The United Sates Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has recently sparked concerns regarding theories that former U.S. president, Donald Trump, will be reinstated by August of 2021, stemming from the right-wing conspiracy theorists, QAnon.
Counter Terrorism Coordinator for the DHS, John Cohen, has reportedly spoken to Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin regarding this issue this past Wednesday, stating that his department is closely monitoring circumstances where the spread of misinformation is being exploited by these types of communities. These counter terrorist efforts are being put in place strategically all over the nation by updating the Homeland Security Information Network’s (HSIN) with sensitive and classified information relating to terrorist related circumstances to prevent violence from false information from progressing (Department of Homeland Security).
QAnon has being growing in numbers in the United States since the “Save America” rally of January 6th. The Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) conducted a survey of 5,100 U.S. citizens, and the data showed that 20% of all Americans agreed that, “There is a storm coming and soon that will sweep away the elites in power and restore the rightful leaders.” This paired with the rising hysteria of distrust in the government and election results, Cohen and the DHS are weary of another possible January 6th type incident occurring from these alleged conspiracies.
With the upcoming state election audits taking place, the theories have caused doubt among citizens with election integrity. The DHS expresses caution among these beliefs, as they are believed to have the ability to spark another revolt and possible violent unrest among Trump’s supporters in the coming months. The majority (77%) of both political parties are against these actions when viewing the survey.
These circumstances have led to the release of a plan from the White House by forming the National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism. An unspecified DHS spokesman has recently sent an official statement regarding the danger of spreading fallacies to the people of America. “The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is focused on the nexus between violence and extremist ideologies, as well as hateful and false narratives,” (Politico).
