Jason Kessler, FBI Asset
Posted: Fri Aug 10, 2018 12:45 pm
What with the anniversary and all: a thread for the examination of the curious gravitational center of Charlottesville, one Jason Kessler, the #Occupy Democrat who took a wrong turn at Albuquerque and wound up yet another outspoken white nationalist leader who just keeps messing things up and escalating conflicts.
Via: https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/ ... ottesville
Christian Science Monitor is a great source because their prose is straightforward and their narratives upfront. And this one is most instructive:
This is pretty curious framing. What exactly is he going to "recover," here? Is he running for office? Running a website? Starting a political party? Fundraising? The question of what the fuck Kessler actually does grows more interesting when you consider the fact Twitter made him a verified user in November 2017.
No tears for the victims, but the above excerpt illuminates Kessler's real job description, perhaps: disruption, exposure, and surveillance. Quantico has a lot of problems, but they're not stupid. They know that the biker-meth-Skinhead axis is a dinosaur relic and they'll need very different assets to penetrate the New Right. It's just a completely different constellation of bona fides now, and a much more international cast of characters -- even compared to the oddly diverse cast of characters orbiting Elohim City back in the day.
So, the post-Trump state of play has involved a lot of new actors and approaches -- experiments, probes. One such experiment, perhaps, was the quite recently converted Alt-Right blogger Jason Kessler.
It also needs to be considered that, perhaps, Mr. Kessler is both deeply stupid and mentally ill. That is at least his own defense these days:
"Mentally Ill" in the sense that he actually believes the talking points he's been mechanically spouting since January 2017. We all have such friends: always a new crusade, always a new horizon.
Such a scenario is definitely less depressing, too. Life as an asset is queasy and shitty, because you're always on the verge of getting burned and you're only as useful as your latest results. The pay is also less than adequate. Which is why so many HUMINT assets have multiple side gigs.
His current origin story is a believable enough script -- plenty of such specimens exist in the wild, at least:
(It should be noted that Kessler himself is of Jewish ancestry, at least by his own account. He also claims to be Christian now, always smart branding in the United States.)
Via: https://www.dailyprogress.com/news/loca ... da079.html
His attitudes on race and God, though, are less interesting than his Brandon Darby-ass behavioral profile...
Again, two equally credible readings are available here...angry young seeker, or shrewd operative. The dedication is what makes me contemplate the latter.
There was a curious flap at the beginning of the Unite The Right saga, involving a rival KKK protest. "KKK leader seeking Charlottesville rally has history as FBI informant," screamed the headlines. The source of this opposition research? Blogger Jason Kessler.
Via: https://www.dailyprogress.com/news/loca ... e11ff.html
Putting the old dogs on notice. This is another pattern of effective behavior: accuse your opponent of doing exactly what you're doing before anyone has a chance to see that and accuse you.
Since Charlottesville, however, Kessler is changing directions again. In the Christian Science Monitor piece, he clearly states how he aims to reposition himself:
While Kessler is damaged goods, there will be several actors occupying that space quite shortly. (And none of them will be Richard Spencer.) It won't be hard to find wholesome, actual Christians willing to put a prime-time-ready face to a new, polite and reasonable White Nationalism. It will be hard to find one who can handle the pressure, though.
Via: https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/ ... ottesville
Christian Science Monitor is a great source because their prose is straightforward and their narratives upfront. And this one is most instructive:
Mr. Kessler, the organizer of last year’s Unite the Right protest in Charlottesville, is staging an anniversary rally in Washington. After a year of being pilloried not only by the left but also his erstwhile allies, this is Kessler’s big opportunity to recover from a disastrous rally that shook the nation and shattered the self-described alt-right movement.
This is pretty curious framing. What exactly is he going to "recover," here? Is he running for office? Running a website? Starting a political party? Fundraising? The question of what the fuck Kessler actually does grows more interesting when you consider the fact Twitter made him a verified user in November 2017.
“The people at Unite The Right who were doxxed, injured, arrested, harassed, fired from their jobs, shunned by their families, and in one case driven to suicide had a lot of illusions stripped away from them. A lot of them are understandably bitter,” says Greg Johnson, editor-in-chief of the alt-right website Counter-Currents, who says the movement has dramatically contracted due to poor leadership and strategically unsound activism like the Charlottesville rally.
No tears for the victims, but the above excerpt illuminates Kessler's real job description, perhaps: disruption, exposure, and surveillance. Quantico has a lot of problems, but they're not stupid. They know that the biker-meth-Skinhead axis is a dinosaur relic and they'll need very different assets to penetrate the New Right. It's just a completely different constellation of bona fides now, and a much more international cast of characters -- even compared to the oddly diverse cast of characters orbiting Elohim City back in the day.
So, the post-Trump state of play has involved a lot of new actors and approaches -- experiments, probes. One such experiment, perhaps, was the quite recently converted Alt-Right blogger Jason Kessler.
It also needs to be considered that, perhaps, Mr. Kessler is both deeply stupid and mentally ill. That is at least his own defense these days:
He believes he was set up as the fall guy for the violence, which he blames largely on law enforcement failing to execute on the security plan Kessler had developed with them. He cites the December report by former US district attorney Thomas Heaphy, which found only one instance on Aug. 12 of a police officer intervening to stop violence between the two sides.
"Mentally Ill" in the sense that he actually believes the talking points he's been mechanically spouting since January 2017. We all have such friends: always a new crusade, always a new horizon.
Such a scenario is definitely less depressing, too. Life as an asset is queasy and shitty, because you're always on the verge of getting burned and you're only as useful as your latest results. The pay is also less than adequate. Which is why so many HUMINT assets have multiple side gigs.
His current origin story is a believable enough script -- plenty of such specimens exist in the wild, at least:
Kessler voted for former President Barack Obama but says the Democratic Party left him when it focused on identity politics.
“I realized – they hate white men, and I’m a white man,” he says. So he voted for Mr. Trump in 2016 and allied himself with the alt-right movement because they were pro-free speech and anti-political correctness.
“They weren’t afraid to stand up for men or white people or Christians,” says Kessler. But this year, he adds, “It’s been moving more into an arena of an unhealthy obsession with Jews. Everything is about Jews, Jews, Jews.”
(It should be noted that Kessler himself is of Jewish ancestry, at least by his own account. He also claims to be Christian now, always smart branding in the United States.)
Via: https://www.dailyprogress.com/news/loca ... da079.html
Laura Kleiner, a Democratic activist who lives in Staunton, said she dated Kessler for several months in 2013. She said Kessler was very dedicated to his liberal principles, and that he was a strict vegetarian, abstained from alcohol and drugs, embraced friends of different ethnicities and was an atheist.
“He broke up with me, and a lot of it was because I was not liberal enough,” she said. “I am a very progressive Democrat … but he didn’t like that I ate fish and that I’m a Christian.”
His attitudes on race and God, though, are less interesting than his Brandon Darby-ass behavioral profile...
According to a woman (who wished to remain anonymous) who was part of the Occupy movement camp in what was then called Lee Park, Kessler was present there for several weeks in late 2011. She said Kessler ultimately removed himself from the camp after activists there started to make it known that his presence was not welcomed.
“He was just so disagreeable that he’d start fights between other people. He was very manipulative and very aggressive,” the woman said.
“He wanted people to be more violent and aggressive. He wanted to be the leader of things. ... Even if his politics had been good, I don’t think people would have liked him,” she said.
The former occupier said Kessler also tried to attach himself to other “leftist” groups around that time, such as Food Not Bombs and an atheist social club. She said Kessler had attempted to insert himself in those groups and radicalize them.
Again, two equally credible readings are available here...angry young seeker, or shrewd operative. The dedication is what makes me contemplate the latter.
There was a curious flap at the beginning of the Unite The Right saga, involving a rival KKK protest. "KKK leader seeking Charlottesville rally has history as FBI informant," screamed the headlines. The source of this opposition research? Blogger Jason Kessler.
Via: https://www.dailyprogress.com/news/loca ... e11ff.html
Barker’s checkered history was noted by Jason Kessler, the right-wing blogger and founder of Unity and Security for America. Six days after Barker’s Klan group submitted its application, Kessler submitted his own application for an assembly in Lee Park, set to run from 12 to 5 p.m. Aug. 12.
In an email, Kessler called Barker “an FBI informant and multiple felon” and claimed that he was “being paid by left-wing groups to discredit legitimate conservatives.”
“Someone is trying to discredit my rally by bringing in this jackass,” Kessler wrote.
Putting the old dogs on notice. This is another pattern of effective behavior: accuse your opponent of doing exactly what you're doing before anyone has a chance to see that and accuse you.
Since Charlottesville, however, Kessler is changing directions again. In the Christian Science Monitor piece, he clearly states how he aims to reposition himself:
“There’s so much hate in these social issues – it’s easy to get swallowed up in the hate, and easy to react to your critics with hate. It creates a dark cloud over your heart and your soul,” says Kessler, who says he’s turned to his Christian faith and its teachings of love.
While Kessler is damaged goods, there will be several actors occupying that space quite shortly. (And none of them will be Richard Spencer.) It won't be hard to find wholesome, actual Christians willing to put a prime-time-ready face to a new, polite and reasonable White Nationalism. It will be hard to find one who can handle the pressure, though.