A white nationalist known to followers as Baked Alaska moved here a year ago, part of a larger migration to Florida.
Gionet, 34, has been a steady figure in the Trump era, outlasting other white nationalists who attained wider name recognition but faded from view. He was one of the few alt-right celebrities at the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, who went on to play a visible role in the Capitol breach. In December from Gionet’s living room, three men laughed while hoisting a Nazi flag on camera.
He now aligns with the America First movement, an alt-right spinoff whose 24-year-old founder Nick Fuentes paints immigration as a threat to traditional values and rejects the Republican party for being too moderate.
Fuentes, of Chicago, has hosted four conferences in Florida since early 2020 that have drawn political figures and white supremacists like failed congressional candidate Laura Loomer and former U.S. Rep. Steve King.
“Time and again it’s shown that hateful rhetoric and words can lead to violence and that is really the danger that comes from this,” Berger said.
Before killing 11 people at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018, the shooter posted antisemitic comments on a far-right website.
‘Our boy Donald J. Trump’
Gionet will be sentenced on Jan. 12 for his role in the Capitol insurrection after pleading guilty in July to one misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. It carries a maximum sentence of six months in prison.
Inside the building that day, Gionet turned the camera to his face as he picked up a phone in an office and pretended to speak to the U.S. Senate.
“Yes we have a fraudulent election I would like to report,” he said. “Yeah, we need to get our boy Donald J. Trump into office.”