Dave Neiwert has reported on the fringe of the fringe-right since before his early Orcinus days. He grew up in the Pacific Northwest, home to the Aryan Nations, and has reported on the Patriot movement, the Proud Boys, Sovereign Citizens, and assorted other neo-Nazis and militiamen in Alt-America: The Rise of the Radical Right in the Age of Trump (Verso Press, Fall 2017), And Hell Followed With Her: Crossing the Dark Side of the American Border (NationBooks, March 2013), The Eliminationists: How Hate Talk Radicalized the American Right (PoliPoint Press, May 2009), and more. Neiwert has also written for the Southern Poverty Law Center covering the violent, fringe-right.
It’s annoying that Dave is not invited more often to tell cable news viewers how serious a threat these armed ex-soldiers, cops, and soldier wannabes are. Then again, cable executives don’t really want to frighten their viewers.
Salon’s Chauncey DeVega asked Neiwert to comment on the ripple effects of the Kyle Rittenhouse acquittal. The judge omitted from the trial evidence that the militia Rittenhouse “joined up with in Kenosha was a boogaloo outfit, and these guys believe they are getting ready for a civil war.” Jurors never heard that. So the American public did not either:
These right-wing extremists have waiting for a chance to start shooting “leftists” and “communists” and “liberals” and Black Lives Matter, antifa or other groups they target as the “enemy”. These right-wing extremists do not see a difference between Joe Biden and antifa. For the right-wing extremists, any and all of these individuals and groups are all the same, something evil. The unifying and most important thing is a yearning for civil war.
Here Neiwert references the “When do we get to use the guns?”audience question at a recent Charlie Kirk event in Idaho.
This desire for a civil war and other political violence is not just coming from the open white nationalists and neo-Nazis and racists. It is also coming from what I would call the “Patriot” right. These are the Trumpians — the people who believe that the 2020 election was stolen, the people who believe COVID is a Chinese hoax.
This isn’t an unusual conversation in these circles. Unfortunately, not enough people are paying attention to what is happening among these people. They are all polishing their guns and getting ready.
The verdict is confirmation that they were right all along. The Rittenhouse verdict has given them permission to do what they’ve been craving to do for a long time. The situation is going to become very fraught, very soon. Any time there is a protest, I believe there are going to be guns out. It is going to be dangerous.
The left often caricatures the typical militia member as a “potbellied oaf who runs around and spouts all sorts of nonsense,” Neiwert explains. The image has some truth behind it. But behind the oafs are leaders with training and skills, some ex-military, others serving and retired law enforcement.
Like Donald Trump, many militia leaders are scam artists, but they are also true believers,
These are the folks who are out there radicalizing a large segment of the population. It is my opinion that people who live in cities have a really hard time understanding just how deep and widespread the “Patriot” and “constitutionalist” militia beliefs have become out there in rural America. Such thinking is deep and widespread.All of these years, we’ve been getting interviews with Trump voters in rural cafés. We’re way overdue for some stories talking about the liberal Biden voters who are trying to survive in these red rural areas where the hostility is just incredibly intense. There we see these huge, modified pickup trucks flying giant flags that say, “Fuck Biden.” That’s what the reality is for people in rural America right now.
A guy I knew had once belonged to a biker gang. Asked why, he explained that he was never into fighting. But he liked the idea that bikers intimidated people and enjoyed the idea that as a biker he intimidated people. While many militia blowhards are motivated by the same impulses, Neiwert warns they are not the ones to worry about:
Let’s be clear. Many of these people are one, incompetent, and two, totally incapable of ever pulling off what they’re talking about doing. Moreover, such people are cowards who mostly like to bluster and threaten and intimidate, but when push comes to shove they are going to shrivel up and do nothing.
But the reality is also that there is a percentage of those people out there who are armed and who are competent, who have military training in many cases and sometimes law enforcement training. These more serious ones are also capable of handling deadly weapons. Those people are the real threat. When they feel that they have been pushed too far they are going to respond.
What triggers that and what they will do is anyone’s guess. My hope is that as bloodbaths go, it will be a small one. Those are a daily event in the U.S.A. Like the weather report.
“I believe the American people need to be ready for mass civil violence, particularly whenever there is any kind of protest,” Neiwert warns.
There is much more at Salon.