A motley crew is gathering here this weekend: militia-style groups invoking 1776 and the Civil War. Christian nationalists praying for the chance to confront evil. Racists stoking fear about the “replacement” of White people. Election deniers, anti-vaccination crusaders, conspiracy theorists.
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And, at the center, a prominent Republican figure whose fiery rhetoric acts as a magnet.
Right-wing extremists are dusting off the blueprint for the Jan. 6, 2021, storming of the U.S. Capitol and using it to rally support for their cause du jour: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s showdown with the federal government over border enforcement. Monitoring groups warn that Abbott’s posturing, like Trump’s “Stop the Steal” effort, heightens the risk of political violence as supporters converge on Eagle Pass, a frontier outpost of 28,000.
Summed up by one observer as “slow-motion secession,” the unrest in Texas is a case study in how once-fringe ideologies have been laundered into mainstream Republican politics.
On Friday, Abbott posted on social media that Texas “will not back down.” For weeks, his statements have included menacing-sounding messages saying that he’s “declared an invasion,” and would use “unprecedented action” to stop illegal crossings.
Civil rights groups were outraged when Abbott, asked by a radio interviewer about the maximum pressure he could use at the border, replied: “The only thing that we’re not doing is we’re not shooting people who come across the border, because of course, the Biden administration would charge us with murder.”
Extremism researchers warn that Abbott’s stand against federal orders is communicated in language that glorifies vigilantism and promotes white supremacist talking points, the latest example of the GOP’s hard-right swing in the Trump era.
“This rhetoric, combined with Texas’s standoff with the federal government, is applauded by the same far-right movements that engage in hate crimes, domestic terrorism and were prominent at the January 6 insurrection,” said Heidi Beirich of the nonprofit Global Project Against Hate and Extremism. “All of this should give us pause.”
Abbott’s rebellion began last month when he seized control of Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, on the banks of the Rio Grande, and shut out U.S. Border Patrol agents who had long used the area as a staging point. Supporters praised him for taking a stand against illegal crossings they describe as at “invasion” levels. Detractors viewed the move as inhumane and a dangerous overreach of state power.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ordered Abbott to allow Border Patrol to remove or cut razor wire barriers that prevent agents from reaching the river to help migrants in distress. Instead, Abbott is installing more wire, his defiance backed by 25 Republican governors who signed a letter of support. Trump, who is sailing toward the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, also boosted Abbott, writing on Truth Social that Texas “must be given full support to repel the invasion.”
Abbott and other GOP leaders use the same tropes about migrants as white-power groups and frequently echo the racist “great replacement theory,” which imagines the engineered replacement of White people in western societies. Hate trackers say violent movements have wasted little time in seizing on the political opening.
Beirich said her center’s research team has “documented an online explosion of invasion and great replacement rhetoric” related to Texas and has observed how white supremacists, Proud Boys and other extremist groups are “taking advantage of the standoff to push their propaganda and recruit new members.”
Texas Proud Boys factions have shared posts referring to “brown immigrant invaders” and urging followers to “grab your guns.” Beirich said a neo-Nazi network issued a rallying cry “asking for White men to join the resistance” in Texas.
Concerns this weekend are focused on a “Take Back Our Border” caravan of right-wing activists — billing themselves as “God’s army” — heading to Texas before planned stops in other states along the southern border. Organized mainly online, the convoy is what extremism researchers see as a microcosm of the modern-day American right: angry at the federal government, hostile toward marginalized groups, and tolerant of violent rhetoric about political enemies.
Devin Burghart of the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights, a nonprofit focused on threats to democracy, traced the paramilitary connections of convoy organizers, linking them to movements that took up arms in previous standoffs with the federal government or had a role in the Capitol attack.
“From the convoy’s steering committee on down, the protest comprises many of the same dangerous elements as the January 6 insurrection,” Burghart said, referring to far-right umbrella movements.
Sign up for Fact Checker, our weekly review of what's true, false or in-between in politics.
And, at the center, a prominent Republican figure whose fiery rhetoric acts as a magnet.
Right-wing extremists are dusting off the blueprint for the Jan. 6, 2021, storming of the U.S. Capitol and using it to rally support for their cause du jour: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s showdown with the federal government over border enforcement. Monitoring groups warn that Abbott’s posturing, like Trump’s “Stop the Steal” effort, heightens the risk of political violence as supporters converge on Eagle Pass, a frontier outpost of 28,000.
Summed up by one observer as “slow-motion secession,” the unrest in Texas is a case study in how once-fringe ideologies have been laundered into mainstream Republican politics.
On Friday, Abbott posted on social media that Texas “will not back down.” For weeks, his statements have included menacing-sounding messages saying that he’s “declared an invasion,” and would use “unprecedented action” to stop illegal crossings.
Civil rights groups were outraged when Abbott, asked by a radio interviewer about the maximum pressure he could use at the border, replied: “The only thing that we’re not doing is we’re not shooting people who come across the border, because of course, the Biden administration would charge us with murder.”
Extremism researchers warn that Abbott’s stand against federal orders is communicated in language that glorifies vigilantism and promotes white supremacist talking points, the latest example of the GOP’s hard-right swing in the Trump era.
“This rhetoric, combined with Texas’s standoff with the federal government, is applauded by the same far-right movements that engage in hate crimes, domestic terrorism and were prominent at the January 6 insurrection,” said Heidi Beirich of the nonprofit Global Project Against Hate and Extremism. “All of this should give us pause.”
Abbott’s rebellion began last month when he seized control of Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, on the banks of the Rio Grande, and shut out U.S. Border Patrol agents who had long used the area as a staging point. Supporters praised him for taking a stand against illegal crossings they describe as at “invasion” levels. Detractors viewed the move as inhumane and a dangerous overreach of state power.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ordered Abbott to allow Border Patrol to remove or cut razor wire barriers that prevent agents from reaching the river to help migrants in distress. Instead, Abbott is installing more wire, his defiance backed by 25 Republican governors who signed a letter of support. Trump, who is sailing toward the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, also boosted Abbott, writing on Truth Social that Texas “must be given full support to repel the invasion.”
Abbott and other GOP leaders use the same tropes about migrants as white-power groups and frequently echo the racist “great replacement theory,” which imagines the engineered replacement of White people in western societies. Hate trackers say violent movements have wasted little time in seizing on the political opening.
Beirich said her center’s research team has “documented an online explosion of invasion and great replacement rhetoric” related to Texas and has observed how white supremacists, Proud Boys and other extremist groups are “taking advantage of the standoff to push their propaganda and recruit new members.”
Texas Proud Boys factions have shared posts referring to “brown immigrant invaders” and urging followers to “grab your guns.” Beirich said a neo-Nazi network issued a rallying cry “asking for White men to join the resistance” in Texas.
Concerns this weekend are focused on a “Take Back Our Border” caravan of right-wing activists — billing themselves as “God’s army” — heading to Texas before planned stops in other states along the southern border. Organized mainly online, the convoy is what extremism researchers see as a microcosm of the modern-day American right: angry at the federal government, hostile toward marginalized groups, and tolerant of violent rhetoric about political enemies.
Devin Burghart of the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights, a nonprofit focused on threats to democracy, traced the paramilitary connections of convoy organizers, linking them to movements that took up arms in previous standoffs with the federal government or had a role in the Capitol attack.
“From the convoy’s steering committee on down, the protest comprises many of the same dangerous elements as the January 6 insurrection,” Burghart said, referring to far-right umbrella movements.
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