I've also heard from some outraged right-wing military and law enforcement personnel.
So it's worth briefly responding to them here.
White supremacist mainstreaming and infiltration, after all, impacts them most directly.
1) White supremacist infiltration poses the most immediate threat to fellow military and law enforcement personnel.
2) This hurts the credibility of everyone in the fields.
3) WS actors are most dangerous to them, too. They infiltrate to subvert, not support, the state.
4) Whether or not military and law enforcement personnel who politically lean right recognize this:
The white supremacist (umbrella) movement has long relied on exploitation of shared 'patriotic' values to launder WS ideology.
Infiltration is a bipartisan security concern.
To Trump/GOP supporters in military and law enforcement that reached out, angry at me - there are 2 explanations.
1) You don't recognize, or are in denial about, the scope of the well documented issue.
2) You're the anon. Telegram accounts I see posting so often these days.
Finally, read the article or I won't take your complaints seriously.
And, FYI: I'm not a journalist.
I'm an academic and policy expert who consults for the United Nations and other national and multilateral actors on non-state armed groups and global political violence.
Did I tell you the one about the [yes, literal] neo-Nazi lawyer working in the civil rights office yet?
Always a strange day to find yourself texting back and forth with someone who helped plot to kill you a year and a half ago...
... and trading notes about what you both told the FBI about the case at the time.
I think that’s actually awesome, and it gives me so much hope.
Goddamn, what an interesting day.
[yes, the identity is verified]
[no, not on a messaging app with my real #]
I need a nap. My mind is BLOWN.
I’ve had so much crazy shit happen to me in my life, but I gotta say: getting an apology from an ex-Nazi for the murder conspiracy against me — and trading accounts of what we told investigators at the time is...
For organizations with employees targeted or threatened by neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other potpourri baskets filled with related and assorted violent extremists
[speaking from experience]
1) If you hire a person who works on neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other assorted violent extremists, here's the thing:
They WILL be targeted and threatened with violence - unless they're terrible at the job you hired them for.
If you won't support them, don't hire them.
2) If you want the "good PR" that comes with high-profile experts on neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and assorted violent extremists, you need to realize:
Your institution asked them to risk their lives.
That implies you will provide support and security - not penalties.
And here’s Brandon Russell (now in prison) - Atomwaffen Division’s National Guardsman founder - discussing how close he is to Nazi infiltration / mainstreaming ideologue Tom Metzger in leaked fascist forum messages:
Here’s another message from Atomwaffen founder (and National Guardsman) Brandon Russell, aka “Odin,” on the close contact his Neo Nazi knitting circle had with infiltration strategist Tom Metzger:
Here’s John Cameron Denton (aka “Rape”), who took over Atomwaffen when Brandon went to prison.
Rape went down too - in the swatting sting back in February 2020.
He can’t be much older than 30 now - and he was already a Tom Metzger baby Nazi fanboï by 2004: