[Dion]

Right-Wing Extremists Are Making Big Plans for Election Day

According to a Monday report from The New York Times, a sprawling network of right-wing extremist groups — many of which participated in efforts to subvert election results in 2020 — is using Telegram to prepare followers to mobilize on and after Election Day.

The Times analyzed over one million messages from 50 different Telegram channels, most formed after the 2020 election. The conspiracy riddled channels encouraged followers to effectively self deputize as poll watchers and election monitors. “The day is fast approaching when fence sitting will no longer be possible,” one Proud Boys channel based in Ohio wrote. “You will either stand with the resistance or take a knee and willingly accept the yoke of tyranny and oppression.”

A separate analysis by The Wall Street Journal found that the Proud Boys activity on Telegram suggests that the extremist group is reassembling following the arrest and conviction of several of its most prominent members over their participation in violent efforts to overthrow the 2020 election.

One North Carolina chapter lauded their members who worked the polls in the Republican primaries as an “excellent trial run for the general election in November.” Harris “will not win without a steal, which is exactly what they are planning to do,” chapter leadership wrote.

An analysis of Telegram content by The Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) found that “election denialism has risen 317 percent over the course of October 2024,” a similar trend to the rise of violent rhetoric in 2020 which culminated in the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

https://ca.yahoo.com/news/wing-extre...155413497.html