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The Insurrectionist Running to Replace Nancy Mace

It Could Happen Here

Thu Dec 11 2025

Summary

Podcast Summary: "The Insurrectionist Running to Replace Nancy Mace"

It Could Happen Here – December 11, 2025
Host: Molly Conger (Weird Little Guys, guest host for Cool Zone Media)

Episode Overview

This episode spotlights Tyler Dykes, a white nationalist and January 6 insurrectionist now running for Congress in South Carolina’s 1st district, formerly represented by Nancy Mace. Host Molly Conger investigates Dykes's political ambitions, his efforts to preemptively distance himself from Nazi associations, and his track record of far-right extremist activity. The episode critically examines how such figures attempt to gain mainstream legitimacy and the disinformation they employ.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introducing the Candidate: Tyler Dykes

Background: Tyler Dykes has filed to replace Nancy Mace, who left Congress to run for governor. He joins a crowded, ultra-conservative primary where extremism is common.
- “It's distasteful, it's bigoted, it's chryso, fascist, xenophobic, poorly articulated, economically unsound, but it's not unique or interesting. These guys are a dime a dozen and they'll mostly be gone by the time the primaries end.” (04:22)
Dykes’s Platform:
- Mirrors Nancy Mace with a militarist, anti-immigrant, "America First" focus.
- Mistakenly promises to cut property taxes as a Congressman (a state tax, not federal).
- Emphasis on fighting for God and country; lots of martial language.

2. Dykes’s Preemptive Denial of Nazi Associations

Dykes proactively insists he’s “not a Nazi” in campaign materials, sending letters to voters on the subject.
- “He keeps bringing up that he's not a Nazi. He wants you to know that. No one's asking him this. He's bringing it up preemptively.” (06:18)
On record: “They still call me a Nazi to this day. They still brand me as all these evil, horrific things...What makes me a Nazi? I love Christ. I love God, I love my country, I love my state, my family and my community and the entirety of the Lowcountry area. And that's why I live here, because I love it so much. Does that make me a Nazi?” – Tyler Dykes (07:37)

3. The January 6th Connection and Alleged Nazi Salute

Dykes was photographed on the Capitol steps during January 6th, arm extended in a posture federal prosecutors described as a Nazi salute.
He claims it was an “innocent wave” to a friend, not a Nazi gesture.
- “It's definitely a little bit more about what specifically he was doing with his right arm at the top of the east stairs...” (08:42)
- Molly notes, “Regardless of what it looks like to you, in this photograph, I have a video of him doing the exact same wave at a Nazi rally.” (13:20)
Dykes’s narrative:
- He characterizes himself as a Christian patriot being persecuted by a “woke mob” and “communist media.”
- Claims courts and government obstructed his ability to prove his innocence.
  - “The honorable judge that I had denied me being able to get that evidence and being able to show up to people. And so a lot of these people ... see me as an enemy and as a terrorist.” – Tyler Dykes (17:10)

4. Dissecting the Evidence and Legal Proceedings

Examination of court dockets reveals no actual gag order on the relevant video/photo evidence; only Dykes’s military records are still sealed.
- “Of the exhibits they plan to show in court at sentencing, they said, it's okay if everyone sees these, the media can have these... These aren't under seal. There's not a gag order.” (18:24)
Dykes himself, via attorneys, agreed to release most evidence except his military records.

5. Dykes’s Extremist History and Marine Corps Discharge

Dykes was discharged “other than honorably” from the Marines for “prohibited extremist activity” (November 8, 2020).
Evidence (camera footage, local police confirmation) shows Dykes putting up swastika flyers.
Other activities:
- Attended neo-Nazi rallies and paramilitary training (e.g., with “The Base”)
- Attended “Unite the Right” rallies in both 2017 and 2018
- Joined Nazi fight clubs (e.g., “Southern Suns Active Club”)
- Participated in the violent tiki torch march in Charlottesville (2017) and actively fought counter-protesters.
Dykes's discharge records, kept sealed, likely contain more details detrimental to his narrative as a “patriotic Marine.”

6. Path from Felony Convictions to Congressional Candidacy

Dykes was convicted and jailed for torch-related violence; prosecuted federally for January 6th.
Served a brief federal sentence until freed by a Trump blanket pardon in January 2025.
- “He only served three of the 57 months he was sentenced to spend in prison before he was released in January of 2025 as a result of Trump's blanket pardons for the nearly 1600 January 6th defendants.” (13:20)
Now, Dykes is running for Congress, leveraging his “persecution” narrative for political credibility and fundraising.

7. Longevity and Plausibility of His Campaign

Dykes’s campaign is fledgling and poorly supported. Donation tallies are pitiful; campaign images avoid revealing actual supporters.
- “The only photo of his launch party is so tightly cropped that you can only see the candidate himself standing in an empty field in a public park.” (24:52)
Host notes the importance of exposing such figures before they can build momentum—both for local voters and those confronting similar candidates elsewhere.
- “Wherever your conservative parents live, maybe this is a useful example of the kind of thing you might find when you start gently scratching the surface of these America first candidates.” (31:56)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On Dykes’s defensiveness:
- “He keeps bringing up that he's not a Nazi. He wants you to know that. No one's asking him this. He's bringing it up preemptively.” – Molly Conger (06:18)
On his alleged Nazi salute:
- “It's more about that than it is about his love of his family is getting warmer.” – Molly Conger (08:42)
On legal transparency:
- “These aren't under seal. There's not a gag order. He can request these and I think he should do that.” – Molly Conger (18:24)
On the reality versus Dykes’s framing:
- “But that's not the issue here. He's not ashamed of being a 1-6 defendant. That's a badge of honor. That's not a problem. If he can spin this Nazi thing into a story that reinforces this narrative of brave January 6th patriots who are being persecuted by communists and liberals and the woke mob, it stops being a problem for the people whose attention and votes and donations he wants.” – Molly Conger (13:20)
On exposing far-right candidates:
- “If you're in the Charleston area, or more importantly, if your conservative Boomer parents are, it can't hurt to let folks know that one of your local candidates isn't being entirely forthcoming about why people are calling him a Nazi.” – Molly Conger (31:56)

Important Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment/Point | |-----------|------------------------------------------------------| | 02:11 | Molly Conger introduces episode, Dykes’s candidacy | | 03:26 | Background on Nancy Mace, field of candidates | | 04:22 | Dykes’s campaign themes, similarities to Mace | | 06:18 | Dykes insists he’s not a Nazi | | 07:37 | Dykes’s direct “not a Nazi” denial | | 08:42 | Context for Nazi salute photo, J6 activities | | 13:20 | Molly lays out Dykes’s deeper extremist history | | 17:10 | Dykes blames government for image suppression | | 18:24 | Molly details actual court order, sealing only on military records | | 24:52 | Dykes’s discharge reasons, extremist activities | | 31:56 | Takeaways, warning on far-right candidacies |

Final Thoughts

Molly Conger’s episode powerfully illustrates how radical and violent extremists seek electoral legitimacy by reframing their pasts and weaponizing narratives of persecution. Dykes, far from being an outlier, represents a broader pipeline from far-right violence and conspiracy into more mainstream political contests. Conger closes by urging vigilance—both researching candidates and busting their revisionist histories—before they can ever find traction with unsuspecting voters.

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Transcript

Judy Berry (0:00)

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Atlanta Podcast Host (1:03)

Atlanta is a spirit. It's not just a city. It's where Crunk was born in a club in the West End. Before World Star it was 55 9, where preachers go viral and students at the HBCU turned heartbreak into resurrection. Where dreamers brought Hollywood to the south and hustlers bring their visions to create black wealth.

Rip Current Narrator (1:21)

Nobody's rushing into relationship with you.

Atlanta Podcast Host (1:23)

I'm big rude. Listen to Atlanta is on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.

Judy Berry (1:33)

I knew it was a bomb the second that it exploded. I felt it rip through me.

Rip Current Narrator (1:37)

In season two of Rip Current, we ask who tried to kill Judy Berry and why.

Tyler Dykes (1:43)

They were climbing trees and they were sabotaging logging equipment in the woods.

Rip Current Narrator (1:48)

He received death threats before the bombing. He received more threats after the bombing.

Weird Little Guys Host (Molly Conger) (1:52)

I think that this is a deliberate.

iHeart Advertising Representative (1:54)

Attempt to sabotage our movement.

Weird Little Guys Host (Molly Conger) (4:22)

Most years. I probably couldn't tell you a whole lot about every primary candidate in my own district, let alone 12 states away. So on the surface, he's just another carbon copy America first zealot trying to fit this particular mold. He's created an image for his campaign that's not unlike Nancy Mace's. And I guess that makes sense, right? These people voted for her, so maybe that's what works here. Tyler Dykes's campaign website is pretty similar to Nancy Mace's. They both emphasize their personal connection to military service. Nancy Mace graduated from the Citadel Military College. And Tyler Dykes features photos of himself in his Marine Corps dress blues. They both describe themselves as entrepreneurs and business owners. And they both hate immigrants so much that their lust for mass deportation isn't even confined only to the pages devoted to their position on the issue. It's in their candidate biographies. And they frame themselves as fighters. There's a lot of fight based language. Fighting for America, fighting for Christ. And they both really position their devotion to God as something they have to fight for and fight against the Christ hating hordes on the left to keep. Like this is something someone's trying to take from them. Their platforms are pretty similar too. America First, South Carolina first law and tough on crime deport millions of people. Nancy Mace is running for governor on eliminating the state income tax. And if he gets to Congress, Tyler Dyke says he wants to slash taxes too. But of the five main policy ideas on his congressional campaign website, the one that's about taxes, the tax that he will cut as a congressman, he wrote that he will end property taxes. Now, regardless of how you feel about property taxes, those are imposed by your state and local government. The federal government doesn't tax your property. So I guess he's got that Republican tax cut spirit, but he's a little confused. But overall, just another far right America first candidate trying to elbow his way into this attention economy. It's distasteful, it's bigoted, it's chryso, fascist, xenophobic, poorly articulated, economically unsound, but it's not unique or interesting. These guys are a dime a dozen and they'll mostly be gone by the time the primaries end. But there is one really weird thing about Tyler Dykes's campaign messaging. He keeps bringing up that he's not a Nazi. He wants you to know that no one's asking him this. He's bringing it up preemptively. The I am not a Nazi letters that he mailed to the homes of hundreds of voters in his district are starting to raise questions he thinks are already answered in those letters. And here's the thing.

Weird Little Guys Host (Molly Conger) (13:20)

See, the reason he keeps bringing up that he doesn't want to be called a Nazi is because there are Nazi allegations. But these allegations aren't just lies from the evil left wing media. It's something he's been asked about by the FBI and by the DOJ and the Marine Corps and police in multiple jurisdictions across several states. A lot of people are asking him about the Nazi thing, so it makes sense that he'd want to get out ahead of it and assure the voters that there's a good explanation when he brings up that innocent wave that's being taken out of context to smear him as a Nazi. He's talking about a photograph, a particular photograph, and one of many that federal prosecutors included in their sentencing memorandum after Tyler Dykes accepted a plea agreement in federal court, he pleaded guilty to two counts of assaulting an officer during the breach of the Capitol on January 6, 2021. In exchange for his cooperation, the government dropped the other eight counts on the indictment. So in that sentencing memorandum, there's a picture, it's a still frame that was taken from a video, but obviously you can't put a video on paper, so it's just a still frame. And it shows a mass of people making their way up the east steps of the Capitol building on the afternoon of January 6th. Whoever's taking the video was standing at the bottom of the stairs. So you're just seeing the backs of the people in this crowd who are walking up the stairs, except for the figure in the center. In the center of the picture at the top of the stairs, a very tall man in a black jacket and a gray mask has turned around so he's facing the plaza below, and he's sort of squared up facing down the stairs. And his right arm is completely extended at about a 45 degree angle. Elbow straight, wrist straight, fingers together. The government's caption reads, still from video showing Dykes performing what appears to be the Sea Kyle salute. After he arrives on the landing in front of the east Rotunda doors, he maintains that he was waving to a friend. For what it's worth, I've seen a lot of these waves, and I know what it looks like to me. And regardless of what it looks like to you, in this photograph, I have a video of him doing the exact same wave at a Nazi rally. So it's not just a picture. He only served three of the 57 months he was sentenced to spend in prison before he was released in January of 2025 as a result of Trump's blanket pardons for the nearly 1600 January 6th defendants. But that's not the issue here. He's not ashamed of being a 1-6- defendant. That's a badge of honor. That's not a problem. If he can spin this Nazi thing into a story that reinforces this narrative of brave January 6th patriots who are being persecuted by communists and liberals and the woke mob, it stops being a problem for the people whose attention and votes and donations he wants. So his story is pretty simple. All the people calling him a Nazi are lying. They're taking a single photograph out of context. It's not a Nazi salute. It's a wave. And all of this, all of this Nazi talk, it's all just about this one single incident, this one picture, this one wave. And the government, the government is preventing him from proving that to you.

Weird Little Guys Host (Molly Conger) (18:24)

Oh, it's in the dockets. It's in the dockets. Phenomenal. I can look at the dockets. We can look at that together. That's easy. And I do see here that there is a protective order filed in this case. Shortly after he was first arrested, the judge entered an order prohibiting the public dissemination of certain discovery materials. If you look at enough J6 cases, this kind of protective order was almost universal. The government didn't want to publicly release stuff like the names of confidential informants, security footage from inside certain secure government areas, personal information about witnesses, just a laundry list of kinds of evidence that was likely to be produced in these cases that would be sensitive. So they're not saying they can't turn it over to the defense in discovery. They're just saying this stays between us, right? This doesn't get released to the public. This was normal and it was routine, and it was agreed to by everyone involved. The defense counsel agreed to this. So, okay, off to a good start. I do see a protective order on the docket, but if you skip down a year, down to the bottom of the docket, to the end of the case, after the guilty plea, the government filed their exhibit list for the sentencing hearing. And in that document, the Federal prosecutor wrote, the government does not object to any photo or video evidence being released to the public. So of the exhibits they plan to show in court at sentencing, they said, it's okay if everyone sees these, the media can have these. And so the judge in turn asked defense counsel how they felt about that. And the defense replied, defendant Tyler Bradley Dykes, by and through his attorneys, does not object to the video and photo evidence identified in the government's notice ECF number 44, being made publicly available. Defendant does object to any public disclosure of his military records identified in Exhibit 19. And so the judge signed an order. The exhibits that the government identified for the sentencing hearing, which the file names are in that document, it includes the video of the wave, the video of him grabbing the policeman's shield, the things he's saying he can't get based on the file names. Those videos can absolutely be requested from the court. These aren't under seal. There's not a gag order. He can request these, and I think he should do that. There are a lot of videos on that exhibit list and I'm sure people would like to decide for themselves if he's describing them faithfully.

Weird Little Guys Host (Molly Conger) (24:52)

The only exhibit on that list that the defense objected to making publicly available, the only one that remains sealed and isn't available for public access are his military records. Those military records are specifically the ones related to the other than honorable discharge he received from the marines. See those campaign flyers, the ones he was mailing to people's houses? They're all signed at the bottom. Tyler Dykes US Marine Corps veteran business owner, pardoned J6 Patriot on November 10, the Marine Corps birthday, he posted a photo of himself in his dress blues on the campaign's Instagram account. Being a Marine Corps veteran is as big a part of his campaign identity as talking about how he's not a Nazi. These are kind of the top two things. He's a Marine and he really wants you to know that Nazi stuff isn't true. And he was a Marine. That's true. He definitely was in the Marine Corps. But those military records that he doesn't want released would really undermine his narrative about being a proud, honorable veteran who definitely isn't a Nazi, because they would show that he received an other than honorable discharge for participating in prohibited extremist activity on November 8, 2020. And that's in the file. I know that specifically is in that sealed file because in other documents that refer to it, that's all it says. I don't know what else is in that record. All I know for sure is that the stated reason for his other than honorable discharge is something that happened on November 8, 2020. Now, luckily for us, I know that on November 8, 2020, a security camera in Sumter County, South Carolina, recorded footage of two men. One of the men looked exactly like Tyler Dykes. Even his father had to agree. It kinda did. And the men were putting up flyers with swastikas on them outside local businesses. I don't know if his military discharge records include anything else. Was it really just the flyers? Just the one time with a swastika. Flyers, and that was it. I don't know if the military was aware that he'd been attending things like a paramilitary training weekend at a compound in Michigan hosted by members of the neo Nazi group the Base. I don't know if there's a memo in there about the time in January of 2019 that an FBI agent from the Joint Terrorism Task Force questioned him about his possible connections to domestic extremist groups. I don't know if the Marine Corps knew that he was one of just a handful of white nationalists who attended the unite the right two, the flop of a Nazi rally held in Washington, D.C. in 2018 to commemorate the deadly rally that had happened a year earlier. And along that same line of thought, I don't know if the Marine Corps knew back then that Tyler Dykes had attended the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017. I don't know if they saw the videos of him marching with a tiki torch. Or the videos of him punching wildly at counter protesters that he'd helped trap in that sea of flames. And with the exception of the Unite the right rally in 2017, which was before he enlisted, all of the rest of that conduct occurred while Tyler Dykes was a Marine. He went to Nazi rallies, he joined Nazi groups, he put up Nazi flyers, he went to Nazi training camps to prepare for the race war, and he fought his way into the capitol building on January 6th. So, okay, yeah, he was a United States Marine. He can post that picture in his uniform on his campaign website. I don't care. I'm not personally offended about him being a stain on the honor of the US Military or whatever, but I think a lot of voters would feel like this isn't quite honest. By the time Tyler Dykes was arrested in 2023 and extradited back to Virginia to face charges for menacing those counter protesters with a lit torch, he'd already been kicked out of the Marines. He had apparently hidden that fact from his parents, and there was a lot they didn't know about their son. The day he was arrested in 2023, he'd been out with other members of a group called the Southern Suns Active Club, a sort of white supremacist fight club for friendless young men. They were trying to hang Nazi banners from a highway overpass. But Tyler Dykes was bitten by a dog and had to go to the hospital instead. He eventually pleaded guilty to that felony charge in Albemarle County, Virginia, related to the torch march. And he spent a few months in a local jail. On the day he was supposed to go home, he was picked up by a federal marshal. The DOJ had waited until the last day of his sentence here to unseal the charges against him for January 6th. And after that he spent a year out on pre trial bond in that case. And then he eventually pleaded guilty to those charges in the summer of 2024. And he finally reported to federal prison in October of 2024, expecting to be there for almost five years. But he was released a few months later, in January of this year after receiving a federal pardon. And now he wants to go back to the Capitol building, not as a rioter this time, but as a Congressman. The campaign is barely a month old. He's using a right wing crowdfunding site for campaign donations, so you can see that he hasn't cracked $200 yet. The only photo of his launch party is so tightly cropped that you can only see the candidate himself standing in an empty field in a public park. I don't think there's a lot of grassroots excitement for Tyler Dykes in South Carolina's first District. But if he does keep making the rounds, and if he ever ends up in front of a real reporter, I hope they'll ask him why doesn't he just produce those exhibits the videos he's claiming are being kept from him under seal aren't. And if he's so against any exhibits being held back from the court of public opinion, he could go ahead and release the one he actually has in his own possession. The only one that is sealed. He has his own discharge records. Show them to us. I'm dying to know how many of those Nazi rallies the Marine Corps knew about before they finally kicked him out. If you're interested in hearing more about this particular weird little guy, there are two episodes available right now over on the Weird Little Guy's Feedback. It's a Cool Zone Media show you can listen to wherever you get your podcasts. If you're in the Charleston area, or more importantly, if your conservative Boomer parents are, it can't hurt to let folks know that one of your local candidates isn't being entirely forthcoming about why people are calling him a Nazi. And wherever your conservative parents live, maybe this is a useful example of the kind of thing you might find when you start gently scratching the surface of these America first candidates.