The Deep State has been looking for a high-profile right-wing terrorist group.  It claims that it has found one. 

FBI director Christopher Wray warned lawmakers that Russian election interference and violent white supremacist groups rank among the top threats to U.S. national security.  He told lawmakers that "racially motivated violent extremism" remains the top domestic threat in the U.S and white supremacist–type ideology "is certainly the biggest chunk of that." 

When questioned about Antifa, Wray testified, "Antifa is a real thing.  It's not a group or an organization.  It's a movement or an ideology, maybe one way of thinking of it."

Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Texas responded that Wray "seems to me to be downplaying it."  He remarked that "[t]his is an ideology that has trained its members, makes shield wall phalanxes to attack federal officers, formed an autonomous zone in an American city and besieged a federal courthouse in another.  So, I mean, it just seems to be more than an ideology."  Congressman Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey told Wray, "In my mind, there is Antifa, there is a group — a group or individuals that control Antifa and have some authority over it.  And it is to some degree, without question, organized."

The congressmen's concerns were seconded by Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky.  Senator Paul and his wife were threatened by rioters after leaving President Trump's convention nomination acceptance speech.  

He claimed, "We're seeing these people some of the same faces are in Portland, Kenosha, D.C., Louisville.  How are they getting there?  They're staying at the W hotel, the Willard hotel.  The Willard hotel might be 500 to a 1,000 a night.  Who's paying for them to stay at the Willard hotel?  Who's paying for them to have air flight?  Who's paying them to do this?  And here's the sad truth of it.  It's probably not gonna be a sinister name like George Soros; it's going to be corporate America.  Corporate America is giving money to Black Lives Matter."  Senator Paul's assertion is backed up by a Kenosha, Wisconsin police department that reported that 102 of the 175 individuals arrested as part of the riots were residents of another city.  

Yet the focus of the FBI remains on "white supremacists."  Like CNN reporters who babble about peaceful protests while fires rage in the background, Wray and his FBI are oblivious when it come to left-wing violence.  The FBI has circulated a bulletin claiming, "Based upon current information, we assess the greatest threat of lethal violence continues to emanate from lone offenders with racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist ideologies and [domestic violent extremists] with personalized ideologies."  The bulletin makes only one brief mention of Antifa.  The acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Michael Sherwin, was asked by Tucker Carlson, "Who are these people?"  Sherman responded, "With some of these individuals there's a loose affiliation with some extremist groups on the left and on the right."  Tucker asked him, "What right-wing groups are they affiliated with, and what percentage are from the right?"  Sherwin claimed he didn't have the data and he didn't "want to pigeonhole any specific group."  

Finally, there is a group that can be pigeonholed.  The Wolverine Watchmen have come to the rescue.  The FBI announced that it had made arrests of several "right-wing terrorists" who were plotting to kidnap Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer.  This was a perfect opportunity for the governor to attack the president.   Whitmer claimed: "Hate groups heard the president's words not as a rebuke, but as a rallying cry, a call to action."  Trump was chastised again for not denouncing the far right vehemently enough.  According to the NY Daily News, "Trump and Barr have all but ignored an explosion of far-right violence across the country."

We know that this group is right-wing because one of its members posted several videos on TikTok.  In one of them, he was wearing a Hawaiian shirt, the trademark clothing of members of the anti-government Boogaloo movement.  Also, what appeared to be a Confederate flag could be seen near the home on one of the members.  In addition, some of the Wolverine Watchmen apparently made pro-Trump tweets.  

There are several problems with the FBI's allegations.  First the is the question of the FBI's credibility.  We may also be advised to check our wardrobes for any right-wing clothing.  A leader of the group, Brandon Caserta, produced a video with an Antifa flag in the background.  One of the group's goals is to attack police.  This is a popular cause of the left.  A flag only "appears" to be a Confederate flag.  Perhaps it was actually a Norwegian flag.  The two are sometimes confused.  Another member, Adam Fox, sounding like the 19th-century anarchist Sergie Nechaev, stated, "I just wanna make the world glow, dude. I'm not even f------ kidding. I just wanna make it all glow dude. I don't f------ care anymore, I'm just so sick of it.  That's what it's gonna take for us to take it back, we're just gonna have to everything's gonna have to be annihilated man.  We're gonna topple it all, dude. It's what great frickin' conquerors, man, we're just gonna conquer every f------ thing man."

The Wolverine Watchmen's true allegiance will eventually be determined by the sleuths of the internet.  Their findings will probably not make the headlines, and it is unlikely that any revelations will affect the election. 

John Dietrich is a freelance writer and the author of The Morgenthau Plan: Soviet Influence on American Postwar Policy (Algora Publishing).  He has a Master of Arts degree in international relations from St. Mary's University.  He is retired from the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Department of Homeland Security.  He is featured on the BBC's program "Things We Forgot to Remember:" Morgenthau Plan and Post-War Germany.

Image credit: FBI public domain.