Charlottesville Protest Organizer for "Nazis", former Occupy Wall Street

quote:

---

ason Kessler, the man who helped organize Saturday's white nationalist "Unite the Right" event that erupted in violence, has come under the national spotlight because of his role in the ultimately deadly event and his subsequent need to flee a press conference after being attacked. According to some persistent "rumors," prior to his rise to prominence on the far-right, Kessler embraced the far-left Occupy Wall Street movement and was an Obama supporter.

One of the sources to note the claims is the hyper-partisan Southern Poverty Law Center, notorious for its overt leftward slant; the fact that SPLC would bring up Kessler's alleged previous left-wing activism lends the claim a bit more credence. Here's the passage from SPLC's "extremist file" on the "relative newcomer to the white nationalist scene

---

quote:

---

Rumors abound on white nationalist forums that Kessler’s ideological pedigree before 2016 was less than pure and seem to point to involvement in the Occupy movement and past support for President Obama.

At one recent speech in favor of Charlottesville’s status as a sanctuary city, Kessler live-streamed himself as an attendee questioned him and apologized for an undisclosed spat during Kessler’s apparent involvement with Occupy. Kessler appeared visibly perturbed by the woman’s presence and reminders of their past association.

Kessler himself has placed his “red-pilling” around December of 2013 when a PR executive was publicly excoriated for a tasteless Twitter joke about AIDS in Africa. ...

Regardless of Kessler’s past politics, the rightward shift in his views was first put on display in November, 2016 when his tirade against Wes Bellamy began.

---