Morning Briefing: Capitol Riot Defendants Attempt to Profit From January 6th Insurrection
Morning Briefing: Capitol Riot Defendants Attempt to Profit From January 6th Insurrection
Some of the individuals that participated in the Capitol Riot are 'trying to profit from their participation in the deadly riot, using it as a platform to drum up cash.'
Morning Briefing: Some of the individuals that participated in the Capitol Riot are “trying to profit from their participation in the deadly riot, using it as a platform to drum up cash, promote business endeavors and boost social media profiles.” However, federal prosecutors are seeking tougher punishments for individuals who have profited from the Capitol Riot, and “in some cases, the U.S. Justice Department is trying to claw that money back.”
This week, four members of Patriot Front, the white nationalist neo-fascist group that splintered from Vanguard America, pleaded not guilty in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho to misdemeanor charges of conspiracy to riot. Last month, six members of Patriot Front plead not guilty, aslo to misdemeanor charges conspiracy to riot. In June, 31 members of Patriot Front were arrested near a Pride event in Coeur d'Alene, as the men were “packed into a U-Haul truck and detained a short distance away from the gathering, which was being held at public park.”
According to documents obtained through public records requests, law enforcement was “tracking white nationalists from Patriot Front months before the group was arrested.”
A new report from the Human Rights Campaign and the Center for Countering Digital Hate found that “in the wake of the passage of Florida’s discriminatory ‘Don’t Say Gay or Trans’ bill, extremist politicians and their allies engineered an unprecedented and dangerous anti-LGBTQ+ misinformation campaign that saw discriminatory and inflammatory ‘grooming’ content surge by over 400% across social media platforms.”
Must Reads
Rick Perlstein writes that “the only thing mysterious about this long tradition of backlash is why, every time it has happened in our own lifetimes, does it feel as though liberals are responding like it’s the very first time, with no effective playbook to draw on to fight back? They tend to respond, well, like liberals, with open minds: maybe these conservatives sort of have a point? So perhaps some good-faith negotiations are in order: maybe if we accept certain of their proposed reforms that seem sound, society and its schools will emerge even stronger, and then some of the acrid divisions will abate…” [The Forum]
Tess Owen writes that “For months, the GOP and far-right fringe have been trafficking in tired slurs casting the gay community as inherently predatory, especially where children are concerned. Then when monkeypox cases began ticking up among gay and bisexual men earlier this summer, the far-right pounced on their latest “opportunity” to push anti-LGBTQ hate into the mainstream. Now, they’re baselessly declaring that monkeypox is exposing the “real” epidemic: widespread sexual molestation of children by gay men.” [Vice]
Peter Wehner writes that “whoever leads the Republican Party in the years ahead, the fear, grievances, and hate Trump poured into the cauldron won’t dissipate anytime soon. If and when the GOP finally does break away from the dark, fanatical, cultlike qualities that now characterize it, it will do so because the people who compose and define it seek—even if imperfectly—what is true and good and honorable. For the Republican Party, the only way out is the way up.” [The Atlantic]
What to expect from Radical Reports: Morning Briefing provides a daily round-up of reporting on the Radical Right; Extremist Links offers a weekly round-up of extremists activities including the white supremacist and militia movements; Research Desk provides monthly highlights research and analysis from academia on the Radical Right; Field Notes delivers research on key organizations and analysis of the strategies and tactics of the Radical Right.
