The ties that bind: hypocrisy at the foundations of the Nationalist Front
A series of scandals in the Nationalist Front 鈥斅燼nd a long-running and聽well-documented聽hypocritical streak on the part of leadership in the neo-Confederate League of the South (LOS) 鈥斅爃as revealed a willingness on the part of president Michael Hill to look the other way when both allies and his own troops fail to meet his supposed moral standards.
While allegations of grifting, pederasty, S&M fetishes, petty larceny and 鈥渞ace-mixing鈥� are hardly news on the far-right, the rumors and allegations that members of Nationalist Front member organizations have failed to live up to their own moral code begs the question: what, if any, values do they still cling to?
The Nationalist Front 鈥斅燼 collective of far-right organizations including the LOS and neo-Nazis in the Traditionalist Worker Party (TWP), Vanguard America (VA), and National Socialist Movement (NSM) 鈥斅爃as been one of the most prominent and visible groups clamoring for the spotlight in the Trump-era political arena. Its members were integrally involved with the most sustained violence on the ground in Charlottesville, Virginia, during last year鈥檚 Unite the Right Rally, with the NF member organizations leading the charge.
While each group in the front has, in their respective bylaws, that decries a government that 鈥渓egalizes the murder of the unborn, takes away state sovereignty, makes homosexual 鈥榤arriage鈥� equal to the traditional family, and nullifies any ability to reform this system,鈥� few have been more outspoken than Hill.
Although the first item listed under the League鈥檚 鈥溾�� is its commitment to 鈥渢he tenets of our historic Christian faith鈥� and that it 鈥渁cknowledges [that faith鈥檚] supremacy over man-made laws and opinions;鈥� Hill has several times compromised聽the beliefs he states in 鈥�.鈥�
鈥淭here is really only the choice between pagan law and Christian law and nothing else. There is no neutral position where one can comfortably sit. The God of the Bible specifically forbids pluralism (鈥淭hou shalt have no other gods before me,鈥� Ex 20:3) He is not one bit interested in sharing dominion over this Creation with the ungodly,鈥� Hill wrote.
But the Nationalist Front has bound the League to many who don鈥檛 share Hill鈥檚 conception of Christian morality, among them Kevin Cottle and Derrick Davis of the TWP, and the NSM鈥檚 Jeff Schoep.
Hatewatch recently documented the existence of a profile that features Cottle, a security contractor and Rhode Island TWP member, on the website FetLife.com, a website that caters to BDSM fetishes such as those listed by Cottle鈥檚 鈥淒ark1976鈥� profile, namely 鈥淐urious about bisexuality, Anal Training, BBW (big beautiful woman) Submission, and Gay Sex and Male Bisexuality.鈥�
Cottle is not the lone 鈥渢raditionalist鈥� among TWP鈥檚 ranks who appears to have proclivities that run counter to the tenets of 鈥渇aith, family, and folk鈥� touted by founder Matthew Heimbach. Online posts have circulated featuring Richmond, Virginia, member Derrick Davis wearing eyeshadow and women鈥檚 clothes and stating that he sometimes 鈥済et[s] bored鈥� with wearing traditional men鈥檚 attire.
On his Twitter account, Davis lists himself as a 鈥淭WP Quartermaster,鈥� something of a high-level regional leader. Davis clearly has Heimbach鈥檚 faith, as he served as Heimbach鈥檚 鈥減ersonal security detail"聽聽during the group鈥檚 march into Charlottesville. He has also felt emboldened enough to mock members of other groups, calling members of the ultra-violent Rise Above Movement, for example, 鈥渒iddos鈥� on Twitter.
While Schoep, NSM commander, has not turned up on any S&M dating sites, he has his own past history of legal and racial indiscretions, including burglary and raising a daughter with a woman previously married to a black man, the latter a cardinal sin on the racist right. Heimbach has also apparently flaunted the movement鈥檚 race laws.
A 鈥淐esar Adolfo Hess鈥� once listed himself on a Facebook profile as a 鈥淩egional Coordinator at Traditionalist Worker Party.鈥� 鈥淐esar鈥� included a Facebook profile picture of himself arm-in-arm with Heimbach at a rally held in Pikeville, Kentucky, held in April 2017. 鈥淐esar鈥� appears to be wearing the official TWP uniform for the rally. The white supremacist gossip mill has for months now bandied rumors that Heimbach and Matthew Parrott had been allowing non-whites into their group. 鈥淐esar鈥檚鈥� Facebook profile seems to evidence that not only does TWP allow non-whites into their organization, but they are also comfortable with them holding high-level positions.
This is surprising, as Heimbach recently lambasted Andrew Anglin and his Daily Stormer over its connections with Andrew 鈥淲eev鈥� Aurenheimer to Newsweek. Allegations of Aurenheimer鈥檚 鈥淛ewish descent鈥� led Heimbach to tell the magazine that 鈥淛ews cannot be part of the white nationalist movement, just as a white man can鈥檛 be a part of a black-nationalist group like the Nation of Islam.
Parrott dismissed questions about 鈥淐esar鈥� when Hatewatch contacted him this week.
鈥淭here are many millions of white Hispanics throughout Latin Ameirca,鈥� Parrott said. He added, 鈥淲e stand behind our members and officers against this garbage gossip.聽These incidents have been carefully reviewed by our central commmittee. Needle-d---ing the private lives of our thousands of members and supporters is proof that we're not actually guilty of serious offenses you rats routinely accuse us of.鈥�
While it is easy enough for Hill to decry the goings-on in other organizations,聽the League itself has a messy relationship when it comes to maintaining a consistently applied code of conduct.
Late last year, LOS members took to social media to criticize聽former KKK leader Bill Riccio, aka William Davidson, who had been a League member for a number of years. Hill apparently overlooked long-standing allegations of Riccio鈥檚 past as an informant and pederast. While many among Hill鈥檚 membership railed against Riccio鈥檚 inclusion for months, it took almost a year before Riccio was kicked out of the League.
Were these violations of far-right sexual mores by League members and their Nationalist Front allies not enough, the League鈥檚 very association with Neo-Nazi鈥檚 and their necessary belief in the tenets of national socialism has long been pilloried by Hill as non-Christian.
In 鈥淭he League and Theocracy,鈥� Hill decried social entitlements, writing 鈥淎ll that Caesar requires in return is that he be worshipped as the source of true salvation (Oh! Give us this day our daily bread, father Welfare State鈥�).
The shared belief among members of VA, TWP, and NSM in a robust welfare state (for whites) does not appear to present any significant stumbling block for Hill despite such strong statements.聽
It has been a long road of self-discovery that has brought the League to its current status at the forefront of the 鈥渉ard right.鈥� Just as Davis, Cottle, Schoep, and Riccio have found latitude within the confines of far-right morality to experiment with their own preferences, Hill has been fairly carefree in the relationships he has sought.
Throughout the League鈥檚 existence, Hill has staunchly maintained that 鈥渢he south was right鈥� and has been more than forthcoming in his belief that the Civil War was indeed fought over slavery, even acknowledging that 鈥渢he Confederacy seceded and fought a war because the North intended to apply to the blacks the tenets of the Declaration of Independence pertaining to all men being equal and in possession of certain rights, the 鈥榮elf-evident鈥� phrase.鈥�
Michael Hill, the League of the South, and the Nationalist Front鈥檚 driving animus was on display in Charlottesville, Virginia, when they piled into counter-protesters, fighting with any and all who engaged them. The clearest espousal of their belief system came towards the end of that day when members of the League and Nationalist Front were among those who beat a young black man named Deandre Harris in a parking garage.
At the true core of the League of the South鈥檚 union with the Nationalist Front 鈥斅燽eyond the cell phone and news cameras capturing the violence in which they revel 鈥斅爈ies a rank hypocrisy that is emblematic of the League and its commitment to its stated beliefs.
Hill has accepted numerous transgressions throughout the years, each flying more and more flagrantly in the face of his beloved League鈥檚 values. Rather than a conviction born out of a devotion to scripture or some notion of 鈥渟outhern culture,鈥� Hill has displayed a commitment to one lasting principle 鈥斅爐hat of racial violence and attention-seeking that comprises a dangerous reciprocity. Any other claims about 鈥減olitics, culture, society, and economics鈥� are merely costume and pageantry.
