuals plotted against Tesla and undertook their laws to influence government policy. Even if what they did can be argued to meet the dictionary definition of terrorism, its legal application would give the government a frankly terrifying amount of power. Trump is now unleashing the deep state (their deep state) to go after associates and others who support or contemplate similar acts, in other words to criminalize and then stigmatize opposition.
When I reported last month that FBI Director Kash Patel’s vow to carry out “the world’s largest manhunt” against “anyone that wishes to do harm to our way of life,” I warned that Americans would be caught in the dragnet. But I had no idea how quickly.
— Edited by William M. Arkin
One has to wonder how long it'll be before striking (or even just joining a union) is considered "terrorism".
"the world’s largest manhunt” against “anyone that wishes to do harm to our way of life,” ..
what the hell does that mean, it sounds like a Mafia racket, "this thing of ours." The goon squad wants to shut down Columbia's Middle East Studies program and replace it with an in depth study of Leon Uris novels.