I've read (but cannot currently find) articles asserting that a primary precursor of whether or not an extremist (whether Islamic or white supremacist) crosses the threshold to violence correlates more with a past history of violent experience (whether as a victim, perpetrator, or witness) than ideology.
Looking back over the last few years it seems as if most perpetrators either had backgrounds in violence or in other criminal activity and often very tenuous connections with the associated ideology.
Simply having extreme views is generally not enough to predict violent action on those views. Many folks have extreme views.
"James Alex Fields Jr. was barely a teenager in 2010 when his mother — who uses a wheelchair — locked herself in a bathroom, called 911 and said her son had struck her head and put his hands over her mouth when she told him to stop playing a video game, according to police records. On another occasion, records show, he brandished a 12-inch knife. Once, he spit in her face."
‘Very threatening’: Mother of Charlottesville suspect James A. Fields called 911 twice (Washington Post)
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