Morning Briefing: Trump's Bombing of Iran Causes Rift Within Far Right
President Donald Trump's decision to launch air strikes on Iran has caused a rift within the far right and right-wing media, however, the MAGA loyalist appear to have won the narrative war.
Morning Briefing: President Donald Trump's decision to launch air strikes on Iran has caused a rift within the far right and right-wing media, however, the MAGA loyalist appear to have won the narrative war. While the nationalist wing of the far right has been skeptical of Trump’s foreign policy inclinations, the Trump loyalists within the MAGA wing of the far right have repeated the mantra, “Trust Trump.”
Far right figures including Steven Bannon, Tucker Carlson, Alex Jones, Stew Peters, and Candace Owens have all been critical of any military actions against Iran, however, this criticism is almost always vailed in antisemitic rhetoric. While MAGA loyalist have already declare victory — despite the apparent failure of the ceasefire.
Members of the Montana chapter of White Lives Matter, the neo-fascist White Nationalist network, posted video and images which claimed to show distribution of 300+ anti-LGBTIQ flyers in Butte and Whitehall, and claimed members "held a banner for 2 hours above the interstate."
In Racine, Wisconsin, members of Patriot Front, the neo-fascist White Nationalist group, reportedly hung a banner over bridge above Sixth Street with the phrase “Deport Invaders” in large block letters,” and the “displayed on a city overpass near downtown, raised alarm in one of Racine’s most diverse neighborhoods and reflects a broader national surge in extremist propaganda.”
In Rockland County, New York, two men have been arrested for allegedly using a “dating app to lure, beat and rob their victims - who they believed were gay,” and local law enforcement said that the “unsuspecting victims were targeted because of their perceived sexual orientation and called anti-gay slurs while they were attacked.”
Radical Reports is tracking the far right anti-LGBTIQ activists, Christian Nationalists, White Supremacists, and violent extremist groups targeting LGBTIQ events during Pride Month.
In Sacrament, California, last week members of the Changed Movement, an anti-LGBTIQ group that promotes so-called “conversation therapy,” reportedly “gathered on the steps of the California State Capitol and rallied for gay people who want to find Christ.”
In Peoria, Illinois, local law enforcement is reportedly conducting an “alleged hate crime investigation after an LGBTQ pride flag was stolen.” The owners of In Bloom Tattoo Collective reported that “four men could be seen on security cameras,” and the men “stood by the building for a while before stealing two flags.”
If you have any tips on LGBTIQ groups or events that have been targeted online, or any intel on far right anti-LGBTIQ groups actions during Pride Month, please reach out via email or Signal.
Must Reads
Cynthia Miller-Idriss writes that “the shootings of two Minnesota state legislators and their spouses this weekend — resulting in the assassination of Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband and grievous injury to Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, who were shot multiple times — is the latest horrific episode of political violence across the country. It won’t be the last. In the wake of the attacks, prominent right-wing social media commentators and conspiracy theorists were quick to falsely lay blame at the feet of victims and Democrats. After reports surfaced that Gov. Tim Walz had appointed the Minnesota shooting suspect, who was taken into custody Sunday, to a state workforce development board, right-wing social media personality Mike Cernovich asked on X whether Walz had unleashed an ‘assassin’ and ‘ordered the political hit against a rival who voted against Walz’s plan to give free healthcare to illegals.’ Elon Musk was swiftly mocked online after he blamed the ‘far left’ for the killings in a post on X. These conspiracy theories are patently wrong.” [MSNBC]
Melissa Gira Grant writes that “we know that Vance Boelter graduated from Christ for the Nations Institute, a Bible college in Texas. The nonaccredited institute may be somewhat marginal among American evangelicals, but it has been ‘an anchoring institution’ for independent charismatic Christians for half a century, Taylor wrote in this book. Charismatics, as Taylor defined them, ‘emphasize the supernatural dimensions of Christian experience’ in their beliefs and practices; independents are those who are not part of formal denominations. Charismatics have faith in and court direct experience of the Holy Spirit and what they call its gifts. Influential charismatics are now among Trump’s top spiritual advisers, such as Pastor Paula White-Cain, who delivered the invocation at Trump’s first inauguration, in which she referred to the United States as God’s ‘perfect gift.’ Others have risen to prominence along with Trump, such as Lance Wallnau, who has asserted he was first to prophesize Trump’s coming. ‘Fighting Trump is fighting with God,’ Wallnau said in 2020. Wallnau played a key role in mobilizing Christians on January 6, 2021. So did Dutch Sheets, a well-known charismatic who is also one of Christ for the Nation’s most prominent graduates and leaders.” [The New Republic]
Keri Ladner writes that “much has been written about CFNI’s, and the NAR’s, teachings on spiritual warfare. The quote about violent prayer that adorns the entrance to CFNI reflects the same ideology that led to the Capitol Riot. And when so-called prophets and apostles consistently blur the lines between the kingdom of God and America’s civil government when they talk about spiritual warfare, there will be people who take those lessons literally and act on them. The Minnesota assassin may have been one of them. The Capitol Rioters had taken action on those exact cues four years previously. Less has been said about just how mainstream CFNI has become. The violent prayer and the faith-healing tradition of British Israelism are not fringe ideas. A few years ago they were, but that’s no longer the case… The picture that begins to emerge around CFNI isn’t just one of a school whose founder has a deeply troubling history connected to the development and spread of white-supremacist ideology. There’s a bigger picture about the growing trend of political violence in the United States with connections not only to the New Apostolic Reformation but specifically to CFNI—a school that’s become much more mainstream in recent years than its small size and fringe ideology might suggest.” [Religion Dispatches]
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; Narratives of the Right delivers weekly analysis of the current narratives in far right online spaces and promoted by right-wing media; and Research Desk provides monthly highlights research and analysis from academia on the Radical Right.
