Goggin also reported on other easily identifiable figures with ties to neo-Nazis he saw at CPAC, including one “with an official badge” from the event.
Benjamin Goggin, NBC News’s deputy tech editor, defended his report on Nazis receiving a “friendly reception” at the recent Conservative Political Action Conference after CPAC publicly called it “false, misleading, and grossly manipulative.”
Goggin noted in his report that CPAC has long had to deal with far-right extremists trying to infiltrate the conference, but in past years would quickly eject those with explicit ties to neo-Nazis, like Nick Fuentes.
“But this year, racist conspiracy theorists didn’t meet any perceptible resistance at the conference where Donald Trump has been the keynote speaker since 2017,” Goggin wrote...
NBC reporter: "there were Nazis openly schmoozing at CPAC"
Republican Party: "NO THERE WEREN'T! THAT'S A LIE! YOU HAVE NO EVIDENCE OF THAT!"
NBC reporter: presents evidence
Republican Party: surprised Pikachu face
But seriously, we all know where this is going. Conservative leaders will cry "librul media persecution!" And about 95% of their followers will just believe them and refuse to check the presented evidence, because it's more convenient for them to blindly follow the movement than it is for them to accept the truth.
Worse, they'll play the "just because Nazis were here doesn't mean we're Nazis" card. They will find a picture from 1967 where some hippie brought a Nazi flag to a Humphrey rally to prove that both sides are the same.
Maybe he just meant they weren’t “Nazis,” but rather “Neo-Nazis” or some other type of white nationalist of a more modern vintage. Your Pinochet admirers, neo-confederates, and so forth. Barely anyone at CPAC was even an adult during WWII and certainly no one at the young fascist mixer.
"As we say in Germany, if there’s a Nazi at the table and 10 other people sitting there talking to him, you got a table with 11 Nazis. " - Dr. Jens Foell
Well they don’t consider Nick Fuentes to be a Nazi anymore. When his views weren’t as mainstream in the Republican Party, he was a Nazi. Now he’s just “really conservative on social issues”
Or more accurately, they don’t consider nazis bad anymore.
I mean, this is specifically about shifting people to that mindset. Just keep being blatant and walking it back in a shitty fashion until the base no longer cares.
It is pretty much the same way that dog whistles and "memes" are used to radicalize people online (and is part of the publicly available neonazi recruiting handbook from I want to say the 80s?). "Death to the Jews. ha ha, South Park is great. Isn't that a fun joke" eventually just becomes openly talking about how Soros lizards are controlling the world.
Feels weird to think that MAGFest takes place at this same hotel a little over a month earlier. I didn't go this year, but I've been a few times. Katsucon was also at the same hotel earlier this month, as it always is.
Just imagine if they were back to back and Nazis starting walking into a hotel full of cosplayers