It reads like the plot from a Hollywood blockbuster: explosive drones striking a crowded event on the White House lawn, well-placed snipers striking “high-value targets” in the fleeing crowd. At any moment, Kiefer Sutherland or John Krasinski would jump in to save the day. Only this plot wasn’t in the movies. This was a plan hatched by nearly two dozen well-organized, well-armed extremists, set to be executed on June 14, 2026. “If we are successful, this could be the first battle of the second American Revolution,” declared Daniel Eskridge, a Missouri native using the online handle “Fulcrum.”

Eskridge and his co-conspirators suffered from “main character” syndrome. The attack would likely not have triggered a second revolution, even if they had carried it out. But it would have severely damaged America’s civil society and created a scar in the social fabric that would have lingered for years. Forget January 6; this would have been a 9/11-level event.

Few Americans realize how close this plan came to fruition. The conspirators began plotting in March, with plans to travel toward the Washington, D.C. area on June 12 and 13. But the FBI only learned of the threat on June 10, just days before the attempted massacre. As of this writing, only five out of 19 conspirators have been identified and arrested. And the FBI only learned of the threat because a family in Danville, Ohio (population 1,019) became concerned about their son’s behavior.

On Wednesday evening, an Ohio mother called the local police, concerned about her 19-year-old son’s recent firearms purchases and online communications, according to a federal affidavit. Tycen Proper had dropped $3,000 in graduation money on camping gear, ballistic plates, a new shotgun, a rifle, and “lots” of ammunition and magazines, his father told officers. Furthermore, the young man had quit his job and planned to leave home to meet with his online interlocutors.

Responding officers with the Knox County Sheriff’s Office and Danville Police Department had Proper admitted to a hospital with alleged “homicidal ideation” and executed a search warrant on his phone the next day. The phone revealed multiple chats on Signal and other platforms that laid out detailed plans for an attack in Washington, D.C.

Investigators found that Proper was part of a large Signal chat, with “approximately 19” participants, as well as smaller chat groups “consisting of approximately 4-5 individuals … based on role assignments and locations” in the plot. Proper later told investigators the conspirators were all recruited from a TikTok group called “Vanguard of the Old.”

Proper also disclosed to federal authorities the substance of the plot, which was to attack the White House grounds during the June 14 UFC event. The conspirators were classified by at least three tiers, with lower tiers assuming added responsibility and risk. “Tier 1” members would directly participate in the planned assault on the White House, and they therefore had to meet fitness requirements and acquire body armor and weapons.

“According to PROPER, the plan as he knew it was to stage a demonstration on the north side of the White House,” the federal affidavit relayed. “While the demonstration was taking place, the group would fly small, unmanned aircraft (i.e. drones) laden with unspecified explosive devices which would detonate over the north side of the UFC arena.”

“When the unmanned aircraft detonated, the intent was to force the crowd attending the UFC event and high value targets (HVTs) to evacuate to the south,” it continued. “PROPER stated that the plan was for members of his group to act as snipers and additional shooters, preferably with long guns, staged at or near the southern evacuation point to conduct shootings of the members of the crowd and HVTs as they fled from the explosive devices which had just been detonated.”

If the plot had unfolded as planned, it would have caused sheer mayhem. “According to Proper, this attack was designed to ‘jumpstart’ a revolution in the United States,” the affidavit stated.

Fortunately, these amateurs overlooked some important elements of their plan. Most obviously, snipers would have a much harder time hitting targets on alert, covered with security agents, and moving at a high rate of speed than they would if the targets remained stationary and unaware of the threat. Then there is the question of where to possibly post a sniper amid a grid of federal buildings and matrix of security cameras, especially under the nose of the U.S. Secret Service. Thirdly, in addition to underestimating the competence of the Secret Service, the conspirators also underestimated the competence of federal investigators, simply assuming their plan would go undetected until they set it into motion.

Somewhere close behind “getting involved in a land war in Asia,” another classic blunder is this: assuming a group of inexperienced amateurs can outsmart the world’s premier security apparatus on its home turf.

What sort of motive would compel these amateurs to try their luck? Fox News reports that one suspect told investigators the targets included “capitalist elites,” “billionaires” and pro-Israel politicians. Such a target list would imply a group of radical leftists of the Luigi Mangione variety, with an unhealthy helping of anti-Semitism.

The full story appears to be more complicated. According to the affidavit, Proper’s mother believed her son was communicating with “ex-military and Christian-based” individuals who “were using religion to manipulate and influence her son.” If true, this would suggest right-wing extremism. But it’s unclear how well Mrs. Proper understood her son’s situation, or what tales he may have told her to throw her off the scent.

As far as Proper himself was concerned, anti-Semitism appears to be his primary motivation. In chat messages from May 13, Proper proposed Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) as a “possible target” because “She’s taken money from the Israel pro Israel lobby and supports them.” However, on May 31, Proper finalized a target list for his squad, which consisted of the West Virginia congressional delegation. “These are people we’re going to focus on,” he wrote, sending “images of U.S. Senator Jim Justice [R-W.V.], U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito [R-W.V.], U.S. Representative Carol Miller [R-W.V.], and U. S. Representative Riley Moore [R-W.V.],” the affidavit described. The images “appear to have been taken from the website TrackAIPAC.com,” and Proper also listed “information about how much money each Congressperson received ‘from pro-Israel PACS.’”

Based on the information currently available, it’s probably safe to say only the conspirators were an anti-government group. Some members, like Proper, were motivated by anti-Semitism, while other members may have been motivated by anti-capitalism. These motives, filtered through an unknown number of conspiracy theories, induced the conspirators to conclude that the only way to fix what ailed America is by an assault on the White House.

Needless to say, such an assault would not have fixed America’s ailments. A violent assault upon America’s duly elected chief executive would only have provoked further security measures, not to mention violent recriminations and possible copycats — which would only worsen the spiral. Freedom and a republican form of government cannot long coexist with a security state. The way to restore is through peaceful persuasion, not violent assassinations; an attack of this scale would have given America a heavy shove towards dictatorship.

Fortunately, the tireless efforts of law enforcement forestalled this plan, even at a late hour. Following Proper’s arrest, the FBI arrested four other conspirators in Missouri, Nebraska, and two in California. “While the result represented the best of investigative work, it was also nothing out of the ordinary for this law enforcement team — we are built to detect, respond to, and bring to justice those who threaten the lives of American citizens,” said FBI Director Kash Patel.

However, Secret Service deputy director Matt Quinn warned that “there are still suspects at large,” and the investigation remains “ongoing.” An unknown amount of investigative work remains to track down at least 14 more conspirators, some of whom seem to have highly developed plans (and skills) for evading detection and capture.

So far as we know, this anti-government plot appears to be homegrown, meaning it falls squarely in the purview of the FBI. But how many other plots against U.S. government officials are currently in motion around the world? How would federal agents discover such a foreign plot? This plot unraveled because Proper’s family became concerned about his behavior. But would a pro-jihadi family in, for example, Pakistan, care if their son was contemplating acts of terror against the U.S. government?

The primary tool the U.S. government has to collect information about such foreign threats is FISA, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows warrantless searches on foreign nationals overseas, and which contributes at least 60% of the president’s daily briefing.

However, it would be more accurate to say that the government “had” this tool. FISA’s authority has currently expired, and repeated efforts to reauthorize it languish in the Senate. On multiple occasions, a deal seemed close, but then President Trump threw a curveball into the negotiations that brought them to a halt. After senators had negotiated a bipartisan FISA deal, Trump appointed a faithful attack dog, Bill Pulte, to become acting director of National Intelligence (DNI), prompting Democrats to renege on the deal.

When Trump nominated U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton to become DNI, Democrats seemed satisfied, but they were unwilling to fast-track Trump’s replacement U.S. Attorney, Jamie McDonald. At 3:54 a.m. Wednesday morning, President Trump announced on Truth Social, “I will not approve FISA without THE SAVE AMERICA ACT going along with it.” Furthermore, Trump pressed pause on Clayton’s nomination “until Jamie McDonald is approved to be U.S. Attorney. In the meantime, Bill Pulte will remain as the Acting Director of National Intelligence.”

The bottom line of the back-and-forth drama is this: in an era when 19 individuals scattered across the country plot Hollywood-style assaults on the White House, the U.S. government remains practically blind to the plots of terrorists living abroad.