Terror Without a Cause: Nihilism, Youth, and the New Extremist Threat with Jacob Ware
Season 9
Episode 53
This week, Matt is joined by terrorism researcher Jacob Ware to unpack the rise of nihilistic violent extremism—attacks carried out by disaffected young men radicalized online without any clear political goal. They explore how social media fuels this chaotic new threat, why the FBI created a new classification for it, and what makes networks like 764 and the Order of Nine Angles so dangerous. Then, they turn to the recent string of violent antisemitic attacks in the US and what they reveal about the blurred lines between far-left, far-right, and jihadist extremism. It’s a disturbing look at the future of terrorism, and what it means when violence itself becomes the ideology.
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Get Jacob’s book,
God, Guns, and Sedition: Far-Right Terrorism in America:
https://www.cfr.org/book/god-guns-and-sedition
https://www.amazon.com/God-Guns-Sedition-Far-Right-Terrorism/dp/0231211228
Jacob’s work for the Council on Foreign Relations:
https://www.cfr.org/expert/jacob-ware
Jacob’s work for Lawfare:
https://www.lawfaremedia.org/contributors/jware
Follow Jacob on Bluesky & Twitter/X:
https://bsky.app/profile/jacobware.bsky.social
https://x.com/Jacob_A_Ware
Reporting discussed in the episode
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