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…

  • ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    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.

    • Telorand@reddthat.com
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      9 months ago

      No, you see, those Nazis were an antifa false flag…/s

      Why leave open the possibility that the “librul media” might be telling the truth when you can discredit the evidence with unfalsifiable lies?

    • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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      9 months ago

      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.

    • ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      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.

      • jkrtn@lemmy.ml
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        9 months ago

        “If it didn’t come from the NSDAP organization of Germany, it’s not a real Nazi. Just a sparkling eugenicist.”

      • ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Young fascist mixer

        Haha, now I have an image in my mind of Charlie Kirk and Nick Fuentes nervously and awkwardly flirting with female Russian agents over malt shakes.

        • jkrtn@lemmy.ml
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          9 months ago

          Fuentes has a brainworm infestation so severe that he flipped out when one of his group’s members found a girlfriend.

    • EvilBit@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      The endgame is for Nazis to be okay but liberals aren’t. “Look at what those damned liberals are doing to those poor persecuted Nazis.”

      This is a harrowing step forward on that path.

    • bambam@piefed.social
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      9 months ago

      Is this even news? They havent cared about Nazi’s in their party for a long time now.

    • DevCat@lemmy.worldOP
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      9 months ago

      than it is for them to accept the truth.

      than it is to use critical thinking skills.

      There, fixed that for you.

      • don@lemm.ee
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        9 months ago

        How do you expect them to use something they’ve never had before, let alone something as complicated as thinking?

  • Tolstoshev@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    "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

    • TooManyFoods@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      A possible caveat. If it’s an interrogation table would it be okay? This is obviously not an interrogation table though. This is a dinner table

      • ctkatz@lemmy.ml
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        9 months ago

        I think there is a world of difference between talking with someone and interrogating them.

      • flicker@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        I hesitate to ask why so many people are sitting at an interrogation table, but I don’t know that much about interrogation…

        • surewhynotlem@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Good cop, bad cop, bad cop, bad cop, bad cop, bad cop, bad cop, bad cop, bad cop, bad cop, bad cop, bad cop.

          And that first one isn’t that good either.

  • originalfrozenbanana@lemm.ee
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    9 months ago

    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.

  • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Looks like we’re between the denial and anger phases.

    inb4 we get the the acceptance phase of “Yeah there were Nazis, but Nazis are ok.”

    • NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip
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      9 months ago

      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.

  • Optional@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    “I know that a lot of these people have infiltrated these conservative organizations from top to bottom. There needs to be accountability,” he added.

    Yeah . . . you know that’s not going to happen, right

  • corvaxL@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    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