Greetings, MW reader and happy June! It’s been a minute. Here’s a quick double dose of MW Monthly (time-wise, not length or volume), covering both April and May of 2025. This time, we focus in on a few key stories:
- A bit on militias and ICE
- Rhodes calls to ‘revitalize’
- PA leader gets prison time for similar charges, 2 decades later
If you’d like to explore what was up a couple months back, the previous Monthly, covering March, is available here.
Spectators Mistake State-Aligned Authoritarian for Paramilitary Authoritarian
Several posters on Twitter and Bluesky (including some with journalistic credentials) ran with a rumor that a viral video featuring a giddy ICE agent smashing car windows could be Michael Meyer, the head of Veterans on Patrol (VOP). Meyer was in Oklahoma when the ICE agent was smashing windows in Massachusetts and ICE has denied that Meyer had ever worked with the agency in any capacity. In the month following this rumor, Meyer continued his ongoing campaign against the weather, prompting a warning from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which encouraged their employees to be vigilant amidst threats made by Meyer and VOP. Meyer is convinced that radar systems are “weather weapons” meant to influence weather patterns.
It is quite apparent that ICE agents feel at once deeply empowered by the state while also wary of social accountability for their violent activities. Several articles have wondered why ICE agents have begun to cover their faces and look like occupying forces. Combine this with recent sketchy tattoos and patch graphics, and it’s a recipe for further widespread anxiety. There is no doubt about ICE being an authoritarian body created out of the early post-9/11 rapid expansion and hardening of the security state, and knowing their history and documenting their actions has become especially crucial. MilitiaWatch continues to monitor for coordination with militia groups and welcomes any tips where you, reader, might find them. (Send us a to the MW account on Bluesky.)
Rhodes Asking Trump to ‘Revitalize’ Militia
Since his release from serving time in detention, Stewart Rhodes has been calling for Trump to deputize him or empower him or do something to make him and “the militia” relevant. Most recently, he joined “Coach” Dave Daubenmire’s show to express this desire, as documented by Right Wing Watch.
Rhodes has struggled to find his footing after Trump commuted his sentence, not because he isn’t being given a platform, but likely because he keeps trying the same tactics he has always used but doesn’t have the organizing skills to make his plans happen. He’s currently a little difficult to track, at least compared to pre-J6, because most of his engagement since Trump’s executive order is on podcasts or in audio interviews (rather than in written text).
Longtime PA Militia Leader Sentenced in Weapons Charges
At the end of May, a judge sentenced Pennsylvania militia leader Ronald Hertzog to two years in federal prison after his guilty plea to weapons charges. Hertzog claimed to command the Pennsylvania Citizens Militia. Hertzog pleaded guilty to similar charges 20 years prior in June 2002 after the feds investigated his militia group. In 2008, Bradley Kahle, a recruiter for the militia, was arrested on gun charges after telling an undercover agent that he planned to shoot Black people in Pittsburgh.
It does not appear that gun charges have ended the Pennsylvania Citizens Militia, even as they have continued to describe their plans for violence and intimidation.
Other Stories
On 28 May, Trump described his intention to look into pardoning the handful of men convicted for their support of a plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. She has expressed her disappointment in the development.
Last month, Rolling Stone journalists discovered that Ed Martin, who is leading Trump’s effort to investigate January 6 Capitol Riot prosecutors, financially supported dozens of violent defendants through a nonprofit he helps oversee, the Patriot Freedom Project. One of those convicted offenders Martin supported (and directly emailed with) was Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, who is perhaps best known for his Hitler cosplay as revealed by the DOJ. Trump’s New Jersey golf club also featured speeches by Hale-Cusanelli at least twice last summer.
Further Reading
The Southern Poverty Law Center released its 2024 Year in Hate report this past month, which is full of really insightful articles and findings. Two relevant to the world of the Patriot Movement include these two:
- Calum Farley and Rachel Goldwasser write on the state of the militia world and sovereign citizens.
- Rachel Carroll Rivas and Jeff Tischauser write about how Neo-Confederate groups are declining