Neo-Nazis see hope in Trump's Victory while Islamic State backers shrug it off

Online chat groups suggest that neo-Nazi extremists believe Donald Trump's attempts to slash the federal workforce may help them escape detection, while Islamic State supporters fear his policy towards the Ukraine war may benefit another of their enemies, Russia.

- Ben Makuch

"Looks like Trump won," said a Telegram post from an account connected to former members of the designated neo-Nazi terrorist group Atomwaffen Division, which for a time had international cells but is now defunct. "On the good note, seems [that] both Project 2025 and Elon Musk himself want to cut the federal workforce by insane amounts. This includes the FBI and DHS [Department of Homeland Security]."

Trump and Musk have stated their determination to slash federal workers under a "government efficiency commission", which could result in a mass exodus of agents in the FBI, DHS or even the CIA - all among the nation's most important security agencies tracking terrorists.

The Telegram post continued: "While in actuality slashing the federal bureaucracy to a minimum and filling the roles with newbie loyalists is retarded from a system power point of view. We're happy with it."

Some extremists, on the other hand, are openly applauding the potential relief from police pressures that a Trump-led FBI may offer.