An Antifa member who has been trying to shut down The Post Millennial is revealed to have a history of racism, antisemitism, incitement to violence and is the subject of on-going accusations of harassing and threatening behavior in court filings.
A Los Angeles-based self-identified Antifa member turned self-identified journalist who has been trying to shut down The Post Millennial is revealed to have a history of racism, anti-Semitism, incitement to violence and is the subject of on-going accusations of harassing and threatening behavior in court filings. Additionally, left-wing activist women have accused the militant leftist of predatory behavior.
Chad Loder, a well-to-do 45-year-old white male from Redondo Beach, Calif. with a professional career in digital security, has spearheaded a scorched-earth campaign to target this journalist and advertisers on TPM after I tweeted out in September that he was served a temporary protective order from a person who accused him of repeated threatening behavior. (Loder denies the accusation in his court filing and his legal team is trying to get the restraining order dismissed based on free speech grounds.)
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View on XLoder champions himself as a self-styled “Antifa leader” due to his large social media following and his viral promotion of violent direct actions in southern California. He has also provided instructions to comrades on where to throw firebombs. He boasts over 100,000 zealous followers, mostly those who are militantly far-left. Using his army of online trolls, he tries to get targets fired, harassed and deplatformed. He has admitted to compiling “dossiers” containing personal information about his targets.
On Sept. 9, Loder tagged VPN company SurfShark in"> a tweet with a false accusation: “Hey @surfshark, why do you run ads on a site run by Andy Ngo? He works with Proud Boys and Capitol rioters to target journalists with death threats.”
Loder did not provide evidence for his claim and quickly deleted his original tweet after Surf Shark responded by saying it was “speechless” and would cease advertising on TPM. Following the success of his tweet, Loder tagged other companies that advertise on TPM using the same strategy.
Corporations are notoriously risk-averse and would rather sever small business ties than spend the resources and time to investigate online accusations, whether spurious or accurate. Partisan political operatives and political activists like Loder have exploited this to go after small conservative websites and businesses all the way up to corporate giant Fox News.
Throughout September and October, Loder tagged more than a dozen advertisers and ad networks with variations of false accusations that this journalist is involved in a criminal conspiracy to kill him and his family and that TPM is a neo-Nazi website. Loder has not provided evidence for his claims nor has he reported this journalist to local police. (Filing a false police report is a crime.)
Loder’s latest disinformation campaign follows a history of him spreading falsehoods about this journalist. In early August, Loder accused me of assaulting people at an Oregon demonstration. I was not in the U.S. at the time. “Andy panicked and bear sprayed his own Proud Boy buddies because he was too scared to get close,” Loder"> falsely claimed.
Loder is working in conjunction with self-described Antifa activist Nandini Jammi to target advertisers on TPM. Jammi founded and runs the group, Check My Ads Institute, which says it fights disinformation but in practice seeks to financially harm conservative news sites that challenge left-wing or liberal orthodoxy. Jammi targets their advertisers with spurious claims their brand is appearing on neo-Nazi websites. Jammi has passed information to the New York City cell of Antifa and tweeted last year, “Antifa isn’t a dirty word. It’s an effort we all need to be part of right now.” In addition to TPM, Jammi has tried to financially damage news sites Daily Wire and Daily Caller.
“@kargo appears to have dropped The Post Millennial, a disinformation outlet run by Andy Ngo, a violent and Islamophobic right-wing extremist,” Jammi tweeted in August along with a photo of this journalist bleeding from an assault by Antifa. “Hard to state how dangerous this individual is.”
For months, Jammi continued to use Twitter to tag dozens of businesses that have advertising on TPM.
In November, she tweeted to luxury fitness chain, Equinox: “Did you mean for your ads to sponsor The Post Millennial (thepostmillennial(.)com), an outlet that features content by neo-Nazis and promotes transphobia?” The screenshot she posted in her tweet included a photo of one of TPM’s writers, Ari Hoffman, who is Orthodox Jewish. Equinox responded the following day saying it had added TPM to its “blacklist.”
“The only reason companies listen to them is because intimidation and terror work, but that doesn't make them right,” says Libby Emmons, editor-in-chief of TPM. “We're not going to be silenced, and neither is the half of the U.S. that is tired of being talked down to by a bunch of finger-wagging scolds.”
For weeks, Jammi solicited for what she said were “tax deductible” donations for her “non-profit 501(c)3 organization.” However, the organization does not show up on the IRS list of tax exempt organizations. (Check My Ads Institute suddenly modified its website recently to now say it is a non-profit “pending” 501(c)3 organization.)
Beyond that, Check My Ads may have applied to be a charity on false pretenses due to its documented intervention against political candidates last year. In August 2020, Jammi successfully pressured data analytics company HotJar to terminate its business relationship with the Republican Party and the Trump/Pence 2020 re-election campaign. Check My Ads Institute currently has a page detailing Jammi’s role as head of the group in harming Trump’s campaign. According to U.S. federal law, tax-exempt organizations are prohibited from directly or indirectly intervening on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate.
Loder and Jammi retweet one another and celebrate publicly whenever they have success at harming TPM or other conservative sites.
Though now seen as a social media bulldog for the left, TPM can report that Loder has a history of racism and extremism that he’s since tried to scrub from existence. On at least two occasions he’s tried to now hide, Loder has referred to black people he disagrees with as “buck dancers.” Buck dancing was a racist stage routine used by minstrel performers, often in black face, in 19th century America.
On Sept. 29, tweeted out a portrait of Jordan Dixon-Hamilton, a conservative activist and law student at Pepperdine University, with the text, “Imagine being so unsuccessful in life that the only move you got left is to buck dance for Nazis. Corny ass.”
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This wasn’t the only instance of Loder targeting a black person in a racist tweet. In February this year, he tweeted out a flyer for a conservative event in Yucaipa, Calif. that featured several black speakers. “How much do you think they get paid to buck dance at a Civil War reenactment in front of a bunch of white supremacists?” Loder wrote. And in October 2020, Loder posted a photograph of a black conservative activist who was severely bleeding after being assaulted. “Sounds like San Francisco doesn’t like fascists coming to their city. FA/FO [F—k around, find out],” Loder tweeted.
Dixon-Hamilton says Loder’s racism is predictable.
“[White leftists] pretend to care and fight for us, but the second a black person questions the narrative, they throw racist attacks our way."
Loder also has a history of expressing particular disdain for Israel using anti-Semitic tropes where Jews are compared to Nazis and genocidaires. In May, Loder called Israel a “white supremacist state” supported by white supremacists. He also referred to a group of Jewish people holding an Israeli flag in Los Angeles as “zionist fascists.” The following month, he tweeted that “zionism is violent settler colonialism.” In response to California state senator Melissa Melendez asking for prayers for Israel as the country was being attacked by rockets from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, Loder tweeted: “We shall not forget that you support ethnic cleansing.”
And though Loder now champions himself as an ally to women and LGBTQ people—going so far as to identify as “non-binary” on Twitter despite explicity identifying as a “white male” and using male pronouns in recent court filings—several left-wing activist women on social media have accused him of predatory and inappropriate behavior.
In August 2020, Twitter user "@sladeofyaupon" posted screenshots of a direct message from Loder where he sent her an unsolicited shirtless photo of himself next to a young child. She wrote: "Women should be able to participate in activist communities without dealing with creepy dudes. I only followed @/chadloder because I thought he would be a useful comrade. I'm angry."
Jackie Singh, a left-wing cybersecurity expert who worked for Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign on security matters, initially defended Loder for being an ally but then later tweeted tersely: “I retract my support for this individual [Loder].”
In May 2021, a second woman posted screenshots of a direct message from Loder making comments on her appearance. "Y'all don't have to boost this but I just want everyone to be aware this dude hopped in my DMs hitting on me," she wrote.
Loder also frequently posts about his sex life and comments on women’s photos. And in a disturbing August 2021 tweet, he mocked the homicide of a woman using sexual innuendo. Loder posted a photograph of Ashli Babbitt with the text: “Click here to meet local girls who take hot loads to the chest.” Babbitt was shot dead inside the Capitol on Jan. 6 by a police officer.
Since September, Loder has suddenly begun identifying as a journalist, despite explicitly rejecting the label on at least a dozen instances that he has since deleted from his Twitter account. As recently as late August 2021, Loder tweeted, “I am not a journalist. I have never claimed to be a journalist.” In late July, Loder wrote, “I am an activist, not a journalist. My bias should be quite obvious.” And the month before that, he tweeted, “I have never claimed to be a journalist. I am an activist and I state my agenda clearly.”
Why his sudden change in identity? If his court filings are anything to go by, it may be to lead a court into believing he is a reliable and impartial witness as he embarks on lawfare against political opponents and law enforcement. Loder’s history on Twitter includes now-deleted posts celebrating extreme political violence and he has even given directives on how best to use explosives.
On July 3, Loder tweeted out a photograph of a street preacher gushing blood from his head with the text, “No hate rallies in LA,” a punching emoji and “gtfoh” [get the f— out of here]. The preacher was one of several people who were beaten by Antifa at a riot outside the Wi Spa in Los Angeles. During the summer, Loder and Antifa groups in Southern California defended the trans woman accused of exposing an erect penis to women and girls at the spa. Loder even dressed in black bloc to harass a videographer at the second violent Wi Spa Antifa direct action on July 17. In September, this journalist broke the news that the suspect in the case is a registered sex offender with a history of indecent exposure convictions. She remains at-large on the arrest warrants.
Loder’s support of extreme violence was even more explicit in other tweets.
Throughout May 2020, Loder expressed a desire to murder wealthy people and lawmakers, despite being wealthy himself. Loder was the co-founder and CEO of security training company Habitu8 before it was acquired by Arctic Wolf in an undisclosed purchase believed to be in the millions. Loder still falsely claims to be the CEO on his LinkedIn profile. (Arctic Wolf confirmed to TPM he has no affiliation with the company.)
When Loder was asked how he was supporting criminals, a role he proudly"> proclaimed to be involved in, he responded that he"> tries to jail break them so they can go on to kill and rob people. On May 22, 2020, Loder spoke more directly about his desire to kill lawmakers in a thread about student loan debt: “F— it, behead them all.”
In October 2020, Loder praised the shooting death of Lee Keltner, a Donald Trump-supporting 49-year-old who was killed at an Antifa direct action in Denver. Loder posted graphic photos of the shooting and Keltner’s corpse along with the text: “Right through his eye. Shattered the lens of his glasses. Damn impressive shot too.” He later tweeted that he masturbates to some dead people.
On the one-year anniversary homicide of Aaron Danielson, a Donald Trump supporter who was shot dead in Portland by Antifa member Michael Reinoehl in August 2020, Loder tweeted out a photograph of Danielson with the superimposed text: “I got my shots!”
In November 2020, Loder tweeted out photographs of “Antifa comrades” that were “martyred.” Among the people he honored was armed Antifa Washington state fire bomber Willem van Spronsen. Van Spronsen was shot dead by police in 2019 after throwing firebombs and trying to ignite a 500-gallon propane tank at the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement facility in Tacoma, Wash. Loder wrote, “NO MEMORIAL BUT ATTACK.”
In May this year, Loder took ownership of the fact that he guided violent rioters in Colombia on what to target with firebombs. “Molotovs should be thrown under the vehicle,” Loder wrote along with a fire emoji. An anarchist account that has since been permanently banned on Twitter responded, “Chad with the helpful tips as always.”
Loder’s erasure of his extremist past coincides with him now identifying as a “citizen journalist” in at least three court filings in Los Angeles County in September related to temporary restraining orders. He claims he is being targeted for his journalism in the court filings.
Loder’s current lawfare casts a wide net. On Oct. 7, Loder filed a lawsuit against Los Angeles County and its sheriff over allegations that he was wrongly targeted and injured by law enforcement when he was in attendance at a violent riot last year and during a subsequent arrest.
Loder alleges that he is dealing with significant emotional and physical harm that has him suffering from "bouts of crying." He doesn’t name the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) deputies that allegedly injured him, referring to them as “[John] Does 1–10."
One of the incidents where Loder was allegedly injured by law enforcement occurred on Sept. 7, 2020, outside the South L.A. Sheriff's Station. That night, Antifa and far-left rioters hurled bricks, rocks, and chunks of concrete at deputies. Officers were forced to respond with crowd control munitions to disperse the rioters, according to Deputy Morgan Arteaga. Loder’s lawsuit falsely described the riot as a “peaceful” protest attended by “peaceful protesters.”
Loder claims that unnamed deputies struck him several times in the groin, leg, and abdominal area with impact munitions during the riot. In addition to experiencing uncontrollable crying, Loder says the injuries have left him with depression, loss of sleep, anxiety, and fear.
After the riot, Loder was arrested two days later on Sept. 9 by LASD deputies. Loder says he was pulled over while he was driving and had his property confiscated. He admits in the lawsuit to carrying riot gear including “six-to-eight umbrellas,” shields and a respirator. Antifa use black umbrellas at riots to hide one another from surveillance cameras while they prepare projectile weapons and commit crimes.
Loder alleges he was transported to jail without a seatbelt, inducing further pain and emotional trauma. Loder was booked into the Los Angeles County Jail on unspecified misdemeanor charges and had his bail set at $5,000, which was paid by the National Lawyers Guild of Los Angeles. The NLG is a anarchist-communist legal group that provides legal aid and bail to far-left criminal suspects.
Loder rebranding himself as a “citizen journalist” and civil rights activist has led to payoffs. John Hamasaki, one of his attorneys, is a San Francisco police commissioner. Ken White, also known as “Popehat,” a popular liberal law blogger, has also defended Loder. This week, The Intercept ran a sympathetic profile which presented Loder as the victim of this journalist and the far-right.
Why has Loder worked tirelessly to try to silence this crime reporter and TPM? The answer may be found in Loder’s own statements. In a March 2020 tweet, Loder wrote: “My life mission is to radicalize my fellow whites until they’re ready to do crimes in the name of justice.” As a result, he targets journalists and news organizations as a cover for his own actions and advocacy for violent criminality.
