“Red Pill” Rancor: Conspiracy Fest Drives Divisiveness
“We’ve gone to war before,” Hamilton’s Trish Roberts told a reporter for Lee Newspapers at the Red Pill Festival. “I don’t fear a civil war, but I feel it’s a very real possibility.”
It wasn’t surprising to hear a Red Pill attendee make such a statement. Instead, it reflected that Roberts had taken to heart the messages she heard from the speakers’ podium during the 10-hour conspiracy fest held in St. Regis on Saturday, July 24, 2021. Somewhere between 150-200 people and vendors came to the event, which featured right-wing extremist speakers from Montana, Idaho, and Washington. Attendees came from the same states, with many Montana plates coming from the Bitterroot and Fathead Valleys.
They heard the COVID pandemic was hoax, that the federal government is illegitimate, and that various provocateurs (socialists, communists, Democrats, etc.) are destroying the country. While references to civil war were couched as a last resort, it was clear that revolution was on the table if not imminent. Montana state Rep. Derek Skees (R-Kalispell), acting as the Festival’s emcee, repeatedly reminded the crowd that speakers weren’t trying to incite violence. However, it brought to mind the Shakespearian expression that he and attendees doth protested too much. Skees also ridiculed mainstream media reporters in attendance all day and encouraged attendees to do the same. Attendees also heard frequent claims that Donald Trump won the last election and individual states have the power to overrule or ignore the federal government and the courts.
The level of animosity and the “us versus them” mentality built throughout the day. The early speakers discussed how their conservative Christian beliefs called them to public service and implored attendees to support right-wing candidates. By the end of the day, speakers advocated states overthrowing the federal government and replacing it with what they view as a God-ordained republic of sovereign states. The speakers combined many tenets of the anti-government movement with Christian Nationalism. By the end of the day, it’s no wonder that Trish Roberts and other attendees viewed a war with their perceived enemies as imminent.
Despite the extremist nature of the event, Republicans were more than happy to attend. In addition to Skees hosting the event, the lineup of speakers included Montana state Senators Theresa Manzella (R-Hamilton) and Bob Brown (R-Thompson Falls); Idaho state Rep. Heather Scott (R-Blanchard); and former Montana state Rep. Rick Jore (R-Ronan). Republican groups and central committees from Mineral, Missoula, and Ravalli Counties had booths at the event. The GOP presence and participation as an example of what MHRN refers to as “margins to the mainstream,” whereby extremist ideas end up making their way into the political mainstream. Having these elected officials on the program helped legitimize and normalize the dangerous ideas promoted at the Red Pill Festival. Throughout the day, attendees heard repeatedly that they needed to take over the Republican Party.
Headlined by Domestic Terrorist Matt Shea
The extremist speaker headlining the lineup was former Washington state Rep. Matt Shea (R-Spokane Valley). In December 2019, the Washington Legislature issued a report that declared Shea, “participated in an act of domestic terrorism against the United States” and represents a threat of political violence. His participation in armed standoffs on behalf of the notorious Bundy Family weight heavily in the report. In response, Shea’s colleagues in the Republican Party suspended him from the House GOP Caucus. In 2020, Shea didn’t file for re-election.
While still office, Shea discussed surveilling people he considered political enemies, going so far as to discuss violence against them, in private social media chats that were made public. His use of violent rhetoric is well document. He once distributed a “Biblical Basis for War” document to his followers called for the killing of all males who didn’t follow the “Holy Army” Shea hoped to unleash. Despite, or because of these ideas, Shea has been a favorite speaker at Far-Right events since being elected to the Washington Legislature in 2008. From militia meetings to anti-choice rallies and everything in between, if a group needs an ultra-conservative ideological firebrand, Shea fits the bill, and he lived up to the billing at the Red Pill Festival.
Ramping up the hostile and antagonistic rhetoric, Shea told the Red Pill crowd that the “enemy comes to kill, to steal and to destroy,” calling out Democrats, abortion, socialism, and critical race theory by name. He urged attendees to become part of the movement that is “taking ground for liberty” and “advancing the Kingdom of Jesus Christ.” He claimed liberals and other enemies are trying to redefine the God’s truth. He warned attendees that “global elitists using communism and Islam” are trying to “destroy the republic.” Shea was clear what was needed and who would carry it out:
“God-fearing, self-reliant, freedom-loving Americans fighting on their own soil for their own families, for their own communities, that’s the plan! But we gotta fight. We actually have to fight.”
Shea also railed against public health measures during the pandemic. He called COVID a “fake crisis.” He ended his remarks by leading the audience in yelling, “FREEDOM” multiple times.
Shea also specifically called out the Montana Human Rights Network, saying that it engages in “reckless hate.” MHRN wonders if the reference was in Shea’s speech all along, or if Rep. Skees asked him to include it because Skees knew that an MHRN staffer was present and observing the event.
Rent-a-Riot Joey Gibson & Bundy Backer Heather Scott
Joey Gibson is founder of a right-wing street-fighting group called Patriot Prayer, which has frequently teamed up with the Proud Boys to create riots in places like Portland. In 2019, Gibson faced charges of felony riot after a brawl in Portland. Gibson is also active with Ammon Bundy’s “People’s Right” group. A booth at the Festival sold Patriot Prayer T-shirts.
Gibson told the Red Pill crowd that it was his first time in Montana. He said their enemies only offered “fears and lies.” He urged the crowd to be proud of their extremist views and knowing the truth, saying “Persecution is an opportunity.” Gibson compared the struggles attendees’ face with those of Jesus Christ. “When the lord is in control, that’s real liberty,” he said. “Take back this government and give it back to the people. Amen!”
Idaho state Rep. Heather Scott (R-Blanchard) also spoke at Red Pill. Like Matt Shea, Scott has supported the armed standoffs perpetrated by the Bundy Family. In February of 2016, she traveled to the Bundy standoff at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in Oregon at the urging of Shea. She was part of Shea’s Coalition of Western States (COWS), a coalition of anti-government activists and elected officials supporting Bundy. Scott is also an avid supporter of America Redoubt, an effort to make Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and the eastern parts of Oregon and Washington a safe haven for anti-government patriots. Following the deadly Unite the Rights rally in Charlottesville, VA, Scott defended white nationalists on Facebook, stating, "Therefore, if one is ‘guilty’ of being white, one is clearly racist. And if one is white AND loves America, they are a white supremacist capable of carrying out violent acts against nonwhites.”
Scott warned the Red Pill attendees that America was becoming unrecognizable and on the verge of being lost. She also railed against public health directives and framed the pandemic as part of a larger conspiracy to destroy the country. She warned of a “plan that’s been put into place to destroy our country piece by piece, transforming it into regions of a larger global world.” She said this plan was way more “sinister” than the impact of COVID. “If we don’t start diagnosing the right disease affecting our country,” Scott warned, “we’re going to waste our time and energy with the wrong treatment.”
Montana Lawmakers Lend Credibility
[Use pic of Manzella holding gun after winning MSSA raffle]
Montana state Sen. Bob Brown (R-Thompson Falls) was Red Pill’s first speaker. His remarks focused mainly on how he was a conservative Christian who felt called to public service. His colleague, Sen. Theresa Manzella (R-Hamilton) upped the animosity and directed it towards moderates in her own party.
Manzella complained that RINOs (Republicans in Name Only) were the real enemy, saying these moderates had kept the Montana Legislature from passing pieces of right-wing legislation despite the GOP having majorities in both chambers. She encouraged attendees to run for office, from the legislature down to the school board. Manzella said school board positions were the “most important position in our country today,” and right-wing conservatives needed to be in those offices. “This critical race theory is downright scary,” she said, before saying that Jewish people in Holocaust “were victims” of critical race theory, a field of legal and academic study on race and systems of power.
She talked about how a series of videos from the extremist John Birch Society helped teach her how to be a legislator. Founded in 1958, the John Birch Society fought the perceived infiltration of communists in American society, even calling Dwight Eisenhower an “agent of the Communist conspiracy.” Promoting an extreme right-wing ideology, the group vigorously opposed the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, claiming it was an effort to create a “Negro Soviet Republic” in the United States. The Birch Society was also a close ally of the segregationist Alabama Governor George Wallace. As the Cold War subsided, the Birch Society took aim at the United Nations and became a purveyor of one-world government conspiracy theories, in addition to promoting Christian fundamentalism and abolishing numerous federal agencies. The Birch Society was well represented at Red Pill. The group received shoutouts from various speakers, many of whom mentioned staffers they worked with on legislative proposals, and had a booth at the event.
Her celebration of the Birch Society wasn’t surprising given her extremist leanings. Calling herself a “Christian Constitutionalist,” she also invoked the need for communities to have “Constitutional sheriffs.” This is reference to a hallmark of the militia movement that claims sheriffs are the highest legitimate law officers and are charged with keeping federal and state agencies from enforcing tax collection, firearms laws, environmental regulations, and other laws. This notion of sheriff supremacy is a version of county supremacy. Additionally, Manzella had associates who entered the U.S. Capitol during the insurrection on January 6, 2021.
Like other speakers, Manzella has been very supportive of the Bundys, saying she has “huge respect, admiration and appreciation” for them. On social media, she applauded Matt Shea and Oath Keepers for attending the Bundy standoff in Nevada. She circulated links to crowd-sourcing efforts to raise money for the legal defenses of Bundy Family members.
Manzella assured the Red Pill audience that “God is in control,” and that her type of Christians will win in the end. However, she told attendees that God didn’t want them to just sit back. Instead, he wanted them to take action. She reminded people that staying free from tyranny requires participation.
Former Montana state Rep. Rick Jore also spoke at Red Pill. Jore famously left the Montana Republican Party because it “accepted and refuses to reject socialism.” He served a term in the Montana House representing the Constitution Party of Montana, a political party that combined right-wing Christian fundamentalism and themes of the anti-government movement. It sought to base civil law on ultra conservative biblical doctrine, while pandering to the militia movement’s hatred of established government. As a legislator, Jore worked with the anti-Indian movement against tribal sovereignty, opposed public schools, and supported anti-government causes.
At the Festival, Jore gave what has basically been his stump speech since the 1990s. He said the Constitution subjugates the government to the people, and, when the government usurps power, the sovereignty of the people must be reinforced. He discussed his most common talking point, which is that the Constitution isn’t a living document that evolves over time. Jore said that notion is false. “We’ve lost our freedoms in many ways,” he told attendees, saying that self-government and the rule of law needed to be restored.
Given Manzella’s remarks blasting members of her own party and Jore’s historical attacks on and leaving the Montana Republican Party, it wasn’t surprising to see local state Rep. Denley Loge (R-St. Regis) attacked. Randy Mitchell was the local organizer of the Red Pill Festival. Following the Montana group of speakers, Skees let Mitchell address the crowd. Mitchell used the opportunity to rail against Loge’s supposed betrayals at the legislature. “Denley is a nice guy all the time,” “Mitchell stated, “but he’s only a Republican some of the time.” Mitchell used the opportunity to announce he would be running against Loge in the 2022 Republican Primary for House District 14. This further cemented the message that only extremist Republicans pass the Red Pill’s purity test.
Another Montanan who took the stage briefly was Far-Right political cartoonist Ben Garrison. He faces criticism that his images are racist, antisemitic, homophobic, and sexist. However, each new wave of controversy seems to bring him more fans from the most vitriolic corners of social media. Despite his cartoons being rabidly pro-Trump, the antisemitic nature of his cartoons resulted in Garrison being uninvited from a White House gathering of right-wing media figures in July 2019. While he was too extreme for the Trump White House, the Red Pill organizers received him with open arms.
Many Other Regional Tier B Speakers
Rene Holaday, who is known to anti-government activists by her podcast moniker “Lady Liberty” and connection to American Redoubt, told attendees that the country was in the midst of a “communist coup.” Holaday, like Matt Shea, is a key organizer supporting the “Liberty State” movement, which is an effort by extremists in Eastern Washington to break away from the rest of the state. She served as a legislative aide for Shea before being fired in 2019 for saying supporters of Liberty State would resort to violence if necessary. “It’s either going to be bloodshed or Liberty State,” Holaday stated.
Caleb Collier, a former Spokane city councilman who now is a Regional Director for the John Birch Society, warned that America was transitioning from a republic to a democracy. He said this nefarious and dangerous transition was based on “Cultural Marxism” and an attack on natural law. Collier identified public schools as a main source of the problem, as they teach children the country is a democracy. Collier exclaimed America’s white founders “despised democracy” and chose a republic form of government, as it is the “freest system of government that we could ever have in this fallen world.” He warned that “there’s one way a republic dies” and that’s it if “transitions to democracy.”
Greg Pruett, founder of the Idaho Second Amendment Alliance, started his speech by giving a shout out to Ammon Bundy, complaining that the media portrayed the orchestrator of armed standoffs with the government in an unfair light. Pruett’s group has organized armed rallies outside the Idaho Capitol. He was recently appointed Vice Chair of the Idaho Constitution Party, complaining that the Idaho GOP isn’t conservative enough and is run by RINOs. Mentioning that he is a combat veteran, Pruett stated that armed revolution should be the last resort, while at the same time encouraging people to fight to restore what we had. He was one of many speakers who walked tried to walk the line of denouncing violence, while using language that indicated war was in inevitable. Pruett has written that his time in Iraq made him realize “that our ability to fight back against our own government was the most important right we had [emphasis in original].”
Scott Herndon, a rabid anti-choice activist with Abolish Human Abortion Idaho, railed the crowd with claims that individual states have the ability to ignore or overrule the federal governments and courts. He told the crowd that God created civil government, and America is a republic centered on God. Herndon told attendees to demand that state officials “regain the American republic” and that the Second Amendment provides some tools to do just that. Herndon said citizens are allowed to have the same armaments as the military in order to subdue an overreaching federal government.
John Robertson, who is known to anti-government activists by his podcast moniker “John Jacob Schmidt” and a leader of American Redoubt. American Redoubt is a movement founded by anti-government activist James Wesley Rawles in 2011 when he designated Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and the eastern parts of Oregon and Washington as the home to a new nation which would be a safe haven for right-wing extremists. His radio program is all about promoting American Redoubt and interviewing anti-government activists.
Robertson started off his remarks by claiming that Donald Trump won the 2020 Presidential Election and that nobody has gotten COVID in the last 18 months. “COVID is another scam,” he claimed as the country faces an increase in infection rates due to the Delta variant. He supported the creation of paramilitary militias, saying they were “central to founding this country” and that community members “need weaponry to fight the government.” In the past, he’s said militias are the only way to “hold the federal supremacists back.” Robertson complained to the Red Pill crowd that the insurrectionists who stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, are being called “terrorists.”
He also called MHRN the “Human Rights Gestapo” and complained that “natural rights” from God are being replaced by “human rights.”
Speakers Have Long History of Working Together
While local organizers of the Red Pill Festival like to act as if they had organized something brand new, the extremists speaking have a history of working together. In June 2020, an event to rally anger around public health directives was held in Coeur d’Alene, ID, called “Liberate America.” Nine of the Red Pill’s 13 speakers were part of the event.
Similarly, Shea, Scott, Collier, and Bill Jasper (of the John Birch Society’s magazine and a speaker at the Red Pill Festival) all spoke together in Boundary County, Idaho, in September 2020. The event opposing public health measures was titled “COVID-1984 Plandemic Unmasked.”
It’s not just public events where Red Pill speaker collaborate. Mentioned earlier was Matt Shea’s use of social media to discuss violence against perceived enemies. Three other Red Pill speakers were part of those discussions: Scott, Collier, and Robertson. During the social media chats, the group frequently talked about their shared beliefs that Civil War was coming.
Guided by Bad History and Faulty Constitutional Interpretation
The basis for many of the statements made by speakers were based in faulty history and bad interpretations of the Constitution. The bad history included both recent history and that dealing with the founding of the United States. Skees and others wrongly claimed that former President Donald Trump actually won the 2020 elections, and his victory was stolen from him. While Trump supporters have created something akin to cottage industry around challenging election results, it’s clear Trump lost. Many Red Pill vendors catered to this notion, selling T-shirts, stickers, pins, and other items promoting the false narrative that Trump won.
Skees, Robertson, and other speakers also went to great lengths to equate paramilitary militia groups, like the Three Percenters, to the “well regulated Militia” mentioned in the Second Amendment. This is done for a couple of reasons. Militia activists like to portray themselves as the modern-day versions of America’s founders, and it gives these groups unaccountable armed vigilantes a sense of legitimacy due to supposed constitutional standing. Current anti-government militias are not constitutional, or even legal. The power to call out the militia only exists with the executive branch of government. As the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection states:
“A group of people who consider themselves part of the able-bodied residents referred to as members of the militia under state or federal law is not legally permitted to activate itself for duty. A private militia that attempts to activate itself for duty, outside of the authority of the state or federal government, is illegal. Groups of armed individuals that engage in paramilitary activity or law enforcement functions without being called forth by a governor or the federal government and without reporting to any government authority are acting as unauthorized private militias.”
In 1886, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Second Amendment doesn’t protect private paramilitary groups, and the Montana Constitution prohibits private military units from operating outside state authority. Engaging in paramilitary training is also a felony in Montana Statute.
As referenced throughout the Red Pill Festival by almost every speaker, right-wing extremists hate democracy and believe that America was founded as a republic, often framed as given by God to America’s founders. For anti-government activists, this republic form of government makes individual states supreme and able to exist outside the federal government’s jurisdiction. This perspective harkens back to when the country was under the Articles of Confederation, where states had almost all the power and the federal government had few responsibilities. It soon became apparent that the country needed a stronger federal government and the new structure under the U.S. Constitution was created. The U.S. Constitution makes it clear that states must adhere to federal law. Article VI of the U.S. Constitution, which is commonly called the “Supremacy Clause,” clearly states that the laws of the United States “shall be the supreme Law of the Land.” Anti-government activists, and Red Pill speakers, like to harp on following the Constitution and saving their version of the republican; however, they overlook the basic historical evolution of our country. States don’t have the ability to ignore or overrule the federal government.
A Better Way Forward
The Red Pill Festival was about rallying and directing anger at enemies identified by the extremists at the speakers’ podium and in the audience. The references to an upcoming Civil War or second American Revolution ranged from somewhat subtle to blatant. That’s the perspective that these speakers sell.
Whether it’s chatting on social media about violence directed at opponents or working with the notorious Bundy Family, it’s clear that armed confrontation and divisiveness are what the Red Pill Festival is about. Unfortunately, it’s not just attendees who heard the speakers. Thanks to Tim Ravndal with Redoubt News and Bundy acolyte Casey Whalen of North Idaho Exposed, videos of the speakers are easy to find online and in social media. As Skees told the crowd, they’re not looking for the majority to support them, just an “irate” group of people willing to take action. Local organizers have already announced the Red Pill Festival will be held again next year.
The week before the Red Pill Festival, a totally different event took place. Called “Better Together,” it was organized by a group of local community members called Treasure State Values in Mineral and Sanders Counties.
“We were stunned when we heard the news that the Red Pill Festival was happening,” said Diane Magone of Treasure State Values. “We knew there had been a steady rise in anti-government and militia activity throughout Montana, but we didn’t want another way for local people to get so wrapped up in it. Several of us got together and decided that we couldn’t let this extremist roadshow define our community. We chose to resist these threats to our community and democracy.”
The event featured speakers from the area talking about how the only to address the real problems our communities face is by working together. One speaker talked about techniques that can be used to create dialogue with people who hold opposing views. Another discussed previous work done in the community decades ago to address extremists who were organizing in the area. Treasure State Values wants to bring people together to address the real problems in our communities.
“This is our home. This is our event. Our message of peace and justice is our story, and we’re going to celebrate it,” said Magone.
If you live in Mineral or Sanders County and want to get involved with Treasure State Values, please email [email protected], and we’ll get you in touch.