The Neo-Nazi Hunter Next Door

[Nevilledog]

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/nazi-hunter-fascism-antifa-veteran-1234672732/

No paywall
https://archive.is/XQ7qi

IRAQ WAR VETERAN Kris Goldsmith believes “patriot” and “anti-fascist” should be synonymous — and he’s turning that belief into action with the new Task Force Butler. The nonprofit’s tagline gets right to the point: “We are American veterans who hunt neo-Nazis.”

Goldsmith has seen first hand how fascist and militia groups subvert the trappings of patriotism to ensare veterans in right-wing extremism, and he stood up Task Force Butler as a competing force for good. The group draws its name and inspiration from a larger-than-life Marine, Maj. Gen Smedley Butler, who foiled an attempted fascist coup against the New Deal government of FDR in the 1930s.

Task Force Butler is the culmination, for Goldsmith, of a tumultuous life-path. Entering the Army as a teenager, he’d quickly risen to the rank of sergeant. But the horrors of the Iraq War left him with crippling, undiagnosed PTSD. A suicide attempt on the eve of being re-deployed in 2007 got Goldsmith booted from the service with a less-than-honorable discharge.

Stripped of his rank, community, and G.I. Bill benefits, Goldsmith entered a dark spiral, which included sinking down rabbit holes of online extremism. With his one remaining lifeline — healthcare through the V.A. — Goldsmith clawed his way back to the surface. He became a veterans advocate, earned a degree from Columbia, and (four appeals later) finally got an upgrade to an honorable discharge. Along the way, helped secure congressional reforms in 2017 that enable thousands of other vets get medical help and challenge their own “bad paper.”

*snip*

[Timeflyer]

1. Glad he got help and turned his life around. We need more patriotic anti-fascists.

[Bluethroughu]

2. Agree, I'm glad we have real patriots and anti-fascists on our side.

They can teach these vets, true history so they are not mislead to fight against their own country like those zombies of 1/6.

[treestar]

3. Russians at it again

trying to get vets to go right wing.

[StClone]

4. Hope they have a topnotch cyber unit

To go after these worst of the worst: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiwi_Farms

[gibraltar72]

5. Come to Hillsdale County Mi.

[uponit7771]

6. K&R,