Morning Briefing: White Nationalists Most Active in Texas and Arizona
This summer, there have been dozens of events organized by far right extremist groups, and White Nationalist groups have been the most active in Texas and Arizona, according to an analysis by ACLED.
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Morning Briefing: This Summer there have been dozens of events organized by far-right extremists and white nationalists — a significant increase from the previous months. During August, there were 58 events organized by far right groups, at least “43 involve white nationalist groups,” according to a recent analysis by Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED).
During the past three months, White Nationalist groups have been most active in Texas and Arizona, and far right extremists groups have been most active in Montana and Massachusetts, according to data from ACLED.
Patriot Front, the neo-fascist White Nationalist group, was among the most active White Nationalist groups, and members of the group engaged in multiple propaganda campaigns including “disaster relief activities” provided exclusively to white residents in the Texas Hill Country. Far right extremist groups have a history of using disasters as a propaganda opportunity.
Last year, on the aftermath of hurricanes in North Carolina and Florida, White Supremacists groups provided support in order to “boost recruitment and burnish their image.” In 2023, the People’s Initiative of New England, a splinter group formed from the neo-Nazi White Supremacist group National Socialist Club (NSC-131), assisted in cleanup efforts after floods in Vermont, as part of a strategy to “exploit moments of instability or chaos for their own gain.”
Patriot Front has regularly engaged in disaster relief activities as part of the group’s propaganda efforts, and members of the group have traveled to at least “eight disaster sites in the wake of tornadoes, hurricanes, and a train derailment and chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio, in early 2023,” according to ACLED.
In Corona, California, a billboard advertising a campaign by American Eagle featuring Sydney Sweeney was covered with a banner that claimed Sweeney was supported by the Proud Boys, the far right violent extremists group. While there was reportedly “no indication the banner was placed over the billboard by members of the Proud Boys,” various chapter of the Proud Boys celebrated the display.
Sean Feucht, the far right Christian Nationalist, is organizing a rally and concert on August 30th at Cal Anderson Park on Capitol Hill in Seattle, Washington, and the city is reportedly “preparing to issue a permit for the park” — contradicting claims made by Feucht that “the city had already granted the permit.”
Dylann Roof, the neo-Nazi White Supremacist who killed nine people in the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, was denied a motion “requesting a new trial” by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, as the court ruled that layers representing Roof did not show “a clear and indisputable right to the relief requested.”
Lawyers representing Payton Gendron, the White Supremacist that killed 10 Black people at Tops Supermarket in Buffalo, New York, claimed in court that "federal charges against him should be dropped because there weren’t enough Black people and other minority groups on the grand jury that indicted him."
John Reardon, who pleaded guilty to threatening to “bomb synagogues and kill Jewish children in a series of calls he placed to two local houses of worship and the Israeli consulate in Boston,” was sentenced to “26-months prison to be followed by three years of supervised release.” Roof will reportedly “remain on death row at Terre Haute Federal Prison in Indiana.”
Must Reads
Ben Makuch writes that “Donald Trump has faced an onslaught of criticism from opponents and Maga diehards alike, on issues such as Jeffrey Epstein, the war with Iran, and his steadfast alliance with Israel in the face of genocide. But among the ever dangerous far right, which has generally applauded Trump’s efforts to deport thousands of people a day, his actions of late have stirred rage among a group experts say has benefited greatly from his administration’s law-enforcement pivots. The FBI, headed by Trump acolyte Kash Patel, has reassigned the jobs of thousands of agents and eviscerated parts of the bureau tasked with investigating rightwing extremists that are considered the most dangerous domestic security threat facing the US today. Those same types, which includes a locus of fascist street-fighting gangs known as active clubs and accelerationist neo-Nazis, increasingly view Trump as an enemy, but are freer than ever to organize – almost entirely due to changes instituted in his latest presidency.” [The Guardian]
Ian Ward writes that “like a lot of phrases drawn from internet discourse, the precise definition of ‘Heritage America’ can get a bit fuzzy around the edges, and its exact meaning remains the subject of some debate. But in its most basic sense, the phrase refers to present-day Americans who trace their ancestral roots to the colonial period, or shortly thereafter. Depending on whom you ask, the category also includes the offspring of Indigenous Americans and the ADOS, or ‘American descendants of slavery.’ But at its most fundamental, said Engel, ‘Heritage American’ refers to the offspring of the Anglo-Protestant and Scotch-Irish settlers — in other words, the white people — who populated the original colonies before heading west to settle the American frontier. Heritage America isn’t just a demographic category, though. It’s also, for lack of a better word, a ‘vibe,’ as the conservative writer and documentarian Jon Harris, who has written about the heritage America debate, put it. Online, a loose aesthetic has developed around the term, cultivated via memes and viral posts.” [Politico]
Melissa Gira Grant writes that “seeing a federal agency openly circulate racist and antisemitic propaganda as intentionally ‘edgy’ content is disturbing enough. But such a recruitment drive is also coming from an agency that is (or was, under previous administrations) tasked with keeping tabs on white nationalist groups. What this latest propaganda wave from DHS reveals, in part, is an agency that has been weaponized for the Trump administration’s political purposes. But DHS didn’t reluctantly acquiesce to that weaponization, as has sometimes been presumed. Instead, it eagerly assimilated MAGA’s mass deportation mission, adopted its language, and became its standard-bearer online. The shift is, unfortunately, not so shocking, given the agency’s history. From its very origins, DHS has repeatedly downplayed the threat of white nationalism while focusing its law enforcement power on groups—Muslims, immigrants, left-wing activists—it deemed a threat to an imaginary version of the ideal America.” [The New Republic]
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.
You can have Texas and Arizona! I’ll take California all day long! Native Angeleno!