By Phil Williams
Click here for updates on this story
NASHVILLE (WTVF) — He thinks Adolf Hitler may have been right. He talks about preparing for civil war.
And, now, he hopes to establish a Whites-only community in Tennessee.
Eric Orwoll, who is scheduled to be among the speakers at an annual white-nationalist conference at Montgomery Bell State Park in mid-November, has already made headlines with his controversial efforts to create a community in northeastern Arkansas that would bar people of color, as well as Jews and people who identify as LGBTQ.
Now, in an exclusive interview with NewsChannel 5, Orwoll admits encouraging people to join a white-nationalist group that trains young men to fight. Reluctantly, he also acknowledges having expressed anti-Jewish opinions and support for the Nazi leader.
“We’re concerned about the ability of White Americans to have their own communities in the future, and I think this is a discussion that needs to happen,” Orwold told NewsChannel 5 Investigates.
The Arkansas man wants to test federal fair housing laws that prohibit discrimination in the sale or rental of residential property. To achieve that goal, he created a group, called Return to the Land, that would operate a “private membership association”—essentially, a private club—that White members would join in hopes of circumventing those laws.
And Orwoll said he has plans to expand.
Where might next communities be?
“So, right now, there are a few hotspots that we’re homing in on in Idaho, Tennessee, the Ozarks,” he explained.
NewsChannel 5 responded, “You say, Tennessee?”
“Yeah, that’s one of those hotspots.”
“And where in Tennessee are you looking at?”
“A few different locations—eastern Tennessee, central Tennessee. So, I’m not gonna give away specific zip codes or anything.”
Return to the Land’s website shows a map that includes the eastern part of Middle Tennessee and all of East Tennessee that make up Appalachia.
That includes Jackson County where Christian nationalists are also hoping to establish a community, giving some of the same reasons Orwoll gives.
“Appalachia in general has a lot of founding stock Americans who are very rooted to the land here,” Orwoll said. “You know, people who came over more recently might not have that very deep sense of White American identity.”
It is a pitch that Orwoll plans to take to the annual American Renaissance Conference when it returns to Montgomery Bell State Park, just west of Nashville, Nov. 14-16.
Presenting himself as a thoughtful person, Eric Orwoll chooses his words carefully when describing his personal beliefs.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked, “How do you describe yourself? Are you a white supremacist? White nationalist? Neo-Nazi? Any of the above?”
“No, none of the above,” he insisted. “I’m a white identitarian. I think that ethnic identity, racial and ethnic identity is a big part of who you are.”
What about ties to Patriot Front?
While portraying himself as someone just interested in preserving White heritage, Orwoll has developed a close relationship with the white-nationalist Patriot Front, which wants to turn the U.S. into an ethnostate for Whites only.
NewsChannel 5 asked, “What is your relationship with the Patriot Front?”
“I believe that they are good-faith actors,” Orwoll responded, seemingly trying to keep some distance between himself and the controversial group.
“I think their ambitions for seeing political change are noble, even if I don’t completely agree with their strategy or, perhaps, ultimate objective.”
But photos posted by Patriot Front show Orwoll was one of the speakers recently at the group’s first national conference, alongside neo-Nazi Robert Rundo.
Rundo pleaded guilty last year to one count of conspiracy to violate the federal Anti-Riot Act “by plotting riots and engaging in violence” against protesters at Trump rallies.
A group photo from the conference shows Rundo posing with a clinched fist, while Orwoll is seen giving the fist-over-heart salute associated with members of Patriot Front.
Return to the Land recently posted a photo of Patriot Front founder Thomas Rousseau speaking at its own event. American Renaissance founder Jared Taylor was pictured at both gatherings.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates was curious about a social media post from Sept. 15 in which Orwoll stated: “Folks are willing to call for violence but unwilling to join one of the few groups on our side that know how to organize and deploy men.”
We asked, “Who is that group that you were referring to?”
“I was indirectly referring to Patriot Front,” he admitted.
As our NewsChannel 5 investigation has previously revealed, Patriot Front has built a compound in East Tennessee where it trains men to fight—although it claims that martial arts training is just a way for the men to develop themselves personally.
“Patriot Front does a lot of training for hand-to-hand combat,” NewsChannel 5 Investigates noted. “Do you think they’re in a position to—want to even—prepare for battle, for civil war?”
“Well, I’m not against preparing for civil war,” Orwoll answered, “because it may happen, not of our choosing. I think being in a position of strength, regardless of what happens, is a wise thing to do.”
Orwoll’s views on race, Jews
Orwoll has also argued that an iconic 1960 photo of U.S. marshals escorting 6-year-old Ruby Bridges, as she integrated a Louisiana elementary school, represents what he calls the “immorality” of forced integration.
“What they did was they chose one social model and said, ‘You’re all gonna live this way.’ And it just wasn’t really a democratic process.”
“Meaning the White people didn’t get their way?”
“The majority, the democratic majority, if they don’t get their way, that’s undemocratic.”
While he insists he is not antisemitic, NewsChannel 5 discovered that, after the UK’s Daily Mail revealed that Orwoll and his ex-wife had once starred in a series of livestreamed porn videos, he seemed to think one of the reporters’ ethnic backgrounds had something to do with it.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates noted, “You kept referring to it as the Jewish reporter, the Jewish journalist and I wasn’t sure why.”
“Well, they were Jewish,” Orwoll answered.
What did that have to do with the story about his controversial history?
“Well, the fact is that gentile journalists weren’t coming after me for having a White neighborhood—Jewish journalists were,” he continued.
Then, there was a post where another person on X wrote, “I do not blame all the Jews for everything. Don’t hate Jews for being Jews.”
Orwoll responded, “Have you considered that you might not know enough about Jews yet?”
The Return to the Land founder initially denied he had ever said such a thing. “I don’t think that’s a direct quote. And it could be a fake account.”
We showed him the post from his own X account.
“Yeah, I didn’t mean to insinuate that you should hate Jews for being Jews, uh, blaming Jews for everything,” he finally answered. “I may have been a bit tongue in cheek there.”
Then there was the post where he appeared to defend Adolf Hitler.
“Interesting that you don’t even acknowledge the alleged Jewish wrongdoing or what punishment that would merit if true,” he wrote.
NewsChannel 5 wanted to know, “Do you believe that the Jews had it coming from Hitler?”
“Had it coming? I mean, it’s not my place to judge,” Orwoll said blankly. “I think it is strange that when we look at World War II, people don’t actually take the claims of the people who felt aggrieved by the Jewish community in Europe.”
NewsChannel 5 Investigates observed, “It seems to me that saying there is no reason at all to murder six million Jews is an easy answer.”
“Yeah, well,” Orwoll responded, “I don’t know that six million Jews were murdered. I don’t know that.”
What’s next?
As for his hopes to establish Whites-only communities, Orwoll said he thinks Donald Trump’s administration provides the best opportunity to establish a new legal precedent.
“I don’t know if he personally would condone what we’re doing. But I think he’s enough of a true conservative that he would believe that we have the right to do it.”
As a result of his recent wave of publicity, Orwoll said he has received enough financial support to quit his job and focus fulltime on his Whites-only projects.
Asked if any of that money is coming from the millionaires or billionaires who are trying to re-engineer American society, he claimed he did not know for sure—although he added that it was indeed likely since some of the support has come in the form of large donations.
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
