Official Statement: I Disavow the Alt-Right, Unite the Right 2, and Jason Kessler

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Next month, disgraced political activist Jason Kessler will be holding “Unite the Right 2,” a follow-up to his disastrous Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia last year. Unite the Right resulted in the deaths of three people and injuries to countless more, and it also unleashed a wave of digital censorship and deplatforming that was unprecedented in the history of the Internet. As a direct result of Unite the Right, numerous dissident right individuals and organizations—many of whom did not participate in the event—were banned from Twitter, Facebook, PayPal, and countless other platforms and services.

I don’t know Kessler’s reasons for wanting to hold a second rally and I don’t care. The events of Charlottesville should have convinced anyone with half a brain that goon marches accomplish nothing other than getting people maimed, injured, doxed, and ruined by the left. One participant in Unite the Right even committed suicide due to the constant harassment he was getting from antifa and the media.

Right now, the Trump administration has made numerous strides towards achieving nationalist goals, from mass deportation of illegal aliens to a travel ban against several Muslim countries to wiping out the ability of public employees’ unions to fundraise for Democrats. The Democratic Party is tearing itself apart due to conflict between its neoliberal and socialist wings, and many leftists are beginning to realize that the prophesied “Blue Wave” in this year’s midterm elections isn’t going to happen.

The only thing an event like Unite the Right 2 can do is jeopardize all of this.

Because the city of Charlottesville denied Kessler a permit—since they understandably don’t want neo-Nazis and communists constantly brawling in their streets—he’s choosing to hold Unite the Right 2 in Washington, D.C., a city where Hillary Clinton won 91 percent of the vote in 2016 and where the mayor and city council are all Democrats. Far-left groups like Smash Racism D.C. and the Democratic Socialists of America are given free reign by D.C. police to terrorize and harass their political opponents, up to and including administration officials like Senior Advisor Stephen Miller and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. Having visited D.C. numerous times over the years, I know how dangerous a place it can be for dissident right-wingers.

There is no way that Unite the Right 2 won’t descend into violence, and this violence will be used by the left to justify further reprisals against the right. The fake news media will attempt to pin blame for the event on President Trump and Silicon Valley entities will use it to ban, censor, and deplatform more people. Indeed, if you’re feeling paranoid, you could argue that Kessler is doing all this on purpose with the intent of damaging American nationalism.

I did not participate in or support the first Unite the Right rally, partly because I had disassociated from the alt-right two months before the rally happened, and partly because Richard Spencer and other leaders of the alt-right had made it clear that I was not welcome in their movement. I’ve increasingly come to believe that Spencer’s refusal to allow me to join his now-dead site AltRight.com was divine intervention, God sparing me from the destruction I would have faced had I continued down that road.

Therefore, I hereby disavow the alt-right, Jason Kessler, and Unite the Right 2.

I have no connections to Kessler (aside from having interviewed him in my capacity as a journalist), do not support what he is doing, and do not wish to be associated with him in any way. I hold no ill will against him or anyone involved in Unite the Right 2, but I believe the event is foolish, shortsighted, and will do nothing but give ammunition to the left while painting nationalists in the worst possible light. I oppose all political violence and hope Unite the Right 2 does not descend into chaos like the first rally did, though I’m not holding my breath. I condemn anyone and everyone associated with Jason Kessler and his rally.

This will likely be my only public statement on this matter.

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