Tipsheet

Is This Why 60 Minutes Dropped This Segment About Disaster Relief and White Nationalists?

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  May 05, 2026 12:30 AM

So, what is going on here? CBS News’s 60 Minutes decided to dig deep into a white nationalist group that no one had heard of, which is trying to soften its image by offering aid in the aftermath of natural disasters:

A surge of tornadoes tore across a large swath of the country in April, carving a path of destruction. Over 200 tornadoes hit over 20 states, closely clustered in the last couple of weeks. And hurricane season is just around the corner.

Our story tonight is about what happens after these natural disasters. A pattern has emerged in recent years in which militias, conspiracists, and white supremacists show up to hard-hit communities — as they did last week in Texas — offering help. But they've been called disaster tourists who are out to sow doubt in government, soften their own image and gain followers.

September 2024. Hurricane Helene barreled through North Carolina with forces so powerful, it nearly wiped the town of Bat Cave off the map, lifting homes and toppling trees.

[…]

Robert Rundo co-founded Active Club in 2020 as a place for disgruntled, young white men to work out together, while sharing their ideology.

With nearly 90 chapters, it's been described by watchdogs as one of the country's fastest growing white supremacist networks, that are antisemitic, anti-immigrant, and anti-democracy. They also hold mixed martial arts tournaments.

Yeah, okay, I’ve never heard of these people, but they’re your typical band of white nationalists who yell a lot but have little to no power. Sure, keep an eye on them, as that’s been done before by watchdog groups, but this is hardly ‘enemy of the state’ territory, and I say that as someone these people would happily beat to death. I don’t care. The irony here is that this network talked about disaster relief and Nazis, while the main activist group that supposedly targets groups like this, the Southern Poverty Law Center, was slapped with multiple federal charges, including one that claimed the SPLC was actually funding the racist chaos to boost its profile. You just can’t make this up: fighting racism by subsidizing it, so you can fight it again. 

That wouldn’t have any bearing on this oddly timed segment, would it? 

What is even more urgent is that FEMA has gone unfunded for over 70 days, thanks to the antics of the Democratic Party and their crazy, blue-haired, nose-pierced base. 

Also, this network couldn't find anyone who did disaster relief that wasn't weird white nationalists? Those people are the heroes, and the real story here. And some are very angry about being overlooked to do damage control: