Kudos to Media Matters for bringing this very disturbing information to light. According to its report, the militia claims to have more than 20,000 members across all 50 states, including “active Sheriffs, military, veterans, emergency responders, doctors, farmers, entrepreneurs, and blue collar Americans.”
On June 3, podcaster and alleged January 6 participant Jake Lang announced a “NATIONAL CONSTITUTIONAL MILITIA” called the “North American Patriot and Liberty Militia,” or “NAPALM” for short. Lang claimed that NAPALM was “organized and ready to mobilize to DEFEND this Republic from any enemy. Forgien or Domestic.” Lang — who wrote that he would serve as “national chairman” of the militia group — “faces multiple charges of assaulting law enforcement officers” and has been held in jail ahead of his September trial for his alleged crimes and what a judge called “a continued willingness to engage in violence.”
The explicit desire for violence is all over the leaders of this group of extremists. For example, Media Matters describes Pete Santilli as “the apparent ‘strategic operations director’ and self-described ‘legal liaison’ for the militia. C&L readers may know him as a right-wing broadcaster who argued that the U.S. military should execute former President Barack Obama, former Attorney General Eric Holder, and former National Security Advisor Susan Rice if former President Donald Trump were arrested.
Stew Peters is another one openly salivating for murder. Media Matters says he’s “the apparent ‘national communications director’” of the militia. Just last week, C&L caught him calling for opponents of Christian nationalism to be “executed on a national stage. I don’t care how… Firing squad, guillotine, hang from a length of rope until dead, shot in the brain.”
Also on board is apparent “New Mexico state commander” and “Cowboys for Trump” founder, Couy Griffin. You may recall he has stated publicly, “the only good Democrat is a dead Democrat,” which got retweeted by Donald Trump. Griffin was later removed by a judge from his seat as a NM county commissioner for participating in the January 6th insurrection. Apparently, those are “commander” qualifications for this crew.
Rochelle Richardson, aka “Silk,” of “Diamond and Silk,” fired from Fox News for spreading dangerous conspiracies about COVID-19, is reportedly “national recruiting coordinator.” The other known members seem to be a motley collection of right-wing radio hosts, QAnon-ers and at least one January 6th participant.
All that is dangerous and concerning enough. But it’s also concerning that Meta’s Instagram has allowed the group an account that seems to serve as a recruitment tool, despite the company’s supposed ban on such groups. I’m not going to link to that account but you can view a screen grab as well as the rest of the article on Media Matters.
