True Texas Project Replaces TX Politicians with Kyle Rittenhouse
Far-right activist organization True Texas Project made headlines in June 2024 for their upcoming annual conference and its focus on Christian nationalism, "The Great Replacement Theory," and other once-fringe white supremacist ideas that are increasingly finding their way into mainstream conservative and right-wing discourse.
The group lost—but then immediately regained—their rental booking at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden for July 12-13, 2024. With national attention on the event's white nationalist agenda, at least three speakers dropped out, including former Texas state Sen. Don Huffines. Despite having participated in several previous True Texas Project events, former US representative Louie Gohmert also cancelled his appearance at the event.
The Southern Poverty Law Center has designated True Texas Project a hate group since 2022.
With the conference just a week away, True Texas Project has updated the schedule posted to their website. In place of the former politicians and policy experts who cancelled, the agenda now lists the following sessions:
- "The War for America" with John Guandolo
- "Positive Patriotism" with David Pinkston
- "Acquitted!" with Kyle Rittenhouse
- A screening and discussion of the film Letter to the American Church
A Rogue's Gallery of Christian Nationalists, Conspiracy Theorists, and Grifters
The biggest name on True Texas Project's updated agenda is certainly Kyle Rittenhouse, who shot three men, killing two, during August 2020 protests in Kenosha, IL, over the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Rittenhouse was tried and acquitted of homicide and attempted homicide in 2021. Now he tweets gloatingly about the benefits of 17 year olds with guns and speaks at college campuses with the sponsorship of Turning Point USA, the Charlie Kirk-led organization that doxxes professors and steals white nationalist memes.
Appearing alongside Rittenhouse is an entire rogue's gallery of Christian nationalists, conspiracy theorists, and far-right grifters, many of whom have been profiled by the Southern Poverty Law Center for their connections to hate groups and ideologies.
C. Jay Engel calls himself a "paleo-libertarian" and recently tweeted his desire to "repeal the 20th century," including the Civil Rights Act. One of his breakout sessions at the True Texas Project event, "Multiculturalism and the War on White America," claims that "the Left" wants to "rid the earth of the white race."
Wade Miller is a former Marine who worked for Ted Cruz and now publishes policy papers about the white nationalist "Great Replacement" conspiracy theory.
John Guandolo is a disgraced former FBI agent and anti-Muslim conspiracy theorist whose organization Understanding the Threat has been designated a hate group by the SPLC.
Andrew Isker is a Christian nationalist/fascist accelerationist whose book The Boniface Option is really popular among extremists like Gab founder Andrew Torba. Both he and Christian nationalist author Stephen Wolfe have been endorsed by Douglas Wilson of Christ Church in Moscow, ID.
"Paleoconservative" Paul Gottfried, founder of the white nationalist H.L. Mencken Club, once mentored neo-Nazi Richard Spencer, who helped him coin the term "alt-right."
Les Bernal is a Federalist Society contributor who thinks casinos are a threat to democracy.
The film Letter to the American Church is based on a book by Eric Metexas, an evangelical who someone on Reddit described thusly: "This man's cheese has slipped off his cracker." In 2020 he admitted to punching a demonstrator in Washington, DC.
Massey Campos is a preacher born to parents who immigrated to the US from Mexico, who is apparently fine appearing alongside anti-immigration fearmongers.
Mike Sonneveldt wrote a book about how to "maximize [your] god-given masculinity." Campos and Sonneveldt both work for Self-Evident Ministries, which is a deeply Christian nationalist-coded name for a grifter-y church.
David Pinkston is a former Naval Intelligence Officer with a book to sell.
Fort Worth Signals Increased Acceptance of Extremist Events
As detailed by the Fort Worth Report, the city has increasingly become a destination for controversial extremist events like the True Texas Project's annual conference, as well as anti-trans protests and panels. While Fort Worth currently prevents discriminatory groups from renting public space, extremist groups who see the city as prime recruiting ground have threatened legal challenges. The city has signaled its willingness to change its policies to better accommodate discriminatory groups and events:
Under its current language, Fort Worth’s community center policy and procedures manual specifies that groups that practice or profess discrimination on the basis of sex and other identity markers aren’t allowed to use the community center for events.
McEachern said the language on discrimination will “very likely” be removed from the event booking policies, in the name of protecting the right to free speech.
Some Fort Worth residents are reportedly planning to protest the True Texas Project conference, but details of this effort haven't yet been made available. Previous such protests have featured violence, right-wing intimidation, and the arrests and prosecution of antifascists.