Far-Right Extremists Are LARPing as Emergency Workers in Los Angeles | WIRED

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White supremacists and MAGA livestreamers are using the wildfires to solicit donations, juice social media engagement, and recruit new followers. Photograph: Ali Matin/GettySave this storySaveSave this storySave

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 Sanchez and three other members of his Nationalist Network group set up shop at the entrance to Santa Monica Pier. Sanchez, 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.

Sanchez, 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."

Sanchez, 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 Sanchez's group made donations.)

While Sanchez 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, Sanchez 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," Sanchez wrote on Telegram and X on Sunday morning.

A donation link Sanchez 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 Sanchez 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," Sanchez 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 Sanchez 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.

One pair of livestreamers, who in the past have been featured on Alex Jones' Infowars platforms, produced a 17-minute "documentary" on the wildfires filled with disinformation about the source of the fires and the actions of the LA fire department.

In some cases, livestreamers moved from documenting the aftermath of the fires to LARPing as firefighters.

A livestreamer who is known online as Anthony Aguero, who typically livestreams from the US-Mexico border while pushing anti-immigrant disinformation, posted a video of himself tackling a fire he says he came across while driving in LA on Monday.

"I jumped on to action and became a firefighter for a few minutes," Aguero wrote on X. "I don't understand how not 1 person tried to stop this fire, it took a guy from Texas to stop it."

The video shows Aguero carrying a bucket filled with water toward the flames; as he leaves, there are clearly still flames visible behind him. Aguero, who calls himself an "independent reporter bringing you raw truth," also posted a video in which he was talking to Los Angeles Police Department officers on Sunday, claiming in accompanying text that 20 to 30 officers were involved in questioning him and a number of other people who were with him at the time after they were "SWATTED BY LEFTISTS."

In another video posted on YouTube, Aguero is seen chasing police cars through the streets of LA trying to see what incident they were responding to.

Aguero didn't respond to a request for comment.

Aguero is one of numerous so-called citizen journalists who have filmed themselves in dangerous situations in recent days. Some appear in the midst of firefighters trying to tackle a blaze, at times traveling toward approaching fires rather than away from them. Other videos show them engaging in vigilantism, chasing people they allege to be looters while continuing to livestream to their followers.

These videos are typically posted on X and YouTube, where livestreamers solicit donations or post links to their merchandise sites. Almost all of the streamers have blue checkmarks on X, which means their accounts are able to monetize the content they post.