Secret audio recordings of calls between the leader of neo-nazi group the Base and more than 100 prospective new members show that the organization is recruiting those with military experience.
The recordings in question are part of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)'s three-part Baseless series (part of their Sounds Like Hate podcast) and consist of more than 80 hours of audio that was recorded starting in November 2018. The calls between the leader of the Base and the potential recruits originally took place on the encrypted app Wire, with a "confidential source" ultimately handing over the recordings to the SPLC, who has since confirmed their veracity.
"These are expressions of malcontentment with a real goal to destroy our nation," podcast producer and co-host Geraldine Moriba said of the recordings in a press release. "Little did I know when I agreed to investigate these stories the president would tell white supremacists to 'stand back and stand by,' and they would be emboldened to the point of openly pursuing their accelerationist plans."
Per the SPLC's research, the Base is comprised of small cells, members of which believe in (and push for) the total collapse of society in order to facilitate the rise of a "white ethnostate." In one recording, Base leader Rinaldo Nazzaro is heard stating he and the group "want things to get worse in the United States." The resulting chaos, Nazzaro is quoted as saying, would "present some opportunities" for the neo-nazi group that was widely covered in headlines earlier this year, as seen above via a KREM video from January.
An NBC News report on the recordings notes that twenty percent of the prospective recruits were active-duty military or had served in the past "in some capacity." According to that report, the Base has been found to be attempting its recruitment methods with specific aim on those with such military-related expertise in both the U.S. and Canada.
Part 1 of the Baseless series was released on Oct. 15 and takes a close look at what the SPLC calls the group's "vetting room." Parts 2 and 3, respectively, will arrive on Oct. 22 and Oct. 29. Click here for more info, including how to listen.
