President Biden’s Speech Was a Good Step in Recognizing the Threat from Far-right Extremism

If you watched President Biden’s speech last night, you recognized the points we at GPAHE have been making for ages. We’re so glad that he put words to the facts that our nation can no longer ignore.

Far-right extremism is a threat to our democracy and we must collectively take action before it’s too late.

Groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, election deniers, conspiracy theorists, and even the politically powerful who seek to deny Americans their rights rather than have a thriving inclusive democracy are the real threat to American traditions.

We do wish the President had addressed the role of the tech companies. Without question, our nation, and other democracies around the world, would not be facing this level of threat without the aid of irresponsible and profit-hungry social media companies.

President Biden said last night that he would not stand by while lies and violence destroyed our nation, and we won’t either. We’ve been in this fight against far-right extremism for years and we will not stop. The damage Trump has done over the last few years will not be erased because of a speech. It requires action.

We’ve been holding tech companies accountable through reporting and public pressure campaigns and we urge the President and his administration to do the same. Tech companies must enforce their policies equally and thoroughly (that means politicians too!) to prevent further mass violence, like the insurrection. This is essential to protecting all democracies.

We’ve written a 10-point plan that was largely incorporated into the President’s agenda to fight domestic terrorism and we urge him to implement that agenda right away. Lives are at stake.

We’ve assisted the January 6 committee in every way they’ve asked, and we urge the President to support its critical efforts.

Our recent survey of Americans showed that only 41% of people feel safe at their polling places and Black, Hispanic, and young people feel the least safe. We urge the President to encourage states to make the polls gun-free zones.

We’re seeing extremely worrying events at the state and local levels. In the next couple of weeks, we’ll be sharing research on how far-right extremists, from the Proud Boys to QAnon adherents to MAGA Trump loyalists are demonizing immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community, and others, and targeting free and fair elections in battleground states. It’s essential for our communities to know what’s really happening.

It was good to see President Biden recognize some of these threats in his speech last night. We’re making progress and there is still much work ahead of us.