At "Million MAGA March," GOP Politicians Rally with Neo-Nazis, White Nationalists, Hate Groups
On Saturday, November 14, roughly 10,000 people rallied in Washington, D.C., for the “Million MAGA March,” a rally in support of Donald Trump and in opposition to the results of the 2020 presidential election. The rally was a convening of Republican politicians, Trump supporters, white nationalists, neo-Nazis, and violent hate groups, organized by multiple groups and using several different names, all of which coalesced under the title “Million MAGA March."
Million MAGA March Organizers, Attendees, and Speakers
The permit for the rally was secured by Women for America First (WFAF), a group founded by former Tea Party activists in opposition to the impeachment of Donald Trump. (After impeachment, the group organized several anti-lockdown protests, which were frequented by people carrying antisemitic and white nationalist signs, and also became a key site of white nationalist and militia organizing over the summer of 2020). WFAF requested the permit for an event they called the “March for Trump.” Another name used for the Million MAGA March was “Stop the Steal,” a reference to the false claim that the election “stolen” by Joe Biden and the Democrats, as well as a throwback to the slogan popularized by Roger Stone in 2016.
While WFAF maintains a veneer of respectability — the group’s innocuous motto is “Engaging, Inspiring and Empowering Women to Make a Difference!” — other groups that played key organizing roles for the weekend are openly white nationalist, antisemitic, racist, misogynistic, and violent. Nick Fuentes, a Holocaust denier and white nationalist, helped publicize the rally, and encouraged his “Groyper Army” to attend. Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones also organized a caravan for attendees traveling from Texas to D.C. Proud Boys from Florida and Pennsylvania also traveled to D.C. for the rally, which was thought to be the largest gathering of white nationalists, neo-Nazis, neo-fascists, militias, and hate groups since Unite the Right in Charlottesville, VA, in 2017.
Extremist groups and media shops also publicly organized their members to attend: the Oath Keepers, a far-right militia; the Proud Boys, a violent hate group; ACT for America, an Islamophobic organization; the Three Percenters, another far-right militia; Patriot Prayer, a far-right, pro-violence and pro-Christian group; and VDARE, a Nazi-sympathizing site. All of these groups promoted the Million MAGA March on their websites and/or social media. New social media accounts were also created solely for the purpose of advertising the event, and the attendance of white nationalists who hold some ‘celebrity’ status on the far-right. The Instagram account @millionmagamarch, which made its first post on November 8th, shared a flyer three days later advertising “prominent Million MAGA March attendees.”
The flyer boasted the attendance of Fuentes and Jones, as well as the white supremacist collaborator Jack Posobiec, Posobiec’s fellow pizzagate conspiracy theorist and rape apologist Mike Cernovich, white nationalist Michelle Malkin, white nationalist collaborator Scott Presler, and several others. The first account @millionmagamarch followed on Instagram was that of neo-Nazi and antisemitic conspiracy theorist Tim Gionet, known as ‘Baked Alaska.’
Despite the overwhelming involvement and presence of these far-right groups and figures at the Million MAGA March, numerous Republican officials also promoted, attended, and spoke at the rally. The rally website, TrumpMarch.com, provided a list event speakers, including: Reps. Mike Kelly (R-PA) and Louie Gohmert (R-TX); Congresswoman-elect and antisemitic conspiracy theorist Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA); Nazi-affiliated White House staffer Sebastian Gorka; Paris Dennard, the Republican Party’s Senior Communications Advisor for Black Media Affairs; and Matt Schlapp, the head of the American Conservative Union, which organizes CPAC.
TrumpMarch.com and the WFAF website list the same phone number to contact for press or with any inquiries.
TrumpMarch.com also includes a long list, which the site says was compiled by the Winston84 Project, of people and groups “who have been de-platformed, demonetized, shadowbanned, or otherwise suppressed.” While the Winston84 site states of its catalogue, “we may or may not share their opinions, but we firmly support their right to be heard,” TrumpMarch.com includes no such disclaimer, only encouraging people to “support their right to be heard!” Everyone on the list is placed into one of five categories: Christian Patriot, Climate Skeptic, Free Speech Ally, Irreverent Investigator, or Western Warrior.
Many of the people and groups on the list helped drive turnout to the rally: Fuentes, Posobiec, and Cernovich; Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio; Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes; VDARE founder Peter Brimelow; white supremacists like Bronze Age Pervert, Milo Yiannopoulos, and Faith Goldy; self-described “Proud Islamophobe” Laura Loomer; Joey Gibson of Patriot Prayer; the Red Elephants, a notoriously antisemitic site; and many more.
Members of Congress also helped gin up anger and encourage attendance for the event. On November 6, 2020, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) shared a #StopTheSteal tweet from Mike Coudrey about the upcoming rally and corresponding protests set to take place around the country. Coudrey attended the 2017 Unite the Right march in Charlottesville, VA, and has deep connections with far-right, white nationalist, and neo-Nazi figures, including Baked Alaska, Antonio Foreman, and The Red Elephants’ founder Vincent James Foxx.
"Patriots will not allow the election to be stolen by fraud," Gosar added to Coudrey's original message, effectively labeling Coudrey and other far-right extremist figures with ties to neo-Nazis ‘patriots.’ Gosar also shared and validated posts about #StopTheSteal efforts from Ali Alexander (also known as Ali Akbar), a far-right operative with a documented history of racism and antisemitism. The day following the rally and the violence that took place during and after it, Gosar praised Alexander for his work making it happen, writing: “Great work Ali. America thanks you and the rest of the patriot team.” That “patriot team” includes Posobiec, Cernovich, Presler, Coudrey, Jones, and, of course, Women for America First.
Gosar has a history of amplifying, and interacting and siding with far-right extremists and hate groups. He himself is no stranger to antisemitism and racism: An early endorser of Marjorie Taylor Greene, Gosar was one of 17 Republicans who voted against a resolution to condemn the antisemitic QAnon conspiracy theory. He also defended Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse, told a Jewish organization to 'get bent,' and spent at least part of his Fourth of July in 2020 with members of the Proud Boys.
As is clear from the combined support from Republican officials and white nationalists alike for the event, the Million MAGA March was a vector of sorts between far-right figures known for inciting and engaging in violence, and right-wing lawmakers. While Republican politicians sought to describe rally attendees as peaceful patriots and Trump supporters, the not-insignificant presence of far-right extremists was impossible to miss — before, during, and after the event itself — particularly given the active organizing done by hate groups to turn out their followers. Sitting members of Congress spoke to a crowd that included not only the groups and people already mentioned, but also 2017 Unite the Right organizer Jason Kessler, white supremacist and former Identity Evropa/American Identity Movement leader Patrick Casey, and neo-Nazi Jovi Val. That all of these people gathered together around a shared demand, that some of them spoke alongside members of congress, and that public officials continued to defend and whitewash the rally attendees after some of them engaged in violence — is no small thing.
A Staging Ground for Violence
Several new members of the Proud Boys were initiated into the first two levels of the group at the rally and during sundown that evening. For these two levels, new members repeated the statement, “I am a western chauvinist, and I refuse to apologize for creating the modern world,” before being punched repeatedly by higher-level Proud Boys while yelling out the names of five breakfast cereals.
To further commit to the group, members must, in the words of Proud Boys founder McInnes, “get beat up, kick the crap out of an antifa” or engage in a similar type of physical altercation. The violence that ensued the night of the Million MAGA March cannot be understood outside the context of this clear intent — at minimum on the part of newly initiated Proud Boys — to physically fight anti-fascists. It is extremely unlikely that the intent to commit acts of violence was limited to newly initiated Proud Boys; violence, particularly violence against anti-fascists, is a fundamental part of the group’s activity and identity. Some of the Proud Boys at Million MAGA March did not wait for nightfall to engage in violence, attacking journalists during the rally itself. Further evidence that the violence from the Proud Boys was premeditated came when Enrique Tarrio posted on Parler, “DC Antifa ends tonight.”
The presence of other pro-violence groups, like Patriot Prayer, and the sheer number of far-right extremists with a track record of engaging in violence, indicates that for some Million MAGA March attendees, violence and destruction was always part of the plan.
Anti-fascist protestors and local D.C. activists gathered to counter-protest. When night fell, the violence escalated considerably. Video footage shows a large group of Proud Boys and other Million MAGA March attendees advanced upon and started attacking counter-protestors:
The Washington Post reported that Trump supporters “wielded batons” and that a Trump supporter shouted “I came here to fight!” Additional video footage shows brutal attacks on individuals, as well as photos of rally attendees tearing down and destroying large “Black Lives Matter” signs from the LIUNA building. An independent journalist was hit by a Proud Boy. At least one person was stabbed.
Support from Republican Politicians
In response to the violence, Republican politicians expressed outrage, completely ignoring the role neo-Nazis, white nationalists, and Trump supporters played in enacting that violence. Right-wing propagandists and collaborators shared video clips of the day and evening, removing footage showing what preceded violence from counter-protestors against far-right extremists. Republican politicians shared these videos, further promoting the false narrative that right-wing actors were simply nonviolent, patriotic Trump supporters, under attack from violent and hateful anti-fascists:
Donald Trump, however, took the opposite approach. Rather than simply misrepresenting and condemning the violence, as his fellow Republicans did, he lied about what took place, and actively defended and encouraged violence, telling police “don’t hold back” from cracking down on anti-fascist protestors:
Part of a Pattern
The Million MAGA March was far from the first time Republican figures encountered or defended far-right extremists. Many of the white nationalists and extremists who helped drive turnout to the rally had previously interacted with Republican elected officials, candidates, and staffers: Alex Jones’ relationship with Rep. Gohmert (R-TX) dates back over 10 years. Jack Posobiec, a neo-Nazi sympathizer, has been retweeted by Donald Trump, communicates on Twitter with Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), and interviewed Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA). Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio has ties to the Florida GOP, and met with Gaetz — an encounter Gaetz spoke positively about on his podcast. VDARE founder and white nationalist Peter Brimelow spoke at a conference in 2016 alongside former Gaetz staffer-turned-presidential-appointee Darren Beattie. Mike Cernovich claims to be in contact with White House staff. The examples are numerous, and they are only increasing.