
America's Right-Wing Radicals: US Veterans Against Democracy
On January 6, 2021, hundreds of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol, and roughly 15 percent of those involved turned out to be former members of the military or police. Filmmaker Charlie Sadoff and producer Kenneth Harbaugh, both veterans themselves, use that background to get access most journalists could not, sitting down with members of the Proud Boys, the Three Percenters, and the Oath Keepers. Interviews with active militia leaders and rank-and-file veterans lay out how basic training, deployment trauma, and a sense of abandonment by the country they served feed into anti-government extremism. The film traces the roots of these groups through American history rather than treating January 6 as an isolated event, and it sits with the discomfort of hearing decorated soldiers describe democracy itself as the enemy. Archival news footage of the Capitol riot is intercut with present-day conversations recorded in homes, training grounds, and militia gatherings. The picture that emerges is of organized, disciplined networks that did not disband after the riot and are still recruiting ahead of future elections.