Coronavirus Pandemic, White Nationalist Plague
By Chuck TannerMarch 27, 2020No Comments

In this article, IREHR takes a look at how white nationalists are framing
the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic in an effort to advance their
cause. Our new hub for the latest on how white nationalists and other
anti-democratic and far-right nationalists are responding, and what you
can do to fight back, is available here and on the Trepper Anti-Bigotry
App.

Coronavirus Pandemic, White Nationalist Plague

On March 24, 2020, Timothy Wilson, a 36-year-old white nationalist from
Raymore, Missouri tried to obtain an explosive device to build a car bomb
to blow up a hospital caring for COVID-19 cases, in �an attempt to cause
severe harm and mass casualties.�

The seller of the explosives turned out to be the Federal Bureau of
Investigations. The sting operation was part of a long-running FBI
domestic terrorism investigation. When Wilson attempted to obtain the
explosive device in nearby Belton, Missouri, law enforcement attempted to
arrest him. A shootout ensued, during which Wilson was shot and killed by
law enforcement.

Wilson reportedly discussed other terror targets, including a school with
a large African-American student population, a synagogue, and a mosque,
but authorities believe the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated his plan to
attack the overwhelmed medical facility. Wilson apparently felt a sense
of urgency to act after Belton�s mayor issued a stay-at-home order on
March 24.

In �Heartland Terror� The Informant�s Nick Martin, with the help of Elon
University computer science professor Megan Squire, identified Wilson�s
alleged Telegram handle as �Werwolfe 84.� Wilson appears to have been
active in two neo-Nazi groups: the National Socialist Movement; and
Vorherrschaft Division (VSD), an accelerationist group similar to
Atomwaffen Division.

The Informant flagged one of Werwolfe 84�s posts referencing anti-Semitic
coronavirus conspiracy theories that the pandemic is a tool for Jewish
domination. �If you don�t think this whole thing was engineered by Jews as
a power grab here is more proof of their plans. Jews have been playing the
long game we are the only ones standing in their way,� Werwolfe 84 wrote.

Thankfully, a mass tragedy in Missouri was prevented. But Timothy Wilson
was not alone in promoting dangerous conspiracy theories in white
nationalist circles.

White nationalists, and their fellow travelers, have quickly pounced on
the opportunity for racist politicking. Largely, however, they have
continued to apply the same frames to the Coronavirus context that they
apply to normal politics � mimicking Trump-like anti-Asian rhetoric to
amp-up racial nationalism, calling for border shutdowns and immigration
moratoriums, spinning biological metaphors of diseased people of color,
and some openly calling for genocide against the Jews they blame for the
virus.

Peter Brimelow�s white nationalist group, VDARE, stressed on Gab that �the
current financial crisis is caused by the China Virus, a disease that
comes from overseas.� The group called for retaliatory measures �to make
the Chinese help pay for it, with a tax on remittances�If the US
Government can tax Mexican remittances to pay for the Wall (it hasn�t,
yet, but it can) it can tax Chinese remittances to pay for the Coronavirus
crisis.�[1] The group also published multiple articles stressing the
Chinese origins of the virus. One, by regular writer Jack Dalton, was
simply titled �Trump is Right to Rebrand Corona as the �China Virus.��[2]

American Renaissance�s Jared Taylor produced a video titled �Xenophobia
Can Save Your Life,� using it to mock reports of the racism that has
spread alongside the virus. In white nationalist whine-speak, Taylor
alleges that the media �always tell us� that the �real problem is racism,
and white people.� Rooting his explanation in the biological metaphor
typical of biological determinists, Taylor asserts that �we actually have
sound, instinctive reasons to be xenophobes.� Like the �human immune
system,� he continues, we have a �behavioral immune system� � an
�instinctive fear that people who act, or look strange, may be carrying
diseases.�[3]

Apparently un-ironically, Taylor makes the statement while looking rather
strange in a protective mask in a room by himself or with just a camera
operator.

In an article published March 17 by American Renaissance,
paleoconservative pundit Pat Buchanan used the virus to boost his own
racial nationalist ideology. In the article, titled �In the Pandemic, It�s
Every Nation for Itself,� the veteran racist writes that, �Through
history, most men have put attachments of family, tribe, faith, country,
race and nation above the claims of liberal ideology� This is human
nature. This is the way the world works.�[4]

Days earlier, Buchanan penned an article hoping that �It may one day be
said that the coronavirus delivered the deathblow to the New World Order,
to a half-century of globalization, and to the era of interdependence of
the world�s great nations� Which rings truer today? We are all part of
mankind, all citizens of the world. Or that it�s time to put America and
Americans first!�[5]

White nationalist Patrick Casey�s American Identity Movement (AmerIM)
staged a mid-March demonstration in front of the capitol building in
Sacramento, California. Dressed in white, Hazmat-looking protection garb,
AmerIM activists held banners declaring �Stop the Spread!� and �Stop
Immigration!� The group described that the demonstration was,

against mass immigration, which was undeniably responsible for the
coronavirus spreading throughout America. Although the Trump
administration has taken steps to curtail travel from China and Europe,
it�s time for a complete immigration moratorium. Close the borders and
institute a net zero immigration policy until further notices. Our very
lives depend on it![6]

Despite having previously engaged in �community support� activities such
as trash pick-up, neither the American Identity Movement nor the Patriot
Front appears to have applied this tactic in the current context.

The �groypers� � white nationalist mainstreamers seeking to rebrand
themselves in an effort to move conservative politics in their direction �
let loose a litany of anti-Chinese nonsense. �Groyper� cheerleader Nick
Fuentes had foreshadowed their general response at a December 2019 Groyper
Leadership Summit in Florida, offering Los Angeles as a demographic
�future of America� in which �medieval diseases are coming back, like
tuberculosis, like typhoid.� This, he continued, is taking place alongside
California and L.A. becoming �unrecognizable� because they are �oriented
towards the east, or rather the orient, as opposed to Europe� � �they
simply don�t look the same,� he continued, �culturally, demographically.
If you�re a white person and you go to Los Angeles, you�re a minority.�

In the wake of learning that someone at the late February Conservative
Political Action Conference (CPAC) had been exposed to the virus, Michelle
Malkin � the longtime conservative pundit know for defending the WWII-era
internment of Japanese-American citizens � wrote,

Here�s the Saturday [CPAC] schedule � the day [CPAC chairman Matt]
Schlapp admits he �interacted� with the Corona-PAC carrier. Was it one of
the people listed here?�Note on the [CPAC] schedule that there are several
Asians who spoke on the panels from Japan and Korea. They are strong
potential candidates.[7]

Malkin, who has taken to calling herself the �mommy� to the �groypers,�
announced on March 12 that she planned to �investigate the immig
[immigration] status of the original spreaders of WuFlu to America� and
the �immigration status/visa programs that brought Corona to our country.�
[8] America First Student founder Jaden McNeil recirculated Malkin�s post.
[9]

Steven Franssen, an attendee at the �groypers� February American First
Political Action Conference (AFPAC) in Washington D.C., wrote, �I keep
reading about Third Worlders running around as much as possible after
suspecting they have the flu vs. a story here and there about a Euro who
self-quarantined w/symptoms.�[10] �Groyper� Vincent James of Red Elephant
posted the day before AFPAC a photo of a China Cargo plane with the
comment �Plane full of the WuFLU.�[11] On February 29 James re-posted on
Telegram a message from the groyper-supporting Columbia Bugle praising the
idea of Donald Trump shutting down the southern border to address the
virus.[12]

In addition to bashing Chinese people and �Third Worlders,� lead �groyper�
Nick Fuentes added a twist in the context of the emerging pandemic that
anti-racists must watch closely � a call for dramatic government
intervention to address economic problems emerging from the widespread
dislocations that have accompanied social distancing.

Taking to Telegram, Fuentes described that the coronavirus has exposed the
�tenuous and fragile order� upon with �our society rests,� including
disruptions in the �domestic supply chains to get essentials like food,
water, healthcare, etc. You can see how just a little bit of sustained,
applied pressure can cause major disruptions.�[13] He continued, that �In
just two weeks we went from a society where �want,� hunger, or scarcity
were unfathomable to a rapidly deteriorating situation that, although not
fatal to our country, has exposed systemic vulnerabilities.�[14]