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For the Dear of Guns, God, and Donald Trump

Inside the Rod of Fe Festival, an annual effect held in rural Pennsylvania that's large on gun ownership 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 sure 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'due south up-and-comers, and its biggest names.

Reverend Hyung Jin "Sean" Moon, the called heir of Unification Church building'southward founder (you lot may know them every bit "The Moonies"), acts equally the head of the Pennsylvania Sanctuary Church. His brother, Justin Moon, is the owner of the successful Kahr Firearms Group, a maker of semi-automatic handguns and a principal sponsor of the Rod of Fe Festival.

In previous years, the festival drew thousands of attendees. This twelvemonth, attendees numbered in the low hundreds. Well-nigh were Korean Americans who either flew in or were members of the Reverend Moon'south congregation outside of Scranton, Pennsylvania. The rest were mostly white Pennsylvanians who showed upwards for a love of God, guns, and Donald Trump.

The speakers included local political figures, such equally Pennsylvania Congressional candidate Teddy Daniels and sometime Pennsylvania state Reprepresentative Rick Saccone, along with a smattering of national conservative figures like Dana Loesch of the NRA's online video channel NRATV and sometime Trump adviser Steve Bannon (via skype).

While Trump is no longer in the White Business firm, his presence filled the hearts and minds of nearly Rod of Iron attendees. The MAGA cult was in total forcefulness here, with nearly every spreaker praising the one-time leader and questioning the outcome of the otherwise-resolved 2020 election.

Reverend Sean Moon (left) wears a crown of bullets and a gilt AR-xv beyond 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 whatsoever successful MAGA event. The idea that liberals need safe spaces is the regular punchline among the proudly "toxic" masculine men of MAGA. And then here at the Rod of Iron Festival, they congenital what I originally idea was a children's play area only was, in fact, a mock "prophylactic space."

Teddy Daniels, a Congressional candidate for Pennsylvania'due south Eighth District 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 adjuration to the U.Due south. Constitution are amid the highest authorities in the country and exercise not demand to mind to the other elected leaders or the U.S. Supreme Court. He's seen here posing in front end of a Iii Percenter flag. (He has in the by aligned himself with the OathKeepers, a group that is made up of many "Threepers.")

Guns were, of course, ubiquitous. But and so were gun-shaped souvenirs, including the chocolates sold at a coffee and desserts tent. Cindy's 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 grandfather brought chocolates for his grandchildren at Christmas afterward beingness freed from a North Korean concentration army camp past U.S. troops in 1950, during the Korean War.

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

Some attendees brand their ain custom flags, such as this fan of Alex Jones and his show "InfoWars" who likewise discussed his belief in QAnon. In my curt chat with him, as he held a flag referencing the meme that "Epstein didn't hang himself," he riffed on nigh every conspiracy theory I know, from Trump winning 2020 to a deep state cover-up of Biden's mental capabilities.

Every yr at the Rod of Iron Festival, there's an art contest. Most of the art is focused on Reverend Moon and his brother, similar this paper clay figurine with an AR-15 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 Sat, Oct ix. Her speech focused on how her friends told her not to attend the Rod of Iron Festival. She denounced the website The Daily Creature for an article that outlined Rod of Iron'southward far-right funders and connections.

The nighttime concluded with an all-encompassing fireworks show that reverberated over the unabridged region, with the remaining audition numbering effectually 100 as the testify started to run late. The extremely pro-American ring that airtight out the night went on for a long time, playing i encore later on some other.