Two Wisconsin Catholic priests, on podcast, say antifa is responsible for the Capitol uprising

Two Catholic priests from Wisconsin appeared in a podcast, a day after the attack on the US Capitol in a violent insurgency, to spread conspiracy theories that the riot was in fact a “false flag” instigated by members. of antifa.

The two priests, Richard Heilman of St. Mary of Pine Bluff Catholic Church in Cross Plains, and James Altman of St. James the Less Catholic Church in La Crosse, spent the hour-long podcast apologizing to supporters of Trump and the Christians who stormed the Capitol; discuss COVID-19 conspiracy theories; attacking the media as “ungodly”; to complain about canceling culture; presaging a coming civil war; attacking Breonna Taylor and Trayvon Martin and saying true Catholics did not vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

The two Wisconsin priests were joined by Doug Barry, a Catholic speaker with a website that advertises a service to prepare Catholics for “battle.”

The podcast, US Grace Force, which aims to “grow a huge army of spiritual warriors,” has more than 45,000 subscribers on YouTube. The episode in which Heilman and Altman appear was recorded on January 6, the day of the Capitol Riots, and is titled “Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God.” The episode racked up over 72,000 views on YouTube.

A Patreon associated with the podcast sells access to “levels”. For $ 5 per month, a person can join the US Grace Force Infantry to receive exclusive images. For $ 25 per month, a person can become a general and receive Heilman and Barry’s “Checklist for Spiritual Defense of Your Home”. At the $ 100 per month level, the member becomes a member of the “Secret Service” and receives the US Force Grace weapon holster.

“I think I have my doubts,” Heilman says at the start of the series. “With limited information, but from what I can tell so far, it appears to be in part an infiltration of antifa. There is a lot of evidence showing that they have exchanged messages before this event where they were going to disguise themselves as supporters of Trump. ”

Later in the podcast, Altman calls the Capitol Riot a “false flag,” a term commonly used by online conspiracy theorists such as Alex Jones, while Barry says only one man on Facebook told him that for sure “a bus full of antifa members,” was on the attack.

“Why dress up as a Trump supporter unless you do something to make Trump supporters look bad,” Heilman asks. He also claims in the podcast that Jake Chansley – the follower of QAnon who stormed the Senate chambers while carrying Viking horns and a spear – is an antifa member. Chansley, also known as QAnon Shaman, has been charged with federal offenses and has a long history of right-wing activism.

The three men say on the show that the violence was bad and only happened because the antifa members encouraged the rioters. The FBI refuted this claim.

Besides refusing to believe the insurgents were conservatives and Trump supporters instigated by the president, the three men spend time preying on people of color, Democrats and the media, among other targets.

“They fired all the cops involved in this, what’s her name?” Altman spoke about the Louisville cops who shot and killed Breonna Taylor. “Look, nobody has the guts to say, ‘Hey honey, you were hanging out with a bad guy to start with, that’s why the police were coming over there. And now you kick him out, you got another bad guy in there shooting the police. All right, you brought it.

The three have constantly complained that the media is not helping them advance their agenda.

“They won’t help us, are you kidding me?” Altman said the media refused to identify rioters supporting Trump as antifa. “They’re not going to help us, they’re just going to use this. Look, they’re so agenda driven, evil, ungodly. You were right about their impiety.

In a discussion of whether Catholics should prepare for the coming civil war, Altman said there was a need to do more than pray, otherwise Catholics and conservatives would be brought together “like the Jews in the ghettos. “. He also called out Communists Biden and Franklin Roosevelt while saying “no Catholic can vote with [Kamala Harris’] name on the ticket.

While exit polls are not an exact measure of a demographic group’s vote, they found the Catholic vote split 50-50 between Trump and Biden.

Several times in the episode, the three men hinted that soon violence will be needed to protect America. Heilman said Catholics will have to be “strong” because “we have a battle in our hands.” Altman threatened that a time would come when he and others would break up and have to fight because people are trying to destroy America.

“Over the past six months we have seen ungodly riots, looting, arson and shooting,” Altman said. “If all of a sudden [Trump supporters are] is going to be demonized by this dirty left-wing media. So there comes a time when we’re not going to take it anymore. ”

Barry was even more explicit, claiming towards the end of the show that large-scale political violence is coming.

“If someone in their right mind doesn’t see more trouble coming,” Barry said. “Potentially war, civil war, larger scale violence, you got your head stuck in a sandbox somewhere, I can’t even help you.” ”

The three men are worried about any collateral damage that will arise as they fight for the country.

Several times in the podcast, Altman tackles a tangent of COVID-19 conspiracy against masks and vaccines – though the show beeps those two words.

“They do it out of stupidity,” Altman said of wearing the mask. “If containment worked the first time, why have another one? If it didn’t work, why get another one? If the masks worked, it would all be over now. Anyone who thinks differently doesn’t know the first thing about masks and medicine. ”

The scientific consensus among epidemiologists is that quarantines, mask wear and social distancing are very effective measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

“We are trained to be checked,” Heilman added.

The Catholic Dioceses of Madison and La Crosse did not respond to requests for comment on their priests.

Heilman and Altman also did not respond to requests for comment, although they said they would come for anyone who tried to criticize them.

“People on the left should be afraid of trying to cancel any of us,” Altman said.