Not long after a man shot to death at least 10 people on Saturday, May 14, in what local officials called a “pure evil,” “racially motivated hate crime,” influencers hustled to spread false narratives online that ignored the overwhelming evidence showing this attack was an act of white supremacist violence.
Randy Weaver, whose deadly 1992 standoff with the U.S. government made Ruby Ridge a rallying cry for antigovernment and white nationalist movements throughout ensuing decades, died at his home in Montana on May 11, according to social media posts made by his daughter, Sara Weaver. He was 74.
Elmer Stewart Rhodes, the founder and leader of the antigovernment Oath Keepers organization, was, at the time of publication, in federal custody awaiting trial for his alleged role in orchestrating events at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021.
In leaked audio first reported by the U.K. outlet Byline Times, a voice that seems to belong to YouTube performer Paul Joseph Watson utters a string of racist and anti-gay epithets before stating that he wishes someone would “press the button to wipe Jews off the face of the Earth.”
