When the volunteer helping after a hurricane is a white nationalist | 60 Minutes

0:01 A surge of tornadoes tore across a large swath of the country in April,

0:07 carving a path of destruction.

0:09 Over 200 tornadoes hit over 20 states

0:13 closely clustered in the last couple of weeks.

0:16 And hurricane season is just around the corner.

0:19 Our story tonight is about what happens after these natural disasters.

0:25 A pattern has emerged in recent years in which militias, conspiracists,

0:30 and white supremacists show up to hard-hit communities,

0:33 as they did last week in Texas, offering help.

0:37 But they've been called disaster tourists who

0:40 are out to sew doubt in government,

0:43 soften their own image, and gain followers.

0:48 September 2024, Hurricane Helen barrel through North Carolina with forces so

0:55 powerful it nearly wiped the town of Batcave off the map,

1:00 lifting homes and toppling trees.

1:04 Imagine taking in a box of toothpicks and dumping them on your kitchen counter.

1:11 Sheriff LOL Griffin faced a daunting rescue task.

1:15 We had already experienced days of heavy

1:18 rain and then the hurricane comes through like a triple whammy.

1:24 Yes.

1:24 Yes.

1:26 Then another whammy.

1:28 Outsiders started pouring into North Carolina.

1:31 So we got a lot of work to get done.

1:32 If you're able to including an influx of anti-government faright groups.

1:38 These folks that we're talking about, they were in the minority.

1:42 However, that minority can create chaos, and that's what we ran into.

1:48 Did some of these outsiders launch their own rescue operations?

1:52 We had some folks wanting to act as a militia coming in to take over

1:58 to in their mind bring some sort of self-deployed law and order to the area

2:04 with weapons.

2:06 Yes, ma'am.

2:07 So, that's like taking your time from the real rescue to deal with them.

2:12 It is.

2:13 It is.

2:14 The sheriff himself didn't see all the groups,

2:17 but we know among those to show up

2:19 were members of white nationalist group Active Club.

2:23 Going to a disaster relief is directly helping our people.

2:28 You go in to help white people.

2:32 Yeah.

2:31 Robert Rundo co-founded Active Club in 2020 as a place for disgruntled

2:36 young white men to work out together while sharing their ideology.

2:42 With nearly 90 chapters,

2:44 it's been described by watchd dogs as one

2:46 of the country's fastest growing

2:48 white supremacist networks that are anti-Semitic,

2:52 anti-immigrant, and anti-democracy.

2:56 They also hold mixed martial arts tournaments.

2:59 We get together with the boys.

3:01 We box.

3:01 We travel.

3:02 Do you think of it as fun?

3:04 Of course.

3:04 You know, there's fun in fascism.

3:07 Fun in fascism.

3:08 I'm a nationalist.

3:10 What does that mean?

3:11 A nationalist?

3:13 Yeah.

3:12 Means I put my people first.

3:14 Would you say white supremacist?

3:17 No.

3:17 I think that's a slanderish term.

3:19 But my people are white people.

3:21 European white people.

3:23 Right.

3:23 And there's plenty of organizations that are geared towards other ethnic groups.

3:28 Right.

3:28 If we don't look out for ourselves, who is?

3:31 I know that your organization has gone to floods, fires, hurricanes.

3:37 What if you came upon someone who wasn't

3:39 white but is suffering because of the flood?

3:42 Like if there was like a guy on fire, would I give them water?

3:45 Yeah, I'd probably give them water.

3:46 When you go into these areas, um, are you recruiting?

3:50 We hand out flyers.

3:51 You know, if somebody wants to contact us later, that's that's fine.

3:56 But just us showing up changes somebody's opinion, someone's mind.

4:00 So the next time when they put something

4:02 out and they say these evil guys, they say,

4:04 "Wait a second, that's the guy who came when

4:05 my house was on fire and helped me out."

4:08 Many of these outside groups want to build as one of their post states,

4:13 a pro-white parallel system.

4:18 America, one of the more prominent white supremacist groups

4:21 that showed up in North Carolina was Patriot Front.

4:25 They cut down trees and handed out bread.

4:28 Are you sure just one loaf?

4:31 But Freddy Cruz from the Western State Center, a hate group watchdog,

4:35 says these white nationalists go to disasters primarily to build a following.

4:41 These people come in, they hand out water, they help clean up the debris.

4:47 Whatever their ideology, they're doing something positive, aren't they?

4:51 What we're seeing is actually these groups will show

4:53 up and generate a whole bunch of social media content.

4:56 Um, we're dubbing it uh disaster tourism and then they leave.

5:01 That's generally what we see.

5:04 That's unlike veterans relief groups like Team Rubicon or religious

5:09 organizations like Samaritans Purse that come in after disasters,

5:14 coordinate with authorities, and stay a while.

5:18 When you go into an area that's distressed,

5:21 do you coordinate in any way with the local law enforcement, with the sheriff?

5:26 Absolutely not.

5:27 They would probably do everything they can to prevent us.

5:30 What do you say to people who argue that you go in, the purpose is

5:36 to have some video shot of you handing out some water and then you leave.

5:41 And the whole point was for to get that video so that you could post it.

5:47 That kind of sounds like what everyone does, right?

5:48 That's that's what a president does when he goes into a community.

5:51 They have the cameras there.

5:52 So, is that bottle of water actually being handed out?

5:55 Absolutely it is.

5:57 Does our guys actually care and feel for the people that are helping out?

6:00 Absolutely.

6:01 Do we also video it and put it out there to show another side of us?

6:05 Absolutely.

6:07 These extremist groups put out videos after floods.

6:10 Atriard Front is here continuing efforts in central Texas.

6:14 They put out videos during fires.

6:16 We are here in Santa Monica Pier

6:18 collecting donations for victims of the wildfires.

6:23 They figured out that videos about natural

6:26 disasters can reach a whole new large audience.

6:31 I think white nationalists are interested in natural

6:33 disasters because everybody is interested in natural disasters.

6:37 John Kelly heads Graphica, a firm analyzing how content spreads online.

6:44 There are very few things that bring the public's

6:46 attention to focus on one thing in unison,

6:49 and natural disasters is one of those.

6:51 These groups through natural disasters are trying to change their image.

6:57 They're trying to say we're wholesome.

6:59 That's one of the things that characterizes the current

7:02 groups is that they've kind of decided to leave

7:04 the more uh triggering iconography in the closet

7:07 and try to appeal to a more mainstream audience.

7:10 Not to do things that turn people off the way

7:13 that marching around with swastikas would turn people off.

7:16 A lot of mainstream media how they depict us,

7:18 they like to show a guy who's in camo,

7:20 trucker hat, maybe overweight, face tattoos, something like this.

7:24 What I wanted to do was to create something positive for young guys like myself.

7:30 The more macho, wholesome image,

7:33 Robert Rundo thinks gives young men permission to adopt his fascist philosophy.

7:39 Another guy who appeals to young men is online

7:43 influencer Dan Bilzerian with nearly 30 million followers on Instagram.

7:49 He pedals anti-semitism.

7:51 I believe that Jewish supremacy is the greatest threat to America

7:54 and I think it's the greatest threat to the world today.

7:56 I truly believe that

7:58 some of these ideas are seeping into mainstream politics.

8:02 Bill Xarion is running for Congress in Florida.

8:06 In a group chat, young Republican leaders praised Hitler.

8:11 And then there's Nick Fuentes, the online hatemonger who's even more explicit.

8:17 And I was thinking, what is it about Hitler that's cool?

8:19 Why does it tickle?

8:21 Cuz kids love Hitler.

8:23 Kids love Hitler.

8:24 Young men see the While more people are advocating these ideas in the open,

8:30 the young men of Active Club hide

8:32 their faces when they post pictures from natural disasters.

8:36 Our people come first.

8:38 Rando is their spokesman.

8:40 Even though he himself hasn't gone to disasters for the past few years,

8:45 he was out of pocket, so to speak.

8:49 Why were you in prison?

8:51 Which time?

8:53 Oh boy.

8:53 I was in prison twice.

8:56 The 36-year-old from New York was first incarcerated as a teen for a gang fight.

9:01 Did you stab somebody?

9:05 Allegedly.

9:05 Well, yeah.

9:06 You know, well, he had a weapon, too.

9:08 It wasn't like I just, you know, I just randomly showed up on somebody.

9:11 And the second time, second time is for what I'm most known for.

9:15 In 2017, he got into a series of fights with anti-Trump protesters at rallies.

9:23 That's him pounding and pounding.

9:26 He was on the lamb when he got

9:28 this idea to launch a more cleancut white pride group.

9:33 But it's just a new image.

9:36 We're ultra nationalist, farright fascist.

9:39 You know, I mean, this is I'll lean a little bit into these terms, you know.

9:43 is your ultimate goal to turn America into a completely white Christian nation?

9:52 I would also add like a uh more militant nation as well, you know, military rule

9:59 like having a military person run the country.

10:02 Well, just not more of of democracy.

10:06 What what did you mean democracy and like oh it's terrible

10:10 because it's just such a it's such a scam democracy I believe it's politicians

10:15 that get lobbyed they never have the interest

10:17 anything that's important do they ever ask us no

10:21 but if you have a military you'll never decide anything they'll decide

10:25 we don't decide anything right now

10:28 going to natural disasters like hurricane Helen also

10:31 gives these groups an opportunity to slam the government.

10:36 Government didn't help whatsoever.

10:37 Their videos claimed the government did a lousy job in the rescue,

10:42 saying it was chaotic, clueless, and corrupt.

10:46 And I am disgusted.

10:48 The criticisms got more outsiders to descend.

10:52 These militia men from Virginia came to clear houses.

10:56 When the government fails, the people come together.

10:59 This is a staging area that we An Arizona vigilante conspiracist group,

11:03 Veterans on Patrol, came to organize supplies, but according to law enforcement,

11:10 they created chaos and did more harm than good.

11:14 Look at this car.

11:15 Sheriff Griffin in North Carolina says many of these disaster

11:19 tourists spread conspiracies and misinformation to help their videos go viral.

11:26 the misinformation uh took a bad situation

11:30 and actually complicated a bad uh bad situation.

11:35 But sheriff, they they're coming in because

11:37 they think the government isn't doing anything.

11:39 So, what I would say for all

11:41 of these outside folks that are really wanting to help,

11:46 they need to get their information from official sources and not from Tik

11:52 Tok or Facebook or whatever the flavor of the day is with social media.

11:57 What was some of the misinformation that was being spread?

12:01 that there were people that were still stranded,

12:05 that there were bodies floating in the river,

12:10 that FEMA was rationing supplies and seizing supplies.

12:16 None of that was was true.

12:19 FEMA, the federal agency on the ground in natural disasters,

12:23 is a main target of these outside groups.

12:26 During Helen, FEMA rescuers had to back away for a few

12:30 days when there were fears that militias were coming to hunt them.

12:36 Also, a wild rumor spread that the government actually created

12:40 Hurricane Helen using weather monitoring towers as a weather weapon.

12:47 Now, this is a directed energy weapon utilized to manipulate the weather.

12:51 These are weapons of mass destruction.

12:54 So basically the rumor was that uh you know the government controls

12:59 the weather and that this was a direct attack on the area.

13:04 Is this usual now in disasters?

13:08 One that there are these false rumors,

13:10 conspiracies being spread and two that outside groups sort

13:15 stream in and make it more difficult for law enforcement.

13:19 So what I'm afraid of is from what I've seen this will be the new normal.

13:30 How China tries to exploit natural disasters in the US.

13:34 Taking narratives that portray the US government

13:36 as being ineffective and boosting those narratives at 60 minutesovertime.com.