Extremists including white supremacists and border livestreamers have descended on Los Angeles in the midst of the wildfires there to gain followers, juice social media engagement, solicit donations and, experts claim, recruit new members, while in some cases LARPing as emergency workers.
This past weekend Ryan Sánchez and three other members of his Nationalist Network group set up shop at the entrance to Santa Monica Pier. Sánchez, who was caught on video giving a Nazi salute during last year’s Conservative Political Action Conference, and his crew had driven overnight from Arizona, where they live.
Sánchez, who was a member of the now-defunct white supremacist fight club known as the Rise Above Movement, is an ally of white supremacist Nick Fuentes and is sometimes known by his online moniker “Culture War Criminal.”
Sánchez, who did not respond to WIRED’s requests for comment, claims on his social media accounts that his group “got much more support than anticipated” and said that all of the donations were given to the Bob Hope Patriotic Hall, a building said to be sheltering veterans as well as charities involved with military and veterans affairs. (It did not respond to a request to confirm that Sánchez’s group made donations.)
While Sánchez and his colleagues claim they are in LA to do good, experts who track the activities of far-right groups tell WIRED that what they are really engaging in is “disaster tourism” to further their own agenda by appearing to do good for society.
“Based on a lot of their past activities, this is probably being used as a recruitment effort, which is something that’s been happening a lot more over the last year where far-right groups engage in disaster tourism,” says Freddy Cruz, the program manager for monitoring and training at Western States Center. “We saw it with Hurricane Helene, and now we’re seeing it again. These groups are essentially just traveling to disaster zones to create propaganda, solicit donations, and in some cases actually stealing donations from people on the ground.”
On Monday, Sánchez said that while his group was no longer collecting goods for the relief effort, it was still interested in meeting potential new recruits.
“We will not be accepting any more donations tomorrow, but if you are still interested in volunteering, contact us,” Sánchez wrote on Telegram and X on Sunday morning.
A donation link Sánchez posted to his Telegram channel links directly to his personal Cash App account, and it’s unclear where any money being donated was going, though Sánchez suggested it was being used to fund his group’s travel and accommodation.
“The crisis in Los Angeles continues, with high winds expected in the coming days. Thanks to your support, the Nationalist Network will be here for our fellow Americans,” Sánchez wrote on his Telegram and X accounts on Monday, before asking for further donations “if you would like to help keep our activists fed and in the fight.”
As well as Sánchez and the Nationalist Network, multiple MAGA livestreamers traveled to LA in recent days to begin posting content from the aftermath of the fires while at the same time soliciting money from their followers.