Marina S. | Corresponsal de Red Phoenix | Kansas–
After the horrific shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego, it has become clear that, under the auspices of the Trump regime, fascist terrorists have felt emboldened to intensify their attacks against workers, LGBTQIA+ people, and people of oppressed races, ethnicities, and nationalities. One particularly noteworthy cell perpetrating right-wing terror is the Heartland Active Club (HAC), representing the states of Kansas and Missouri, and its leader Jacob Daniel Jones, who poses a severe and immediate danger to local communities.
Despite the rise in attacks, due to both the deliberate obscuring of violent crime data by the Department of Justice and a certain hesitancy on the part of media outlets to report on these subjects, it has never been easier for right-wing extremists to maintain their anonymity. The growth of so-called “Active Clubs,” an international network of decentralized white supremacist cells organized through social media, with ties to the militia movement and the fascist Patriot Front, largely organized through social media networks like Telegram. As of June 2025, there were 187 Active Club chapters operating in 27 countries. The relatively quick spread in popularity of these groups led Alexander Ritzmann, an advisor to the Counter Extremism Project, to remark: “I’ve never seen a network in right-wing extremism grow so fast. Usually, it takes years to build a transnational network.”
On Jan. 21, 2026, Decoherence Media published an article identifying Jacob Daniel Jones, a 32 year-old man from Olathe, KS, as the leader of the HAC. Working under the Telegram username “Prairie ⴲ Nationalist 🌲,” Jones has claimed to be a proponent of “National Socialist thought” for over a decade, and has said that after leaving the United States Marine Corps, he was briefly a member of the neo-Nazi Identity Evropa group. Jones has also made posts praising the white supremacist mass murderer Anders Brevik for fighting against “international communism.” Under Jones’ leadership, the HAC has engaged in actions ranging from sparring and martial arts training, to stencil painting Patriot Front insignias on buildings and engaging in pseudo-military exercises held at outdoor shooting ranges.
Jacob Jones’ tenure as head of the HAC has also coincided with increased collaboration with right-wing militia groups to deepen their network of nationalist cells. Through Telegram, the HAC has held regular communications with the Mid-Missouri Minutemen (MMN), active largely in the Ozarks region of Missouri. This is particularly troubling, as the MMN is among the larger militia groups in the country and has cultivated a particularly virulent white nationalist base, with members openly calling for genocidal race war within their Telegram chats. While the recruitment tactics of these groups are still woefully understudied, the Southern Poverty Law Center believes that the close connections between Active Clubs and both the militia movement and the Patriot Front has contributed to the rapid spread of these groups. While in-person events do take place, most of the development of these groups is taking place on-line and with members remaining more-or-less anonymous.
It is under the protection afforded by online messaging and communication networks that the HAC is actively preparing for violent action. While some Active Clubs in the U.S. have downplayed the role of military training in the movement, this is not the case with the HAC. At least four HAC members took part in a “run and gun” style shooting event held in Versailles, Missouri. Even more disturbing was the discovery of pictures showing Jacob Jones posing in military gear, holding a rifle while recreating the image of a recruitment poster used by Rhodesian Security Forces. The legacy and imagery of the white minority-led Republic of Rhodesia has long been used as a rallying point for fascist groups. This particularly holds true for HAC, as Jones has explicitly stated that he has developed the military standard operating procedures for the group using the training and policy of the Selous Scouts, a special forces unit of the Rhodesian military known for committing atrocities, including the use of biological weapons. When these details are coupled with Jones’ aforementioned celebration of Anders Brevik’s murders, the violent intentions of the HAC become clear.
Yet despite the obvious danger posed, the HAC and similar groups are receiving little notice. As of the time of writing, there has been no coverage of Jacob Jones outside of the aforementioned Decoherence article, and only a handful of stories from various outlets have addressed the HAC. While the emphasis these groups place on secrecy is partly to blame, it would be unwise to ignore the role of deliberate obfuscation.
Last year, the Department of Justice quietly removed a study it had published finding that far-right extremists commit far more violence than other domestic terrorist groups. This policy was further developed with the 2026 Counterterrorism Strategy released by the Trump regime. This document made no references to right-wing terrorist groups but primarily concerned itself with leftists, “pro-transgender groups,” and Trump’s typical political targets.
Shortly after the barbaric attack on the San Diego Islamic Center, the reactionary internet personality Laura Loomer spread lies about the victims and called for the center to be raided by ICE and the FBI. Perpetrators of fascist violence clearly can see that they have an ally in the White House.
We, the working and oppressed peoples of America, find ourselves in critical times. As the contradictions intrinsic to capitalism intensify, we can only expect the onslaught of fascist violence to likewise intensify. While the portion of the ruling class represented by Trump will actively court fascists and white supremacists as its political base, the portion of the bourgeoisie represented by the Democratic Party is more interested in blaming leftists for its failures than in combating reactionary violence. We must accept that no help is coming from the political establishment, and we know this from the history of the communist and labor movements.
In the first half of the 20th Century, the struggle against fascism was fought by the militant international working class under the courageous leadership of the Soviet Union. In this hour of historical upheaval, it is the workers that must lead the charge in exposing and fighting the members of the fascist networks that have developed in America and abroad. This will require courage, vigilance and above all, dedication to the struggles of all oppressed peoples. But if history has taught us anything, it is that when the workers of the world are united and guided by the principles of scientific socialism, no fascist horde is powerful enough to oppose them!
