Trump labeled 'fascist,' CBP agents targeted, antisemitism spikes: The week in extremism

Former President and GOP Presidential candidate Donald Trump praised Adolf HItler and fits the definition of “fascist,” according to his former chief of staff John Kelly. Meanwhile, Customs and Border Protection officials are being “doxxed” online and threatened by far-right extremists, according to a new report. And online antisemitism surged in the year since the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas on Israel.

It’s the week in extremism, from USA TODAY

Trump praised Hitler, former chief of staff says

In interviews with the New York Times, Trump’s former national security secretary, longtime chief of staff and former Marine General John Kelly warned his former boss would likely rule the United States like a dictator and said he met the definition of a fascist.

• “It’s a very dangerous thing to have the wrong person elected to high office,” Kelly told The Times.

• Regarding Hitler, Kelly confirmed previous reports that Trump had praised the German dictator who orchestrated the worst genocide in history. Author Michael Bender wrote in 2021 about how Trump shocked Kelly when he allegedly said “Well, Hitler did a lot of good things.”

• A Trump spokesman said that Kelly’s comments had already been “debunked” and that the former General had “beclowned himself.”

• On Wednesday, Vice President Kamala Harris seized on Kelly’s comments and herself called the former president a fascist during a CNN Town Hall.

Report: Judges and border officials targeted by border extremists

Customs and Border Protection officials, judges and court officers are being “doxxed” online by far-right anti-immigration extremists, according to a May Department of Homeland Security memo first reported by WIRED Magazine.

• “Individuals self-identifying as militia members have posted names and photos of officers on social media, calling them ‘traitors’ in reaction to perceptions of their work along the US-Mexico border,” the report says, according to WIRED.

• Violence and threats at the border is nothing new, but  the last two years especially  have seen spiking threat levels against a wide range of public officials.

• The threats and doxxing are largely being driven by “Perceptions of government inadequacy related to immigration policy, and narratives describing immigration as an ‘invasion,’” the report states.

• As USA TODAY reported in 2022, the head of CBP’s own union has promoted the baseless and racist “Great Replacement” theory on Fox News and elsewhere.

Study: Antisemitism spiked online in the last year

Antisemitic discourse on social media surged in the year after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, according to a study by CyberWell, a nonprofit dedicated to monitoring and combating online antisemitism and Holocaust denial. The report detailed a 36.6% increase in posts attacking Jews online 11 months after the attack, compared to 11 months before the attack.

• According to the report: “Overall, in the 11 months prior to October 7, CyberWell’s monitoring technology flagged 135,556 posts as highly likely to be antisemitic. In the 11 months following October 7 this number jumped to 185,229.”

• The three weeks following October 7, 2023, saw an 86% increase in online antisemitism, the study found.

• The findings show that social media apps have become “weapons of mass psychological warfare and to normalize hate against Jews worldwide,” CyberWell Founder and Executive Director Tal-Or Cohen Montemayor said in a statement. “As we reflect on the past year, it is clear that the challenge of online antisemitism has taken a dark turn and must be addressed.”

Statistic of the week: Six Years

That’s how long it has been next week since the attack on the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, in which a racist shooter killed 11 people and wounded six more.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump called a fascist. CBP agents targeted: The week in extremism