James Fields Convicted; Fash on Internet Responds Predictably

The fascists showed who they were to the world in Charlottesville last year, and this is just the beginning of them paying the price for it. If their responses on social media is any indication, they can hardly wait.

On Friday, despite efforts by his supporters to suggest that 32-year-old Heather Heyer died of a heart attack as opposed to physical trauma or that James Alex Fields, Jr. drove his car into her and other protesters in self defense during the so-called “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia on Aug. 12, 2017, the 20-year-old neo-Fascist was convicted of first degree murder. 

The response from some of those supporters on social networks, most notably on the neo-Fascist social network Gab, has been as many have expected, be it reinforcement of conspiracy theories to flat out calls or advocacy of violence against those opposed to them and their ideals. Dan McMahon, who often posts there under the name “Jack Corbin” and has fancied himself a antagonist of antifa made that call more than apparent in the wake of the conviction, posting, “Antifa needs to be stopped, by any & all means necessary, they are a threat to our people’s survival. I hope everyone on Gab reads this, realizes this, understands this.”

This sentiment wasn’t just shared by many on Gab, it was cosigned in the responses to McMahon. Someone with the screen name “billy brown” posted that  “one man with one rifle could stop all antifa’s BS,” warning however that “we all know the cops would kill him for it,” while “DTOM” (“Don’t Tread On Me”) posted his agreement. Meanwhile, Gage Matthews posts his support for the fictional “Day of the Rope” that appears in William Pierces neo-Nazi fantasy novel the Turner Diaries. 

A thread on Free Republic, a onetime popular outlet for conservatives, was another place where one could find support for Fields, from one poster named “gaijin” calling him the “honky Trayvon Martin” to another from the same poster that floated an untrue statement that someone brandished a “huge rifle” at Fields and he didn’t even hit “that fat chain-smoker.” Another poster named “piytar” however, noted that prosecutors played surveillance video showing Fields driving his car slowly towards the group, reversing and then speeding into them. Others called out other posters for defending Fields, calling their comments “disturbing in the extreme.”

On Twitter, neo-Fascist Richard Spencer attempted to play politician regarding the verdict. One of the organziers of the “Unite the Right” rally who two weeks earlier at the American Renaissance Conference just outside Nashville, said that the rally would be possibly “traumatic for the liberals in Charlottesville”, declared that while he never met Fields, he is upset that he has been turned into a “devil and scapegoat” by the media. Ironically, Spencer went to Charlottesville that day accompanied by the Clark Brothers, who reportedly corresponded regularly on Gab with Robert Bowers, the alleged mass shooter that committed the murders at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, PA. After Edward Clark killed himself the day of the shooting and Jeff Clark was arrested on weapons charges weeks later, Spencer denied even knowing them, despite them regularly appearing with him at various events. 

I never met James Fields, and probably never will. I don’t know what’s in his heart or head. But looking at the evidence, I don’t see a murderer or terrorist. I see a young man who was in a chaotic situation and panicked, but never intended to hurt anyone.— Richard ⛄️ Spencer (@RichardBSpencer) December 8, 2018

Fields is facing 20 years to life after being convicted and still faces federal charges.