The Southern Poverty Law Center works to dismantle white supremacy in public forums and online, exposes hate and anti-democracy extremism and counters disinformation and conspiracy theories with research and community resources. The Intelligence Project monitors and exposes white supremacy and its impact on communities.
Confederate monuments
- The White House announced that it would be investigating Smithsonian Institution exhibits to ensure compliance with Executive Order 14253, Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History. It later published a list of specific exhibits at seven museums that it takes issue with that include topics such as race, slavery, immigration and transgender identity. President Trump took to social media to comment that the Smithsonian, “is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been. … This Country cannot be WOKE, because WOKE IS BROKE. We have the ‘HOTTEST’ Country in the World, and we want people to talk about it, including in our Museums.”
Anti-LGBTQ+ movement
- In August, the SPLC reported that Walker Wildmon, an executive of the anti-LGBTQ+ hate group American Family Association, endorsed the racist “great replacement” conspiracy theory on a late-July episode of his streaming program. “And if you want to know what this looks like maybe 10 years down the road, go to Europe, go to Europe or go to Minnesota, go to Minnesota. Go to places where large amounts of foreigners, foreign-born individuals have been surged in and replaced American culture,” Wildmon said.
Conspiracy propagandists
- Conspiracy theorist and sovereign citizen Sacha Stone is attempting to create a sovereign micronation called NewEarth in the small town of Surgoinsville, Tennessee. Stone purchased land and plans to sell 1,000 golden tickets at $10,000 apiece, which would buy a person “tax-free residential status” in the community. He claims NewEarth will be “lawfully removed from the over-reach of faceless bureaucracy and lawless taxations.” Richard Mack, founder of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, and Scott McKay, the antisemitic conspiracy propagandist linked to Tactical Civics, have promoted the venture.
- The Montana Supreme Court ruled that a sovereign citizen and former member of the Montana Freemen cannot sue a Yellowstone County justice of the peace for refusing to allow him to represent a friend in court. Rodney Skurdal, who was found guilty of threatening to kill a U.S. District Court judge in the 1990s, wanted to serve as legal counsel in a 2024 criminal case. Among its findings, Montana’s highest court stated that certain legal strategies used by sovereign citizens, such as the way they capitalize all the letters in their names, are “frivolous” and illegitimate.
- After a stint in prison, James Timothy Turner, who founded the sovereign group Republic for the united States of America, returned to the group and then resigned as part of an internal schism.
- On Aug. 21, President Trump posted on Truth Social that the state of Colorado should release former El Paso County Clerk Tina Peters from jail or he would take “harsh measures!!!” Despite the judge in Peters’ case calling her a charlatan who betrayed her oath and the Republican prosecutor saying, “This case is by far the most aggravated attempt to influence a public servant I ever saw in my career,” Trump claimed Peters “did nothing wrong.” Since Peters was found guilty in state court, there isn’t a possibility of a presidential pardon.
White nationalist and neo-Nazi movement activity
- A Proud Boys chapter based in Peoria, Illinois, purchased a billboard in Breese, Illinois, that went up near a local high school on Aug. 14. The billboard encouraged supporters to “Join now” and included the group’s website and a phone number. The community came together to condemn the billboard, which was successfully removed a few days later.
- Brandon Russell, who co-founded the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division in 2015, was sentenced in August to 20 years in prison for his involvement in a scheme to attack Maryland’s power grid. Hatewatch previously reported on Russell’s involvement in Terrorgram, a loose community of neo-Nazis on the app Telegram, as well as on his trial over the plot to attack infrastructure.
- Blood Tribe, a neo-Nazi group led by ex-Marine Chris Pohlhaus, marched in Concord, New Hampshire, in early August. About 20 men wearing red shirts with the group’s logo and black masks marched through downtown Concord with black-and-white swastika flags and a banner reading “Trump Loves Epstein.” Local law enforcement told New Hampshire Public Radio that they were investigating potential criminal activity related to Blood Tribe.
- A white nationalist group called Return to the Land has been building a community in Arkansas available to only white people. The Arkansas attorney general has opened an investigation into the group, whose leader Eric Orwoll has been touring the right-wing and mainstream media to build support for the project.
Antisemitism
- Tony Perkins falsely claimed George Soros is orchestrating a plot to use the IRS and the Johnson Amendment to silence Christian churches, asserting “Soros-funded groups are calling on the IRS to ‘crack down’ on churches” and casting social change as an existential threat driven by radical, secular elites. Recently President Trump also accused the Soros family of orchestrating violence via its financial support for organizations. This rhetoric echoes classic antisemitic “puppet master” stereotypes which have been repeatedly debunked, but are revived to mobilize political resentment and foment suspicion against marginalized groups.
Technology and extremism
- OpenAI has indicated that information provided to its popular ChatGPT service is reported to law enforcement. According to an OpenAI blog post, information entered in ChatGPT that pertains to intent to harm others may be communicated to the police. OpenAI indicated there is a lengthy process for determining what information is deemed sufficiently threatening to provide to authorities, including review by human employees of the company. Currently, OpenAI is not reporting information related to intent to self-harm to authorities.
Hate prevention
- A recent report from Equimundo shows that an increasing percentage of men across the country agree with statements such as “A man should always have the final say about decisions in his relationship or marriage” and “A gay guy is not a real man.” The report, State of American Men 2025, explains that these beliefs are symptoms of the Man Box, “a restrictive set of masculine norms that demand emotional stoicism, dominance and self-reliance.” These gendered expectations contribute to poor mental health, a lack of social support and increased isolation, all of which make boys and men vulnerable to manipulation by male supremacists. Resources like the SPLC and PERIL’s Not Just a Joke provide information about how regressive gender expectations contribute to young people’s vulnerability to radicalization, as well as guidance on supportive interventions and prevention.
Anti-immigrant activity
- The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), an anti-immigrant hate group, is eligible to receive donations from federal employees’ paychecks via the government-run Combined Federal Campaign charity program, according to a post from the group. CIS serves as one of the main think tanks for the organized anti-immigrant movement, publishing bias reports to frame immigrants as inherently criminal and circulating white nationalist content.
Militia and antigovernment movement activity
- It recently came out publicly that multiple extremist groups and individuals took part in disaster relief in Kerr County, Texas, after the deadly floods in July:
- Stewart Rhodes, the Oath Keepers militia leader who was found guilty of seditious conspiracy for his part in the Jan. 6 insurrection, was part of the “Texas Disaster Volunteers” that contributed to search and rescue efforts.
- Sovereign citizen Pete Chambers also claims to have done search and recovery missions. Chambers was previously part of the Take Our Border Back Convoy (TOBB). Fellow TOBB alum Robert Agee, who leads Buck Up Relief Mission, provided logistics, administrative aid and ministry after the flood, according to Chambers. Both Agee and Chambers are associated with the Republic of Texas, a sovereign citizen group credited by Chambers with handling some aspects of personnel and tasking after the floods.
- Mike Adams, aka The Health Ranger and the man behind the antigovernment Natural News “disinformation empire,” also took part in relief efforts, as did Steve Slepcevic, who does professional disaster relief but has a reputation for having “hobnobbed with QAnoners, Christian nationalists, election deniers, and other pro-Trump extremists.”
- A federal bankruptcy judge has ruled that antigovernment provocateur Ammon Bundy can’t file for bankruptcy to eliminate the $52.5 million in damages that he owes to St. Luke’s Health System from a defamation lawsuit. This loss followed a ruling against Bundy in April by the Idaho Supreme Court.
- Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth shared a video of Douglas Wilson, a Christian supremacist and co-founder of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC), an association of Christian Reconstruction churches. Hegseth also had his pastor, Brooks Potteiger, lead a prayer service in the Pentagon. Potteiger’s Tennessee church is a member of CREC. Wilson and a co-author have written that U.S. slavery was “a relationship based upon mutual affection and confidence.” Both pastors are part of an increasingly influential Christian supremacist movement.
- Turning Point USA (TPUSA) continued the hard right’s attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) at an event over the summer where one speaker implied violence was necessary. Vince E. Ellison, who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in South Carolina, told a TPUSA audience that DEI supporters are “inferior,” and, when he encounters them, “I’m gonna slit your throat.” Ellison is a favorite Black voice on hard-right media. In the past, he teamed up with TPUSA leader Charlie Kirk to call Martin Luther King “despicable” and “immoral.”
Image at top: U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks during a White House news conference Aug. 11, 2025. (Credit: Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu via Getty Images)