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Denver shooter retweeted, liked alt-right influencer Cernovich at least 170 times
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Denver shooter retweeted, liked alt-right influencer Cernovich at least 170 times

Lyndon McLeod who shot and killed at least 6 people liked Cernovich tweets 129 times and retweeted or quoted another 41 times.

Hoaxlines
Dec 29, 2021
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Denver shooter retweeted, liked alt-right influencer Cernovich at least 170 times
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Last updated December 30 9:05 am

The following is a record from Hoaxlines. Roman McClay and McClay_Roman are believed to be pseudonyms of Lyndon McLeod, a suspect in a shooting that has killed six people. The Twitter account “Roman_McClay” and “McClay_Roman” promoted a book written by McLeod under the pseudonym Roman McClay.

According to Account Analysis, the Roman_McClay account joined Twitter on November 22, 2019. Hoaxlines cannot confirm whether the account belongs to Lyndon McLeod, but available reporting indicates this. Additionally, the decline in tweet counts and interactions with these two accounts further supports the idea that these accounts belonged to McLeod.

Image from December 29, 2021 | 7:15 pm EST

Although follower change appears minimal, dozens of followers unfollowed and were replaced by new followers.

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Cernovich received considerable attention from McLeod

  • Roman_McClay retweeted Cernovich 29 times, with 7 of those retweets being quotes.1

  • Two accounts (Roman_McClay and McClay_Roman) attributed to McLeod liked 127 unique Cernovich tweets at least 129 times.2

  • Although we were not able to get screen captures before Twitter removed the account, Hoaxlines data collection indicates that the McClay_Roman account retweeted Cernovich an additional 12 times.3

  • Combining the 129 likes (127 unique tweets from Cernovich) + 29 retweets/quotes (from Roman_McClay) + 12 retweets (from McClay_Roman) = 170 engagements with Cernovich by McLeod alias accounts.4

    • Quote tweets from McClay_Roman have yet to be added due to complications from Twitter’s removal of the account.

  • Cernovich promoted the Denver shooter’s book via retweet. The dialogue can be seen in an archived thread.

    Image

Cernovich, a prominent conservative influencer, was described by the Southern Poverty Law Center:

Mike Cernovich rose to prominence on the back of his male supremacist rhetoric before latching on to the racist and misogynistic so-called “alt-right.”

SPCL states that Cernovich frequently accused people of pedophilia or child sex trafficking with no supporting evidence and promoted the Pizzagate conspiracy, culminating in a man arriving at a pizza parlor with a firearm to free children he believed were being sex trafficked. Media Matters reported in 2016:

An armed shooter opened fire at a Washington, D.C., pizzeria in order to “self-investigate” a false conspiracy about the restaurant pushed by fake news websites and spread by fringe right-wing media outlets.

The conspiracy theory emerged in the aftermath of a hacking believed to have been carried out by Russian agents. Cernovich saw his star rise following a Twitter endorsement from former Trump National Security adviser and campaign associate Michael Flynn who resigned and pled guilty to lying about interactions with Russian Ambassador Kislyak.5


Influencers in tweets liked, retweeted by McLeod

Influencers appearing in McLeod pseudonym accounts include Cernovich, JackPosobiec, TimCast, JordanBPeterson, GenFlynn (now-deleted account of Michael Flynn), and other far-right figures.

Roman quoted a tweet from Cernovich in 2020 that espoused a belief in a liberal conspiracy—a war on beauty or Christianity—against Christianity.

The two accounts retweeted references to political violence. In one tweet, Cernovich says, “I can’t help you people if you’re not ready to upend this political system.”

McClay_Roman retweeted another Cernovich tweet that read, “Great figures are also often tragic ones.”6

Between the Roman_McClay and McClay_Roman accounts, Hoaxlines found ten interactions with tweets from JackPosobiec. The content included discussion of “Waco” and “4D Warfare.”

Roman_McClay retweeted a tweet from JackPosobiec of a Tim Pool (TimCast) video.

Another retweet included TimCast and JoeRogan.

The hashtag “horseshoesandhandgrenades” accompanies mentions of JackMurphyLive and TimCast.

In one tweet, the author JordanBPeterson was tagged, suggesting possible attendance at a public appearance.

Roman_McClay retweeted a tweet that quoted Jordan B Peterson.

One obscure but concerning comparison likened McClay to a proponent of extremist ideology. The article, linked in a tweet, groups McClay with Aleksandr Dugin, a Russian philosopher who has had some sway over thought leaders and political elites — the degree to which he influenced them sees some debate.

On a WordPress website called Autistic Mercury, two excerpts make the comparison to Dugin:

A bold exploration of the warrior impulse in contemporary literature, which gives vivid illustrations of themes Nietzsche, Evola, Dugin and Fernandez outline, in figures like the Übermensch, the Absolute Individual, the Radical Subject, and the Solar Warrior, is Roman McClay’s Sanction …

Harsh as it may be, Sanction is the kind of literature Novalis would have had to write had he lived today. It is what Roberto Calasso would term absolute literature, Harold Bloom literary theurgy, Joséphin Péladan simply magic. It’s also a renewal and celebration of the Word in English, the Lingua Latina of the contemporary Occident, from the belly of Leviathan. In the beginning was not Nietzsche, Evola, Dugin, or any other thinker, but the Word. To the extent we master the word we can master the chaos by taking control of our own story. Roman McClay’s Sanction is a great reminder of this. And there are certain words and people not content with being confined by literature.

Matthew Sharpe writes in “Alexander Dugin, Eurasianism, and the American election” about Dugin’s ideology, which posed a threat to the United States:

“Dugin was advising Russian elites as early as the 1990s, laying out what looks like a blueprint for the kinds of activities presently under CIA investigation:

encouraging all kinds of separatism and ethnic, social and racial conflicts, actively supporting all dissident movements – extremist, racist, and sectarian groups, thus destabilizing internal political processes in the US. It would also make sense simultaneously to support isolationist tendencies in American politics …”

Dugin advocated for “genuine, true, radically revolutionary and consistent, fascist fascism.”


Themes in tweets

Misogyny appears across McLeod’s pseudonymous accounts. Hatred or violence toward women has become a common find in the aftermath of mass shootings.

Heritage and genetic lineage are mentioned regularly, directly and indirectly.

Mistrust of the media and the justice system appear in tweets from McCleod.

Liked by now-deleted McClay_Roman account.

Paranoia and mistrust of science can be seen in tweets related to coronavirus.

Beliefs that flow from this fear of corruption and unseen conspiracy seem to play a role in the justification for violence.

Tweet liked by McClay_Roman.
Archived tweet from McClay_Roman.

A tweet — pictured via an archive saved on the day McClay_Roman posted it — included an image that read, “War is coming. It’s in the math.”

Another image in the same tweet reads, “You don’t reconcile a country this divided without it.” Later in the same thread, a profile picture shows McClay_Roman liked a comment that reads, “Time to buy more guns.”

McClay_Roman tweets and replies.

One word overwhelmingly describes the message and mission of these two accounts: violence.

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Footnotes and citations

1

Cernovich quote tweets:

Cernovich quote tweets from Roman_McClay.

Cernovich retweets by Roman McClay.

2

Cernovich tweet IDs liked by Roman_McClay or McClay_Roman

We pulled data on December 29, 2021, at 9:30 am using the Twlets tool.

1. 1260335185356193794

2. 1248455105667465220

3. 1254458281197580288

4. 1249501954763603970

5. 1250219143946780678

6. 1249782438198476800

7. 1254113503872335873

8. 1260339496832299008

9. 1253883152797319168

10. 1250879097716322304

11. 1248652347556777985

12. 1249556945960415232

13. 1253523813444120580

14. 1255223306422292485

15. 1237550032359796743

16. 1249508952448139266

17. 1249782285735530496

18. 1259973830161788929

19. 1266505191777427457

20. 1258238278316122112

21. 1249886627180265478

22. 1251295756868218880

23. 1248433082585059329

24. 1255170177211105280

25. 1255650243082891264

26. 1248396165063688192

27. 1248382643567087618

28. 1248433668164440066

29. 1248399440114638852

30. 1258464577353691136

31. 1258500284457742337

32. 1249783870268084224

33. 1251605173136474113

34. 1250223581751136256

35. 1248756982506344448

36. 1254863882671108102

37. 1247957106210177025

38. 1254921572101603330

39. 1254484511682781184

40. 1248719749317566465

41. 1249183887735087104

42. 1250177839644602368

43. 1249493262877863941

44. 1250177448756404224

45. 1253868033359020032

46. 1262896551648727040

47. 1265457828103196673

48. 1248360803008303104

49. 1249490459337969664

50. 1249395138528456705

51. 1253765509608280066

52. 1255631842935369729

53. 1251625267145080837

54. 1249837946842251265

55. 1260339783781371904

56. 1251627990947106817

57. 1248387954038325255

58. 1253876008135962625

59. 1250987086460735490

60. 1267175981489336320

61. 1267210221727834112

62. 1256453191438225410

63. 1249794628599111680

64. 1249159068884795392

65. 1248693869987819520

66. 1248718692491227136

67. 1260332297137483776

68. 1254913395284992000

69. 1267208274635415552

70. 1250879295616176129

71. 1261440967208349698

72. 1267209140926996481

73. 1247593087343288320

74. 1248387023859113987

75. 1255666025011515392

76. 1256751191347703808

77. 1267181088629075968

78. 1248404051072438272

79. 1254162861187756032

80. 1250514210733412352

81. 1249185835557236736

82. 1265356593736019969

83. 1248401624365543430

84. 1251627354620940289

85. 1255661086990233600

86. 1248384066916773888

87. 1264278700599635968

88. 1251375793462272002

89. 1256685983694610432

90. 1259899900734476289

91. 1259975191842533376

92. 1250855453325746176

93. 1252018684991811585

94. 1266876135146569728

95. 1267884785277431809

96. 1251878673839357952

97. 1249670684290224129

98. 1258500957903568896

99. 1254165069006434304

100. 1260261372811595777

101. 1248435756755873800

102. 1253098737049628672

103. 1249742563826978828

104. 1267227964854370305

105. 1256310493108559873

106. 1254501744316383238

107. 1249488723030315014

108. 1266414306406653953

109. 1262629306821275651

110. 1249786265731465218

111. 1242271684863750145

112. 1252323409431654402

113. 1255298172706054145

114. 1254165290058833920

115. 1249887948910321664

116. 1251587729650888704

117. 1248387391162732544

118. 1248786671144861697

119. 1249483407228317698

120. 1250169309869084674

121. 1252359749468708866

122. 1247943249693511680

123. 1253100943391944704

124. 1267175128497971200

125. 1260356845979369473

126. 1246971203278913536

127. 1256342397534928896

3

Readers can find retweets and quote tweets from Cernovich under citation No. 1. Retweets of Cernovich from McClay_Roman in the table below:

Retweets by Roman_McClay.
Retweet counts from mcclay_roman.

4

We counted 129 likes of 127 unique tweets from Cernovich between McLeod’s two accounts (r_m and m_r), plus the 29 retweets (which includes seven quote retweets) from Roman_McClay, embedded in the report above (citation No. 3). Additionally, there are 12 retweets we were unable to capture before they were removed, along with the account mcclay_roman. 127 likes + 29 retweets/quotes + 12 quotes = 168 engagements with Cernovich by McLeod alias accounts.

Retweet counts from mcclay_roman.

Retweets from roman_mcclay.
5

The referenced passage appears on page 9.

6

Cernovich retweets by McClay_Roman, pulled December 29 via Twlets.

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Denver shooter retweeted, liked alt-right influencer Cernovich at least 170 times
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