Man behind white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville supported Obama
August 18,2017
The organizer of the violent rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, was until recently a Barack Obama supporter and was also a member of the leftist radical Occupy Wall Street Movement, according to a report from a hard-left activist group.
The details from his recent past have many in the blogosphere and on social media asking: Is the Charlottesville rally organizer really a left-wing plant?
Jason Kessler organized the Aug. 12 “Unite the Right” rally in which white nationalists, neo-Nazis, and other groups battled in the street with “Antifa” and counter-protesters.
The torch-lit rally was held in response to the Charlottesville City Council’s plan to remove a statue of the Confederate General Robert E. Lee. James Fields, 20, who attended the pro-monument rally, killed a woman named Heather Hayer and injured 19 others when he rammed his car into a gathering of counter-protesters, who then responded by smashing in the car’s windows with bats. Authorities are investigating the act as a potential terrorist attack, though it is not immediately clear if the attack was premeditated.
A day after the deadly violence, Kessler attempted to hold a press conference. But an angry crowd shouted him down with chants of “murderer,” “shame” and “thug.” Kessler blamed police officers for “refusing to do their job.” The mob chased him until he was forced to seek protection from police.
So exactly who is Jason Kessler?Kessler, the 34-year-old president of Unity and Security for America, is a blogger and reporter who has written about race-related issues and has described a cultural “second American Civil War.” He has tweeted: “White Americans are in a situation like the Native Americans were in in the 19th century. We are being dispossessed of our territory.”
But before Kessler organized “Unite the Right” rally, it appears he was a fan of President Obama, President Clinton, gun control, Occupy Wall Street, Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran and other leftist causes.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, an extreme leftist group that’s hostile to conservatives, reported that Kessler appears to have a history of leftist activism and only expressed a “rightward shift” in November 2016 – around the time of President Trump’s election. SPLC wrote:
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.
Regarding the incident, Kessler stated “… so it was just a little race joke, nothing that big of a deal, she didn’t have that many followers, she probably didn’t think anybody was gonna see it.”
Regardless of Kessler’s past politics, the rightward shift in his views was first put on display in November, 2016 when his tirade against [Charlottesville Vice Mayor] Wes Bellamy began.
Jason Kessler (Photo: LinkedIn)
The blog Nation One News posted 2012 and 2013 tweets purportedly from Kessler revealing his support for leftist causes and political figures.
According to one alleged tweet to Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada, on March 19, 2013, Kessler wrote: “@SenatorReid I think you’re a guy who gets things done and I respect that but you need to support the assault weapons ban bc its now or never.”
Another tweet, on Dec. 14, 2012, stated: “These gun nuts have bullied the American people for too long and enabled too many killers. #GunControlNow.”
On Sept. 6, 2012, Kessler appeared to lavish praise on PresidentObama and former President Bill Clinton, who had offered a spirited
defense of Obama at the Democratic National Convention that evening.
“Obama and Clinton just demolished the Republican arguments on consecutive nights with two of the greatest speeches of this generation,” Kessler tweeted.
And, according to another tweet posted by Nation One News, Kessler appears to have praised Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran in an April 2, 2015, tweet: “@BarackObama’s Nobel-worthy ploy for peace comes to fruition & @JohnKerry cements his legacy as a historic Secretary of State. #IranTalks.”
Kessler also purportedly compared Republicans at a 2012 CNN debate to serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.
A Jan. 26, 2012 tweet posted by the blog stated: “Republicans in #cnndebate are grotesquely mesmerizing as an interview w/ a serial killer. @ least Dahmer couldnt wage war or starve poor ppl.”
Other bloggers pointed to several CNN reports sympathetic to the Occupy Wall Street movement with bylines by “CNN Assignment Editor Jason Kessler.” However, two CNN representatives told WND the former assignment editor is not the same Jason Kessler who organized the Charlottesville rally.
Kessler denies that he is a “secret liberal,” claiming he was “red-pilled” – meaning he came to see reality – about three years ago, in 2014.