Matthew Bracken

Last updated
Matthew Bracken
Born1957 (age 66–67)
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Occupation(s)Writer, novelist, former US Navy SEAL
Notable workEnemies trilogy

Matthew J. Bracken (born 1957) is an American writer and novelist, and former U.S. Navy SEAL [1] associated with the Patriot movement. [2] [3] [4] He is known for a series of novels, beginning with the Enemies trilogy, that depict a United States torn apart by violent conflict. [3] [5] He is a frequent guest and occasional guest host on Alex Jones' InfoWars show. [6]

Contents

Early life and SEAL service

Bracken was born in Baltimore, and earned a degree in Russian studies from the University of Virginia in 1979. He was commissioned to the US Navy in the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) program, and graduated from Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training class 105 in Coronado, California. He served on Underwater Demolition Team UDT/Seal teams on the east coast, and detached with the Naval Special Warfare to Beirut in 1983. Bracken left active duty after Lebanon, but remained in active reserve status through the 1980s. [7] He served on Seal Team 2 and Seal Team 4. [8]

In 1991, Bracken protested outside the White House for days against Operation Desert Storm. [9] He is also a boatbuilder and sailor, [9] [10] who once soloed his cutter from Panama to Guam. [11] Bracken is noted for incorporating his experience and knowledge in sailing and the military into the technical details of his books. [11]

Writings and views

Bracken, an avid sailor, on his hand-built cutter in 2005 USMC-10453.jpg
Bracken, an avid sailor, on his hand-built cutter in 2005

Bracken self-published his first novel, Enemies, Foreign and Domestic in 2003, the first in a trilogy of political thrillers. [2] [3] [5] The plot revolves around a rogue ATF agent staging a terrorist attack at a football stadium and blaming it on an alleged militia, which is then used to initiate gun seizures. [2] [11] [12] [13] In 2012, Bracken released the book for free at Amazon Kindle, which after being heavily promoted on social media briefly made it the most downloaded free Kindle book on Amazon. [2] His second novel, Domestic Enemies: The Reconquista from 2006 revolves around the Reconquista or Aztlán theory, [1] [14] while his third novel, Foreign Enemies And Traitors from 2009 features a corrupt president who invites foreign mercenaries to U.S. soil. [2] [15]

It has been said that his books can be "worked into ongoing conspiracy theories", as "fictionalized version[s] of conspiracy theories and beliefs that circulate on the far-right". [3]

In late 2015, Bracken published the essay "Tet, Take Two: Islam's 2016 European Offensive" on the counter-jihad blog Gates of Vienna , [16] [17] which went viral. [4] The essay likened the 2015 European migrant crisis to the infiltration leading up to the Vietnam War's Tet Offensive, and has been influential in parts of the American militia movement, being endorsed by Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes among others. [4] [16] [17] [18] [19] Bracken and Rhodes later appeared on Alex Jones' InfoWars show together in 2019 following the Christchurch mosque shootings, where the three according to the Southern Poverty Law Center—while condemning the violence, [20] agreed with the terrorist's motives, while "lamenting how the massacre was going to be used to blame white men and to further a nefarious plot to confiscate firearms and ignite a civil war". [21]

After the Quebec City mosque shooting in 2017, Bracken appeared on InfoWars and laid out a conspiracy theory that it was a false flag attack carried out by militant Islamists in order to blame Trump supporters, orchestrated by George Soros, [22] claiming that detainee Mohamed Belkadhir had radicalized perpetrator Alexandre Bissonnette as an Islamic terrorist. [23]

In December 2020, Bracken appeared again on InfoWars as a guest host, where he told viewers that "We're going to only be saved by millions of Americans moving to Washington, occupying the entire area, if—if necessary storming right into the Capitol". [24] [25] [26] He also stated "We know the rules of engagement. If you have enough people, you can push down any kind of a fence or a wall". [24] [25] [26] The comments were referenced during a subpoena of Alex Jones by the United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack in January 2022, after which Jones claimed he had not heard it before and was "shocked" by it. [27] The comments were also included in the January 6th Report, [25] and was shown as part of a video segment during the seventh hearing by the committee. [26]

Bibliography

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References

  1. 1 2 Buchanan, Susy (July 1, 2007). "Former Navy SEAL Matthew Bracken Publishes Book Touting Aztlan Conspiracy Theory". Intelligence Report (2007 Summer ed.). Southern Poverty Law Center.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Berger, J.M. (June 8, 2012). "The Patriot Movement's New Bestseller Tests Their Anti-Racism". The Daily Beast.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Boucher, Geoff; Young, Helen (2023). "Digital books and the far right". Journal of Media & Cultural Studies. 37 (1): 140–152. doi: 10.1080/10304312.2023.2191905 .
  4. 1 2 3 Kamali, Sara (2022). Homegrown Hate: Why White Nationalists and Militant Islamists Are Waging War Against the United States. Univ of California Press. pp. 126–127. ISBN   9780520389687.
  5. 1 2 Perry, Barbara; Gruenewald, Jeff; Scrivens, Ryan, eds. (2022). Right-Wing Extremism in Canada and the United States. Springer Nature. p. 199. ISBN   9783030998042.
  6. ↑ Johnson, Timothy (January 15, 2020). "As Virginia gun rally approaches, Alex Jones and his Infowars outlet hype prospect of violence". Media Matters for America.
  7. ↑ Poppa, Doug (May 6, 2018). "Former Baltimore Navy Seal: Las Vegas massacre was foreseeable and preventable". Baltimore Post-Examiner.
  8. ↑ Poppa, Doug (October 12, 2017). "Former Navy Seal: Las Vegas gunman's room was not a contained situation". Baltimore Post-Examiner.
  9. 1 2 Loughlin, Sean (January 17, 1991). "Protesters feeling 'hopeless'". The Gainesville Sun. p. 4E.
  10. 1 2 "060127-M-0000A-065". Marines. United States Marine Corps. January 27, 2006. Archived from the original on January 31, 2024.
  11. 1 2 3 Codrea, David (November 2005). "Enemies foreign and dosmetic: Mathew Bracken, 2003, Steel Cutter Publishing". Guns Magazine . Archived from the original on June 17, 2006.
  12. ↑ Zimba, Jeff W. (April 2005). "Book Review Enemies Foreign and Domestic, By Matthew Bracken". Small Arms Review. Vol. 8, no. 7.
  13. ↑ Schmidt, Timothy J. (April 2005). "Enemies Foreign and Domestic by: Matthew Bracken" (PDF). Concealed Carry Magazine. Vol. 2, no. 3. p. 27.
  14. ↑ Codrea, David (February 2007). "Review of Domestic Enemies: The Reconquista". Guns Magazine .
  15. ↑ Codrea, David (June 2010). "The Enemies List". Guns Magazine . pp. 66–67. Archived from the original on August 22, 2019.
  16. 1 2 Beutel, Alejandro J.; Johnson, Daryl (February 2021). The Three Percenters: A Look Inside an Anti-Government Militia (PDF). Newlines Institute (Report). pp. 10–11, 26.
  17. 1 2 Jackson, Sam (2020). Oath Keepers: Patriotism and the Edge of Violence in a Right-Wing Antigovernment Group. Columbia University Press. p. 19. ISBN   9780231550314.
  18. ↑ Piggott, Stephen (February 10, 2017). "One More Enemy". Intelligence Report (2017 Spring ed.). Southern Poverty Law Center.
  19. ↑ Black, George (April 27, 2021). "All Enemies, Foreign and Domestic: The Road From Vietnam to the Capitol Steps". The Washington Spectator.
  20. ↑ The Year in Hate and Extremism: 2019 (PDF). Southern Poverty Law Center (Report). 2020. p. 42.
  21. ↑ Martin, Nick R. (March 22, 2019). "The Infowars Crowd Finds Common Cause With New Zealand Terrorist". Southern Poverty Law Center.
  22. ↑ Cain, Patrick (February 4, 2017). "Fake news: Meet the alternate-reality version of the Quebec City shooting". Global News.
  23. ↑ Lamoureux, Mack (February 2, 2017). "A Quebec Mosque Shooting Truther Movement Has Already Started". Vice News.
  24. 1 2 Kuznia, Rob; Devine, Curt (June 2022). "Alex Jones is a threat to democracy". CNN.
  25. 1 2 3 United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack; Remnick, David; Raskin, Jamie (2022). The January 6th Report. Celadon. p. 328. ISBN   9781250877956.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  26. 1 2 3 Schmidt, Michael S. (July 12, 2022). "Takeaways From Tuesday's Hearing by the Jan. 6 Committee". The New York Times.
  27. ↑ Grayer, Annie; Darcy, Oliver (January 25, 2022). "Alex Jones met with 1/6 committee and says he pleaded the Fifth 'almost 100 times'". CNN.
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