Always great to talk to the amazing @philinvestigates.com about the violent white nationalists who join Active Clubs and what they are planning for our communities. Members of Active Clubs want more race riots in our world and they're learning that GOP officials want them too.

For @texasobserver.org, I did a deep dive into Brandon Herrera, a gunfluencer and now Republican congressional nominee who has spread memes associated the extremist Boogaloo movement and rationalized lethal violence against people with certain political beliefs. www.texasobserver.org/brandon-herr...

Thankfully this 1933 rumination on the mass psychology of fascism has no modern analogs

Some thought-provoking reflections from JM Berger on the inherent difficulties in defining "extremism" and the issues with some of the most-common approaches for doing so. The "intergroup-conflict approach" he proposes is the best I've found to date, and what I use to guide my own work.

New for @talkingpointsmemo.com: My look at how a recently-retired top immigration official getting celebrity treatment at a conference of outright fascists, and admitting to a friendship with a Nazi like Martin Sellner, should be a giant giant giant scandal talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/greg-bo...

The Pentagon has appointed a former Citadel cadet and J6 convict to one of the most sensitive top-secret posts in the DoD. He has none of the relevant experience that would make him eligible for the 40-person team. wapo.st/437arYG

As a single post (I’ll draft and post tomorrow on Substack as well, for ease of reference): The San Diego Islamic Center attackers’ manifesto is neither “novel,” nor “nihilistic violent extremism.” Rather, it is a clear (and uncreative) re-articulation (ad finitum) of Neo-Nazi accelerationism.

2/2 [Context thread for symbolism / references in San Diego attackers’ Nazi accelerationist manifesto from 2021. The thread is way too long to recreate here on such an urgent subject in a timely manner — bitching amen for an X link is a counterproductive waste of time here] x.com/msentropy/st...

If you’re confused about the Nazi “saints” and sonnenrad (black sun) references in the San Diego Islamic Center shooters’ manifesto — Here’s an old thread of mine explaining them (and how accelerationists try to mainstream that imagery) in 2021: 1/1 x.com/msentropy/st...

I spoke with domestic terrorism expert @jonlewis27.bsky.social about the San Diego mosque shooting and what leads teen boys to become radicalized online. Read our interview: www.thecut.com/article/onli...

BIG NEWS: I’ll be hosting an in-person event with @michaelehayden.bsky.social on Thursday, April 16, to discuss his new book, Strange People on the Hill. The book is available for pre-order now, and you can register for the event here: extremism.gwu.edu/strange-peop...

Over the weekend, Dawson Maloney of Albany, NY, died in what appears to be an attempted attack on a substation outside of Las Vegas. Police shared a photo of the books they found in his hotel room, which include literature popular with neo-Nazi accelerationists. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/20/u...

Was interviewed for this amazing new piece by @mskellymhayes.bsky.social about Nick Fuentes and the politics of hating women. organizingmythoughts.org/nick-fuentes...

We spoke with researcher @jonlewis27.bsky.social: “When officials are flooding the zone with the most racist, misogynistic, xenophobic, antisemetic, and Islamophobic messages it's going to embolden groups like Patriot Front.”

A federal security contractor that received millions from the Department of Agriculture hired notorious Patriot Front enforcer Ian Michael Elliott to work security patrols for the US Forest Service last year. My latest with Sean Craig for @theguardian.com 🧵

I can't help but think that the attack on Ilhan Omar is an extension of redbaiting and the age-old strategy of using the fear of leftists as a way to scapegoat minorities. More recently, redbaiting has been used as a way to shift the focus from Jews to Muslims, creating a new flavor of Islamophobia.

NEW: Within minutes of Alex Pretti being killed by a federal immigration officer in Minneapolis on Saturday, the Trump administration, backed by right-wing influencers, launched a smear campaign against the victim, labelling him a ”terrorist” and a “lunatic.” @davidgilbert.bsky.social reports:

“These are no longer dog whistles,” Jon Lewis, a research fellow at the Program on Extremism at George Washington University, said. “They’re bullhorns.” www.nbcnews.com/tech/interne...

"They've become conspiratorial-minded people looking for the next thing to mobilize for." Read comments from our research fellow @jonlewis27.bsky.social in this @nytimes.com article on the enduring prominence of January 6 conspiracies👇

If you've got an hour to kill today, consider tuning in to our webinar about prosecuting and holding 764 accountable. My colleague Barry Jonas—a retired federal prosecutor—will be moderating the event with our esteemed panelists.

Research Fellow @jonlewis27.bsky.social was recently featured in an article from The Guardian that explores why some of the most recent acts of political violence exhibit the characteristic of leaving behind written messages on their weapons and ammunition.

FBI has been steadily diverting resources away from domestic terrorism investigations, decimating specialized units & discontinuing tools used to track extremism. the admin also gutted millions in federal terrorism-prevention grants. it's effectively abandoned the fight against homegrown violence.

I wish things were at least less stupid if they had to be so dire

Spoke with @drewharwell.com over @washingtonpost.com about Internet culture, memes and how the rush to pin an ideology on Robinson was foolish. Happy to be quoted alongside other experts like @jaredlholt.bsky.social and @jmberger.com in this! They really know their stuff.

Far-right fight nights are events bringing together combat fighting, extremist bands and merch, in an attempt to bring in new recruits and solidify existing relationships. @colborne.bsky.social locates the latest event for a California-based group: www.bellingcat.com/news/2025/09...

NEW from me: Toxic rhetoric, including calls for ‘civil war’ and retribution from the right, proliferates after Charlie Kirk killing www.nbcnews.com/tech/interne...

NEW @motherjones.com: Pardoned J6ers are using Kirk's killing to call for civil war Stewart Rhodes will rebuild Oath Keepers; Proud Boys call for "retribution"; & ex-insurrectionists are coming "out of retirement." Experts fear they could incite others to violence. W/ @kieraevebutler.bsky.social:

“The singular message emerging from across the right is one of vengeance and retribution ... which only further increases the likelihood of retaliatory vigilante violence,” said @jonlewis27.bsky.social, a research fellow at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism.

I wrote for @msnbc.com about what the engravings on the shell casings of Kirk’s shooter represent and where the references originated. Given what we know so far, they suggest a young man who had his brain fried by the irony poisoned, anti-social nature of certain aspects of online culture. /1

A must-read by Jordan Green: “Some neo-Nazis are heralding Kirk’s death as an opportunity for accelerationism — the idea that a moment of heightened political tension can open the door to tit-for-tat violence, creating conditions for revolutionary upheaval.” www.alternet.org/amp/violence...

said it yesterday but the people who commit this violence increasingly show us that they deeply understand how our information ecosystems process it. It appears to be part of the appeal for them. And yet the response doesn't really change. www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

NEW: Bullets Found After the Charlie Kirk Shooting Carried Messages. Here’s What They Mean w/ @megannicolett.bsky.social www.wired.com/story/charli...

Most terminally online people who commit violence aren't connected to O9A or 764; these are fairly specific things and not just "violent people who spent too much time on the computer"

A lot of people who are generally smart and have good thoughts about internet culture have kinda filed 764 into just a more intense version of "internet culture" which doesn't really describe what they are and what they do, even if the internet is involved. It makes for misleading analysis.

“The crusade to silence any voices that may not conform to the hagiography has unfolded quickly.”

“Especially for people who already assaulted law enforcement on January 6 and were pardoned, there is certainly going to be an expectation that, if they answer the call again, they could have the same outcome," @jonlewis27.bsky.social said.

Experts see this as mostly more grifting from J6ers. But that doesn't mean it's not still dangerous. “They’re now being told that the same people who tried to steal this country away from you just killed Charlie Kirk,” @jonlewis27.bsky.social told me, "& someone has to do something about that.”

In 2015, Alex Jones spent a year spinning paranoid stories of US troops planning to enact martial law, assist a Chinese invasion, and execute dissenters in "death domes." In 2025, troops are in the streets, and Alex Jones couldn't be happier. themikerothschild.com/2025/08/27/j...

Once upon a time, there were these groups that we called Anti-Government Extremists, who would become violently exercised over things like this. Wonder what happened to those guys?* * They will be the federal police force now. They didn't object to tyranny, they objected to not being the tyrants.

I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS MEME IS ACTUALLY FUCKING REAL NOW ARE YOU KIDDING

What's gone unsaid in all this talk about homeless people in DC is that so many in the Capital are veterans who are now having the military aimed back at them for the crime of being poor.

Worth also noting that the federal government made substantial progress toward ending veteran homelessness, and Trump has announced via executive order that he's planning to reverse all of that progress. The new plan is just incarceration. www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

I joined @jaredlholt.bsky.social and @michaelehayden.bsky.social to talk about a question that has followed me since 2018. Did the alt-right win and upend right-wing politics? I think the answer is: "Yes, but..." (With apologies to Depeche Mode.) www.patreon.com/posts/030-di...

Exactly one type of guy thinks WW2 was caused by British imperialism AND that the Bismarck was a cool ship AND stormed the Capitol AND puts Ph.D. in his twitter handle.

Look back at the history of 20th century White supremacy, and there's an extraordinary amount of analysis about which people with White skin count as White. And when people start making fine distinctions about in-group eligibility, it's usually a bad sign.

Unless you were at the Capitol on Jan. 6