An exclusive report by Reuters suggests the White House is planning to "revamp and rename a US government program designed to counter all violent ideologies so that it focuses solely on Islamist extremism."
According to Reuters, the program, "Countering Violent Extremism" will be renamed "Countering Islamic Extremism" or "Countering Radical Islamic Extremism," and will reportedly "no longer target groups such as white supremacists" who have been responsible for the vast majority of terrorist attacks on American soil in the last 15 years.
In Trump's world, it seems, the only extremism that matters is Islamic extremism.
. . . .
Domestic, right wing terrorism is a far bigger security issue for US law enforcement.
These facts explain why, according to the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security, "law enforcement agencies in the United States consider anti-government violent extremists, not radicalized Muslims, to be the most severe threat of political violence that they face."
Indeed, in a survey the New York Times conducted in 2015, "74% of law enforcement agencies reported anti-government extremism as one of the top three terrorist threats in their jurisdiction."
So, considering the facts, why might the White House choose to stop targeting what is almost unanimously considered to be the gravest domestic terrorist threat to Americans and to focus instead solely on Islamic terrorism?
The answer is simple: Trump is playing to an influential part of his constituency.
After all, these people form the radical core of his political support.
They are the people who helped put him in the White House.
. . . .
Simply put, by promising to no longer focus on white supremacist, anti-government, and right-wing extremist groups, President Trump is doing what most politicians do after being elected: he is taking care of his own.
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