In the wake of the IREHR special report, From Alt-Right to Groyper: White Nationalists Rebrand for 2020 and Beyond, and subsequent media attention, Jaden McNeil, a “groyper” activist and leader of the Kansas State University (KSU)-based America First Students (AFS), cried foul in a statement published to Twitter.

The 64-page IREHR special report was primarily focused on two key white nationalists leading the “Groyper Wars,” Nick Fuentes and Patrick Casey, not Jaden McNeil. In his statement, McNeil raised no issues with IREHR’s reporting on those two white nationalists.

McNeil, however, focused his criticism on one of the few times he was mentioned. The report noted, “Though McNeil lacks the same lengthy paper-trail of explicit white nationalism as that of Fuentes or Casey, he has already signaled his affinity with such ideas.”

At IREHR, we believe accuracy is essential. After McNeil’s complaints, IREHR did further investigating to determine if his criticisms were warranted. What the IREHR research team found in our investigation was far more disturbing than our original reporting.

Among the significant new findings from McNeil’s brief activist history:

• Jaden McNeil has been involved with, not two, but four different participants in the murderous white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
• White nationalists provided even more guidance to McNeil in the formation of America First Students at Kansas State University than IREHR originally reported.
• McNeil was warned by conservative peers about aligning with a “Nazi” like Nick Fuentes, but chose to ignore the warnings.
• McNeil’s attendance at the Groyper Leadership Summit in December 2019, an event organized by white nationalists Nick Fuentes and Patrick Casey, has been further confirmed. McNeil is also scheduled to attend the white nationalist-organized America First Political Action Conference on February 28.
• McNeil has amplified white nationalists on social media, repeatedly sharing white nationalist content to his followers.
• McNeil interned with a “politically incorrect” podcast that was promoted by the founder of the Proud Boys. He also posted photos of himself flashing the “OK” hand signal at a political rally, a sign popularized by the Proud Boys, and designated a racist symbol by the Anti-Defamation League.
• McNeil made crude homophobic comments, calling the LGBTQ+ community “degenerates” and using an anti-LGBTQ+ slur during an interview. He has also expressed hostility towards diversity and immigrants.

Jaden McNeil and Charlottesville “Unite the Right” Participants

Following the controversy of publicly quitting and lambasting Turning Point USA, Jaden McNeil gave an interview to the Killstream YouTube channel from the comfort of his room. In what he dubbed his “first interview,” McNeil laid out the influence that white nationalist Nick Fuentes had on his decision to leave Turning Point USA and move in a “groyper” direction.

Sporting a hoodie emblazoned with the logo of Nick Fuentes’ white nationalist group, America First, McNeil explained his radicalization path from Turning Point USA to the “Groyper Wars.”

Nothing really changed until CPAC, when I went there as a student ambassador and I met this kid named Nicholas J. Fuentes…I talked to him a little bit and I did agree with a lot of, like his stances on immigration. I was a big Tucker guy before this, big Trump guy, and I did realize like Turning Point, while they were giving me all these resources and all these opportunities to do things, I wasn’t really able to, I guess, to speak my mind…speak the whole truth on some of these issues, such as immigration, because for example, um, you know like, legal immigration is completely fine, nothing wrong; if you’re against it, you’re a bigot. So that’s really when I started questioning things, and Nick was giving me this…was talking with me and I agreed a lot with this guy. I go back to the hotel, and talked to some Turning Point people, and they instantly are disavowing, ‘this guy’s a Nazi, he’s evil, you’re thinking this way, you gotta stay away from him.’ You know they’re always talking about the free market of ideas and back then, this was about a year ago, I guess, 10, 11 months ago…I thought the same thing, they really pushed this into my head. Like the whole free market of ideas, and you know, I still kind of think this…like this guy raised a lot of good points, and we had a good conversation, why is it that I can’t engage with this guy, why is it that you guys think he’s so evil, when these ideas that we talked about.[1]

Though he repeatedly tried to downplay his ties after the release of From Alt-Right to Groyper, in this interview McNeil confessed to siding with white nationalists over his conservative colleagues. McNeil further admitted that he was in contact with white nationalist, Nick Fuentes, even before leaving Turning Point USA. McNeil even admitted that he was repeatedly warned by fellow conservative activists that Fuentes was “evil” and a “Nazi.” Despite repeated warnings, McNeil chose the white nationalist.

Upon leaving Turning Point USA, Jaden McNeil quickly took up the “groyper” cause, an effort led by Fuentes and Patrick Casey to push white nationalist themes in conservative circles and amongst Trump supporters.

McNeil is also in contact with, and regularly forwards material from, white nationalist leader Patrick Casey on social media. Moreover, McNeil was also close enough to Casey’s white nationalist group, American Identity Movement, to have his Telegram channel listed as a “resource” on the American Identity Movement website, until recently.[2]

As noted in From Alt-Right to Groyper, both Fuentes and Casey attended the white nationalist “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville in 2017. Continuing to hang out with two white nationalists who attended the murderous Charlottesville rally would be problematic enough, but it turns out to be so much worse.

Jaden McNeil and “Baked Alaska”

On his Dlive gaming stream, Jaden McNeil also recently revealed that he games with the white nationalist who goes by the pseudonym “Baked Alaska.” His real name is Anthime “Tim” Gionet. He was also one of the attendees in Charlottesville.[3]

Best known as an “Alt-Right meme lord” and social media personality, Gionet has promoted white nationalism and hardcore anti-Semitism.[4] None other than longtime national socialist David Duke helped raise money for Gionet to travel to Charlottesville.[5]

After Charlottesville, Gionet was demonetized from YouTube and kicked off of Twitter. In March 2019, after the horrific New Zealand Mosque shootings, Gionet attempted to rehabilitate his image in a tearful YouTube video where he claimed to have “left the alt-right.”[6] He said he didn’t “want to be associated with a movement capable of such grotesque acts of violence.”[7]

His repentance was short-lived, however, as Gionet returned to his white nationalist roots by engaging in recent “groyper” activism. On Gionet, Nick Fuentes stated “he’s my friend” and “sometimes he gets involved in what we do.”[8]

Jaden McNeil and Faith Goldy

According to Jaden McNeil, while still at Turning Point USA, he met Faith Goldy, who has been described as Canada’s “white-nationalist poster girl,” at a Trump hotel.[9] McNeil also divulged that it was Goldy who introduced him to Nick Fuentes. [10]

Faith Goldy attended the 2017 Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally, ostensibly as a journalist; mounting a failed, and racist, bid for Mayor of Toronto; and repeatedly mouthing racist statements. A onetime talking-head for Rebel Media, Goldy was booted from the platform in August 2017 after appearing on a broadcast of the vulgar white nationalist Daily Stormer’s Krypto Report.[11]

Among Goldy’s offerings to racial nationalism:

• A campaign flyer in her 2018 bid for Mayor of Toronto stated, “Only Faith Goldy will evacuate illegal migrants from our city and put Toronto First!”
• Goldy decries “cultural Marxists and globalists who have reprogrammed the white race,” and spoke about her desire to “return” Canada to a population that is “96 percent Euro Canadian,” according to an article in The Cut by Anna Silman, who attended Toronto’s Havergal College a year behind Goldy.[12]
• Goldy stated, erroneously, that “Canada is a nation of settlers and pioneers, not immigrants.”[13]
• In a 2017 podcast, Goldy notoriously mouthed the infamous “14 Words” penned by racist murder David Lane. At the time Goldy stated, “I don’t see why that’s controversial, is that bad?” she asked facetiously. “I think it’s controversial to say the opposite.” She has since defended saying this mantra of the violent neo-Nazi movement.[14]

Goldy also contributes to the website of the Council of European Canadians (CEC), a white supremacist group that writes, “As Eurocanadians, we will not be arguing in favour of multiculturalism as a minority to advance our group rights, but will be arguing within multiculturalism in order to make Europeans aware that they are the founding peoples and that Canada is their homeland and that we intend to keep the country majority European.”[15] In an article posted by the CEC, Goldy described the United Nation’s Migrant Compact as a “National Suicide Compact” that will spell the “death of nations” that sign it (bold in original).[16]

McNeil continues to follow Faith Goldy on social media. He has shared statements and material from Goldy. In addition to recirculating Goldy’s posts of VDARE material, on January 2 he posted Goldy’s attack on “white boomer females” for deferring childbearing to pursue careers and calling “their own sons racists and bigots for wanting the America of yesteryear.”[17]

Jaden McNeil and the White Nationalist-Organized America First Political Action Conference

As IREHR documented in From Alt-Right to Groyper, in announcing the formation of America First Students, McNeil got off the sidelines and assumed a leadership role in the “groyper wars.”

As the above photo shows, Jaden McNeil (left: red tie and cellphone) spent his winter break travelling to Florida to attend the Groyper Leadership Summit, an event organized by white nationalists Nick Fuentes and Patrick Casey.

Since the release of From Alt-Right to Groyper, McNeil also announced that he will attend the white nationalist-organized America First Political Action Conference (AFPAC) in Washington DC on February 28, 2020. Replying to the AFPAC flyer posting, McNeil announced a “special guest appearance of Jaden McNeil” at the event.[18] Scheduled speakers at AFPAC include Fuentes, Casey, Greer, and nativist stalwart Michelle Malkin (who writes for the white nationalist website VDARE).

Jaden McNeil and White Nationalist Social Media

Whether or not Jaden McNeil is a full-fledged white nationalist is still unknown. What is known, however, is that McNeil has become a significant conduit for white nationalist ideas on social media.

A perusal of Jaden McNeil’s social media and own words makes clear his affinity for some deeply troubling and bigoted ideas. For instance, the topic of the importance of demographic change which – in a barely veiled form – lies at the core of the white nationalist argument that whites are being dispossessed from their place in American society by immigration and other demographic trends.

On November, 8, 2019, for instance, McNeil forwarded a link by fellow “groyper” Vincent James, advising those mobilizing against TPUSA to “Keep your questions from now on about immigration, demographic change and social issues.”[19]

On December 25, 2019, Jaden McNeil recirculated a post from James stressing the white nationalist concern about whites becoming a minority in the United States – an idea that forms a core piece of the white nationalist idea of racial dispossession:[20]

Jaden McNeil has not limited his white nationalist social media sharing to Fuentes, Casey, however. On multiple occasions he circulated material from the white nationalist site, VDARE, the online outlet for Peter Brimelow. One such post [which appears to have since been removed] recirculated an article declaring that, “The Super Bowl is supposed to be America’s game, but its halftime show just shows the destruction mass immigration has wrought on our culture.”

The “destruction” to “our culture” by “mass immigration” coming in the form of the Columbia-born Shakira and Jennifer Lopez performing during the half-time of the Super Bowl. Lopez was born in the Bronx, New York – a supposed threat to “our culture,” indicating again the exclusion of a non-white U.S. citizen from the realm of American culture.[21]

McNeil later posted a VDARE article titled “The Groyper Wars on Immigration are the Debate that American Nationalism Needs.”[22] The pseudonymous author, “Washington Watcher II” described the groypers as “a spontaneous grassroots movement of young nationalists” whose “leaders are Nick Fuentes and American Identity Movement leader Patrick Casey.” The article lauded the “groypers” and set hostile sights on TPUSA leader Charlie Kirk – the favored target of white nationalist “groypers.”

Referencing a November 2019 Twitter post by Kirk stating that “Ethno-Nationalism is Un-America” and “has no place in the conservative movement,” and that “we believe in E Pluribus Unum – out of many one,” Washington Watcher II writes that,

He [Charlie Kirk] also deployed dubious rhetoric that the Founding Fathers wished to create a multicultural, multiracial state based on the motto, “E pluribus unum.” Kirk typically doesn’t realize that the Founders used that motto to express the federal union of many states—not many races and ethnicities.

If the hint that the writer is defending a white nationalist vision is not clear, the article poses a serious of questions throughout:

Will the GOP fight to preserve the Historic American Nation, or will it blithely submit to demographic change? That’s the fundamental question animating the “Groyper Wars” against Conservative Inc… Will the next generation of the American Right frankly accept that demographics is destiny—or pretend #Blexit (and tax cuts) will win over black voters? Will it stand up for the Historic American Nation—or stand be seduced by the Kochtopus?… The Groypers want to preserve the Historic American Nation—why doesn’t Conservative Inc.?

The “Historic American Nation” is this movement’s term for white people.

Then there’s McNeil’s twitter conversation with Sydney Watson, the Australian “anti-feminist” YouTuber. Watson was repeating white nationalist lies about South Africa, asking “Why is the entire world silent when it comes to the horrific violence happening in South Africa?” McNeil replied, “They hate white people.”[23]

Jaden McNeil’s use of Homophobic Slurs

In interviews and on social media, McNeil has expressed a vicious brand of homophobia. In his interview with Killstream, McNeil repeatedly referred to the LGBTQ+ community as “degenerates” promoting a “culture of degeneracy.”

As if such homophobic language was not problematic enough, McNeil used a homophobic slur during the same interview.

Pushing back against what he described as TPUSA’s “political correctness,” McNeil stated that “I think most kids wanna be able to say faggot without Turning Point, like, without ruining your whole career or being banned from society.”[24]

Jaden McNeil and Multicultural Education

In the Killstream video interview, Jaden McNeil talked about the need to engage in the “marketplace of ideas,” yet he appears unable or unwilling to listen to ideas that do not entirely comport to his worldview.

Discussing his Kansas State University coursework, McNeil whined, “I couldn’t make it through 2 class periods of ‘Immigration history.’ I was hoping to learn about how my epic ancestors assimilated and helped build the greatest nation under God, but instead we talked about ‘white guilt’ and illegals. Dropped. On to History: The Rise of Europe.”[25]

One of the requirements for graduation at Kansas State University, where McNeil currently attends, is completion of one “U.S. Multicultural overlay” course. There are many different classes from which to choose: American Ethnic Studies; Anthropology; English; Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies; History; Journalism and Mass Communications; Philosophy; Psychological Sciences; Sociology; and Spanish. The university also requires students to take one “Western Heritage” class, but McNeil hasn’t raised an issue with that requirement.

It is common for students to complain about course requirements. It is far less common for students to publicly express the high levels of racism and bigotry that McNeil does in airing his grievances on social media.

Discussing online his apprehension to take any of these classes, McNeil demonstrated the kind of reactionary racism that equates including such coursework with being “anti-white male.”[26] Such views span the gap from reactionary racist groups like the Proud Boys to white nationalists akin to McNeil’s “groyper” friends. McNeil followed his initial post with racist and transphobic conspiracies about a “Satanic Professor.”

Jaden McNeil and Slightly Offensive

In his interview on Killstream, Jaden McNeil discussed that he interned for Slightly Offensive – a registered Los Angeles, California-based corporation and online and video project of Elijah Schaffer.[27] McNeil also claims to have gotten Nick Fuentes on Schaffer’s show and attempted to obtain $3000 from his school to bring Slightly Offensive to campus.[28]

As Schaffer described, the election of Barrack Obama, the issue of race and Donald Trump’s 2016 election shaped the formation of his organization – an effort helped along at a critical stage by Gavin McInnes, the founder of the racist Proud Boys. The Slightly Offensive website offers a partial story of Shaffer’s political development:

His [Elijah’s] heighted interest in conservative politics happened in 2007 during the initial Obama election where he began noticing that people mostly supported Obama because he was black and couldn’t name a single policy or campaign promise. The show was release to heavy opposition and threats from the community who felt it was too politically incorrect. Then, in May 2018, Elijah’s first ‘man on the streets’ video was shared by Gavin McInnes from CRTV and the rest is history…Then, Trump…[a]nnounced his bid for office in 2016 and Elijah quickly began seeing the possibility for the US to turn away from Obama era policies and started online activism for the then candidate. In April 2018, after being tired of national progressive narrative being pushed on the country, Elijah started a talk show called “Slightly Offensive.”[29]

On his show and website, Elijah Shaffer, who peddles t-shirts declaring that antifa and Black Lives Matters are “hate groups,” has displayed his own hostility to multiculturalism and Muslims. Of a March 3, 2019 episode of his Podcast titled “Sweden Has Fallen,” Shaffer wrote,

In this episode we discuss the ridiculousness of forced multiculturalism on Western countries, specifically Sweden. Over time European countries have absorbed millions of people who don’t share their values in hopes that they can create a more fair society. The only problem is that these people entering are primarily Muslim and do not desire to integrate into this new society. Increased rapes, violent crime, and theft are a common place in this new migrant cities. Critics of this new forced migration are labeled racists or bigots when they attempt to speak out about their concerns regarding the changing demographics. It even appears that the government is complicit in covering up the statistics about the Muslim immigrants in order to prevent what they call ‘Islamophobia.’[30]

McNeil posted photos of himself flashing the “OK” hand signal at a political rally, a sign popularized by the Proud Boys, and designated a racist symbol by the Anti-Defamation League.

Jaden McNeil is like a lot of college-attending young men. He likes to play Fortnite online, smack-talk with his friends, and eat fast-food. Unlike most of his peers, however, McNeil has shown an affinity for bigotry and the promotion of white nationalist “influencers.” His is a cautionary tale of #MAGA youth being radicalized deeper towards white nationalism, and how the “libertarian to white nationalist pipeline” operates. The only question remaining is whether McNeil will wise up to the dangerous, destructive path he has chosen before it’s too late.

NOTES

[1] Killstream. “Jaden McNeil Live, ADL Adds 13/52, Trump Censored, + Trans Birth.” YouTube. Dec 31, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy3N9vclGBg.

[2] “Resources.” American Identity Movement website. Google Cache accessed February 25, 2020.  https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:i08DGNIKMGAJ:https://americanidentitymovement.com/resources/+&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us.

[3] Martin, Nick R. “An Alt-Right Enforcer’s Rallying Cry: ‘No More Safe Spaces’.” Southern Poverty Law Center. January 24, 2019.

[4]  Tognotti, Chris. “Pro-Trump internet comedian marched with white supremacists in Charlottesville.” Dailydot. August 18, 2017. Colburn, Randall. “Let’s check in on neo-Nazi troll Baked Alaska, who is hosting an extremely embarrassing talk show.” AV Club. December 28, 2018. Darcy, Oliver. “The untold story of Baked Alaska, a rapper turned BuzzFeed personality turned alt-right troll.” Business Insider. April 30, 2017. https://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-baked-alaska-milo-mike-cernovich-alt-right-trump-2017-4.

[5] Martin, Nick R. “An Alt-Right Enforcer’s Rallying Cry: ‘No More Safe Spaces’.” Southern Poverty Law Center. January 24, 2019.  https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2019/01/24/alt-right-enforcers-rallying-cry-no-more-safe-spaces

[6] Sommer, Will. “Baked Alaska denounces the alt-right”. Daily Beast. March 28, 2019.

[7] Martinez, Ignacio. “The atonement of an alt-right troll.” The Daily Dot. May 22, 2019. https://www.dailydot.com/layer8/baked-alaska-atonement-alt-right-deplatforming/.

[8] Killstream, “NICK FUENTES, GROYPERS, BAKED ALASKA #KILLSTREAM APPEARANCE.” Bitchute. November 8, 2019.  https://www.bitchute.com/video/au3nR4uL0Dg/

[9] Silman, Anna. “We Thought We Knew Faith, Until We Didn’t: The making of a white-nationalist poster girl.” The Cut. November 9, 2018. https://www.thecut.com/2018/11/faith-goldy-toronto-white-nationalist-poster-girl.html.

[10] Killstream. “Jaden McNeil Live, ADL Adds 13/52, Trump Censored, + Trans Birth.” YouTube. Dec 31, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy3N9vclGBg.

[11]Brean, Joseph, Hauen, Jack and Marie-Danielle Smith. “Rebel Media Meltdown: Faith Goldy fired as politicians, contributors distance themselves.” National Post. August 17, 2017. https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/politicians-contributors-distance-themselves-as-rebel-medias-meltdown-continues.

[12] Silman, Anna. “We Thought We Knew Faith, Until We Didn’t: The making of a white-nationalist poster girl.” The Cut. November 9, 2018. https://www.thecut.com/2018/11/faith-goldy-toronto-white-nationalist-poster-girl.html.

[13] Goldy, Faith. Twitter. February 8, 2018.

[14] Silman, Anna. We Thought We Knew Faith, Until We Didn’t: The making of a white-nationalist poster girl. The Cut. November 9, 2018. https://www.thecut.com/2018/11/faith-goldy-toronto-white-nationalist-poster-girl.html.; Holt, Jared. “Faith Goldy Defends Her Recital Of ’14 Words’.” Right Wing Watch. People for the American Way. May 29, 2018. http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/faith-goldy-defends-her-recital-of-14-words/.
[15] “Our Beliefs and Goals.” Council of European Canadians.  May 20, 2014. Accessed August 21, 2019. https://www.eurocanadian.ca/2014/05/our-beliefs-and-goals.html.

[16] Goldy, Faith. “UN Migrant Compact: The Death of Nations.” Council of European Canadians. November 28, 2018. https://www.eurocanadian.ca/2018/11/un-migrant-compact-death-of-nations.html.

[17] McNeil, Jaden. Telegram. January 2, 2020. https://t.me/jadenpmcneil/1394.

[18] McNeil, Jaden. Telegram. January 31, 2020.

[19] McNeil, Jaden. Telegram. November 8, 2019. https://t.me/jadenpmcneil/794

[20] McNeil, Jaden. Telegram. December 27, 2019. https://t.me/jadenpmcneil/1329

[21] Washington Watcher II. “Ana Navarro Claims Degenerates Super Bowl Halftime Show Justifies Mass Hispanic Immigration.” VDARE. February 3, 2020. https://vdare.com/posts/ana-navarro-claims-degenerate-super-bowl-halftime-show-justifies-mass-hispanic-immigration

[22] McNeil, Jaden. Telegram. February 14, 2020. https://t.me/jadenpmcneil/1618.

[23] McNeil, Jaden. Twitter. February 18, 2020.

[24] Killstream. “Jaden McNeil Live, ADL Adds 13/52, Trump Censored, + Trans Birth.” YouTube. Dec 31, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy3N9vclGBg.

[25] McNeil, Jaden, Twitter. January 24, 2020.

[26] McNeil, Jaden. Twitter. August 8, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190810195051/http://twitter.com/McNeilJaden/status/1159538498308837377

[27] State of California. Secretary of State. Statement of Information. Simply Offensive, Inc. https://businesssearch.sos.ca.gov/Document/RetrievePDF?Id=04252729-26741479.

[28] Ibid.

[29] Simply Offensive. About. https://slightlyoffensive.com/about/. Accessed February 18, 2020.

[30] Shaffer, Eliha. Sweden Has Fallen. Uncut Episode 4. March 3, 2019. https://slightlyoffensive.com/sweden-has-fallen-uncut-ep-4/. And https://slightlyoffensive.com/product-category/clothing/shirts/.