Backgrounder

National Justice Party

National Justice Party

Key Points:

  • The National Justice Party (NJP) was formed in August 2020 by a number of well-known white supremacists, most of whom attended the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
  • NJP is virulently antisemitic and blames Jews for multiple problems in the U.S.
  • While the group refers to itself as a “party,” it is not registered with the Federal Election Commission.
  • NJP has an “unofficial” party platform that includes calls for whites to be protected by the Civil Rights Act; an end to all immigration; promotion of traditional family values, and restrictions on Jews in the media, government and other institutions.
  • Many NJP founders are known for their explicit racist and antisemitic language and views and some members have been involved in violence.
Backgrounder: National Justice Party

NJP Chairman, Mike Peinovich speaking at NJP event in July 2021. Various white supremacists were in attendance, including Thomas Rousseau of Patriot Front and Lucca Corgiat of the Rise Above Movement.

 

Background:

In August 2020, a group of white supremacists, including some who attended the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, formed a new political party called the National Justice Party. Mike Peinovich, a.k.a. Mike Enoch, who runs the white supremacist website The Right Stuff (TRS), discussed the formation of the new party for weeks on his TRS podcast prior to the group’s inaugural event.

As NJP chairman, Peinovich gave the inaugural speech on August 15, 2020, at a location somewhere in the Northeast U.S. Peinovich’s virulently antisemitic speech blamed Jews for problems facing the U.S. and targeted at least one non-profit for working with tech companies to “censor” white nationalists.

Peinovich expressed a number of grievances about circumstances facing white people in America. He said, “The way I am seeing the humiliation, degradation…the violence and the attacks on not just white people, but everything we stand for, every moral value that we hold, under attack.” Peinovich also argued that “Charlottesville was important because it laid bare every issue that we are dealing with now…We saw what was coming, we tried to warn America.” Peinovich says antiracist demonstrators in Charlottesville were “allowed” to carry out violence and now they believe they have permission to terrorize white people in the streets today.

Ideology:

NJP is a virulently antisemitic white supremacist group that claims to be “an organization that will advocate for White civil rights, the working and middle class, and the traditional family against our corrupt and illegitimate institutions.” NJP members will “use our constitutional rights to challenge the consensus view among wealthy elites, politicians and intellectuals that White people are not a legitimate group and are not deserving of advocacy.”

The group’s purpose “is political self-determination for White Americans and the restoration of the European values upon which this country was founded.”

The group blames Jews for society’s ills, which Peinovich highlighted in his inaugural speech, saying, “The enemy is....capitalism, Zionism, the international Jewish oligarchy. These are the people that are oppressing us.” NJP stresses the achievements of white Americans, claiming “the ideas of freedom, Liberty, justice… come out of the European intellectual tradition, the European philosophical tradition,” and argues that you need a white majority in the country to maintain those ideals. The NJP opposes the Republican Party, calling it “the party of Zionism.”

Backgrounder: National Justice Party

NJP post on Telegram stating their policy objective for a limit on “Jewish employment in vital institutions.” The post highlights cabinet members, like Janet Yellen and David Cohen, with Jewish heritage, underscoring a long-standing white supremacist conspiracy that Jews run the government.

 

NJP often co-opts news stories about alleged “Black on White” crime, using examples to support their claim that the white race is under attack and that the current system is skewed so white people are charged with hate crimes, while crimes committed by Black people are swept under the rug.  NJP has held rallies and demonstrations in Fargo, North Dakota, Akron, Ohio, and Waukesha, Wisconsin, where they highlighted instances where white people are murdered by Black perpetrators, and alleged racial hate crimes or “anti-white terrorism.” 

Platform:

Though Peinovich did not present an official party platform at their opening event and the group has not filed an application with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), he did list some of the group’s issues. He said, “Our issues are workers' rights; a just and peaceful Foreign policy --we will work with other nations but we will bow to none; a clean environment; defense of the family, pro-natal polices -- we need to be having children again. Freedom of speech and freedom of religion. And when I say that, I don't mean religions masquerading as a supremacy strategy – I mean real religions; true immigration reform, and a legal designation of the United States as a European majority country.”

NJP blames Jews not only for American “anti-white” policies, but also for “Zionist Foreign Policy” abroad. In a party meeting on April 23, 2022, Peinovich argued U.S. involvement in Ukraine, Syria, Iraq and Serbia were led by “Jewish interest groups.” “The Jewish view of war is not one that separates combatants and civilians,” he said. “It’s not one that separates governments and people. These distinctions are not recognized when Jews go to war, or when THEY HAVE US GO TO WAR FOR THEM, it’s a war against an entire people.”

Representative Sampling of points in the National Justice Party platform:

  • Extend the protections of the 1964 Civil Rights Act to the white majority.
  • Officially declare America a European majority state.
  • People will be entitled to be policed, educated and judged by individuals of their own race.
  • A complete end to immigration of all kinds as well as full enforcement of existing laws against those here illegally to ensure a permanent European majority.
  • Restoration of the right to free association, including in respects to race and sexual "preference."
  • A complete ban on “unnatural sexual practices,” particularly “homosexual, neoliberal, and transgender propaganda,” from being taught in schools with a focus on respect for motherhood and traditional family values.
  • No more war or foreign entanglements, especially not in the service of foreign interests like Israel.
  • Create an affirmative action program that caps Jewish representation at their population number of 2% to check their influence in “the banks, big business, mass media, universities, and other institutions.”

Membership:

In public recordings of NJP political meetings, speakers use black screen backgrounds to disguise their location and do not show audience members, making it difficult to identify both locations and attendees. NJP claimed that 150 people attended their fifth party event on July 24, 2021, but there are no pictures of the audience, and it is unclear how many people belong to the group. Previous NJP meetings have reportedly been held in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in a barn allegedly owned by Charles Bausman, the founder of white supremacist conspiracy site RussiaInsider.com.

Leadership:

NJP was founded by a number of well-known white supremacists:

  • Mike Peinovich aka Mike Enoch runs The Right Stuff website, which consists of a number of podcasts by fellow racists and antisemites. He is known for his podcast, “The Daily Shoah,” whose title trivializes the Holocaust. Peinovich helped organize the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville and is the Chairman of the National Justice Party.
  • Joseph Jordan, aka Erik Striker, is a white supremacist who has written for a number of white supremacist sites, including the neo-Nazi Daily Stormer. He also created a news site titled National Justice and does a weekly podcast with Peinovich on the The Right Stuff.
  • Tony Hovater is a neo-Nazi from Ohio who was a founding member of the now-defunct Traditionalist Worker Party. In November 2017, the New York Times published a profile of Hovater and was accused by readers and commentators of normalizing white supremacy. Hovater now serves as National Justice Party Chief of Staff.
  • Greg Conte was an associate of Richard Spencer and was the director of three of entities run by Spencer: Washington Summit Publishers, Altright Corporation, and the National Policy Institute, but he resigned from all three in 2018. Conte attended the Unite the Right rally in August 2017. He and another NJP committee member, Warren Balogh, are suing Charlottesville and the state of Virginia for events that happened at the rally. In March 2018, Conte was arrested after he clashed with protestors demonstrating against a scheduled speech by Spencer. Conte was fired from his job as a substitute teacher at a Catholic high school in Maryland after his white supremacist ties became known. Conte also used a pseudonym, Gregory Ritter.
  • Mike McKevitt, according to a report from the SPLC, is a white supremacist who uses the pseudonym “Potato Smasher” online “and is linked to members of The Right Stuff and Identity Dixie, a neo-Confederate group…” McKevitt is associated with a State Department official, Matthew Q. Gerbert, who is also a white supremacist. McKevitt’s wife is also involved in the white supremacist movement, according to SPLC. In addition, McKevitt worked on UH-60 helicopter repair in the Army from August 2012 to August 2018.
  • Warren Balogh is a white supremacist from Pittsburgh, who attended the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. He, along with Greg Conte, is suing the city of Charlottesville and the state of Virginia for events at the rally. Balogh serves as Secretary of the National Justice Party.
  • Alan Balogh, Warren’s father, is a long-time white supremacist and a former member of the neo-Nazi National Alliance.
Backgrounder: National Justice Party

Tony Hovater, Chief of Staff (left), Mike Peinovich, Chairman (center) and Warren Balogh, Secretary (right).

 

Activity

  • On August 13, 2022, approximately 30 individuals associated with NJP, led by Mike Peinovich, demonstrated in front of the Harold K Stubbs Justice Center in Akron, Ohio. The event was a repeat of their June 25 rally, where NJP protested the death of Ethan Liming in Akron. The event was attended by several NJP leaders, including Peinovich, Tony Hovater, Joseph Jordan, Warren Balogh and Michael McKevitt. This is the largest NJP public demonstration to date.
Backgrounder: National Justice Party

Warren Balogh delivering speech in Akron, Ohio on August 13, 2022.

  • On June 25, 2022, several dozen individuals associated with NJP protested the death of Ethan Liming, who was beaten to death after he and his friends allegedly shot gel pellets at several men playing basketball. Three Black men have been charged in his death; police have found no evidence of a hate crime. NJP alleges the incident demonstrates yet another example of Black-on-white crimes being “ignored.”
  • On June 4, 2022, Robert Paulsen, the father of 14-year-old Daisy “Jupiter” Paulsen, who was killed by Arthur Kollie, a Black man who is accused of stabbing her to death while high on meth, held a “Justice for Jupiter” in downtown Fargo, North Dakota. Various NJP members attended the event to protest so-called Black-on-white crime.
Backgrounder: National Justice Party
  • On April 23, 2022, NJP hosted its seventh party meeting. Joseph Jordan, Warren Balogh and Mike Peinovich delivered speeches about America’s alleged Zionist foreign policies and touched on elements of the Great Replacement Theory.
  • On November 27, 2021, several dozen individuals associated with NJP and Media2Rise, a production group associated with the white supremacist Rise Above Movement, held a demonstration outside the Waukesha, Wisconsin County Courthouse to demand hate crime charges be used against Darrell Edward Brooks Jr. Brooks faces six counts of first-degree intentional homicide after he drove into a Christmas Parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin. In February 2022, NJP and Media2Rise released a documentary in which they “investigate” Brooks to uncover his “bold history of advocating violence against White people.”
Backgrounder: National Justice Party
  • On November 6, 2021, NJP hosted its sixth party meeting. Mike Peinovich, Joseph Jordan and Gregory Conte spoke on themes related to Critical Race Theory and “anti-white hate.”
  • On July 24, 2021, NJP hosted their fifth party event in the midwest. All founding members were present. On October 11, 2021, Media2Rise, a production arm of the white supremacist Rise Above Movement, released a feature-length documentary of the event.
  • On April 10, 2021, NJP hosted their fourth party meeting. Alan Balogh, Joseph Jordan and Mike Peinovich spoke about the need for white Americans to break away from the GOP and to create their own “national political course.”
  • On January 23, 2021, NJP hosted a conference in response to the January 6 insurrection; Mike Peinovich delivered a speech that included disinformation about the attack on the Capitol and many tropes of the Great Replacement Theory.
  • On November 14, 2020, NJP hosted a conference in Pennsylvania where Mike Peinovich, Michael McKevitt and Warren Balogh delivered speeches.
  • On August 15, 2020, NJP held their inaugural event somewhere in the Northeast, which members claim was attended by 150-200 supporters. Mike Peinovich gave a virulently antisemitic speech at the event.
  • NJP has released several statements on their website: one expressed support for Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old who allegedly shot three protestors in Kenosha, killing two; another denounced “anti-white” violence in Kenosha, saying that whites were “sick of not being defended or protected.”