Tishower believes the decision by Hate Club 1488, based in St. Louis, Missouri, to hold a rally in Columbus was carefully calculated to incite fear and link Trump to victory.
“It was a well-timed march. They chose a location on a blue island in a sea of red,” Tyshauser says. “And the way immigrants were exploited by Republican elected officials and candidates during the election put Ohio on the map for groups like hate clubs.”
Other extremist groups such as the Proud Boys and Blood Tribe also operate in Ohio. “White power groups are competing among themselves for the limited number of people they can recruit and raise money for,” Tishauser said. “They want to say, ‘We are the most authentic neo-Nazis.'”
In August, a coalition of activist groups in the state formed Ohioans Against Extremism to counter the rise in extremism on the streets and in the state Capitol. Maria Bruno, the group’s executive director, said she was grateful for the national attention that was brought to the issue of rising extremism in Ohio after the Columbus rally, but that it took so long. said he was a little surprised. “At the same time, you can’t help but wonder, ‘Where has everyone been?'” Bruno says. “This is what I and other marginalized communities in Ohio have been crying out for for years.”
Blood Tribe set up shop in Ohio in 2023, but since then a number of alarming incidents have occurred. 20 members of Blood Tribe appeared Toledo Pride Event and Jewish Center. 26 armed bloodline members rallied “There’s going to be blood, there’s going to be blood,” chants outside Columbus Drug Story hours. be coalition of extremist groups Artists such as Blood Tribe, Proud Boys and White Lives Matter gathered outside Wadsworth’s Drag Queen Story Hour. White Lives Matter members received an incendiary bomb A progressive church in Chesterland, Ohio, that Planning a drag queen story hour.
Earlier this year, Nashville, Tennessee, also emerged as a flashpoint for neo-Nazi activity. Around February, 36 members of Blood Tribe Another group, called the Vinland Rebels, marched through a historically black neighborhood in Nashville, Tennessee, chanting “Expel all Mexicans” and giving Nazi salutes. Over several weeks in July, a network called the Goyim Defense League held several anti-Semitic rallies throughout Nashville. (Goy is a Hebrew word used to describe non-Jews, sometimes used pejoratively and co-opted by anti-Semites).
In one example, Approximately 30 members of The Goyim Defense League disrupted a public meeting of the Nashville-Davidson County Metro Council wearing T-shirts that read “White People No Replenishment,” giving Nazi salutes and harassing media and bystanders. I cursed. According to the Guardian newspaper, Nashville Police Chief He learned that the Goyim Defense League had secured temporary housing in Scottsville, Kentucky, about 105 miles away. They seemed to have their sights set on Nashville, which, like Columbus, is a bastion of liberalism in a red state.
Tishower expects more demonstrations as these groups envision influencing and engaging not only state policy but also federal policy. And whether MAGA likes it or not, by clinging to Trumpism, they are trying to galvanize MAGA supporters into supporting an increasingly radical president.
