Tag: Trump white nationalism

The dangerous American fascist: Why Fox News claims ‘they’ are destroying ‘white culture’

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Why Fox News Claims ‘They’ Are Destroying ‘White Culture’

I’m struggling to explain why a Fox News host would say to the American people, “they’re trying to take down the white culture!”

Democracies don’t turn into fascist oligarchies by being invaded or losing wars. It always happens from within, and is always driven by an alliance between demagogic, populist politicians and some of the very wealthiest people in society. 

Step one for these right-wing politicians and the morbidly rich who support them is to pit one group of people within the nation against others: Marginalize and demonize minorities, deny them access to the levers of democratic power while openly attacking them for trying to usurp the privileges and prerequisites of the majority. Continue reading.

Publicly, she organizes MAGA truck caravans in California — but her wedding photo is on a Nazi Telegram channel

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Since June 2020, the Placer County For Trump Facebook group has organized truck caravans to support Donald Trump in the Sierra Nevada foothills northeast of Sacramento, and the demonstrations have continued beyond the failed Jan. 6 insurrection and Jan. 20 inauguration of President Biden.

The truck caravans and other events, including a March 21 “MAGA Wedding,” have provided a welcoming community for Trump loyalists to rub shoulders with Proud Boys — the nationalist street gang whose members face conspiracy charges in the Capitol siege — while also nurturing relationships between the party base and leadership. The private Facebook group for Placer County For Trump has attracted a robust 4,600 members, drawing energy from a steady run of events, most recently a Memorial Weekend parade from Rocklin, in Placer County, to the state capitol.

Chelsea Knight, one of seven admins for the Placer County For Trump Facebook group and one of the group’s most ardent promoters, is also linked to a channel on the social-media platform Telegram that aggressively pushes Nazi propaganda. The “Mr. and Mrs. Knight” channel on Telegram uses a profile photo of Chelsea Knight and her husband, Victor, that is modified so that both have laser eyes while substituting a backdrop with a full moon and barren mountain-scape. The “Info” field for the channel includes the text “14 things and 88 more,” utilizing two numbers that are significant in the Nazi belief system. “14” references the “Fourteen Words,” a distillation of white supremacist ideology that was coined by the late David Lane while he was serving a prison system for his role in the murder of Jewish talk radio host Alan Berg. “88” is a numerical code for “Heil Hitler,” substituting “88” for “HH” as the eighth letter of the alphabet. “Victorious Knight” and “Mrs. Knight” are the admins of the “Mr. and Mrs. Knight” channel. Beyond the similarities between “Victorious” and “Victor,” the username for “Mrs. Knight” is @Chelsea_Jo_Knight, matching the name of the Placer County For Trump organizer. Continue reading.

To build a crowd for a pro-Trump rally, Nevada GOP consultant sought help from Proud Boys

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Two days after the tumultuous 2020 election, as President Donald Trump railed that his victory had been stolen, a small group of men dressed in yellow-and-black Proud Boys shirts appeared with dozens of other Trump supporters to protest the counting of ballots at Nevada’s biggest voting center.

The rally at the Clark County Election Department in North Las Vegas, one of many such demonstrations around the nation, looked like an organic response to a president then trailing in early returns and threatening anew to contest his defeat. But private messages from Facebook and interviews show the extent of the efforts, in at least one battleground state, to demonstrate the appearance of grass-roots energy to spread Trump’s falsehoods about the election. His claims would only grow over the coming months, culminating in a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

The behind-the-scenes maneuverings in Nevada involved a liberal activist who had faked a persona to get close to far-right activists, and a consultant working with the state Republican Party who contacted her in a bid to recruit the Proud Boys, a far-right men’s group, to attend the rally. Continue reading.

Biden formally ends Trump-era ‘Remain in Mexico’ immigration program

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The Biden administration on Tuesday formally nixed the “Remain in Mexico” program, the latest in a series of moves to dismantle the Trump administration’s restrictive immigration policies.

The program, known formally as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), was a cornerstone of Trump’s border management policy; it forced potential asylum seekers to stay in Mexico to wait out the result of their case in U.S. immigration court.

In a memo ending the program Tuesday, Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said the MPP did not help with enhancing the border management. Continue reading.

Parents of 54 migrant children found after separation under Trump administration

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The parents of 54 migrant children have been found after being separated at the border under former President Trump’s administration, court records reveal. 

Lawyers from the Department of Justice and the American Civil Liberties Union said in a court filing on Wednesday that it still has to locate the families of 391 children, down from the 445 it previously reported in April.

The parents of 277 of the remaining children are believed to have been removed from the U.S. after they were separated from their children, the lawyers wrote. The parents of another 100 children are believed to be in the U.S. and are being searched for. Continue reading.

Atlanta Spa Shootings Were Hate Crimes, Prosecutor Says

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The district attorney in Fulton County will seek the death penalty against the suspect in the shootings, saying he targeted some victims because they were of Asian descent.

A prosecutor said on Tuesday that the man accused of killing eight people at spas in and around Atlanta had targeted some of the victims because they were of Asian descent, and said she was planning to seek the death penalty against him.

The suspect, Robert Aaron Long, 22, who is white, was formally indicted on murder charges on Tuesday for the killings at three massage businesses in and around Atlanta, which shook the country in March amid a wave of anti-Asian hate crimes.

Fani Willis, the district attorney in Fulton County, which includes Atlanta, said Mr. Long had attacked four women at two massage businesses there because of their race, national origin, sex and gender. All of the victims at the Atlanta spas were Korean-American women. The authorities have said that Mr. Long drove to the Atlanta businesses after killing four people at another spa in a suburb in Cherokee County. Continue reading.

Trump boat parade organizer caught on video yelling ‘white power!’

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Trump fans Dion Cini and Cliff Gephart held their pro-Trump boat parade earlier this month in Tampa, Florida, and they plan to take their parades nationwide, with more events planned for San Diego, Cleveland, and Las Vegas, according to the “Trumparilla” Facebook page.

This Wednesday, Mother Jones shared a video showing Cini at a Trumparilla event yelling “white power!” 

According to Mother Jones’ Ali Breland, Cini yelled the phrase as he was being recognized from the stage by Gephart for his efforts to organize the event.  Continue reading.

Self-Proclaimed White Nationalist Parties With Republicans At Trump Resort

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Republican congressional candidate Laura Loomer, who has said she is “pro-white nationalism,” was in attendance at an official Republican Party fundraiser held at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, on Saturday.

Loomer is running for the seat in Florida’s 21st Congressional District currently held by Democratic Rep. Lois Frankel, a rematch of the race in the 2020 election cycle that Loomer lost to Frankel by 20 points, despite the support of Lara Trump, the wife of Donald Trump’s son Eric.

Mar-a-Lago, where the elder Trump is currently living, is within the 21st Congressional District. Continue reading.

Data leak exposes cops’ donations to Kyle Rittenhouse following Kenosha shooting

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A data breach of a Christian crowdfunding website has uncovered donations police officers and public officials made to Kyle Rittenhouse, the Illinois teen accused of murdering two Black Lives Matter protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin, following the officer-involved shooting of Jacob Blake. 

According to The Guardian, the transparency group known as Distributed Denial of Secrets shared the breach information with a number of journalists. Donors who contributed financially to Rittenhouse’s legal fund via GiveSendGo initially opted for anonymity have had their information disclosed.

Despite appearing anonymous after donating to the fund, the breach uncovered the email addresses those users entered when submitting the financial contributions. The publication reports many email addresses linked to the donations have been traced to police officers and other public officials. The use of professional email addresses also raises questions about public resources being used for these types of campaigns. Continue reading.

EXCLUSIVE: Leaked chats show Proud Boys integral to planning for ‘White Lives Matter’ rallies

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Two self-identified Proud Boys have been involved in the internal planning for a set of simultaneous “White Lives Matter” rallies scheduled for Sunday, according to chat logs leaked to the media.

The association with the White Lives Matter rallies, which are promoting overtly white supremacist messages about a supposed white genocide, is a liability for the Proud Boys, a violent proto-fascist group that claims to be non-racist. The leaked chats show that a Proud Boy responsible for organizing the Michigan White Lives Matter rally went to some effort to hide the fact that members of his group are involved in the effort.

The Telegram user “Telly Savalas,” who was the admin for the @WLM_Michigan channel, expressed concern on April 5 about a user named “BamaPatriot 2º” who wrote, “POYB,” with an A-OK emoji. Those are signifiers associated with the Proud Boys. Continue reading.