Michigan domestic terrorist with farmhouse full of swords wanted to create 'white ethnostate'

On Tuesday, Deadline Detroit reported on new details of an arrested 25-year-old man from Bad Axe, Michigan, who served as the leader of the infamous neo-Nazi group The Base.

"Bridge Michigan reports on the case of Justen Watkins, a 25-year-old from Bad Axe described as the national leader of a neo-Nazi group that envisions 'white ethno states' in the Upper Peninsula and other rural area," said the report. "The agent said Watkins ran training drills and 'then used propaganda from [those] hate camps to recruit' more members, according to Jonathan Oosting of Bridge." The two of them allegedly targeted Daniel Harper, who co-hosts the anti-white nationalism podcast "I Don't Speak German."

A previous report by the Huron Daily Tribune revealed that his farmhouse in Bad Axe contained a variety of tactical and surveillance equipment, as well as multiple blades: "The only weapons listed were a machete, a 'Sword with Nazi Symbol' and a modified knife." He was arrested multiple times, including in April for breaking into a building at the group's former training camp.

Cells of The Base have popped up around the country, with authorities busting multiple terrorists at a training area in Georgia. Last year, raids, in Georgia and Delaware caught another member, Patrik Mathews, a former Canadian reservist who had reportedly been marked for assassination by his fellow white supremacists for incompetence.