"Did he say fight?" Drew Miller asked me. It was July 13th, and we were in rural Colorado, near an outpost of Fortitude Ranch, a network of survivalist retreats that Miller has constructed in anticipation of civilizational collapse. News of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump the first one-had just pinged: a young man named Thomas Crooks had shot at Trump from a rooftop near a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, striking his right ear. Trump had stood, with blood on his face, and shouted to his crowd, "Fight, fight, fight!" The shooter's motives were unknown, but Republicans were blaming Democrats. "File charges against Joseph R. Biden for inciting an assassination," Representative Mike Collins posted on X. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene accused the "evil" Democratic Party of attempting "murder." Miller's phone began to make the sound of a dog barking-his ringtone-as members and employees of the ranches sent texts and e-mails.
A salesperson in Nevada was seeing a sudden increase in requests to join: "Member interest. I'm already getting previous leads texting me." A member in Colorado wondered if it was time to mobilize: "Should we do an alert?" As the barking continued, I asked what Miller thought. "This could stir things up," he said, after a heavy pause.
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