An official in Illinois’ DuPage County GOP who frequently appears in local and national media associates with extremist groups and shares racist posts on social media, Hatewatch has found.
Elmer Stewart Rhodes, founder and leader of the antigovernment Oath Keepers organization, was convicted of seditious conspiracy Tuesday over his role in a plot to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The verdict followed a historic seven-week trial in Washington, D.C.
The mass shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs, which saw a 22-year-old man charged with hate crimes and murder on Monday, came after years of intensifying anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, acts of violence and intimidation, and discriminatory legislation from far-right individuals and groups, including powerful Republican politicians.
Speakers at this weekend’s American Renaissance conference included a former congressman; a self-described “proud Islamophobe” who once handcuffed herself to Twitter’s headquarters; and a recently retired captain in Boise, Idaho’s Police Department (BPD) whose identification by an antifascist researcher and activist has been corroborated by Hatewatch.
