#SeditionHunters know the Jan 6 mob was packed with organized extremist groups: Proud Boys, Oath Keepers…& the Rod of Iron Ministries. Rev. Sean Moon, son of the late “Moonies” leader, says “Jesus created the assault weapon”, brought 50+ followers to storm the U.S. Capitol... 1/
..with gun-maker brother Justin (Kahr Firearms). ROI posted video of Moon tear-gassed by police, in his gold medallion as the “2nd King”. They're so serious that this research was a collective effort: read the new article from Jordan Green of Raw Story 2/ rawstory.com/rod-of-iron-mi…
On the E. side of the Capitol, Rod of Iron member Robert Pickell fought at the Columbus Doors from 2:19 to the 2:38 PM breach, then gave a speech on the steps. Pickell often appears in camo at church events like this 2018 mass wedding / blessing of assault rifles (he's at L). 3/
On the W. side, ROI folks gathered on the W. Lawn under their flag (where sharp-eyed @sandibachom photographed them; she also nailed the Proud Boys in early morning), then moved up near W. Plaza police lines. ROI member David Kanagy wrote about the confusion of the melee... 4/
Kanagy: “I thought..`Where is the 2nd King? I should think about him, not just my own safety.’ My eyes cleared.. and saw the ROI flag..” He’s a lifer, joined the Moonies in 1978, stayed under Sean’s new gun-focused vision. Once the W. Plaza fell.. 5/ rodofironministries.org/articles/my-ex…
...Sean & Justin Moon led separate groups up to risers where they could see tunnel fight. Kanagy: “A man came down..saying it was dangerous..there were too many people on the scaffolding. I thought..if the scaffolding collapsed.. that would be a good way to die as an offering” 6/
To find RoI groups at the Capitol, look for their crest of crossed AR-15s or their custom camo with stylized guns & crowns marked with Revelations 19:15 “..out of His mouth goeth a sharp sword with which He shall smite the nations, and He shall rule them with a rod of iron..” 7/
On Jan 6, RoI followers wore fewer logos than usual but came dressed for battle - tactical vests, radios, ballistic glasses, suspiciously heavy flagpoles. Women and children too; even young Rod of Iron members train with weapons. 8/
The Rod of Iron church is apocalyptic but Steve Hassan (@CultExpert), ex-member, cautions “this sect of the Moonies is in NO way fringe. They are actively interwoven into the power structure of the modern GOP. Steven Bannon has spoken at church events” 9/
In 2016, Eric & Lara Trump attended the grand opening of the “Tommy Gun Warehouse” in Greeley, PA, owned by Sean's brother Kook-jin “Justin” Moon, who also owns gun maker Kahr Firearms. On Jan 6 2021, Justin & Sean were in the Ellipse crowd that sang Happy Birthday to Eric. 10/
In Oct. 2019, Sean held his first “Rod of Iron Freedom Festival” on Kahr Firearms property. Steve Bannon called in to the 2020 event to say that the “radical left” is stealing the election from Trump, and “you’re seeing it in Pennsylvania right now.” 11/ hillreporter.com/bannon-tells-g…
Note that tickets for the 2021 Rod of Iron Freedom Festival are on sale now - buy one and you can win a custom "Trump - Commander in Chief" AR-15 semiautomatic. 12/ rodofironfreedomfestival.org
In Nov/Dec. 2020, ROI groups attended Stop the Steal-related rallies on Nov. 5 (Harrisburg PA), Nov 14 (DC), Nov 22 (Valdosta GA), Dec. 8 (DC), and Dec. 12 (DC). Group photo at bottom R. was posted on FB by Melissa Lemets, wife of Vets for Trump exec director Vlad Lemets. 13/
On Dec. 12, RoI members were at both of Michael Flynn’s speeches. Here’s Sean with the far-right Epoch Times media crew, wearing RoI camo & crest on his biker jacket. Robert Pickell, who attacked at the Columbus Doors on Jan 6, stands just below him. 14/
Sean Moon is also deeply connected to politicians in his home state of PA. On Dec. 27, Congressional candidate and Vets for Trump director #IamTeddyDaniels (also at the Capitol on Jan 6), gave a speech at Justin’s gun store, with ROI members present. 15/
Sean Moon & Teddy Daniels are so close that when Daniels declared his run for Congress on Jan 9 (three days after the Capitol attack), he asked Moon to give the blessing, which began “We have seen & witnessed.. incredible fraud“ Watch it on Daniels' FB 16/ facebook.com/watch/live/?v=…
Rod of Iron was also welcome at PA State Sen. Doug Mastriano’s Jan 5th rally in Harrisburg, before his sponsored buses left for DC the next morning. (On Jan 6 Mastriano also walked the Capitol grounds & watched police lines broken on the NE Plaza.) 17/
ROI's Kyle Yoder is also seen with VIPs - on Dec 12 walked with Alex Jones' group; on Jan 6 was in the Ellipse VIP section, easy to spot with a bright beanie pattern of assault rifles. Yoder’s now caretaker of the compound RoI just bought near Waco, TX 18/ kxxv.com/news/in-depth/…
Insurrection was a family affair; Yoder posted a selfie with his dad. ROI is very family oriented: arranged marriages, children train for battle with their elders. “Remember, we’re practicing the actual commandments” Moon says, before training children to stab a side of beef. 19/
Moon acts like a divinely appointed leader: “You have here right in PA the start of Kingdom culture” but it needs “the stimulus of.. the true inheritors of the Kingdom…to move us from sheep to sheepdog.. & that’s every single one of us here, that understands the Rod of Iron” 20/
What's scary about Moon is not just the messiah complex but that he's actively recruiting U.S. military, police: “and if you have veterans there, if you have former law enforcement…. already God has put people in your place and location to step up and --- give guidance.” 21/
Sean Moon took some of his father’s flock when he split off, now finds that guns and biker jackets work better than robes to bring the new kind of followers he wants, his own divine army. Here he is “scouting” DC on Jan 5. He must be held accountable for actions on Jan 6. 22/
Legally, compare Moon to the Proud Boys’ #JoeBiggs (L): both pre-planned for the attack, brought an organized group, directed followers’ motions at the Capitol, & coordinated with identifying gear, flags, or logos. The mob was a weapon on 1/6 and leaders wielded that weapon. 23/
This research is the sum of contributions from many anonymous #SeditionHunters who did hundreds of hours of work. All know the Capitol attack was not random, it was synchronized and planned. Leaders like Moon made that synchronization happen. 24/
Several good articles cover Rod of Iron; Vice in particular has followed them for awhile. Tess Owen (@misstessowen) reported in May on Sean Moon's presence at the Capitol, and their new move to Texas. 24/ vice.com/en/article/y3d…
Owen first wrote about Rod of Iron in 2019, understands them well. Watch the video linked from the article too. 25/ vice.com/en/article/xwe…
In 2018 Tom Dunkel covered Sean Moon's schism with the Unification Church for the Washington Post. 26/ washingtonpost.com/news/style/wp/…
If you want to hear more of Sean Moon in his own words; Vice produced a 32-minute documentary in 2018 that includes interviews with him: "Guns for God: The Church of the AR-15" 28/
Or, you can buy his 2018 book from Amazon. Cover has Psalm 2:8-9 "Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the Earth your possession. You will break them with a rod of iron, you will dash them to pieces like pottery." 29/
All video in this thread, besides the clip of the morning march, is from the ROI church or members. The "training" video explaining the new focus on guns was posted in 2018 on an old vimeo page from before the church's rebranding. Now reposted at link. 30/ rumble.com/vkw4a5-rodofir…
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A new attack on Harvard, another attempt to impose government control. Trump first tried with $: canceling researchers' grants, threatening taxes. Now an attack via visas: to deport ALL Harvard's international students (38% of PhDs doing lab research). 1/ thecrimson.com/article/2025/4…
Trump's demand, again, is a classic from the fascist playbook: to force Harvard to monitor its students and report to the US government. This visa threat can't be countered with money. But Trump is missing one key issue. Many Harvard international undergrads are global elites. 2/
Harvard educates the children of Saudi sheiks and Russian oligarchs and Greek shipping magnates. Deporting the PhD students would cripple Harvard research. Deporting the UGs would alienate powerful people across the world, people whose respect Trump craves. He may not dare. 3/
Cannot emphasize enough how much of an own-goal it is to tell a university with a $53 billion endowment and a a giant PR team that you want to destroy them. Trump's goons blew it. Today's news is full of sympathetic profiles of crucial Harvard health research. Lawyers next. 1/
Fascist regimes have always managed to co-opt universities, which are timid and self-protective and can be gradually weakened. But Trump's idiots blew it last week with insane demands to set up a police state overnight. They forced Harvard to fight. 2/ static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics/d…
The fascist playbook is, slowly turn the screws on universities to make them complicit. But Trump's idiots couldn't wait and now they're in full battle with behemoth Harvard and its crack PR team. The entire attack on higher education has been botched. 3/ bostonglobe.com/2025/04/15/met…
Just going to keep reposting this screenshot from Bukele's inauguration last year every time he lies in reporters' faces about how he can't return an innocent US resident. This is the guy who will be imprisoning US citizens next. 1/
Listen to what Trump says to Bukele, in this video posted by Bukele himself. At 7:29 Trump leans over and whispers: "homegrowns are next" - US citizens. And "you're going to have to build about 5 more prisons". Flagged by the NPR correspondent. 2/
That Tweet seems set for "private" but if anyone can grab the video, please do. The plan is not ambiguous: Trump wants to ship US citizens, his political enemies, to El Salvador, and Bukele is going to let him do it. Read thread below to understand why. 3/
Trump defers to El Salvador's sovereignty but threatens Greenland. Why? It's not strange. Trump is deferring to Silicon Valley neo-fascists. They dream of seizing Greenland, but El Salvador president Bukele is their guy. He's their test case for a crypto-powered autocracy. 1/
Bukele branded himself the tech-friendly modern dictator: yes death squads, but also Bitcoin. Shred your old financial system and pay salaries in Bitcoin? Done in El Salvador. Spend taxpayer money on a national cryptocurrency reserve? Also El Salvador. 2/ time.com/6103299/bitcoi…
Bukele's bitcoin bet isn't going well; he has to beg IMF for a loan. But some US oligarchs see him as a role model. It's no coincidence that Trump picked El Salvador as a partner in autocracy. When Bukele visits Trump on Monday, that must be reported. 3/ bbc.com/news/articles/…
The dreaded "I told you so" moment: for years this account has warned that Trump and his backers want to dictate what schools can teach, from K-12 and university. That they wanted to impose curricula. And now it's here: Trump is trying to seize Columbia, a private university. 1/
n Sep. 2022 I put it in a Twitter thread: that Trump had offered control over education as a quid pro quo for supporting his coup. Trump may not care about schools, but the people behind him do. They want to take away freedom of thought and speech. 2/
Trump and his backers copy Victor Orban, who seized universities in Hungary. Hungarian envoys are now at every major right-wing conference. CPAC went to Hungary. University leaders should have read Orban's blueprint and prepared. This is their plan. 3/ verfassungsblog.de/how-the-destro…
Trump is doing it: using the Justice Department to go after his 'enemies' and support his Big Lie. Pardoning the J6ers was just the first step. He's now using DOJ to attack those who said he lost in 2020, starting with Chris Krebs. It's full dictator mode: no law but power. 1/
Cannot emphasize enough how bad this is. A president using law enforcement to persecute those who won't repeat his lies. A pliant Attorney General who has also said she would send US citizens to foreign torture camps. All Americans must speak out or this is the end. 2/
Going to add some other reactions here - many see how bad this is. Tim Miller calls the move "Stalinesque". He says "Any person who reveres our constitutional republic should speak out against it." 3/