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The Guardian
05-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Revealed: the far-right, antisemitic men's club network spreading across US
A nationwide US network of dozens of far-right, men-only fraternal clubs has what members describe as 'literally hundreds' of participants who include past and currently serving military personnel, lawyers, civil servants, and prominent antisemitic influencers, a Guardian investigation can reveal. The Old Glory Club (OGC) – which has at least 26 chapters in 20 US states and until now has drawn little attention – exemplifies the alarming rise of organized racist political groups in the past few years but especially during the rise of Donald Trump and his return to the White House. The OGC network has held conferences, meetups and other events. Key members like podcaster Pete Quinones use their platforms to push far-right ideas about Jewish people and immigrants. Other members have used their platforms to respond to political events, and to advocate measures including 'cancellation insurance' for members whose extreme political views might impede their professional lives. Harry Shukman, a researcher at UK anti-fascist non-profit Hope Not Hate, who last month published an exposé on the OGC-affiliated Basketweavers organization in the UK, told the Guardian: 'Groups such as the OGC are a new breed of extremist organisation which aims first to build an offline social network before taking over society.' He added, 'They seek to lower the bar to participating in the far right, and by doing so have proved attractive to a cohort of mostly male members, some of whom have never before undertaken any form of activism.' Heidi Beirich, co-founder and chief strategy officer of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, said the OGC 'appears to be another major new network of racists, too many of which are springing up in the era of Trump'. She said the group was 'pushing violent ideologies, including race hate and antisemitism and has links to prominent figures on the far right'. The OGC was incorporated on 16 June 2023, according to Virginia company records, but the organization took shape over more than a year through in-person conferences and online networks. The Old Glory Club Substack began publishing in October 2022, with an X account launching the same month. Podcast aggregators show Old Glory Club podcast content appearing online by November 2022 at the latest. At that time however, the organization appeared to be conceived as mostly a collaborative effort at content production. In a November 2022 podcast the pseudonymous YouTuber and central OGC figure known as Charlemagne told far-right podcaster Auron Macintyre – now an on-air personality at Glenn Beck-founded Blaze Media – that OGC was 'a group of American gentlemen who have decided to organize a social club … to publish content and … try and figure out a new political settlement for Americans'. Also in October 2022, another pseudonymous YouTuber, the Prudentialist, appealed for donations to OGC in a podcast, saying that the money 'will one day be used for mutual aid for our friends that get doxed or fired or affected by natural disasters and other acts of God'. By April 2023, the Prudentialist was presenting OGC in podcasts as part of an effort by the far right to 'create networks of patronage [and] political support' in order to 'maintain not just some semblance of power, but … anti-fragility against a state that wants you broke, dead or transitioned' He added that OGC would offer opportunities for members to 'meet, host conferences and … to support people in the future who like that firefighter in Virginia was fired for simply donating to Kyle Rittenhouse's legal defense fund', an apparent reference to the fallout from 2021 Guardian reporting on donors to Rittenhouse's legal defense whose identities were revealed in leaked data from a Christian crowdfunding site. Other key members advocated a strategy of decentralization for the far-right to create enduring activist institutions. In a 10 July 2022 republication of his speech at that year's rightwing Tennessee Scyldings conference, charter member and frequent OGC spokesman Ryan Turnipseed lamented the fact that Spain's authoritarian fascist dictator Francisco Franco – a touchstone for the contemporary far right – had 'failed to secure his line of succession' despite propaganda and purges. 'This is a lesson we need to learn,' he added. He proposed a decentralized network of groups, which would allow 'us to draw upon the knowledge and abilities of these groups. We no longer have to wait on a Caesar or a Franco to 'unite the right' into some effective fighting force. Instead, we can be effective with what we have now.' Others stressed the importance of in-person meetups, and directly referenced similar initiatives overseas. According to a July 2022 Substack post by the pseudonymous 'Red Hawk' inviting applications for local chapters, chapters must consist of at least 'five American men over the age of 18', and meet quarterly and annual reporting requirements on membership and finances. Local chapters and the organization as a whole are overseen by an OGC central committee, according to the post and subsequent podcasts. The organization's core members have orchestrated four annual conferences, with the last two happening under the OGC banner. According to speakers on a recorded after-action report on the most recent OGC in-person conference held in May, OGC membership has burgeoned in the last year. They claimed that OGC now has 'literally hundreds' of members, and 'We're so large at this point that we've passed the point where the Central Committee is going to be able to know all or even most of the individual members'. 'Altogether we've built a very, very effective organization' It is not yet clear how the names in company records for the umbrella organization and its chapters correspond with all of the online aliases of key members. But those records do reveal that members include prominent far-right influencers, current and former US military members and police officers, court officers and contractors with US government security clearances. The Guardian has contacted all named members for comment. Turnipseed is a charter member of the OGC umbrella organization, a frequent contributor at its Substack, a frequent podcaster, and has spoken at OGC and Skyldings conferences. Previously, Turnipseed was excommunicated in May 2024 by First Lutheran church in his native Ponca City, Oklahoma, after a viral 2023 Twitter thread criticizing the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod's new catechism for accommodating progressive political positions, briefly making him a cause celebre for the online far right. In February 2023, Turnipseed had been identified by antifascist researchers as a member of what they called a rising 'white supremacist faction within the Lutheran faith'. Later that month the president of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod called for the excommunication of those 'propagating radical and unchristian 'alt-right' views'. Not long after his excommunication, Immanuel Lutheran church in Wichita, Kansas, defied the ban by accepting Turnipseed into membership. Other OGC chapter members have connections with the wider world of rightwing politics. Matthew Pearson of Tampa Bay, Florida, is listed on the initial filings of the Yellow Dog Pack, a Florida OGC chapter. Pearson is a writer for two Christian Nationalist publications, American Reformer and Truthscript, where he has praised a book that says Christians should be anti-gay, and commended the social theories of Nazi jurist Carl Schmitt. Other members are connected with the armed forces and defense contractors. Evan Dale Schalow, 25, of Midlothian, Virginia, is listed as a charter member of the OGC in Virginia company records. According to his LinkedIn bio, Schalow has also been a horizontal construction engineer in the Virginia national guard since 2022 and before that he was an ROTC cadet while at Longwood University from 2020. According to the same biography he has US government secret security clearance. The Guardian emailed the Virginia national guard to confirm Schalow's service but received no response. Harvey Pretlow Rawls III is named as a charter member of the Old Glory Club and the Vetus Dominicum Club chapter in Virginia company records. According to his LinkedIn page, Rawls is also a systems engineer at HII, the US's largest military shipbuilder. The same page indicates that he has an active secret clearance, the second tier of US security clearances, which can take up to a year to investigate and approve. The Guardian contacted HII about his role at the company. Michael R Gibbs of Phenix City, Alabama, meanwhile, is the only person listed on the initial filing of the Magnolia League, an OGC chapter in Alabama. According to his LinkedIn page he served as a sergeant in the US Marine Corps between 2008 and 2013, and then as a deputy in the Muscogee county sheriff's office between 2014 and 2016. The same page says he is now a buyer for firearms company Remington. Two members of OGC Indiana chapter the Tippecanoe Society, meanwhile, are lawyers who have spent time in government service. Kyle Lindskog of Zionsville, Indiana, is now a freelance attorney, according to his LinkedIn biography, but between 2015 and 2018 he was a city attorney in St Petersburg, Florida. Paul Scott Lunsford Jr of Carmel is an intellectual property attorney at a firm he founded, but between 2006 and 2010 he was an operations officer in the US navy. Beirich, the extremism expert, said: 'The fact that OGC members apparently include current and former military members and police officers, and similar government officials, is a particular cause for alarm, and frankly shocking.' She added: 'This may ultimately pose a national security threat right at the time when the Trump administration is abandoning efforts to root extremists out of the military while hiring racists, antisemites and Qanon believers to staff the administration.' The OGC Substack reflects the broader preoccupations of its members: a mix of far right causes and racist politics. They includeneo-Confederate pleas for the redemption of Confederate symbols and the Confederate cause and a laudatory discussion of the 1967 documentary of post-colonial Africa, Africa Addio, which film critic Roger Ebert once called 'a brutal, dishonest, racist film'. There are claims that white Evangelical Christians are the west's 'most hated minority', and a reproduced Dave Greene speech in which he characterizes 'Jewish Talmudic law' as 'an attempt to trick God', and telling his audience that they and the 'Jewish community' are 'on the opposite ends of this age's struggle'. In many ways, however, the Substack appears to give a more acceptable face to the politics that key members express in cruder terms elsewhere. For example, Peter R Quinones – a self-described 'charter member' of the group – is listed as an officer on the initial filing of the foundational Old Glory Club. Quinones is a broadly influential figure on the far right. His Substack is the 78th most popular Substack newsletter on US politics, according to that platform's figures. His podcast was 142nd most popular in US political podcasts according to data from podcast tracking service Rephonic, putting it roughly on par with shows by CNN's Kaitlin Collins and Andrew Sullivan, and ahead of podcasts by Jim Acosta and Candace Owens. He has issued a regular podcast since 2017, first titled Free Man Over the Wall, and later under its present title, The Pete Quinones Show. During that time and continuing up to the present, he has unleashed hundreds of hours of content marked by racism and antisemitism, which has included urging listeners to take direct action against Jewish and non-white neighbors. In a podcast last month in response to US attacks on Iran – which he attributed entirely to the malign influence of Israel – Quinones urged listeners to respond by simply boycotting businesses owned by Jews, and took sideswipes at Indians. 'It's Jews,' he began. 'You can't live with them. You can't allow them in. If you allow them in, you have to suppress them. But it's better not to allow them in.' Quinones continued: 'Don't do business with them. Do as much business as you can with Heritage Americans'. 'Heritage Americans' is a phrase that, according to rightwing commentator Mike Coté, the so-called New Right uses to describe 'the ethnic population of the United States prior to 1940, with a strong emphasis on Anglo-Protestant Europeans' in an expression of 'European-inflected 'blood-and-soil' nationalism' which is opposed to older 'creedal' versions of American nationalism. In the same broadcast Quinones also said 'Don't do business with Indians,' adding: 'We got an app down here that some of the guys at the Alabama Old Glory Club are doing, which is to show which gas stations and hotels are not owned by Indians here.' Quinones later encouraged listeners to likewise 'build an app for your local area, which shows where there's, are owned by heritage Americans, or at least stuff that's not owned by Indians. And you may want to include another group in that.' In other recent podcasts, Quinones has proffered elaborate anti-Semitic conspiracy theories often promoted by white supremacist groups. In one podcast he worried about the far-right being persecuted for its beliefs about Jews. 'You start, you know, persecuting people who are you know, starting to ask the Jewish question,' he said. The 'Jewish question' is an antisemitic framing of Jewish presence in society as a problem requiring a 'solution,' and has historically been used to justify persecution and genocide, including in Nazi Germany. Since 2022, Quinones has also collaborated in making content for the Old Glory Club network, and has promoted it on his own show. On an Old Glory Club post-election livestream in November, Quinones referred to Black voters with a racial slur favored by white nationalists, saying: 'The North American street ape is hopeless.' He used the same slur a month later in response to a video of a black teenager. Shukman, the Hope Not Hate, researcher said: 'The Old Glory Club and its affiliates like the Basketweavers may claim to provide community, but the truth is they conceal a much more sinister aim.' He added: 'We have seen that the leaders of these groups can be vicious and degrading to junior members, especially maladjusted young men. The OGC's senior figures also have a track record of making deeply racist statements and affiliating with known far-right activists. '
The Independent
05-07-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Reform UK under fire for putting teenagers in charge of vital public services
Reform UK is under fire for letting teenagers run vital public services after storming to power in councils across the country in May's local elections. The party has been criticised for letting 18-year-old George Finch run Warwickshire County Council, which has a budget of around £500m and assets of £1.5bn. Now, some two months after it took over 10 councils in the local elections, it has emerged a slew of other high profile roles have been taken on by teenagers. On Leicestershire County Council, Reform councillor Charles Pugsley, 19, has been made the cabinet member for children and family services, The Guardian reported. Meanwhile, 22-year-old Joseph Boam has been made deputy council leader and put in charge of adult social care, having previously claimed that 'depression isn't real', the paper revealed. Both youngsters are reportedly opposed to councils flying flags in support of the LGBT+ community and disabled people's rights, one of Reform's first policies rolled out across local authorities. Campaigners Hope Not Hate claimed Mr Boam had posted praise for misogynistic influencer Andrew Tate on a now-deactivated social media account. The same account contained the 'depression isn't real' remark, with fellow councillor's complaining to Reform's leader in Leicestershire. Mr Boam has described the allegations as 'fake news'. A Conservative councillor and leader of the opposition on Leicestershire County Council expressed unease at the appointment of the pair in such high profile roles. Deborah Taylor told The Guardian: 'I am a huge champion of young people and young councillors but what really concerns me is that new young councillors should be nurtured rather than being thrown in at the deep end to what can be a quite full-on role where there is exposure to some real trauma and difficult decisions.' One social worker at the council told the paper: 'There is some confidence that much of what is being delivered can't be changed because it is statutory and underpinned by legislation. But there are areas were resources are being allocated on a 'spend to save' basis, such as early interventions for families who may, for example, have had multiple removals of children.' The British Association of Social Workers said the roles are 'very important' and oversee hundreds of millions of pounds in spending. Chair Julia Ross said she recognises the value of fresh perspectives, candidates for such roles should be experienced in running complex departments and a knowledge of their duties supporting some of the most vulnerable in society. Responding to critics who have questioned his age, Mr Pugsley said on X: 'Some say I'm young. I say that's exactly what this role needs. 'I understand the challenges young people face today because I've been there. Now I'm making sure young voices are heard.' But Green councillor Naomi Bottomley hit back, adding: 'He also went to a private school and is a landlord, so I'm not sure he has quite the same experience as many vulnerable young people.' Mr Finch took over as leader of Warwickshire County Council after his predecessor Rob Howard quit within weeks of being elected. Mr Howard cited health challenges preventing him from 'carrying out the role to the level and standard that I would wish'. The change means Mr Finch, a former member of the Conservative Party, is now responsible for the council, with £1.5bn of assets and a budget of around £500m. In an interview with The Telegraph after taking over, Mr Finch vowed to take on 'the blob' and pointed out that ' Mike Tyson was the youngest heavyweight boxer of the world', aged 20.
The Guardian
05-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Reform puts teenagers in charge of vital public services
Reform UK's local election wins have seen teenagers left in charge of vital public services, including a 19-year-old who is overseeing children and family services while still at university. Two months on from the elections in which Nigel Farage's party took overall control of 10 councils, concerns have been raised about the experience of candidates who have been appointed to roles with wide-ranging responsibility. At Leicestershire county council, Reform councillor Charles Pugsley, 19, has been made the cabinet member for children and family services. Pugsley's elevation has caused particular concern, as has that of Joseph Boam, a 22-year-old who has been made the deputy council leader and handed the adult social care portfolio, despite having previously expressed the view that 'depression isn't real'. Both are defenders of a Reform policy that would block the council from flying community emblems such as the Pride and disabled people's flags over council property. More than 100 social workers and other employees at the council have now signed a letter condemning the policy, which they allege 'promotes exclusion and marginalisation'. According to the anti-extremism campaign group, Hope Not Hate, an account appearing to belong to Boam had frequently retweeted and posted apparent praise for the misogynistic influencer Andrew Tate from a now deleted social media account. Another claim on the same account that 'depression isn't real' sparked concern among fellow councillors who have written to Reform's leader at Leicestershire. Boam has reportedly dismissed the allegation as 'fake news'. News of their appointment follow that of George Finch, 18, who has become the interim leader of the neighbouring Warwickshire county council just a year after completing his A-levels. Their relative lack of experience has caused unease across the political divide. Deborah Taylor, a Conservative councillor and leader of the opposition who was the previous cabinet member for children and families in Leicestershire, questioned their qualifications to hold roles overseeing services that account for more than 70% of the council's £616m budget. 'I am a huge champion of young people and young councillors but what really concerns me is that new young councillors should be nurtured rather than being thrown in at the deep end to what can be a quite full-on role where there is exposure to some real trauma and difficult decisions,' she said. 'Rather than age, it's about political and life experience, whether that's as someone has worked or even as a parent with knowledge of household pressures.' The concerns were echoed by social workers at the council. 'There is some confidence that much of what is being delivered can't be changed because it is statutory and underpinned by legislation. But there are areas were resources are being allocated on a 'spend to save' basis, such as early interventions for families who may, for example, have had multiple removals of children,' said one. 'It's an area where that spending has really paid off and there would be great concern about that being tinkered with or even cut.' Julia Ross, chair of the British Association of Social Workers, said: 'Lead members for children's and adults' social services in local authorities are very important roles that carry the responsibility of handling hundreds of millions of pounds. 'While we recognise and value the fresh perspectives that youth often brings, ideally, candidates should have experience in administrating such complex departments, as well as a working knowledge of their statutory duty to support, what are often, the most vulnerable people in our society.' Pugsley and Boam have come into their roles as Reform has pledged to deliver Elon Musk-style 'Doge' efficiency savings at councils even though many services have been cut to the bone over recent years. Neither responded to invitations to comment although they have used their X accounts to answer critics. 'Some say I'm young. I say that's exactly what this role needs. I understand the challenges young people face today because I've been there. Now I'm making sure young voices are heard,' Pugsley tweeted. But this was questioned. Naomi Bottomley, a Green councillor, said: 'I know that Charles Pugsley has alluded to the idea that he knows more about what children need because he is young. But he also went to a private school and is a landlord, so I'm not sure he has quite the same experience as many vulnerable young people.' Pugsley, a computer science student at Nottingham University, is registered at Companies House as a director of two companies that list their business as the letting or operating of real estate. He and Boam, along with Finch in Warwickshire, also reflect a drive by Nigel Farage to leverage support among gen Z voters, with the party's popularity surging among 18- to 24-year-old men. Preet Gill, a Birmingham Labour MP who has voiced concern about Finch's role as leader at Warwickshire, said that the appointments indicated how Reform would approach government. 'It's a carbon copy of the way in which Farage operates. They have made a lot of noise from performance politics and from being disruptive, rather than actually saying or doing anything of substance when it comes to delivery, or knowing how to deliver adult social care or children's services.'
The Guardian
05-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Revealed: the far-right, antisemitic men's club network spreading across US
A nationwide US network of dozens of far-right, men-only fraternal clubs has what members describe as 'literally hundreds' of participants who include past and currently serving military personnel, lawyers, civil servants, and prominent antisemitic influencers, a Guardian investigation can reveal. The Old Glory Club (OGC) – which has at least 26 chapters in 20 US states and until now has drawn little attention – exemplifies the alarming rise of organized racist political groups in the past few years but especially during the rise of Donald Trump and his return to the White House. The OGC network has held conferences, meetups and other events. Key members like podcaster Pete Quinones use their platforms to push far-right ideas about Jewish people and immigrants. Other members have used their platforms to respond to political events, and to advocate measures including 'cancellation insurance' for members whose extreme political views might impede their professional lives. Harry Shukman, a researcher at UK anti-fascist non-profit Hope Not Hate, who last month published an exposé on the OGC-affiliated Basketweavers organization in the UK, told the Guardian: 'Groups such as the OGC are a new breed of extremist organisation which aims first to build an offline social network before taking over society.' He added, 'They seek to lower the bar to participating in the far right, and by doing so have proved attractive to a cohort of mostly male members, some of whom have never before undertaken any form of activism.' Heidi Beirich, co-founder and chief strategy officer of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, said the OGC 'appears to be another major new network of racists, too many of which are springing up in the era of Trump'. She said the group was 'pushing violent ideologies, including race hate and antisemitism and has links to prominent figures on the far right'. The OGC was incorporated on 16 June 2023, according to Virginia company records, but the organization took shape over more than a year through in-person conferences and online networks. The Old Glory Club Substack began publishing in October 2022, with an X account launching the same month. Podcast aggregators show Old Glory Club podcast content appearing online by November 2022 at the latest. At that time however, the organization appeared to be conceived as mostly a collaborative effort at content production. In a November 2022 podcast the pseudonymous YouTuber and central OGC figure known as Charlemagne told far-right podcaster Auron Macintyre – now an on-air personality at Glenn Beck-founded Blaze Media – that OGC was 'a group of American gentlemen who have decided to organize a social club … to publish content and … try and figure out a new political settlement for Americans'. Also in October 2022, another pseudonymous YouTuber, the Prudentialist, appealed for donations to OGC in a podcast, saying that the money 'will one day be used for mutual aid for our friends that get doxed or fired or affected by natural disasters and other acts of God'. By April 2023, the Prudentialist was presenting OGC in podcasts as part of an effort by the far right to 'create networks of patronage [and] political support' in order to 'maintain not just some semblance of power, but … anti-fragility against a state that wants you broke, dead or transitioned' He added that OGC would offer opportunities for members to 'meet, host conferences and … to support people in the future who like that firefighter in Virginia was fired for simply donating to Kyle Rittenhouse's legal defense fund', an apparent reference to the fallout from 2021 Guardian reporting on donors to Rittenhouse's legal defense whose identities were revealed in leaked data from a Christian crowdfunding site. Other key members advocated a strategy of decentralization for the far-right to create enduring activist institutions. In a 10 July 2022 republication of his speech at that year's rightwing Tennessee Scyldings conference, charter member and frequent OGC spokesman Ryan Turnipseed lamented the fact that Spain's authoritarian fascist dictator Francisco Franco – a touchstone for the contemporary far right – had 'failed to secure his line of succession' despite propaganda and purges. 'This is a lesson we need to learn,' he added. He proposed a decentralized network of groups, which would allow 'us to draw upon the knowledge and abilities of these groups. We no longer have to wait on a Caesar or a Franco to 'unite the right' into some effective fighting force. Instead, we can be effective with what we have now.' Others stressed the importance of in-person meetups, and directly referenced similar initiatives overseas. According to a July 2022 Substack post by the pseudonymous 'Red Hawk' inviting applications for local chapters, chapters must consist of at least 'five American men over the age of 18', and meet quarterly and annual reporting requirements on membership and finances. Local chapters and the organization as a whole are overseen by an OGC central committee, according to the post and subsequent podcasts. The organization's core members have orchestrated four annual conferences, with the last two happening under the OGC banner. According to speakers on a recorded after-action report on the most recent OGC in-person conference held in May, OGC membership has burgeoned in the last year. They claimed that OGC now has 'literally hundreds' of members, and 'We're so large at this point that we've passed the point where the Central Committee is going to be able to know all or even most of the individual members'. 'Altogether we've built a very, very effective organization' It is not yet clear how the names in company records for the umbrella organization and its chapters correspond with all of the online aliases of key members. But those records do reveal that members include prominent far-right influencers, current and former US military members and police officers, court officers and contractors with US government security clearances. The Guardian has contacted all named members for comment. Turnipseed is a charter member of the OGC umbrella organization, a frequent contributor at its Substack, a frequent podcaster, and has spoken at OGC and Skyldings conferences. Previously, Turnipseed was excommunicated in May 2024 by First Lutheran church in his native Ponca City, Oklahoma, after a viral 2023 Twitter thread criticizing the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod's new catechism for accommodating progressive political positions, briefly making him a cause celebre for the online far right. In February 2023, Turnipseed had been identified by antifascist researchers as a member of what they called a rising 'white supremacist faction within the Lutheran faith'. Later that month the president of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod called for the excommunication of those 'propagating radical and unchristian 'alt-right' views'. Not long after his excommunication, Immanuel Lutheran church in Wichita, Kansas, defied the ban by accepting Turnipseed into membership. Other OGC chapter members have connections with the wider world of rightwing politics. Matthew Pearson of Tampa Bay, Florida, is listed on the initial filings of the Yellow Dog Pack, a Florida OGC chapter. Pearson is a writer for two Christian Nationalist publications, American Reformer and Truthscript, where he has praised a book that says Christians should be anti-gay, and commended the social theories of Nazi jurist Carl Schmitt. Other members are connected with the armed forces and defense contractors. Evan Dale Schalow, 25, of Midlothian, Virginia, is listed as a charter member of the OGC in Virginia company records. According to his LinkedIn bio, Schalow has also been a horizontal construction engineer in the Virginia national guard since 2022 and before that he was an ROTC cadet while at Longwood University from 2020. According to the same biography he has US government secret security clearance. The Guardian emailed the Virginia national guard to confirm Schalow's service but received no response. Harvey Pretlow Rawls III is named as a charter member of the Old Glory Club and the Vetus Dominicum Club chapter in Virginia company records. According to his LinkedIn page, Rawls is also a systems engineer at HII, the US's largest military shipbuilder. The same page indicates that he has an active secret clearance, the second tier of US security clearances, which can take up to a year to investigate and approve. The Guardian contacted HII about his role at the company. Michael R Gibbs of Phenix City, Alabama, meanwhile, is the only person listed on the initial filing of the Magnolia League, an OGC chapter in Alabama. According to his LinkedIn page he served as a sergeant in the US Marine Corps between 2008 and 2013, and then as a deputy in the Muscogee county sheriff's office between 2014 and 2016. The same page says he is now a buyer for firearms company Remington. Two members of OGC Indiana chapter the Tippecanoe Society, meanwhile, are lawyers who have spent time in government service. Kyle Lindskog of Zionsville, Indiana, is now a freelance attorney, according to his LinkedIn biography, but between 2015 and 2018 he was a city attorney in St Petersburg, Florida. Paul Scott Lunsford Jr of Carmel is an intellectual property attorney at a firm he founded, but between 2006 and 2010 he was an operations officer in the US navy. Beirich, the extremism expert, said: 'The fact that OGC members apparently include current and former military members and police officers, and similar government officials, is a particular cause for alarm, and frankly shocking.' She added: 'This may ultimately pose a national security threat right at the time when the Trump administration is abandoning efforts to root extremists out of the military while hiring racists, antisemites and Qanon believers to staff the administration.' The OGC Substack reflects the broader preoccupations of its members: a mix of far right causes and racist politics. They includeneo-Confederate pleas for the redemption of Confederate symbols and the Confederate cause and a laudatory discussion of the 1967 documentary of post-colonial Africa, Africa Addio, which film critic Roger Ebert once called 'a brutal, dishonest, racist film'. There are claims that white Evangelical Christians are the west's 'most hated minority', and a reproduced Dave Greene speech in which he characterizes 'Jewish Talmudic law' as 'an attempt to trick God', and telling his audience that they and the 'Jewish community' are 'on the opposite ends of this age's struggle'. In many ways, however, the Substack appears to give a more acceptable face to the politics that key members express in cruder terms elsewhere. For example, Peter R Quinones – a self-described 'charter member' of the group – is listed as an officer on the initial filing of the foundational Old Glory Club. Quinones is a broadly influential figure on the far right. His Substack is the 78th most popular Substack newsletter on US politics, according to that platform's figures. His podcast was 142nd most popular in US political podcasts according to data from podcast tracking service Rephonic, putting it roughly on par with shows by CNN's Kaitlin Collins and Andrew Sullivan, and ahead of podcasts by Jim Acosta and Candace Owens. He has issued a regular podcast since 2017, first titled Free Man Over the Wall, and later under its present title, The Pete Quinones Show. During that time and continuing up to the present, he has unleashed hundreds of hours of content marked by racism and antisemitism, which has included urging listeners to take direct action against Jewish and non-white neighbors. In a podcast last month in response to US attacks on Iran – which he attributed entirely to the malign influence of Israel – Quinones urged listeners to respond by simply boycotting businesses owned by Jews, and took sideswipes at Indians. 'It's Jews,' he began. 'You can't live with them. You can't allow them in. If you allow them in, you have to suppress them. But it's better not to allow them in.' Quinones continued: 'Don't do business with them. Do as much business as you can with Heritage Americans'. 'Heritage Americans' is a phrase that, according to rightwing commentator Mike Coté, the so-called New Right uses to describe 'the ethnic population of the United States prior to 1940, with a strong emphasis on Anglo-Protestant Europeans' in an expression of 'European-inflected 'blood-and-soil' nationalism' which is opposed to older 'creedal' versions of American nationalism. In the same broadcast Quinones also said 'Don't do business with Indians,' adding: 'We got an app down here that some of the guys at the Alabama Old Glory Club are doing, which is to show which gas stations and hotels are not owned by Indians here.' Quinones later encouraged listeners to likewise 'build an app for your local area, which shows where there's, are owned by heritage Americans, or at least stuff that's not owned by Indians. And you may want to include another group in that.' In other recent podcasts, Quinones has proffered elaborate anti-Semitic conspiracy theories often promoted by white supremacist groups. In one podcast he worried about the far-right being persecuted for its beliefs about Jews. 'You start, you know, persecuting people who are you know, starting to ask the Jewish question,' he said. The 'Jewish question' is an antisemitic framing of Jewish presence in society as a problem requiring a 'solution,' and has historically been used to justify persecution and genocide, including in Nazi Germany. Since 2022, Quinones has also collaborated in making content for the Old Glory Club network, and has promoted it on his own show. On an Old Glory Club post-election livestream in November, Quinones referred to Black voters with a racial slur favored by white nationalists, saying: 'The North American street ape is hopeless.' He used the same slur a month later in response to a video of a black teenager. Shukman, the Hope Not Hate, researcher said: 'The Old Glory Club and its affiliates like the Basketweavers may claim to provide community, but the truth is they conceal a much more sinister aim.' He added: 'We have seen that the leaders of these groups can be vicious and degrading to junior members, especially maladjusted young men. The OGC's senior figures also have a track record of making deeply racist statements and affiliating with known far-right activists. '
Daily Mirror
09-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mirror
Reform's Zia Yusuf grilled over MP with mug mocking Keir Starmer in hijab
Last week Zia Yusuf described a question by Reform UK MP Sarah Pochin as "dumb" and quit as party chairman - before returning to the party's ranks just 48 hours later Reform UK's ex-chairman Zia Yusuf has been confronted over one of the party's MPs holding a mug showing Keir Starmer in a hijab. The image of the newly elected Reform MP Sarah Pochin - shared by the anti-racism charity Hope Not Hate - was posted by LBC last week. It shows a mocked-up image of the Prime Minister in a headscarf used by Muslim women alongside the words "Two Tier Keir". Just last week Ms Pochin called on Mr Starmer to ban the burka - used to cover the face and body - in a move that caused chaos in Reform UK's ranks. Nigel Farage's party distanced itself from the question, confirming that a burka ban is "not party policy". They added there needs to be a "national debate" about it. But Zia Yusuf described the question by Ms Pochin as "dumb" and quit as party chairman last week - before returning to the party's ranks just 48 hours later. Pressed on the image of the MP holding the mug - portraying the PM in a hijab - Mr Yusuf claimed on the BBC Radio 4's Today that Ms Pochin is an "incredible MP". Last week Georgie Laming from Hope Not Hate said: 'This photo and Pochin's comments this week show her extreme anti-Muslim prejudice. The image on the mug has been shared widely in far right circles by extreme figures who use the image to suggest Labour is complicit in the islamification of Britain." But Mr Yusuf said: "I was instrumental in selecting her... I think she's a phenomenal asset to the party and the House of Commons." Quizzed on whether he was "comfortable" with the image, he said: "It's obvious she's laughing. I know Sarah incredibly well. I consider her a very close friend. So yes, I know who Sarah is." Defending the MP, he went on: "I think some of the things that are being characterised about a photo in the context of probably tens of thousands of photos that have been taken of her are complete mischaracterisation". During the interview, Mr Yusuf also said he regretted describing the MP's question to Mr Starmer on a burka ban last week as "dumb". Asked whether he stood by his view, he said: "The first thing I would say is I regret that tweet. "But let me be clear about what I meant by that. The question was asked in the House of Commons by Sarah who is a brilliant MP and then it was also made clear that would not be party policy. That's all I was stating, I was reflecting the party's position." He added: "To some degree I made this a bit of a storm in a teacup because I was exhausted." Ms Pochin has been contacted for comment.
