Chris Loesch, an outspoken right-wing activist, assessed a contextless photo of a man with neo-Nazi tattoos at a protest against the police killing of George Floyd, a black man, and determined that the individual pictured must be an anti-fascist activist.
The husband and manager of right-wing broadcaster and former National Rifle Association spokesperson Dana Loesch, Chris Loesch has presented on stage at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, conservatives’ largest conference, multiple times. At CPAC in 2012, Chris Loesch even suited up in a colonial wig and tracksuit to join right-wing talk host Steven Crowder for a “patriotic” rap number.
Chris Loesch presented a contextless image of a woman recording a cell phone video of a man with tattoos of a swastika on his chest and the words “White Pride” on his neck on Twitter Wednesday and declared, “When I see that goon I see ANTIFA.” “Antifa” is a colloquial term often used to refer to pockets of local autonomous groups that appear at protests to confront fascist, bigoted, and anti-democratic forces–including Nazis and white supremacists.
When questioned by another Twitter user who wrote, “In all fairness, I haven’t seen ANTIFA sporting swastikas,” Chris Loesch replied, “Swastikas and Hammer & Cicle are historically the same in terms of evil, horrors and atrocities committed in the name of Socialism.”
When I see that goon I see ANTIFA. https://t.co/0yTmwfAPhw
— Chris Loesch (@ChrisLoesch) June 3, 2020
According to Ocala News, the photographed man with the neo-Nazi tattoos is Dylan Gentry, a Florida man who reportedly appeared at a local George Floyd protest to show solidarity with demonstrators and to renounce his prior neo-Nazi beliefs. Ocala News reported:
“All a Nazi has to see is change. Not just change of heart, but change of the times we’re in,” said Gentry on a Facebook post. He explained that his tattoos did not represent his beliefs and indicated he wanted to show that with his actions.
[…]
Gentry says he is in the process of trying to remove his tattoos, but has experienced difficulties in getting it done.
Right-wing media personalities have issued grave warnings to their audiences about the supposed threat that anti-fascist activists pose to their property and physical safety as the nation experiences mass civil unrest over the police killing of Floyd. Both the FBI Washington Field Office and the Department of Homeland Security have said there is no evidence that anti-fascists are responsible for organizing violence and damage.
Rather, federal authorizes have gathered evidence that right-wing extremists have encouraged violence at protests. Yesterday, the Department of Justice announced that three members of the right-wing “boogaloo” movement, which advocates for civil war and the collapse of society, had been charged with possession of a Molotov cocktail and conspiracy to cause destruction at George Floyd protests in Las Vegas.
