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For the Dear of Guns, God, and Donald Trump

Inside the Rod of Atomic number 26 Festival, an annual event held in rural Pennsylvania that'southward large on gun buying and brings together the most devoted MAGA fanatics.

The Rod of Iron Festival is a two-day event in rural northern Pennsylvania that celebrates God, guns, and a certain former President.

Organized by the Moon family, who have created a rightwing religious cult that "worships" AR-15s and preaches a gun-focused faith, the festival functions as a showcase for the far right's upward-and-comers, and its biggest names.

Reverend Hyung Jin "Sean" Moon, the called heir of Unification Church building's founder (yous may know them as "The Moonies"), acts equally the head of the Pennsylvania Sanctuary Church. His brother, Justin Moon, is the possessor of the successful Kahr Firearms Grouping, a maker of semi-automatic handguns and a primary sponsor of the Rod of Iron Festival.

In previous years, the festival drew thousands of attendees. This twelvemonth, attendees numbered in the depression hundreds. Most were Korean Americans who either flew in or were members of the Reverend Moon's congregation outside of Scranton, Pennsylvania. The rest were generally white Pennsylvanians who showed upwards for a beloved of God, guns, and Donald Trump.

The speakers included local political figures, such as Pennsylvania Congressional candidate Teddy Daniels and quondam Pennsylvania country Reprepresentative Rick Saccone, along with a smattering of national conservative figures like Dana Loesch of the NRA'due south online video aqueduct NRATV and old Trump adviser Steve Bannon (via skype).

While Trump is no longer in the White House, his presence filled the hearts and minds of most Rod of Iron attendees. The MAGA cult was in total forcefulness here, with nearly every spreaker praising the former leader and questioning the outcome of the otherwise-resolved 2022 election.

Reverend Sean Moon (left) wears a crown of bullets and a golden AR-xv across his chest as he waits backstage to open his festival. His older brother and KAHR Arms founder, Justin, seems to find the adoration that Sean receives amusing.

"Owning the libs" is a core principle of any successful MAGA event. The idea that liberals need safe spaces is the regular punchline among the proudly "toxic" masculine men of MAGA. And so here at the Rod of Atomic number 26 Festival, they built what I originally thought was a children's play surface area just was, in fact, a mock "safe space."

Teddy Daniels, a Congressional candidate for Pennsylvania's Eighth Commune and a proudly toxic man.

Sheriff Richard Mack, a founder of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, believes that elected sheriffs who swear their oath to the U.S. Constitution are amongst the highest authorities in the land and do non need to listen to the other elected leaders or the U.S. Supreme Court. He's seen hither posing in front of a 3 Percenter flag. (He has in the past aligned himself with the OathKeepers, a grouping that is made up of many "Threepers.")

Guns were, of class, ubiquitous. But so were gun-shaped souvenirs, including the chocolates sold at a coffee and desserts tent. Cindy'south Gun Sweets were created past a granddaughter of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon. The box they come in tells the story of how Cindy's grandpa brought chocolates for his grandchildren at Christmas after being freed from a North Korean concentration camp past U.S. troops in 1950, during the Korean State of war.

Flags at MAGA events are a big thing. Simply even at the Trump rallies I've been to, I've never seen flags every bit extensive as on this "America's Flag Truck," a pick-upward decked out with dozens of dissimilar varieties of the Confederate flag.

Some attendees make their own custom flags, such equally this fan of Alex Jones and his show "InfoWars" who also discussed his belief in QAnon. In my curt conversation with him, every bit he held a flag referencing the meme that "Epstein didn't hang himself," he riffed on well-nigh every conspiracy theory I know, from Trump winning 2022 to a deep state cover-upward of Biden's mental capabilities.

Every year at the Rod of Iron Festival, at that place'due south an art contest. Most of the art is focused on Reverend Moon and his blood brother, like this paper clay figurine with an AR-xv accessory. Other pieces included digital art of Jesus with an AR-fifteen and photos of the Moons on motorcycles.

Former NRATV host Dana Loesch was the keynote speaker on Saturday, October nine. Her voice communication focused on how her friends told her not to attend the Rod of Iron Festival. She denounced the website The Daily Beast for an article that outlined Rod of Iron'southward far-right funders and connections.

The night ended with an extensive fireworks show that reverberated over the entire region, with the remaining audience numbering around 100 every bit the prove started to run tardily. The extremely pro-American ring that airtight out the night went on for a long time, playing i encore later on another.