Tucker Carlson is courting audience sympathy with regard to the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2001. At a hearing, FBI Director Christopher Wray categorically ruled out that undercover agents or informants had masterminded the riots. He blocked the direct question as to whether there were informants in the Capitol that day.
Groups like the Proud Boys or the Oath Keepers, whose members have since been sentenced to long prison terms, were most likely early targets for the FBI and other authorities. The FBI, together with the NSA, are allowed to create target profiles without judicial search warrants, which can already produce evidence of criminal activity. The use of provocateurs and informers was expanded after 9/11 and agents did not shy away from offering tens of thousands of dollars even to mentally impaired people in financial difficulties.
In the past, the COINTELPRO program caused scandals. These circumstances should have been known to the activists who considered the 2020 election “stolen.” Accordingly, it was the responsibility of the activists to conduct counterintelligence themselves if they did not want to be lured into a trap. Unfortunately, FOX News, INFOWARS, the Q cult and many others participated in empty hype. These media and organizations pretended to have clear evidence of election manipulation and also offered unrealistic fantasies about the imminent arrest of the leading Democrats.
It doesn’t work to blame the hype on the FBI. Many people easily got caught up in the mood at the Capitol and took part in violence and illegally entered the building.
Investigations must show how much information the government had from the FBI or Homeland Security and whether it would have been appropriate to make advance arrests. The police force that day was too thin and there are clear suspicions that officials in the authorities took a chance.
Tucker Carlson didn’t believe the many election-rigging claims during his time at FOX News, but he gave the opposite impression. How honest he is currently is therefore questionable. There are also regular informants and provocateurs during left-wing riots, just as they are against radical Muslims and other groups.
In the right-wing scene of MAGAs, conspiracy activists and Q-sectarians, we are mostly dealing with unstable influencers who carelessly commit crimes and can be recruited by the FBI as informants. There is no sense of real counterintelligence in the scene; What matters is popularity and sentiment.
