Our Little White Supremacist Domestc Terrorism Problem, Con't

As goes Ohio, the political bellwether of the Midwest, so goes the nation. That's true of a lot of political topics, none more so than the state becoming ground zero for white supremacist MAGA terrorists who bomb churches over drag events.

Aimenn Penny sat watching online videos of drag-queen story hour events in France, half a world away from his Alliance home, when he decided to attack, authorities say.

Penny, a member of White Lives Matter Ohio, made Molotov cocktails, drove some 50 miles to a small Geauga County town and hurled them at a church planning to host drag events the following week. His only regret: that the church didn’t burn to the ground, according to court records.

Penny’s arrest and indictment on federal hate crime charges, as well as a recent report from the Anti-Defamation League that showed a spike in white supremacist activity in Ohio, is emblematic of the growing problem of domestic hate groups, said Jonathan Lewis, a researcher at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism.

“It paints a really disturbing picture of the state of domestic terrorism and domestic violent extremism in this country,” Lewis said. “I think that the case that was recently brought in in Ohio is, unfortunately, a really good indicator of the types of violent extremism bubbling to the surface today.”

Penny’s case in many ways mirrors the broader white supremacist movement and how some become radicalized via social media and ultimately carry out real-world attacks, Lewis said.

Most white supremacists are no longer affiliated with organized groups, like the Proud Boys or Oath Keepers, he said. The new trend is groups that are very loosely affiliated. There’s no set hierarchy in the groups or membership dues. Meetings aren’t in person, but on apps like Discord, 4Chan and Telegram, among others, he said.

The rhetoric is hate-filled, but there’s no single person who issues orders or makes plans, Lewis said. Those who carry out violence often do so alone or in small groups, making it more difficult to detect or predict.

“The chatrooms stop just short of saying, ‘Hey go commit a hate crime tomorrow,’ ” Lewis said. “It’s basically do-it-yourself terrorism.”

Members are typically younger, like the 20-year-old Penny. They get radicalized online and through public officials and politicians at the local, state and federal levels who use similar rhetoric, Lewis said.

The result is people with different causes often blending. People with anti-LGBTQ+ ideologies team up with anti-Semites, racists with anti-LGBTQ and so on, Lewis said.

“It creates a really complex environment, particularly for law enforcement,” Lewis said. “It’s tougher to infiltrate a group because it’s all decentralized.”

White Lives Matter of Ohio fits that mold, Lewis said. The group launched in April 2021. It is loosely affiliated with a nationwide group and uses Telegram to spread propaganda and disrupt drag shows like the one the Chesterland Church of Christ organized.

 

These terrorists continue to radicalize others. The Trump stochastic terrorism model is now being repeated by dozens of Republicans at local, state, and federal levels.

We will be dealing with the damage from these monsters for decades to come.