Intelligence and counterterrorism specialist Malcolm Nance investigates what he calls the Trump Insurgency in the United States (TITUS). Arising from rightwing militia groups, conspiracy theorists, and the bizarre following of QAnon, supporters of Donald Trump organized to attack the United States Capitol. Nance describes January 6 in detail and the planning that lead to that date.

I would've liked to have seen more of the history of rightwing terrorism in the United States, because this didn't arise out of nowhere, but as a focused work on the years of the Trump administration today, it does a good job summing up the current threat. Typically, I'd say that Nance's writing style is alarmist, but with the Biden Administration focusing on normalcy despite the growing insurrectionist threat, perhaps alarmism is warranted. Hopefully the right people hear the alarm ( )

They Want to Kill Americans is a wide-ranging investigation into the movements that coalesced into the January 6th insurrection and their continuing efforts to take over the government, preferably, it seems, by force. They are unified in their white nationalist disdain for nonwhite Americans and their demand for unlimited personal freedom through an authoritarian government that oppresses, perhaps genocides, everyone else.

It’s an ugly story, but all too true. This is a book that will scare you. It scared me and I am someone who is not prone to conspiracies, thinking, like Hanlon, that incompetence and ignorance are more likely than malice when things go awry. But not this time. There really was a conspiracy that resulted in January 6th and that conspiracy continues.

Nance is a former intelligence analyst which means he is trained to write clearly with well-organized material leading to a shared understanding. He does it well. The book is as coherant an explanation of the Trump insurgency then and now as you will find. Of course, coming from that background makes him a clear communicator in many ways, but also makes him reliant on acronyms, addicted might be a better word. He created an acronym for the Trump Insurance in the United States (TITUS) but really, why couldn’t he just write Trump Insurgency? How many times did I have to go back to the introduction to remind myself what TITUS meant? I don’t know. But it was a lot. I began to feel a twitch of irritation every time I saw that acronym.

I valued the information I gleaned from They Want to Kill Americans. Yes, it scared me. We need to be scared because we need to act to preserve our democracy. And that leads to my biggest criticism of the book. There are 320 pages in this book and about 10 deal with what we can do to stop it. And even then, most of them are deemed likely to fail and inadequate. I mean, we are straying into learned helplessness now. You can’t scare people like this without offering more hope or they will just shut down, stop watching the news, and wait for democracy to die.

There are things we can do. We can vote in every election. We can care about who is on the school board, town council, and in the statehouse. We can run for office. We can take back our democracy. We can purge the armed forces and law enforcement of anyone belonging to groups advocating force or violence. So, if there is a second edition, I want Mr. Nance to spend a tenth of the book on solutions. Otherwise, readers will despair and despair will end democracy just as quickly as armed insurgency.

I received an ARC of They Want to Kill Americans from the publisher through Shelf Awareness.

They Want to Kill Americans at St. Martin’s Press | Macmillan
Malcolm Nance author site TAPSTRI and on Twitter

https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2022/09/07/they-want-to-kill-america... ( )

This is a must read book for anyone who loves America. Counter terrorism expert Nance, meticulously researches the threat of right wing terrorists pose to our way of life. From the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, Q Anon nuts and their enablers in the Republican Party (and many smaller groups) he spells out the extremme threats these groups pose. It is really scarey and timely to know this stuff. As a liberal I will be on their hit list. ( )

Wow. Just wow. This book analyzes the contemporary American political conundrum with a judicious dollop of history. I have had an interest in conspiracy theory for many years, and Mr. Nance frankly nails it. His overview of Q-Anon as a LARP growing against the background of various Illuminati and Masonic scares and plots over the years is spot on. If his analysis of what's coming is as accurate, we're in deep doo-doo.
The style can be a bit bombastic and overblown, but the numerous footnotes make up for that easily, as does his obvious concern for the survival of the United States.
Get this book. Read it and weep. ( )

They Want to Kill Americans
The Militias, Terrorists, and Deranged Ideology of the Trump Insurgency
by Malcolm Nance

This is a book I requested from NetGalley and I want to thank them and the publisher for letting me read this book! Although I am really getting trump fatigue by now, as most people are, this was very informative.

Yes, Nance did lead the reader through many of the events that we all saw or heard on news stations, except on right wing media and I have no idea what they spew on there. But the rest of the world saw and heard it all, well I thought. Nance takes the reader deeper.

Nance takes us back and shows us how some of this starts. He tells us the difference between the militia right wing groups and what each believe. He gives examples of some crimes they have committed. Explores their thought processes. Initiation routine and more. It's terrifying! I just didn't realize just how much they hate, period. But hate women especially.

There is so much more behind the scene info I never heard even from so called liberal media. Nance really spills the info out there. This was written BEFORE the Jan 6 committee hearings too! He knows his stuff!

I enjoyed learning about the new information but just tired of HOPING for justice! Nance gives a dire warning, and it came true on January 6th, the next terrorist attack on America will probably be again, by fellow Americans. The goal of many right wing militia groups is to kill every Democrat including man, woman, and child. So, who is paying attention? Nance is warning us. Vote like your lives depends on it because it really does! ( )