Research | Political Research Associates

It's Not Over Yet

A Conversation on the Fight for Democracy

On Tuesday, November 17, 2020, PRA convened social justice movement leaders and PRA partners to reflect and strategize together as we discussed what it will take to build real multi-racial, feminist democracy for the long-haul. Reflecting on this…

"King Trump"

In Wake of Biden Victory, White Nationalists and MAGA Mobs March in DC

What appeared to be several thousand hardcore Trump supporters, including sizable White nationalist, militia and street-fighting contingents,…

No Sanctuary

Anti-Abortion “Abolitionists” Go to City Hall

In the spring of 2019, a steady stream of young, White men began appearing at Raleigh, North Carolina City Council meetings to speak on behalf of the “pre-born.” Sometimes the men appeared with their elementary school-aged children, who read pre-…

Total Life Reform

The Real Consequences of the Far Right’s Self-Help Grift

Right from the start, the Werewolf Elite program is billed as your last chance. Not just to take control of your fitness, get your finances in order, or meet life goals, but for manhood, for “Total Life Reform” (TLR). The Werewolf Elite program is…

Book Review: Spectres of Fascism

One of the challenges in trying to understand fascism is that it touches on so many different aspects of human experience, from the brutality of mass imprisonment and killing to the pageantry of a political rally; from the calculations of…

PRA Safety Advisories

A compilation of calls to action circulating within far-right communities online - mobilizing paramilitary and pro-Trump groups for organized action in key states.

SAFETY ADVISORY November 5, 2020, 12:30 PM ET A broad array of right-wing groups, from well-funded FreedomWorks, Turning Point Action, and Tea Party Patriots, to the far right QAnon conspiracy network, are mobilizing “Stop the Steal” and “Protect…

Navigating the Narrows

PRA Statement on the Election and Threats to Democracy

An older lady in a shirt with her fist in the air.

Early this morning, and without any legitimate basis, President Trump declared electoral victory and decried voter fraud. Political Research Associates, among other observers, had warned of such moves. So far, the president appears to be following…

In the Lead-Up to the Election, Special Forces Train Civilians for Insurgency

In July 2020, retired Green Beret and military special forces operator Mike Glover began sharing videos on YouTube and Instagram…

Paramilitaries at the Polls

What to Expect Around the 2020 Elections

As we draft this memo in the days immediately prior to Election Day 2020, there are dozens of articles and opinion pieces pointing out possible “chaos” or “nightmare” scenarios related to the 2020 elections and what could happen in their wake.…

Could Anti-Government Militias Become Pro-State Paramilitaries?

Armed militia members march next to a WWG1WGA flag, a common identifier of QAnon believers, at the United We Stand & Patriots March for America, St. Paul, Minnesota, September 12, 2020 (Credit: Fibonacci Blue/Flickr).

In 2020 millions of Americans peacefully stood up against racism and police violence in protests across the country. These protests are remarkable not only for their size and duration, but their geographic scope, ranging from big cities to small…

Conservative, Christian, Corporate

COVID-19 Opportunism and Betsy DeVos’s Education Agenda

Since her deeply contested confirmation hearings, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has been criticized for incompetence and ignorance regarding the public education system. But this lens obscures the extent to which DeVos’s decisions as secretary…

Brave New World

The legal landscape post-Bostock

Panorama of US Supreme Court Building at Dusk

The recent decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, wherein the mostly-conservative Supreme Court voted 6-3 to protect LGBTQ employees against discrimination because of gender identity or sexual orientation, represents an abandonment of the as-written…

The Danger Within: Right-Wing Violence in Nevada

Executive Summary With presidential elections just weeks away, Nevada faces a visible and growing threat of violence from White supremacists and far-right militias. The FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security have both recently…

Unholy

Author Q&A with Sarah Posner

For years, Sarah Posner has been one of the most perceptive journalists covering the political activism of U.S. evangelicals and the broader Religious Right. In 2016, she became one of the first reporters to track the rise of the Alt Right, and its…

Beyond Pizzagate

Anti-Immigrant Conspiracists Traffic Fear in Southern Arizona

Humanitarian worker Joel Smith knew it would be difficult to reason with the man who had been knifing and draining his water tanks in the Southern Arizona desert. Michael Lewis Arthur Meyer, a non-veteran who nonetheless heads the anti-…

New England's Joe Arpaio

How a Massachusetts Sheriff Became the Far Right’s Perfect Ally

Two weeks before Donald Trump took the oath of office, Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson walked into a Fall River, Massachusetts, auditorium filled with law enforcement officers from around the county. With bagpipes blaring, Hodgson was sworn in…

Standing By for Violence:

Ahead of November Election, Trump Inflames His Vigilante Base

President Trump speaking during the 2020 Presidential Debate

During the September 29, 2020 presidential debate, President Donald Trump gave his White nationalist and militia base a jolt of inspiration, refusing to condemn White supremacy and recent acts of violence and intimidation against widespread Black…

An Annotated Directory of the Prochoice Religious Community in the United States

This directory lists the current prochoice and reproductive justice elements of organized religion in the United States. It is intended primarily as a resource for those seeking to support these values in light of contemporary legislative and…

Building the Cultural and Political Power of Pro-Choice Religious Communities

Colloquium Proceedings: May 14, 2020

Colloquium Speakers Rev. Dr. Cari Jackson (Moderator) Rev. Dr. Cari Jackson is the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice’s Director of Spiritual Care and Activism. Dr. Cari collaborates with religious and community leaders,…

The Prochoice Religious Community May Be the Future of Reproductive Rights, Access, and Justice

There is a vast prochoice religious community in the United States that could provide the moral, cultural, and political clout to reverse current antiabortion policy trends in the United States. Most, but not all, of this demographic are Christians…