Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Patriot Coalition: Leaked Messages Show Far-Right Group's Plans for Portland Violence
Do the last two months' activity show they're they waiting for a post-Nov 4 "signal"?
Bellingcat has acquired several months of chat logs from the Patriot Coalition of Oregon, a network of pro-Trump, pro-police activists. These chat logs were provided by an infiltrator affiliated with the antifascist collective Eugene Antifa. We were also given login information for the infiltrator’s account on GroupMe, a secure messaging app owned by Microsoft. This allowed us to directly observe the group’s communications, to verify the information provided to us and to export a log of those chats directly from the application. (Many posts contain spelling and grammatical errors, which we have not altered.)
These logs provide an intimate look inside a growing insurgent network, and shed new light on episodes of armed conflict which are already on the public record. Topics of conversation include plans for violence in the streets of Portland, celebration of acts of thuggery and even discussions about harming elected leaders and journalists. More than anything, the chats catalog the rapid radicalization of Patriot Coalition’s membership, many of whom express a willingness to kill their perceived left-wing enemies.
The leaked chat logs appear to reveal that some members of the Patriot Coalition have taken part in multiple violent rallies throughout the summer, and that they claim to have operated a series of vigilante patrols and checkpoints during the Oregon wildfires. While the chats appear to show they work and fight alongside members of extremist groups like the Proud Boys, American Wolf and 1776 2.0, the Patriot Coalition seems to have no coherent ideology beyond a desire to violently confront leftists in the name of the police and President Trump. A user identified as Paige summed up the general feelings of the group in a post made ahead of a what turned out to be a bloody ‘Back the Blue’ rally on August 22nd in Portland when she wrote: “I’m waiting for the presidential go to start open firing.”
Mark Melchi, a member of the chat group who also heads a militant anti-Antifa group named 1776 2.0, posted on August 17th: “My Group 1776 2.0. Has been fighting Antifa in Seattle, Portland, for months. They are all hit an run tactics from a few behind the main rows of people. When things get going. The Portland Ganges who also hide in Antifa will shoot you…Like they have done with a few of our guys. This won’t be a simple fist fight. People will get shot, stabbed and beat. We have fought with guys in Portland who are like giant Russians so, they’re not all soy boys. We must be ready to defend with lethal response. If we don’t get to enough of them they will just comeback when we leave, just like the Taliban did in Afghanistan. We need to make it dramatic enough for them not to want to return. Suggest wearing mask and nothing to identify you on Camera…to prevent any future prosecution.”
As user Roger Charlie Bravo posted on September 15th: “What we are doing is not random. Patriots around the country are currently organizing and preparing. We know D day is coming after November. We know that what we are seeing now is a betrayal of trust of the people by our government. We know that this war has a long time to go. We are not alone. There are people all around us supporting us. There are people all around that would stand side by side with us.”
These logs provide an intimate look inside a growing insurgent network, and shed new light on episodes of armed conflict which are already on the public record. Topics of conversation include plans for violence in the streets of Portland, celebration of acts of thuggery and even discussions about harming elected leaders and journalists. More than anything, the chats catalog the rapid radicalization of Patriot Coalition’s membership, many of whom express a willingness to kill their perceived left-wing enemies.
The leaked chat logs appear to reveal that some members of the Patriot Coalition have taken part in multiple violent rallies throughout the summer, and that they claim to have operated a series of vigilante patrols and checkpoints during the Oregon wildfires. While the chats appear to show they work and fight alongside members of extremist groups like the Proud Boys, American Wolf and 1776 2.0, the Patriot Coalition seems to have no coherent ideology beyond a desire to violently confront leftists in the name of the police and President Trump. A user identified as Paige summed up the general feelings of the group in a post made ahead of a what turned out to be a bloody ‘Back the Blue’ rally on August 22nd in Portland when she wrote: “I’m waiting for the presidential go to start open firing.”
Mark Melchi, a member of the chat group who also heads a militant anti-Antifa group named 1776 2.0, posted on August 17th: “My Group 1776 2.0. Has been fighting Antifa in Seattle, Portland, for months. They are all hit an run tactics from a few behind the main rows of people. When things get going. The Portland Ganges who also hide in Antifa will shoot you…Like they have done with a few of our guys. This won’t be a simple fist fight. People will get shot, stabbed and beat. We have fought with guys in Portland who are like giant Russians so, they’re not all soy boys. We must be ready to defend with lethal response. If we don’t get to enough of them they will just comeback when we leave, just like the Taliban did in Afghanistan. We need to make it dramatic enough for them not to want to return. Suggest wearing mask and nothing to identify you on Camera…to prevent any future prosecution.”
As user Roger Charlie Bravo posted on September 15th: “What we are doing is not random. Patriots around the country are currently organizing and preparing. We know D day is coming after November. We know that what we are seeing now is a betrayal of trust of the people by our government. We know that this war has a long time to go. We are not alone. There are people all around us supporting us. There are people all around that would stand side by side with us.”
https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2020/09/23/patriot-coalition-far-right-chat-logs-violence/
The Guardian, of course, shows its interest.
Original, now archived, Patriot Coalition page on Facebook.
3 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
