'I'm ready for civil war' American Doom's exclusive on far-right extremist in Illinois
Meet Dalton Mattus, a pipe bomb enthusiast who trafficked in far-right conspiracies.
Tonight’s edition of American Doom is being published in conjunction with a companion piece at Rolling Stone that delves into the case of Dalton Mattus, an Illinois man who was arrested last week for possessing homemade pipe bombs and whose online history shows he was consumed by right-wing conspiracies and extremist, anti-government beliefs. This piece is free, but this work is not, so first let me thank our subscribers for their support. American Doom is the only publication regularly exposing local election denial officials amid our ongoing coverage of right-wing extremism and threats to democracy. To support that work, please subscribe here.
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“See what the left wants,” Dalton Mattus said atop a post that is hidden from my view on Facebook. “If you support this and are against Trump get the fuck off my page or gather your nuts and say so so I can get you scum bags taken off myself. If it was up to me I would gather patriots and go to war against these domestic terrorist.”
I wish I knew what Mattus was referencing that had him saying he was willing to go to war, but I can’t see the post, just his comment about it. Maybe it was removed by Facebook, or maybe it was removed by whoever originally posted it. It doesn’t really matter, though. There is plenty on Mattus’ page that lets me know who he is and what he believes.
Like many Americans, Mattus believes the unbelievable: The 2020 election was obviously stolen from Trump, the Biden family is criminally corrupt, microwave energy rays, chemtrails and flouride threaten us all, globalism spells the end of America, birth rates are decreasing because of trans rights and feminization of women, Michelle Obama is a man, our gun rights are being taken away so the government can control us, a global cabal of pedophiles is raping and eating kids, a liberal, new world order will bring tyranny to America, COVID was fake, vaccines are harming us, Hollywood is pushing a gay agenda, the global banking system is keeping us down, elites are planning a post-apocolypse utopia in bunkers being constructed that normal people won’t be allowed into, social media is censoring conservatives even though Facebook and TikTok are where Mattus learned all of these things. And on and on. My head is spinning from reading all this for the last four days. Post after post, day after day, from summer 2020 until just two weeks ago, Dalton Mattus went on a ride that I’ve become very familiar with, a dark journey down into the far-right fringe of American politics where many of my fellow countrymen spend far too much time.
Mattus is under arrest for having homemade bombs in his possession near my hometown of Peoria, Illinois, and I’m sharing my findings about his descent into far-right conspiracies both here and at Rolling Stone. It’s the first collaboration between American Doom and Rolling Stone, and it would not be possible without the help of a tipster who supports our work here, and who pointed me to Mattus’ Facebook page, where he professed beliefs in just about every right-wing, anti-government conspiracy you can imagine.
Prior to 2020, Mattus posted nothing political. Then, like many Americans, he began his slide into right-wing madness in 2020, when the pandemic, nationwide protests against police brutality in the wake of the killing of George Floyd, and Trump’s election lies took hold. You can view some of Mattus’ handiwork below — what I wrote at Rolling Stone was a “toxic stew” of the dregs of the far-right Internet — as well as on our Instagram page, where I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets flagged for misinformation (lol).
Had enough yet? Here at American Doom, we’ve been looking at this madness all week. Welcome to the show.
Mattus is among far too many Americans who have been radicalized online in recent years and who are clamoring for violence against their perceived enemies. Exacerbating the situation are politicians and leaders fueling misinformation, lies and conspiracies about Democrats, the left, LGBTQ communities and people of color, immigrants, and the government, among many other targets of right-wing hate.
Just in the past few weeks, disturbing developments that show a hastening toward anti-democratic behavior and threats of political violence have dominated the news cycle. Here is an incomplete list:
Republicans from Tim Scott, to Lindsay Graham and many others have refused to say they’ll accept any election results that don’t include a Trump win in November, fomenting rage over bogus claims of widespread voter fraud that will goad people into violence come election time
Trump critic Nikki Haley abandoned any sense of principle and said she’ll vote for him
Trump claimed Biden was “locked and loaded” during the Mar-a-Lago raid, with Marjorie Taylor-Greene chiming in that the current president planned to assassinate the former one
Trump’s attacks against the judge in his New York criminal trial have caused a spike in the former president’s followers calling for violence against anyone courts, judges and prosecutors
Members of Congress and lower-level politicians and government officials across the country continue to be the subject of threats and harassment by Trump supporters
Texas governor Greg Abbott and his criminally corrupt attorney general Ken Paxton signaled it’s open season in Texas on left-wing protesters in their efforts to obtain a pardon for a right-winger who killed a Black Lives Matter protester in 2020
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has been exposed as an anti-democratic force after news broke that he has flown two flags supporting insurrectionists in recent years
Two out of three Americans fear widespread political violence this year
Does this feel like a stable country to you? I know I’m specifically attuned to these types of events and stories, but I don’t think it’s hyperbolic to say that we are primed for widespread political violence as we trudge toward November. Mattus seems like a dark harbinger of those times to come.
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P.S. I was really honored that someone who follows my work would think to tip me off to Mattus. I was even more honored when he told me why he appreciates what I do. The tipster said he followed me because we’re both from Peoria and that I have a “sentimentality” about my hometown that “translates into a great sense of things nationally.” “You are not what people who are caught in these dark rabbit holes of conspiracies mean when they use ‘journalist’ as a pejorative,” he told me. “You're a lunch pail type and you can't fake the funk on that.” Without a doubt the greatest compliment I’ve ever received for my approach to this work. Just as a reminder: the gamers out there like me running ragged on the road and trying to write honestly and with an independent conviction about what we’re seeing are fewer and farther between than they’ve been in a while.
That’s why I need your help to maintain my independence and keep bringing you the unvarnished and uncomfortable truths I come across in my travels and investigations. Until May 31, you can support my work for as little as $4 a month. Shit’s gonna get crazy in the next few months, so I think you’ll want to be along for this ride. To stay up to date on the madness, subscribe to American Doom here and follow us on Twitter and Instagram.
Congrats on the Rolling Stone collaboration. Here, in Iowa, many of our county supervisors are election deniers. Most are Republicans. That they can deny elections that they themselves won along with Biden is stunning to me. The mental gymnastics these people go through is incredible.
Thanks for your service to our country and your concern for others. This has been a shit-show for years and it's going to get worse. I still become shocked when outrageous things happen, when liars, thieves and conspiracists show who they are--and I think that's good. I will NOT grow numb. Here in TN, we have the lowest voter turnout in the Nation and those who "are awake" are doing everything we can to change that.