The U.S. labeled a white supremacist group as 'terrorists' for the first time. It's less significant

Wow. Terrorism overseas was presented as the most terrible threat to us ever. Our homegrown versions are still no big deal. Maybe they get immunity to keep them at Trump's disposal? Otherwise, this is not making sense. Things could get bloody and I am very concerned. We would wonder why groups that plan and execute attacks are not a priority.

The U.S. labeled a white supremacist group as ‘terrorists’ for the first time. It’s less significant than you think.

Why pick an obscure group that’s not yet linked to an attack?

On April 6, the State Department announced it would designate the Russian Imperial Movement (RIM) as terrorists. This marks the first time that the United States has officially applied the “terrorist” label to a white supremacist organization.

Since both domestic and international white supremacist attacks have increased dramatically in the past several years, many observers have been calling for the United States to more actively describe white supremacists as terrorists. A former head of the National Security Division of the Justice Department, Mary McCord, called the RIM designation “appropriate” and “important.”

RIM’s designation, however, is less significant than it might appear — and may not actually suggest that the U.S. government has made stopping white supremacist terrorism a priority. Here’s why.

The United States has strong and weak ways of designating “terrorists.” This is a weak one.