Why I Stopped Covering Hate Groups (Sort Of)
Hate is big business. The harder you look, the higher it goes.
Tracking hate groups is something I’ve done since before the advent of social media and the ensuing explosion in hate group membership. The game might have changed but their tactics were all the same. Secret meetings, marches to intimidate people, and so-called protests at events like Drag Queen Story Hours all over the country, it’s the same playbook that groups like the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) employed a century ago.
Decentralized leadership makes it look as though many of the hate groups are leaderless yet, they all have the same (or very similar) agenda. They share ideas and plans online in small and large communities and their motivations are all the same: white supremacy. An ideology that covers everything from taking women’s rights and trans rights to oppressing Black people, brown people, LGBTQ people, and anything that isn’t a straight white male.
Are nonwhite people sometimes subject to falling in with this crowd? Of course. But it doesn’t mean they’re fully accepted, as we all know. These ideologies were all born of the same white Christian nationalism that created the KKK and many other hate groups. It’s nothing short of a fascist idea that weaponizes religion to force people into compliance.
Here’s the issue: the more you dig into this, the more connected it is to billionaires, lawmakers, pundits, and more. Many hide behind the thin veil of so-called foundations and think tanks like the Heritage Foundation and the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS). Such nonprofits have been labeled as hate groups for a reason. That they are largely funded through secretive donor-advised funds – dark money – is even more problematic.
This means funding can come from anyone with wealth. And it does. Some scant reporting on this has been done in recent years, but the reality is, it just doesn't get the attention it should. I’ve covered this a few times and have gotten under the skin of some powerful people in these organizations. That made me realize that it’s not just social media personalities and a few rogue lawmakers funneling down ideas to hate groups on the street, it’s billionaires too.
The people who fund campaigns also put a lot of money into spreading hate through crafty talking points that attempt to make it seem as if racial, ethnic, and cultural animus are justified.
The Shift
How did we go from the coded language of the 1970s, 80s, and 90s to more overt racism and bigotry in the new millennium? It exploded with the election of President Barack Obama in 2009 and the advent of the Tea Party, a more libertarian, populist, and openly racist movement in the Republican Party. The U.S. went from a “we shouldn’t talk about race” posture to feigned shock and amazement at the idea that their friends and neighbors could be so blatantly racist.
It started with labeling him an Islamic extremist, a socialist, and other wild terms and ended with language that questioned Obama’s blackness and his identity. All of it was very Klan-like, especially if you know the Klan’s history of equating things they hate with communism and with the Jews being responsible for what they think is wrong with society while pointing to Black and brown people as criminals and thugs. The lack of self-awareness is astounding.
What was once coded language turned into Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) yelling, “You lie!” during Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress in 2009. With that, all semblance of decorum was gone, and any inclinations about showing the most powerful Black man in the world respect went with it. That era laid the groundwork for the state of the country we see today.
Donald Trump came down the escalator in 2015 and took advantage of what he saw as an opportunity. His first speech declaring he would run for president was riddled with the Tea Party bigotry and racism of the previous eight years. But he was elevating it to a place that hadn’t seen it for decades, the world’s stage. From there, we saw an increase in far-right extremist activity, mass murders, and a growing number of young white men joining hate groups.
The shift didn’t end there. As more people who embraced those ideas began running for office and bringing racial and cultural animus to Congress, the ideas became normalized in our news and media ecosystem. Meanwhile, the people and organizations who funded these candidates rarely get any attention because the lawmakers themselves are so overt and loud. Digging deeper I began to see that the money and ideas are coming from the same groups of people.
As everyone was rightly focused on Project 2025 and the Heritage Foundation, I was also tracking the Conservative Partnership Institute (CPI). A group whose membership includes many of the same names in Project 2025, Representatives and Senators, people in Trump’s immediate proximity, and people with ties to hate groups. CPI also has a media arm and studios where many Republican lawmakers host their podcasts.
CPI boasts about members like Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Andy Biggs, Byron Donalds, and Sens. Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, and Marsha Blackburn making the CPI headquarters “their home away from home” with offices for themselves and their staff. It’s worth noting the events that led up to the January 6th insurrection were largely coordinated in CPI’s offices. Text messages after the election leading up to the attack on the Capitol show Greene and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) communicating with Trump’s former White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows.
“We had steering executive meeting at CPI tonight, with Sidney Powell as our guest speaker,” said Sen. Mike Lee to Mark Meadows via text on Nov. 9, 2020. “My purpose in having the meeting was to socialize with Republican senators the fact that POTUS needs to pursue his legal remedies. You have in us a group of ready and loyal advocates who will go to bat for him, but I fear this could prove short-lived unless you hire the right legal team and set them loose immediately.”
The similarities between so-called think tanks and policy institutes and what motivates people on the street are beyond alarming. And despite the reporting, overall society didn’t seem to pay attention. This, I argue, is part of what led us to a place where many of these voices are now in power and implementing white nationalist policies right in front of our faces.
This is where the shift happened for me. While I still monitor hate groups, I’m monitoring those they get their messaging and funding from more so.
The Logic
Unlike ten years ago, hundreds of writers and journalists track hate groups and their activities nowadays. I love every bit of that because it needs to be done. We see the reports every day. If you follow Teddy Wilson at Radical Reports, you’ll get a good update almost daily.
My focus will continue to be on the people behind the hate like Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and the crowds of people in organizations such as Heritage, CPI, CIS, and other so-called policy institutes. They are driving everything Republicans say and do and someone has to keep tracking them and their neo-fascist activities.
Hate groups ultimately act on the ideas passed onto them, therefore, it only makes sense to go for the head of the snake and try to cut it off. If we can limit the scripted narratives these groups of people present to the media (and Congress), racists wouldn’t get so many ideas. As long as we have people justifying and normalizing hateful views unchecked, we will only continue to shift further into the far-right abyss.
I still monitor hate groups. I just moved up the chain.
I’m a freelance journalist. Find my work at Latino Rebels, Unicorn Riot, The Antagonist Magazine, and more. I’m also on TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, and Threads. To support my work, become a paid subscriber or donate via Venmo, PayPal, or CashApp.
And I think you are very right to follow on the head of snake. Although most people would say they understand and/or know that funding always comes from similar places, I'd say that few actually realize the commonality of it all until people like you do the work and spread the word! So thank you for doing that 🙏🏻.