Morning Briefing: Masked members of Blood Tribe, the neo-Nazi White Supremacist group, reportedly carried “black flags with white swastikas” while the group marched through downtown Springfield, Ohio, and the “group then left the area in two black vans after approximately 10 minutes.”
In Danbury, Connecticut, local law enforcement claimed “they were not aware that a white supremacist group was demonstrating outside their department,” and members of local law enforcement were not aware of the group until after they had left the area and “had no interaction with them.”
The group was reportedly carrying a sign that read “Keep New England White,” and the protest was apparently in response to the department’s “decision to allow immigrants to join the force.”
In Greensboro, North Carolina, a group of White Supremacists reportedly “dressed in black and wearing face masks, dark glasses and hats marched down North Eugene Street and the surrounding area,” and the group was confronted by community members. April Parker, city council member representing District 3, said in a statement that “organized racial hatred, violence, and intimidation have no place in our community,” and that “antiracism is a shared civic responsibility”
In Wicomico County, Maryland, White Supremacist propaganda distributed by Patriot Front, the neo-fascist White Nationalist group, has reportedly “appeared on utility poles, gas pumps and other public spaces around Wicomico County.”
White Supremacist propaganda was identified in the Worthington and Clintonville neighborhoods in Columbus, Ohio, as residents reportedly found “flyers and business cards from a group identifying itself as part of the Ku Klux Klan.”
In Petaluma, California, local law enforcement has reportedly “launched an investigation after pamphlets with antisemitic neo-Nazi messages were delivered to homes in an east side neighborhood.” The propaganda apparently included the statement “He was right,” which was included with a “stylized image of Adolf Hitler.”
Must Reads
David Gilbert writes that “for over a decade, Trump has claimed without evidence that American elections have been impacted by fraud. In the wake of his loss in 2020, an entire online community and ecosystem of election denial groups sprang up to push the baseless allegation that former president Joe Biden stole the election from Trump. These claims have become central to the Republican Party’s belief system, to the point where hundreds of GOP candidates for federal and statewide elections in November have expressed doubts about the integrity of US elections. And now, multiple polls have shown Trump’s approval rating at historic lows with Democrats leading in Senate races across the country in states Trump won easily in 2024. Reuters reported this week that Republicans are now pouring money into dozens of races they considered safe. Trump has called polls fake 39 times since returning to the White House last year, according to analysis from media watchdog Media Matters for America.” [Wired]
Jordan Green writes that a “network of Florida Republicans with links to hate groups and the violent 2017 Unite the Right rally is mobilizing to seat members on local government boards and run for elected office in the Sunshine State and beyond. Members of American Restoration Coalition, or ARC, who count among their ranks a city council member and two planning and zoning board members, openly promote Patriot Front on their social media pages. Some of the Republican activists also belong to a secretive ‘white Christian fitness crew’ with a paramilitary aspect that has shared a gym with white supremacist Active Clubs. Members of the group, described by its executive director as ‘a strategic level organizing apparatus for Heritage Americans,’ knocked on doors for Marshall Rawson in July and August, helping him win an upset victory in the Republican primary for a north-central Florida state House seat.” [Raw Story]
Matthew Hannah writes that QAnon’s “ideas have not dissipated. It’s what I call QAnon’s afterlife, or the transformation of QAnon from a conspiracy theory to a political vocabulary. In fact, the movement’s vocabulary quickly began to appear in official government circles at the start of Trump’s second term… Amid the U.S. war with Iran, some government officials have turned to QAnon for inspiration. On Truth Social, Trump posted a meme of himself on the deck of a battleship with the words ‘It was the Calm Before the Storm,’ a cryptic phrase first used by Trump while meeting with military leaders in October 2017. Almost exactly one month later, the phrase appeared as a central QAnon concept. The use of Q phrases by government agencies during wartime has excited online conspiracy theorists. They see it as an official endorsement that ‘the storm’ will soon be upon us, a time of upheaval and punishment of the shadowy deep state. For these conspiracy theorists, Trump and Q will bring about ‘the storm,’ to be followed by a golden age.” [Salon]
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.
