The man who wears a ring emblazoned with Nazi lightning bolts and who posted a racist mantra at the NAPA Auto Parts where he sells assault rifles in North Dakota says he has been wrongly portrayed as a “radical.”

During a rambling and contentious interview with Hatewatch on Wednesday, Shane Myers attempted to clarify his beliefs, saying he isn’t driven by “blind racial hatred” despite that telltale Nazi ring. Instead, his views are the product of a decade of historical study.

“Look what happened to Rome,” Myers said. “Rome was basically destroyed from the inside out. They were destroyed from diversity, really. And pretty much America is a mirror design of Rome.”

Myers went on to talk about Russia and China – countries he said are explicitly protective of their “cultural identity.” Yet while he claims not to believe that whites are superior to other races, he didn’t miss a beat when arguing that diversity was “dangerous.”

Myers, who has no known affiliations with any racist group, came to the attention of Hatewatch after a comment was posted on a racist online forum that mentioned Myers by name as someone friendly to the white nationalist cause. As a tip to workers flooding the far western North Dakota oil fields, the post claimed Myers and the NAPA store where he works would be friendly to white nationalists looking to purchase assault rifles.

And they were.

Last week, Myers offered this reporter a discount on an assault rifle when he felt our views were similar. But on Wednesday, Myers attempted to correct the record and argued that under no circumstances would he provide a discount to someone based on their beliefs, and that the discount he offered was simply a kind gesture to a stranger.

The reality appears to be that Myers, whose father owns the NAPA store in Williston, is either hiding his beliefs or doesn’t understand that his views are racist. After all, Myers said he couldn’t be a racist. How could he be when one of his best friends is “half-Mexican,” he asked.