Extremism is on the rise in U.S.

We have a special guest joining us this week for the latest edition of RAM Chat. Former CIA Chief of Staff Larry Pfeiffer, whose influential career spans three decades of service at the highest levels of the Executive Branch and Intelligence Community, will join RAM National Spokeswoman Mary Anna Mancuso and the newest member of the RAM team, Chief Strategy Officer Olivia Troye, for a conversation tomorrow. Now the director of the Michael V. Hayden Center, Pfeiffer has some of the best insights on the interplay of intelligence and national security—a very relevant topic as we’re on international high alert while events play out in Eastern Europe. Join us on Wednesday, Feb. 16, at 2pm ET, on the RAM home page, YouTube, Facebook, or Twitter. We’ll see you then! —Melissa Amour, Managing Editor

• Trump lawyer John Eastman turns over 8,000 emails to January 6 committee and withholds 11,000 —CNN

• Trump Organization's accounting firm, Mazars USA, recants a decade of his financial statements —CBS News

• Canada COVID tensions surge as Trudeau declares first emergency in 50 years —Newsweek

• Former Colorado internment camp nears national historic site designation after lone Republican senator concedes —The Denver Gazette

• Judge throws out Palin libel case against New York Times —Politico

Is extremism going mainstream?

A sobering new report released today seems to suggest that it is. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reports that killings by domestic extremists rose in the U.S. last year. Newer strains of far-right movements fueled by conspiracy theories, misogyny, and anti-vaccine propaganda helped fuel the increase. Deaths caused by domestic extremists in 2021 increased by 23% over 2020.

• Half of extremist killings were directly motivated by ideology. Two deaths were attributed to Black nationalists and one to an Islamist extremist. The remainder, however, were attributed to white supremacists, antigovernment sovereign citizens, and other adherents of long-standing far-right movements, who were responsible for 19 deadly attacks. This mirrors long-term trends—right-wing extremists have killed at least 333 people in the U.S. over the past decade, accounting for three-quarters of all extremist-related killings.

• Blame it on Covid. “Prior to the coronavirus, the anti-vaccine movement in the United States did not have a particular ideological leaning and contained both left-leaning and right-leaning activists,” the ADL report says. “However, the politicization of the coronavirus and other factors have created many new anti-vaccine conspiracy adherents and have given the anti-vaccine movement a distinctly right-wing tone it did not previously have.”

• What happens next? Mark Pitcavage, a senior research fellow at the ADL’s Center on Extremism and author of the report, says the continued growth and evolution of the QAnon movement is a bad sign. “Could it sort of dissipate…or could it find some sort of new focus or new life? Or could it just hang around if Donald Trump is elected again in 2024 and take a new form then?” Pitcavage said. “It’s difficult to predict the future of those movements.” —Associated Press

MORE: U.S. judges faced over 4,500 threats in 2021 amid rising extremism —Reuters

Dalmia: Populism deserves its bad rap

“Populism, the rule of many, and authoritarianism, the rule of one, might seem like antipoles. But they are intimately related because where populism, in the true sense, appears, so do various forms of illiberalism that if allowed to run their course result in strongman politics with its contempt for dispersed power, checks and balances, freedom of the press, and other similar constraints on one-man (or woman) rule.” —Shikha Dalmia in The Unpopulist

Shikha Dalmia is a visiting fellow at Mercatus Center's Program on Pluralism and Civil Exchange at George Mason University and the editor of The UnPopulist.

MORE: Robert Reich: Beware of this deadly mix: oligarchic economics and racist, nationalist populism —The Guardian

Leonard: Putin may get more than he bargained for—a united Europe

“The fact that war is no longer unthinkable in Europe could force Europeans to make tricky compromises to preserve their collective peace. Though it certainly wasn’t his goal when he started amassing troops on the Ukrainian border, Putin may unwittingly have helped EU member states transform themselves from a fragmented assemblage of apprehensive observers into a bloc of determined defenders of their own security.” —Mark Leonard on Project Syndicate

Mark Leonard is the director of the European Council on Foreign Relations and the author of “The Age of Unpeace: How Connectivity Causes Conflict.”

MORE: Russian statements draw ‘cautious optimism,’ but troops aren’t leaving yet, NATO says —Defense One

Boot: Solving the social media dilemma

“We had better figure out how to reduce the torrent of falsehoods pouring out of social media, talk radio, podcasts, and cable networks before we drown in misinformation. Companies from Spotify to Fox Corp. to Facebook parent Meta need to stop peddling disinformation just because it’s profitable and popular. And if they refuse to do their civic duty, we need to figure out some way to regulate online content, while still respecting the First Amendment, just as the Federal Communications Commission did with its ‘fairness doctrine’ in the broadcast age.” —Max Boot in The Washington Post

Max Boot is a Washington Post columnist, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and the author of “The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam.”

MORE: Can we unplug the disinformation machine by cutting off its money? —Mint Lounge

This week on the Hill

With the eyes of the world on Russia, senators on both sides of the aisle acknowledged last night that it’s unlikely they will be able to strike a bipartisan deal on a new sanctions package before a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine. Sen. Joni Ernst, a member of the Armed Services Committee, said, “Russia is so close to moving that really, if we tried to do anything now, by the time it worked through all the processes, it's probably too late." Instead, they’re turning to Plan B—drafting a non-binding resolution warning the Kremlin of severe consequences if President Vladimir Putin launches such an attack. —NBC News

• Foreign trip. A delegation of Congressional Democrats led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is in Israel for a two-day diplomatic visit to meet with senior Israeli and Palestinian officials. In a statement released upon landing, Pelosi said the trip will focus on “recognizing our shared democratic values and mutual security.” Joining Pelosi are Reps. Adam Schiff, Ted Deutch, Barbara Lee, Bill Keating, Eric Swalwell, Andy Kim, and Ro Khanna. They’ll head to Germany and the United Kingdom next. —The Times of Israel

• Helping the vets. In other news, Democratic Rep. Jared Golden is calling on the National Archives to make official records more readily available to U.S. veterans. A veteran himself, Golden says it’s “nearly impossible” for vets who need assistance to get military records from the National Personnel Records Center, an agency of the National Archives that holds personnel records for military members and civil service workers. Golden is working on the effort, which would make it easier for veterans to access education, health, and retirement benefits, with Republican Reps. Cliff Bentz and Fred Keller. —U.S. News & World Report

• Structuring crypto. Rep. Josh Gottheimer unveiled an early draft of legislation today aimed at placing definitions around stablecoins, which critics consider susceptible to manipulation, bad actors, and collapse. Qualified stablecoins could be issued either by a federally backed bank or a non-bank that agrees to maintain at least 100% reserve assets consisting of U.S. dollars, U.S. debt, or any other assets the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency deems appropriate cash collateral. “I don’t think we should stifle innovation in the crypto currency market,” Gottheimer said. Stay tuned. —CNBC

MORE: Moderate Democrats fear infighting could hand Congress to Republicans —Reuters

Benson, Lydgate & Whitman: If Washington can’t save democracy, the states must

“There are no shortcuts to saving democracy. It’s a battle we must wage daily, on many fronts. This work will not be defined by one victory, one defeat, one election, or one bill. It is rooted in the sustained, informed engagement of citizens and leaders committed to lifting every voice, protecting every vote, and holding our elected leaders accountable. As we enter another intense year, the question is not whether we will prevail, but how. That starts with the states.” —Jocelyn Benson, Joanna Lydgate and Christine Todd Whitman in The Hill

Jocelyn Benson is Michigan’s secretary of State. Joanna Lydgate is CEO of States United Action, a nonpartisan organization advancing free, fair, and secure elections. Christine Todd Whitman is the former governor of New Jersey, a co-chair of States United, and an advisor to the Renew America Movement.

MORE: The new Texas voting law is not going well —CNN

Here’s a bit of a brain teaser. There are people here in the U.S. who say that people coming across our southern border is an “invasion.” Okay, I know there are legal ways to come here, but an invasion? Rhetoric and disinformation to scare people. Yet the very same people support an armed invasion of Ukraine by Russia, an actual war.

And now the bonus round. Some people, like Sen. Rand Paul and many others in the traitor party oppose protesters blocking streets while on foot and call for their arrests because, well, they are mostly Black (the BLM protests). How dare THEY block traffic. Laws were even passed in various states to "allow" people in their vehicles to hit the protesters who disrupt traffic and commerce. Those very same people, like Rand Paul, then cheer on truckers and people, mostly White by the way, who block commerce and traffic in Canada. They'd even like to have similar protests in the U.S. How special. —Bill T., Arizona

The views expressed in "What's Your Take?" are submitted by readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff, the Renew America Movement, or the Stand Up Republic Foundation.