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Augustus Sol Invictus聽(Austin Gillespie)聽had a fleeting moment in the national media spotlight in 2016, when he ran for Senate in the Florida Libertarian Party primary. During the race, it came to light that back in 2013, Invictus slaughtered a goat and drank its blood as part of a pagan ritual.

But the sensational, gory headlines minimize the identitarian, hierarchical worldview Invictus sells to his followers. Since his run at the Senate, Invictus has made plain he intends to become a prominent voice on the extreme right, speaking at rallies and founding a right-wing blog. Central to his message is that a violent second Civil War is necessary to preserve 鈥淲estern civilization.鈥�

In his words

"Do I believe that 6 million Jews were killed by evil Hitler? Is that what you're asking?...Okay, then I am still waiting to see those facts." 鈥� Hatewatch interview, August 5, 2017.

鈥淣o matter where you are, no matter what your race or creed or system of government, if you have a large group of outsiders coming in, things will change, and not necessarily for the better. Classical liberalism, libertarianism, a republican form of government 鈥� these things do not exist without Westerners. Those who see Africans and Europeans as interchangeable, they are either mentally retarded or they are deliberately dishonest. Either way, they aid in the destruction of our people, our lands and our culture. They are a cancer that must be excised if we are going to survive at all.鈥� 鈥斅犅燤arch 26, 2017.

鈥淸The Federal government] has abandoned its eugenics programs and elitist mindset in favor of a decadent ideology that rejects the beauty of strength and demands the exponential growth of the weakest, the least intelligent and the most diseased.鈥� 鈥� 鈥�A Declaration on the Failings of Federal Government,鈥� October 2015.

鈥淚 say unto you, My Fellow Americans, that the Federal Government is聽苍辞迟听invincible. Verily, I say unto you that it聽肠补苍听fall鈥攁nd more than this, I say that it聽尘耻蝉迟听fall. And if our blood must be the sacrifice, then so be it.鈥� 鈥� 鈥淔ireside Chat on the Possibility of Revolution,鈥� May 1, 2016.聽

Background

On June 17, 2017, Augustus Sol Invictus strutted up to the podium at a rally for free speech in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. 鈥淲hat鈥檚 up Chapel Hill?鈥� he shouted into the microphone. 鈥淭hey call me 鈥楾he Commie Slayer.鈥� And for good f------听谤别补蝉辞苍!鈥�

Never mind that no one actually calls him, 鈥淭he Commie Slayer.鈥� Reality matters little to Austin Mitchell Gillespie, the man who legally changed his name to what translates in Latin to 鈥渕ajestic unconquered sun.鈥�

Inflated grandiosity propels Invictus鈥� life and complements his particular brand of right-wing extremism. In actuality, he is a criminal defense lawyer who 鈥渞esigned鈥� from his profession. He鈥檚 a well-read man in possession of some intellectual talent. But in his own mind, he is a genius, a prophet, a revolutionary and a conqueror 鈥� even a god 鈥� destined to lead the people in a 鈥済reat war.鈥�

Invictus鈥� totalitarian worldview preaches that the strong should inherit the earth, and root out and exterminate the weak. He鈥檚 unclear about the aims of the second Civil War he intends to lead, but he claims his enemies are the communists, the 鈥渃ultural Marxists,鈥� and the 鈥渋nternational financiers鈥� who have forced a system of 鈥渕ass democracy and egalitarianism鈥� on the American people. His myriad speeches, writings, recordings and political activities in the past six years reveal his primary motivations to be racism, sexism and anti-Semitism, coupled with a dangerous penchant for violence.

He was born in Dayton, Ohio, in 1983, and eventually ended up in Orlando, Florida, where he attended high school. He dropped out of college, and by 2006 he was married with four children. The same year, just a few weeks shy of his 23^rd聽birthday, he abandoned his birth name in favor of his new, imperial moniker.

Around this time, by his own account, he was working at a聽聽pharmacy in Tampa that was raided and shut down by the Drug Enforcement Agency.

鈥淣o comparable job existed for me, and we were effectively rendered destitute,鈥� he said in a聽聽in 2015. It鈥檚 unclear whether he was unwilling or unable to seek new employment, but he blamed the DEA for his financial hardship.

鈥淚 swore vengeance on the DEA and vowed that I would return to college, go to law school and enter into politics, and that one day I would shut their office down and put their families on the street.鈥�

Despite his apparent poverty, he followed through with his plan, and graduated law school in 2011.

In early 2013, less than two years after getting his law degree, he renounced it, his U.S. citizenship and all his earthly possessions, in聽a bizarre open letter. He insists that it was a religious and spiritual renunciation, but its contents were so disturbing that at least one of the recipients alerted the FBI.

Invictus did, in fact, go to the desert, hitchhiking across America to get there. When he returned, he filmed himself聽聽and drinking its blood. Invictus, a follower of the pagan faith Thelema, called it a ritual sacrifice and religious offering. His organization, the Ordo Templi Orientis, emphatically disagreed and kicked him out.

The pilgrimage marked an important turning point in his activities on the far right. He considered a run for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2016 as a Libertarian candidate. But when Marco Rubio vacated his Senate seat to run for president, Invictus turned his sights on statewide office.

His campaign sparked controversy within the Libertarian Party of Florida, and Invictus was聽, losing by a margin of almost 50 points.

During the campaign, Invictus was irate at what he thought were baseless accusations against him, labeling him a racist and a neo-Nazi. But the evidence was undeniable: a paper he wrote in law school making the legal and ethical case for eugenics.

He titled it 鈥�Future or Ruin," which was also the name of a speech Hitler delivered in 1921. Invictus cites the聽Pioneer Fund, insisting that the notorious stronghold of academic racism is 鈥渘ot a white supremacist organization.鈥� He makes repeated references to the intellectual inferiority of black people, which he presents as a matter of fact. In the paper鈥檚 footnotes, he cites extremist race scientists like聽Charles Murray听补苍诲听Jean-Philippe Rushton聽to support his point.

He has since disavowed state-sponsored eugenics in聽聽discussing the controversy. But he never said he鈥檚 changed his mind about the practice, just that such a program, in the hands of bureaucrats, would inevitably be corrupted.

鈥淚t is not the love of excellence that poses the danger; it is the pettiness of men in government,鈥� he said.

In fact, months after his lukewarm renunciation,聽he wrote further in support of eugenics聽on his campaign website.

In the same post, he criticized the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.鈥檚 鈥渃ivil sainthood,鈥� denouncing what he called, 鈥渢he idolatrous worship of a different breed of lesser men.鈥�

He also can鈥檛 deny his聽. In 2012 he took a case representing Marcus Faella, the neo-Nazi leader of the white supremacist militia American Front. Invictus said later, during his Senate campaign, 鈥淚 have become close personal friends with the members of the notorious skinhead organization.鈥� He delivered a speech to their organization during his campaign, where he referred to members as his 鈥渂rothers and sisters,鈥� united in a fight to save the West from certain destruction.

鈥淭here is no hope on the horizon,鈥� he said, 鈥渋f it is not us.鈥�

Invictus also joins many other figures in the Alt-Right in his virulent opposition to Islam and refugees. He pushes conspiracy theories about the European migrant crisis, including the existence of 鈥渘o-go zones,鈥� widespread implementation of sharia law and that there are roving Muslim gangs聽聽white people. He鈥檚 even hoping to take a trip to Europe in the coming year to document聽聽for his blog, 鈥淭he Revolutionary Conservative.鈥�

He also claims that as a pagan who worships the Goddess, he can鈥檛 possibly be a sexist. But where mortal women are concerned, he鈥檚 made his low opinion clear. In his speech to the American Front, he described his version of the ideal woman: 鈥淭he prize of a conquering hero.鈥�

And on a radio appearance with the Florida-based 鈥淪unshine Fascists,鈥� he expressed disdain for women鈥檚 suffrage, insinuating that Sweden was the first European nation to 鈥渇all鈥� 鈥� a common belief on the extreme right 鈥� because they were the first on the continent to give women the vote.

Invictus pens poems full of rape fantasies, violent domination and revenge against the women he believes have wronged him. He may claim that those writings are just a creative outlet or a figure of speech, but recent allegations of domestic abuse suggest otherwise.

Invictus has also expressed admiration for anti-Semitic thinkers and made references to anti-Semitic conspiracies. While in law school in Chicago, he discovered Carl Schmitt, the Nazi legal scholar and philosopher,聽聽as 鈥渙ne of my primary legal, political, intellectual, and philosophical influences.鈥�

He also read聽Imperium聽by Francis Parker Yockey, the virulent anti-Semite and Nazi sympathizer who called 鈥渢he Jew鈥� a 鈥渂earer of Culture-disease.鈥� Invictus was so聽聽that when he started his own law firm, he called it Imperium, P.A.

When asked why he holds these thinkers in such high esteem, he claimed to divorce their unsavory white supremacist views from their intellectual contributions. But that explanation seems at least a little disingenuous, particularly given Invictus鈥� personal views in favor of Holocaust denial, and his claims (which echo Yockey) that the Nuremburg trials were a 鈥渒angaroo court.鈥�

In January 2016, Invictus dedicated an entire address to the issue of聽聽in which he states, 鈥渦surers 鈥� are the enemy of all humankind.鈥�

鈥淚t matters not whether you are black or white, cop or criminal, Christian or Muslim,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e risk disgrace when we dare to tell the聽肠谤别诲颈迟辞谤蝉听(emphasis his) we cannot afford the bill this month.鈥�

He goes on to claim that the 鈥渇inanciers鈥� control entertainment and culture, the media, and policy, and that their ultimate goal is to destroy Western civilization from within. According to multiple former associates, he鈥檚 denied the Holocaust in several private conversations.

Apart from his thinly veiled identitarian and totalitarian worldview, Invictus鈥� most troubling quality is his romantic exaltation of war, violence and bloodshed. In his warped narrative, life is gray and mundane without a war to make men heroes and martyrs. In keeping with his fantasies about the glory of conflict, he鈥檚 involved in the聽聽as a 鈥淪ergeant at Arms,鈥� and he鈥檚 second in command of the Fraternal Order of Alt-Knights, an offshoot of Gavin McInnes鈥� Proud Boys that McInnes has called the 鈥渕ilitary division.鈥�

Invictus has made specific, public calls to violence. He frequently threatens to聽, hurling the warning specifically at attorneys, progressives and journalists, even calling out VICE Media by name.

Invictus wants to see himself as a powerful leader, an extraordinary individual with a meaningful destiny. He鈥檚 seizing his opportunity. After years with the Libertarian Party, he聽聽that he registered as a Republican, where, presumably, he feels he has a better shot at power.