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When former President Donald Trump made his first appearance after surviving an assassination attempt at the Republican National Convention last week, the crowd erupted into chants of “Fight! Fight! Fight!”
That chant has become a rallying cry for Trump’s supporters. So, too, has the image of Trump’s raised fist, which have been circulated by Wisconsin GOP leaders including former Governor Scott Walker, Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senator Ron Johnson.
That’s the kind of rhetoric and imagery that Kurt Braddock, an assistant professor at American University, keeps an eye on.
Braddock, who studies how political rhetoric can radicalize audiences, remembers the last time the word “fight” was widely adopted by Trump supporters: On Jan. 6, 2020, when Trump exhorted rally-goers to “fight like hell” right before people swarmed the Capitol.
He is among several extremism experts and law enforcement officials who are tracking the rise of potentially inflammatory rhetoric in the aftermath of Trump’s assassination attempt in Pennsylvania on July 13.
Experts say they haven’t seen specific groups call supporters to action, but warned that the heated discourse still warrants concern and monitoring in the lead-up to the election.
Last week, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security issued a report warning that people “may attempt follow-on or retaliatory acts of violence” after the assassination attempt. The four-page intelligence bulletin obtained by Politico doesn’t name specific targets but notes that extremists have planned and executed attacks against “perceived political or ideological opponents” in the past.
The report came as the Republican National Convention kicked off in Milwaukee, which ended last week without any such incidents.
Still, several conservative figures used their platforms during the convention to blame the assassination attempt on Democrats and the media.
For example, in a post on the social platform X, locally-known conservative radio host Dan O’Donnell’s post asked CNN political commentator S.E. Cupp to “tell your leftist viewers to stop trying to assassinate Republicans.” Information on the shooter’s political beliefs is still inconclusive.
Braddock said today’s massive social media platforms make such rhetoric more risky.
“When you’re reaching thousands, if not millions of people, it becomes much more probable that some people will interpret it as a call to engage in violence,” Braddock said. “And unfortunately, it only takes one person to do a lot of damage.”
While extremist violence can be motivated by many different ideologies, research shows most attacks are motivated by far-right theories.
According to a report from the Anti-Defamation League Center on Extremism, all extremism-related murders in 2023 were committed by “right-wing extremists of various kinds,” with 15 of the 17 incidents involving people with white supremacist beliefs.
And research by the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Institute of Justice found that the number of far-right attacks “continues to outpace all other types of terrorism and domestic violent extremism.”
Misleading or false content can inspire violent attacks, experts say
Stephen C. Rea, senior researcher for the Critical Internet Studies Institute, said most violent rhetoric since the assassination attempt has been posted by individuals, not organized groups.
For example, Rea said the Proud Boys, a right-wing extremist group, discouraged followers from posting any threats in response.
“In short, a lot of anger and emotion, and a lot of violent rhetoric in the immediate aftermath, but no signs of anything being coordinated or of a clear call to action from any extremist groups, as far as I am aware,” Rea said.
That being said, it’s often individual people, radicalized by inflammatory or false online content, who commit extremist attacks, Braddock said.
For example, he pointed out the impact of “the great replacement theory,” which falsely claims that white Americans and Europeans are being replaced by non-white immigrants.
The conspiracy theory, perpetuated by conservative figures like Tucker Carlson, can be tied to numerous attacks, Braddock said, including the 18-year-old who shot and killed 10 Black people in a Buffalo supermarket in 2022.
FBI warning will remain relevant for months to come, experts predict
Braddock said online discourse is also being inflamed by public officials who are claiming that Democrats and media are to blame for the attempted assassination of Trump.
Instilling fear in supporters to motivate them against a particular group is a tactic that has long been used by leaders to polarize groups against each other, Braddock said. He said this kind of rhetoric often makes supporters “more dedicated to the cause.”
For example, on the day of the Trump assassination attempt, right-wing provocateur and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk on X said the shooting was “the end result” of rhetoric from the left. Similarly, during the RNC, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene accused journalists of being responsible for the attempted assassination.
Even though the RNC is over, extremism experts said discussions will continue to brew in both public and private spaces, such as the encrypted messaging platform Telegram.
“It’s a bit chilling knowing that there have been people saying things online in Telegram channels that are threatening things like, ‘It’s time for another civil war,’ and ‘It’s time to start going after Democrats and liberals,'” Braddock said.
Jon Lewis, a research fellow for George Washington University’s extremism program, said those narratives will continue to influence people for months to come.
“It’s less of a question of, ‘Will someone take violent action tomorrow?'” said Lewis, “and more of a question of how this event and the rhetoric that’s emerged will linger and fester in the coming months.”
Quinn Clark is a Public Investigator reporter. She can be emailed at QClark@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Quinn_A_Clark.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Could Trump assassination attempt spark retaliation? Experts weigh in
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