Regional Overview
United States & Canada
July 2024

United States: Demonstrations in support of Trump rise after assassination attempt

In July, the US presidential campaign witnessed two of the most significant political developments in recent history. On 13 July, a man shot former President Donald Trump and grazed his ear during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, while President Joe Biden announced his decision to withdraw from the presidential race on 21 July. In the immediate aftermath of this assassination attempt, demonstrations in support of Trump spiked to their highest levels since January 2021, which saw widespread anger following the 2020 election that culminated in the January 6 Capitol riots. Trump’s home state, Florida, saw the highest number of pro-Trump rallies. 

Meanwhile, demonstrations in support of Biden increased in July in support of his candidacy and continued after his 21 July announcement that he would drop out of the 2024 presidential race in response to internal party pressure after a disastrous debate performance. These demonstrations mainly took the form of “Thank you, Biden” rallies, supporting his decision to withdraw. Consequently, pro-Biden demonstrations also reached their highest levels since 2021. However, anti-Biden demonstrations — nearly all opposing his administration’s support to Israel’s war in Gaza — continued to outpace pro-Biden demonstrations by more than four to one. 

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United States: Demonstrations against police brutality spike after officer kills Sonya Massey

On 6 July, a deputy shot and killed Sonya Massey, an unarmed Black woman, in her home in Springfield, Illinois. Court documents reportedly indicate that Massey had called 911 to report a possible home intruder. Body cam footage showed that an officer instructed her to turn off her stove under a pot of boiling water, then, after she picked up the pot, demanded that she drop it. The officer shot her in the face three times. Massey was pronounced dead at the hospital. The other officer provided first aid, despite the officer who shot Massey telling him not to.¹Eric Levenson, Jillian Sykes, and Brad Parks, ‘Illinois police release bodycam video of fatal shooting of Black woman in her home,’ CNN, 23 July 2024 The master sergeant for the Illinois State Police later determined the officer’s use of force was not justified. He is now indicted on three counts of first-degree murder and other charges related to her death. 

Demonstrations demanding justice for Massey spread outside of Illinois after the release of the body camera footage of the shooting on 22 July. On 28 July, a Black-led nonprofit, Until Freedom, organized a National Day of Mourning for Sonya Massey, for which demonstrations took place across at least 13 cities. While demonstrations have since spread to at least 16 states, the majority of demonstrations were in Illinois, where the event occurred. Demonstrations calling for justice in Massey’s death the highest level of demonstration activity in a single month against police brutality in 2024 so far.

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Group Spotlight: Active Clubs

White nationalist groups have proliferated in the United States in recent years, even as far-right activity on the whole has declined. Multiple groups, including White Lives Matter, have mobilized members across the country by creating a decentralized network of local chapters. Perhaps the most significant group employing this tactic is the Rise Above Movement (RAM). The group’s founder, Robert Rundo, was indicted in 2018 for planning and carrying out assaults against counter-demonstrators during his time in the Rise Above Movement. In a December 2020 essay, Rundo called for more local engagement from cells of white supremacist groups, giving rise to more localized ‘Active Clubs,’ essentially white supremacist ‘fight clubs’ that train members in combat skills and participate in demonstrations.²Morgan Moon and Jon Lewis, ‘Amid Robert Rundo’s Extradition, the White Supremacist Active Clubs Network Remains a Threat,’ Just Security, 1 September 2023 RAM has since created a loose network of ‘Active Clubs’ with dozens of chapters across the country. 

ACLED records Active Clubs training events, recruiting, and participating in demonstrations. When they gather in public, Active Clubs typically participate in anti-LGBTQ+ demonstrations and espouse white supremacy. Since January 2020, they have been most active in Tennessee, Michigan, and California, which have each seen a similar number of events. Active Clubs demonstrate alongside Patriot Front or White Lives Matter affiliates in around half of all demonstrations they participate in. Their close activity is not limited to demonstrations as they also participate in training and recruitment drives together. In the Pacific Northwest, Active Clubs, Vinland Rebels, White Lives Matter affiliates, and the Rose City Nationalists have further collaborated to create a coalition known as the Northwest Nationalist Network. This coalition typically demonstrates together against the LGBTQ+ community in Montana, Washington, Oregon, and Wyoming.

Despite many Active Clubs existing as a loose network, developments in July suggest that some active clubs are merging to create larger cells that cover sub-regions rather than a local area. In July, the Alamo Active Club, based in San Antonio, Texas, announced that it had subsumed the Dallas–Fort Worth area’s Parker County Active Club, consolidating north Texas under the leadership of a single Active Club.³X @stevanzetti, 16 July 2024 This announcement follows the identification of the leader of the Parker County Active Club by the Texas Observer and Bellingcat in February,⁴Steven Monacelli, ‘Parker County ‘White Nationalist Fight Club’ Leader Exposed,’ Texas Observer, 15 February 2024 and may point to the larger consolidation and centralization of Active Clubs in the US.

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