A white nationalist propagandist who met with billionaire investor Peter Thiel has been deeply embedded in the movement for well over a decade, and has provided an ideological bridge between suit-and-tie white nationalism and its more violent fringe, according to leaked emails and texts shared with Hatewatch. Kevin DeAnna – who met with Thiel on the evening of July 29, 2016, in the midst of the 2016 election cycle – was not merely a participant in a white supremacist subculture when he met Thiel but also was immersed in its most extreme elements, including literature admired by terrorists. Deanna wrote under the pseudonyms “Gregory Hood” and “James Kirkpatrick” over a decade for white nationalist publications such as VDARE and American Renaissance, as Hatewatch reported in a four-part series published in March 2020. He cited texts like “SIEGE” and used terminology drawn from such other books as “The Turner Diaries” in his work and in private conversation. “The Turner Diaries,” originally published in 1978, has influenced some of the most infamous acts of U.S. domestic terrorism, including the murder of Alan Berg in 1984 and the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. “SIEGE,” once an obscure neo-Nazi newsletter, has resurfaced in recent years as the preferred text of neo-Nazi terroristic organizations such as the now-defunct Atomwaffen Division. DeAnna was also connected to people in the U.S. government. About six weeks prior to his meeting with Thiel, DeAnna discussed recruiting for a white nationalist group with State Department official Matthew Q. Gebert. Gebert, who used the pseudonym “Coach Finstock” online, recruited members for “D.C. Helicopter Pilots” – a Virginia and Washington, D.C.-based organizing chapter of white nationalist organization The Right Stuff. Gebert was suspended from his job in the Bureau of Energy Resources, but the State Department has never clarified whether or not he is still being paid.
via splcenter: White Nationalist Who Met With Peter Thiel Admired Terroristic Literature
