President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’s recent inauguration has left much of the country hopeful. Disregarding political alignment, it is common knowledge that recent events, such as the United States Capitol’s rioting by far-right Trump supporters, have set the little remaining unity of the country awry. The collective crimes of violence and disrespect demonstrated by an alarming number of individuals who refuse to believe the Presidential Election results’ validity show just how far people will go to try to change the election outcome. What makes this tragic situation even worse is that a series of tweets and direction from the former President himself more or less set this plan into action. Investigations by several media outlets as well as Biden’s own administration members have deemed the Capitol’s storming as domestic terrorism.

In his Inaugural Address, President Biden warned of “a rise of political extremism, white supremacy, [and] domestic terrorism,” which he has promised his efforts to defeat. Due to former President Donald Trump’s upcoming impeachment trial, federal officials have been strictly monitoring online databases and websites for extremist activity. Many of Trump’s supporters, while paying homage to the extremists who participated in the Capitol riot, have taken to online forums to support the former President. “As the second impeachment trial of Donald Trump approaches, federal officials are monitoring online chatter about assassinating members of Congress or attacking them outside the Capitol,” according to David Rohde of the New Yorker. An article by The Seattle Times also proved that the Capitol riots were also planned on an online forum. “The planning for [the] assault on the U.S. Capitol happened largely in plain view, with chatters in far-right forums explicitly discussing how to storm the building, handcuff lawmakers with zip ties and disrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s election.”

Part of Biden’s specific approach to combatting domestic terrorism in America possibly is reflected by his nomination of Merrick Garland as Attorney General. Garland has a history of prosecuting domestic terrorists such as Timothy McVeigh, the anti-government militia member who killed more than a hundred and fifty people in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. According to CNBC, Biden has also requested a comprehensive threat assessment from the intelligence chief to conclude the events on January 6 successfully.

Members of homeland security have predicted that the pressing problem of

domestic terrorism will be a future part of our countries history. Riots and uprisings such as what was seen at the Capitol are expected to persist for the foreseeable future. Elizabeth Neumann, former assistant secretary of homeland security for counterterrorism within the Trump administration has specifically predicted the likelihood of another domestic terrorist attack occurring in the upcoming months is high. More are expected to continue for the next 10-20 years if a serious effort to resolve the issue is not put into effect soon. Although this sounds daunting, by succeeding in his planned efforts, President Biden along with this new administration, can eliminate the current political spectrum in which individuals with opposite opinions have an inability to agree and accept what is given.