Trump
Minutes after the news broke about former President Donald Trump being indicted, a comment made on the pro-Trump forum Patriots.win, also known under TheDonald, shot to the top of that message board.
“****ACCELERATE,” the comment, written by a user named TheSpeakerfortheDead, reads in its entirety.
Below that user, others quickly added their support, stating that Trump was “guilty for treason” by the grand jury that indicted him and that their personal information should become public.
The term “accelerate” refers to the extreme right term accelerationism. It is the idea that the state should be abolished, often violently, and replaced by a new one.
It’s one of many comments posted online on far-right forums following Trump’s indictment. Many of these forums are known for hosting violent rhetoric and were integral to the planning for the Jan. 6 riot at Capitol.
Although there is not much evidence yet of similar planning for real world unrest, extremism researchers are closely monitoring the various calls for everything, from targeted attacks against the district attorney who brought this case to a new civil conflict.
Jared Holt, a researcher with the Institute for Strategic Dialogue on Extremism Studies, said that “Accelerationism” is a concept of the far right that is defined by a cynicism or disbelief in government functions and the legitimacy of democracy. Its subscribers suggest a series of violent actions to solve what they consider to be the inevitable collapse of the system.
Holt stated that the term was first used in the ten years to describe white supremacist extremists groups like Atomwaffen who often agitate for and perpetrate acts of violence. Some users of pro-Trump forums are beginning to embrace the nomenclature, as more radical and violent rhetoric is being seeded into their space.
Holt stated that the hope was that by advocating the destruction of these systems or for the destabilizing society — whether through mass violence or purposeful malinformation — they would also cement their position when they rebuild it in their own image.
Holt and other extremism experts have seen frequent references made to accelerationist rhetoric on far-rights since the news of Trump’s indictment.
Some users have repeatedly called for violence and assassination, fueled by claims that liberal megadonor George Soros is connected to Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan District Attorney. According to CNBC’s report, Soros has not spoken to Bragg but Bragg did receive money through the super PAC Color of Change, which Soros donated $1million to.
“Why can’t a bounty be placed on Bragg? One Patriots.win user wrote, “Time to fight lawlessness by lawlessness.”
“Hey man, a lot of us think the same thing. But if I said what should actually happen, I’d be charged as ‘terroristic threats another user replied.
Others stated that the day of his arrest could be “hopefully” remembered as a “day in slaughter.”
Advance Democracy, a non-profit research group, collected the threats in a report. They targeted Bragg and Attorney General Merrick Garland as well as Soros, law enforcement, and other law enforcement. Advance Democracy stated that they had not found any plans of users to engage violence or large-scale organizing.
Users on the pro-Trump forum encouraged people who didn’t want to “form organized milities” to “take out lonewolf mentalities,” “weaponize suicidedal people” or “make the jurors publicly known.”
The former president’s rhetoric has not done much to calm anger and at times has appeared to be a play in accelerationist ideas. Trump posted to Truth Social shortly after the news of his indictment. He said that the United States is now a “third-world country” and that the country was “dying.” Trump had previously warned that he could face “death or destruction” if he was charged with criminal offenses.
“Some Trump supporters see a system that is against them.” Holt stated that some of them embrace the idea of saying, “We must break the system instead trying to convince people of what we believe.” It is a disregard for and even contempt for democracy systems.
Ben Collins
Ben Collins is a reporter for NBC News who covers disinformation, extremism, and the internet.
