American Renaissance Attendees Include Retired Idaho Police Captain
Speakers at this weekend鈥檚 American Renaissance conference included a former congressman; a self-described 鈥減roud Islamophobe鈥� who once handcuffed herself to Twitter鈥檚 headquarters; and a recently retired captain in Boise, Idaho鈥檚 Police Department (BPD) whose identification by an antifascist researcher and activist has been corroborated by Hatewatch.
The latter speaker was billed under the pseudonym 鈥淒aniel Vinyard,鈥� and was set to present a talk entitled 鈥淭he Vilification of Police and What it Means for America.鈥�
鈥淒aniel Vinyard鈥� has previously been interviewed on camera by American Renaissance鈥檚 Jared Taylor, and published articles on the organization鈥檚 website, including one through the lens of his 鈥渞ace realist鈥� beliefs.
(Taylor uses the euphemism 鈥渞ace realism鈥� to give a pseudoscientific gloss to white nationalists鈥� racist beliefs, including their claims that Black people are on average intellectually inferior to whites, and innately more prone to criminal behavior.)
In a Twitter thread, antifascist journalist Molly Conger 聽鈥淰inyard鈥� as Matthew Bryngelson, a career police officer who had recently retired from the Boise, Idaho Police Department (BPD).
The Idaho Statesman published a report Sunday evening which 聽the identification. Their report drew outraged comments denouncing Bryngelson鈥檚 white supremacist views from , Lauren McLean, and the
Hatewatch also sought to corroborate Conger鈥檚 thread on Sunday, consulting BPD Facebook posts cited by Conger, as well as other public documents and online sources in corroborating the identification.
One such 聽highlighted Bryngelson鈥檚 retirement last August. The photographs appear to be of the same person interviewed by Taylor, with matching facial features and matching tattoos.
Other photographs of Bryngelson appear in several other BPD posts, and all of them appear to depict the same person interviewed by Taylor.
Material on BPD鈥檚 website indicates that Captain Bryngelson headed their patrol division and worked at the department for 22 years. Public salary records indicate that as of 2021, Captain Bryngelson鈥檚 annual salary was $144,789.
BPD highlighted Bryngelson in its outreach efforts: From January 2022 until his retirement, he , 鈥淧olice Beat.鈥�
Hatewatch texted and left a voicemail at a cellphone number that data broker services identified as Bryngelson's. Bryngelson did not identify himself affirmatively in a text response, and broke off the conversation when Hatewatch's reporter announced himself. The voicemail message, however, identified the device as "Matt's phone."
Hatewatch also contacted conference organizer and founder, Jared Taylor, for comment on Bryngelson鈥檚 appearance, but received no immediate response.
Hatewatch previously reported聽that conference speakers would include far-right internet performer and failed congressional candidate, Laura Loomer, and former congressman and open white nationalist, Steve King.
Loomer 聽to Twitter鈥檚 New York City headquarters in 2018 after her account on the social media site was suspended. The previous year, an anti-Muslim tirade online saw her from an array of online platforms and services including .
Jason Kessler, an organizer of the deadly 2017 鈥淯nite the Right鈥� rally and a contributor to a wide variety of white nationalist publications, of himself with King on Twitter on Saturday night. In the image, both King and Kessler are giving a thumbs up.
Other speakers billed on the conference鈥檚 online schedule included 鈥淕regory Hood,鈥� a pseudonym whose owner Hatewatch previously identified聽as Kevin DeAnna, 39, of Harper鈥檚 Ferry, West Virginia. Under the Hood pseudonym, DeAnna wrote columns for a range of white nationalist publications, along with a 2015 manifesto lambasting so-called 鈥淐uckservatives.鈥�
Despite being identified by Hatewatch in early 2020, DeAnna continues to use the 鈥淗ood鈥� pen name, even during public speaking events.
Also on the bill was 鈥淐hristopher Zeeman,鈥� one of the pseudonyms used by John Christopher 鈥淐hris鈥� Zander, 56, of Cockeysville in suburban Baltimore, Maryland. Hatewatch previously identified聽Zander as the person behind the 鈥淶 Man鈥� alias, under which he produces a white nationalist blog and podcast, earning an estimated five figure income from fans of this material on low-moderation subscription site, SubscribeStar.
Like Hood, Zander also continues to use his pseudonyms despite being publicly identified by Hatewatch.聽Other U.S.-based white nationalists were also in attendance, including VDARE publisher Peter Brimelow, livestreamer and Nick Fuentes ally Dalton Clodfelter and blogger Brad Griffin.
Again this year, the conference connected American white nationalists with their far-right counterparts overseas.
One of the scheduled speakers was Reuben Kaalep, a co-founder of Estonia鈥檚 far-right, anti-immigrant Conservative People鈥檚 Party.
Kaalep led the party鈥檚 Blue Awakening youth movement. The youth wing holds annual torchlit marches in the capital, Talinn, under the motto 鈥淓stonia for Estonians鈥�, which have been by advocacy groups including the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
Rounding out the conference schedule were Klan lawyer and real estate huckster聽Sam Dickson, and white nationalist podcaster, Henrik Palmgren.
While Taylor has worked for decades to position American Renaissance as providing a sophisticated version of racist ideology, pictures of the event posted online showed attendees enjoying Sutter Home Merlot,聽聽at $4.19 in a mixed dozen at one Nashville retailer.
Photo illustration by 人兽性交
