The Chilling Threat of Radicalized U.S. Military Vets

In May 2021, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas informed the Senate Appropriations Committee that the greatest threat currently facing America was domestic in nature—specifically, “racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists” who “advocate for the superiority of the white race.” According to Against All Enemies, that situation hasn’t improved during the past two years, as Charlie Sadoff’s documentary details how a collection of anti-government white-nationalist movements have increasingly gained traction inside our borders, often by strategically recruiting those committed to protecting the nation: law enforcement and military service members.

Premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival on June 8, first-time director Sadoff’s Against All Enemies takes its title from the constitutional oath of office: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” It’s a declaration of utmost timeliness, given the rise of homegrown outfits such as the Three Percenters, the Boogaloo Boys, the Proud Boys, and the Oath Keepers, whose founder Stewart Rhodes was just convicted of seditious conspiracy for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection and sentenced to 18 years behind bars. Worse, though, is that it’s a pledge now adopted by those very treasonous factions, who—embracing an upside-down worldview in which they’re the persecuted “patriot” minority—claim to be waging a war against shadowy deep-state forces intent on destroying democracy, even as they themselves attempt to replace that system with outright fascism.

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As anyone who’s watched footage of the Jan. 6 insurrection knows all too well, many of the men and women who stormed the Capitol—or commanded the rioters—were active and/or former law enforcement and military personnel. Most useful to the ongoing dialogue about domestic terrorism is Against All Enemies’ investigation into the present and historical ties between American hate groups and armed servicemen and women. Through archival footage and commentary from Northwestern University professor Dr. Kathleen Belew and former Army forward observer Kristofer Goldsmith (among others), Sadoff’s film explains that such connections existed during the post-Civil War, post-WWI, and post-Vietnam eras of the Ku Klux Klan, with military vets spearheading the groups’ violently discriminatory and treasonous campaigns. With clarity and precision, it contends that, far from an outlier, today’s link between neo-Nazi groups and soldiers and police officers is merely the latest iteration of a long-standing trend.

That’s not to downplay the severity of the issue, however, since Against All Enemies argues that such bonds have never been tighter. With generations of contemporary military veterans disillusioned by war, scarred by PTSD, and adrift in everyday society, these groups—per Goldsmith, who describes himself as a self-styled “Nazi hunter”—provide damaged warriors with the camaraderie, purpose, and warfare opportunities that they miss. Moreover, they offer them a mission: to defend their beloved homeland against nefarious villains determined to disenfranchise, manipulate, and oppress them. That such a narrative is make-believe doesn’t matter; having a bullseye at which to point their gun alongside their brothers-in-arms is a seductive lure to those who’ve completed their tours of duty.

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Fueling soldiers’ attraction to these groups, Against All Enemies asserts, is a social media culture that’s riddled with propaganda and capable of uniting disparate individuals and forces, as well as a Republican party that validates ugly conspiratorial traitorousness. That begins with Donald Trump and extends to his sycophantic acolytes, many of whom—such as QAnon-supporting Michael Flynn and J.D. Vance—use their military credentials and armed forces skills to bring additional soldiers into the fold. Sadoff speaks not only with a variety of experts, politicians, and critics, but also a couple of out-and-proud extremists: Randy Ireland, ex-leader of New York’s Proud Boys (who describes his brethren as “Western Chauvinists”), and Eric “General E” Braden, founder of the Southern Patriot Council. Both are vets, and their comments indicate that they exist in an alternate reality where the Big Lie is an unassailable truth, Joe Biden is a criminal, and revolt is an apparent inevitability.

Goldsmith candidly recounts his experiences tumbling down a rabbit hole of antisemitic fiction in the years following his army service, which fed into his disaffection and poisoned his mind. His emergence from that hateful echo chamber via in-person college courses and volunteer work speaks to the support systems necessary to keep military vets from falling prey to radicalization, just as Against All Enemies’ discussion of Timothy McVeigh—and his relationship to the Jan. 6 insurrection—pinpoints the urgent need for federal laws that target domestic terrorists, of which there are currently none. The fact that there are scant tools to fight these adversaries is a depressing and unnerving state of affairs, albeit not one that’s totally surprising, considering that one of the country’s two political parties has directly aligned itself with such elements. And in doing so, it has fomented distrust of the government and media, stirred up hate against minorities, and forwarded replacement theory scare tactics that compel conservatives to view things in dire us-versus-them terms.

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Written by Sadoff, Sebastian Junger, and Kenneth Harbaugh, and narrated by Peter Coyote, Against All Enemies doesn’t always maintain strict focus on the ways in which white nationalist organizations go after soldiers and cops, instead veering into more general discussions that, however relevant, tend to leave the proceedings a bit diffuse. Best is when Sadoff allows his speakers to concisely talk about how patriotic veterans are seduced into accepting an “enticing” cause (“You get to fight again”) through the promise of strength, brotherhood, and valor. “Their movement is about excluding others,” says Goldsmith. It’s also about suppressing opposition and consolidating power, and as the documentary illustrates, it’s a coordinated effort that—by assuming a decentralized structure—is difficult to totally see, much less combat.

Against All Enemies’ scope is too limited to be a definitive examination of this phenomenon; learning more about the prevalence of white nationalist sentiment and allegiances inside the military (and police units) would have afforded a more comprehensive portrait of this problem. Consequently, Sadoff’s doc doesn’t fully convey the potential perils of the 2024 election and beyond. Still, as an introduction to a destructive marriage that only grows closer by the year, it does plenty to scare one about the future of the republic.

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