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Identity Evropa members insist they鈥檙e not racist, but 鈥渋dentitarians鈥� who are interested in preserving Western culture. The group owes its style and ideology to the听European听颈诲别苍迟颈迟补谤颈补苍听尘辞惫别尘别苍迟.

Founded in 2016 by Iraq war veteran听Nathan Damigo, Identity Evropa has always operated with an eye toward branding. The organization has a simplistic and replicable logo 鈥� a teal triangle with three lines that join in the middle 鈥� and builds name recognition by distributing flyers around college campuses printed with images of classical European statues and phrases like 鈥淥ur Future Belongs to Us鈥� and 鈥淜eep Your Diversity We Want Identity.鈥� It鈥檚 self-aware and eminently meme-able aesthetics are meant to lure in young people who are then encouraged to engage in real-world activism on college campuses 鈥� the 鈥渆picenter of听Cultural Marxism听in America,鈥� according to Damigo. The organization鈥檚 overarching goal 鈥� implemented through their #ProjectSiege campus flyering operation, banner drops broadcast over social media, demonstrations and 鈥渙pen dialogue鈥� campaigns 鈥� is 鈥渢aking up space鈥� with their ideas and imagery in the hopes of eventually, through the sheer force of repetition, mainstreaming their ideology.

Identity Evropa members, including Damigo, helped to plan the deadly 2017 Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, but have since attempted to publicly distance themselves from events that could both tarnish their image and land them in legal trouble. As a result, they鈥檝e made multiple leadership changes, doubled down on their identitarian label, and become pickier when it comes to the group鈥檚 membership and public appearances.

In its own words

鈥淚 think one of the major books that got me started was David Duke's听My Awakening, and I think from there the rest was really history.鈥�
鈥擭athan Damigo on Red Ice Radio, June 16, 2016

鈥淎merica was founded as a white country 鈥� as a country for people of European heritage. And in 1965 they passed the Harts-Cellar Act and the people who passed that said, 鈥榯his is going to change the demographic makeup of the country, this is not going to increase the amount of immigration every year,鈥� 鈥� all of it was bogus 鈥� even here in California [not only] are we a minority, but they are actively trying to disenfranchise us from the institutions that our ancestors created.鈥�
鈥擭athan Damigo on Red Elephants, July 13, 2017

鈥淚 work in HR firing n------ and s---- all day. Before that, I was in the army and I got to kill Muslims for fun. I鈥檓 not sure which one was better: watching n------ and s---- cry because they can鈥檛 feed their little mud children or watching Muslims brains spray on the wall. Honestly both probably suck compared to listening to a k---鈥檚 scream while in the oven.鈥�
鈥�Eli Mosley听on The War Room, March 20, 2017

"We don't believe America needs to be 100.00 percent white, but we do think that America isn't going to be America if there isn't a European-America super-majority. So when it comes to policies and so forth we're concerned with reversing these trends. We want to end immigration for the time being. And in the future we would like to have immigration policies that favor high-skilled immigrants from, you know, Europe, Canada, Australia and so forth. And we also do want to have programs of re-migration wherein people who feel more of a connection to another part of the world, another race, another culture, even another religion in the case of Islam can return to their native homelands essentially."
鈥擯atrick Casey听in an interview with Brittany Pettibone, January 16, 2018

Background

Nathan Damigo launched Identity Evropa (IE) in March 2016, but his journey toward 鈥渞acial awareness鈥� began long before. Born in Lewiston, Maine, Damigo grew up in San Jose, California, with his patriotic, 鈥渇lag-waving c---servative鈥� family, as he would later call them during an听听with Red Ice Radio. His parents were 鈥渇undamentalist Baptists,鈥� and he attended a private Christian school that taught creationism and reinforced the conservatism he encountered at home.

As an adult looking back on his childhood, Damigo claimed that he always felt out of place in San Jose. 鈥淭here were all of these different neighborhoods and I noticed that many of my friends who were non-white 鈥� were perhaps Filipino or something like that 鈥� they had their own cultures and a very tight-knit kind of group thing going on,鈥澨�听on a听Counter-Currents听Radio podcast, 鈥淚 would go and I would hang and there was always something was kind of off, that wasn't really fitting.鈥� The racial makeup of his hometown also shifted during his adolescent and young adulthood, rendering whites the minority as the Asian and Latino populations increased. 鈥淚鈥檝e been dispossessed,鈥� he insisted, claiming he had some right of ownership over California because 鈥渕y ancestors, actually, like were among the founders of the state.鈥�

It wasn鈥檛 until he joined the Marine Corps at 18 that Damigo finally felt like he belonged. 鈥淭here were a lot of white guys from the Midwest and other parts of the country and it was really the first time I had spent a lot of time with my own people,鈥� he explained. Unlike the Filipinos and Latinos he had grown up with, his white fellow soldiers seemed to share his views听of听culture and politics. 鈥淔or some听reason听it was just really comfortable,鈥� he said. He contrasted his growing sense of racial comradery with the conflict that continuously surrounded him in Iraq鈥檚 Al-Anbar province, and concluded that multi-ethnic, religiously diverse societies simply didn鈥檛 work.

Damigo completed two tours in Iraq and struggled upon his return. Three of his friends had died in combat, and he began drinking heavily to cope with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). One night, on the anniversary of a friend鈥檚 death, an inebriated Damigo used a gun to rob an Arab cab driver he mistook for an Iraqi. For robbing the man of $43 dollars, he received an Other than Honorable (OTH) discharge from the military and spent four years in prison. An HBO film crew producing a documentary about the lives of veterans struggling with PTSD followed Damigo鈥檚 transition and, after his sentencing, interviewed his mother. 鈥淭hey took him when he was 18 and put him through a paper shredder and then sent him back to us,鈥� she told them. 鈥淲e get to try to put all the pieces back together. Sometimes it鈥檚 like Humpty Dumpty: they don鈥檛 go back together.鈥�

In prison, Damigo attempted to reassemble the pieces of his life through education, taking advantage of his abundant free time to read. He felt 鈥溙�,鈥� and was trying to figure out why the United States had launched a war in Iraq in the first place. He was also reassessing his Christian faith 鈥� if he was never taught about evolution growing up, what else had he missed? Damigo read about biology, genetics, atheism and, after a recommendation from a fellow prisoner, landed on the former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke鈥檚 book,听My Awakening. He scanned Duke鈥檚 sources听and听听from听racist academics like听J. Phillipe听Rushton,听狈颈肠丑辞濒补蝉听奥补诲别听and听John Baker. 鈥淚t was very clear to me that there are these differences between people that are very powerful,鈥� Damigo concluded after immersing himself in the long-discredited literature linking race and biology, 鈥渁nd there are these distributions even within those populations that will affect听individual听outcome as well as group outcome.鈥�

After gaining 鈥渞acial awareness鈥� in prison, Damigo started to think strategically about how to spread his newly discovered ideas upon his release in 2014. Much of his inspiration came from his ideological opposition, including the community organizer often demonized by the right,听.听He also looked to his contemporaries, especially activists associated with the Black Lives Matter movement. In a 2015 podcast, Damigo reflected on how black student organizers at the University of Missouri had successfully drawn attention to racial discrimination on their campus through a series of recent protests. He was critical of the students鈥� motivations 鈥� and claimed they were guilty of 鈥渆thnic intimidation鈥� 鈥� but was nevertheless impressed by their results. 鈥淲hen we're doing activism ourselves we have to understand that taking actions that create strong emotions and dramatize the situation is far more effective than facts will ever be,鈥� he said.

He found his way into real-life activism through an online connection when he commented on a YouTube video posted by a fellow veteran named Angelo Gage. After Gage responded, the two became friends and together launched a youth wing of the white supremacist American Freedom Party called the听National Youth Front听(NYF), aimed at 鈥渁ll you teens out there who are aware of what鈥檚 going on,鈥� according to Gage鈥檚 announcement on the white nationalist site Stormfront. It was in NYF that Damigo 鈥� then studying for a degree in social science at California State University, Stanislaus 鈥� first began trying to make ideological recruits on college campuses. In their most notable campaign, NYF staged protests at Arizona State University in an attempt to make the school cancel an 鈥渁nti-white hate-class鈥� called 鈥淯.S. Race Theory & the Problem of Whiteness.鈥� They also unsuccessfully tried to听听in the Northeast into firing professors they deemed 鈥渁nti-white鈥� as part of a campaign dubbed 鈥淥peration Grumpy Grundy.鈥�

Though NYF was able to establish at least five chapters around the country, the group was short-lived. Its chairman 鈥� a man named Caleb Shumaker who Damigo met on Twitter 鈥� was ousted from the organization after it came to light that he was married to a Hispanic woman.听尝别驳补濒听迟谤辞耻产濒别听followed: GoFundMe suspended the group for violating their terms of service, and an organization called Youthfront threatened to sue NYF if they didn鈥檛 cease using their current name. Damigo rechristened his organization 鈥淭he Dispossessed鈥� on Facebook before scrapping it entirely in order the retool and refine his message.

Damigo, looking to make his organization 鈥渕ore explicitly pro-white,鈥� found himself inspired by the growing cadre of identitarians in Europe.听The听测辞耻迟丑-濒别诲听尘辞惫别尘别苍迟听is听the ideological offspring of the French New Right, or Nouvelle Droite, a far-right faction that formed in academic circles in the late 1960s. The New Right鈥檚 opposition to multiculturalism, paired with its emphasis on European identity and localism, helped inspire a new generation of European far-right activists reacting to increasing non-European immigration in the early 2000s.

In 2003, the French identitarian movement found its formal expression in Bloc Identitaire, which held anti-Muslim events like a 2010 鈥減ork sausage and booze鈥� party aimed at 鈥渞esisting the Islamization of France.鈥� The organization created a youth wing in 2012, called G茅n茅ration Identitaire, that has placed even more emphasis听on听听and听branding. Their simple and sleek logo 鈥� a yellow and black lambda 鈥� clearly helped to inspire Identity Evropa鈥檚. Identitarian organizations based upon those in France mushroomed throughout Europe, organizing demonstrations and dramatic banner drops, like in 2016 in Germany when members of the identitarian movement听听atop the Brandenburg Gate reading 鈥淪ecure Borders鈥擲ecure Future.鈥� But the biggest identitarian stunt came a year听later,听when activists from the umbrella organization Defend Europe raised more than $100,000 to try and physically block NGO ships carrying refugees from entering Europe. Though it听largely听,听the actions 鈥� like all the 鈥渁ctivism鈥� they perform 鈥� were promoted across social media in stylized videos. From across the Atlantic, Damigo took note.

Identitarians see white people as their own distinct political constituency, with a unique set of interests that need to be articulated and defended. It鈥檚 a savvy branding strategy: identitarians contend they鈥檙e simply interested in promoting their own self-interest rather than attacking others, making them harder to condemn than someone who denigrates non-whites by using racial slurs. 鈥淭his isn鈥檛 about being negative toward other people, people of color and stuff like that,鈥� Damigo told Red Ice Radio, 鈥渢his is about finding a way for us to have a future for our own people.鈥�

The ideology鈥檚 adherents are attempting to discursively reconstruct whiteness: by talking about whites as just another ethnic group in our multiethnic society (or 鈥渞acializing鈥� whiteness), identitarians gloss over the impact of both historical and contemporary forms of white supremacy. They also help to build legitimacy for a white separatist or 鈥溙�鈥� society in which racial groups are deemed culturally distinct, and therefore best suited to live separately. In an ethnic studies class at Cal State, for instance, Damigo once drew a comparison between the interests of white people and Native Americans. 鈥淓ven though horrible things did happen to indigenous people,鈥澨齢e,听鈥渢here was land set aside where they could be who they were and express themselves how they wanted to, and they could form a government that reflected them. And I think that is something that we want.鈥� He鈥檚 also expressed support for 鈥淐alexit鈥� 鈥� the secession of California from the rest of the United States.

For Damigo and other identitarians, this reframing is part of an explicit strategy borrowed from the European New Right thinkers who, in turn, drew on the Marxist philosopher Antonio Gramsci (New Right adherents have referred to themselves as the 鈥淕ramscians of the Right鈥�). In his scholarship, Gramsci theorized that society鈥檚 ruling class normalized and maintained their political and economic control through cultural hegemony. As Guillaume Faye 鈥� a foundational figure in the French New Right who鈥檚 writing has been translated into English by Arktos Media, an identitarian publishing house that would come to听form a partnership听with IE in late 2017 鈥� put it, Europeans should focus on 鈥渕etapolitics,鈥� defined as the 鈥渟ocial diffusion of ideas and cultural values for the sake of provoking a profound, long-term, political transformation.鈥�

In order to bend culture, language, and, eventually, politics toward his own ends, Damigo drew on the philosophy and strategies of European identitarians and, in March 2016, launched Identity Evropa as an American outpost of the movement. Members are heavily vetted and must be of 鈥淓uropean, non-Semitic heritage.鈥�

The organization was founded with two goals in mind: first, to occupy both figurative and literal space with their ideas and, second, to build 鈥淓uropean identity and solidarity.鈥� White nationalists 鈥渟hould be spending, goodness, 20 minutes a day commenting on YouTube channels,鈥� Damigo urged in a 2015 podcast where he spoke broadly about the organizational strategy he hoped to someday implement. 鈥淲e cannot leave any safe space for people not to think about these things 鈥� over time it becomes normalized, they get used to it, and they're like 'oh, this guy again.鈥欌�� 鈥淣ext thing you know,鈥� he continued, 鈥渉ook, line, and sinker 鈥� they're visiting our website, they're posting dank memes on the internet and they're creating accounts themselves and going further and red pilling other people."

Part of promoting pride in white identity involved changing the way people thought about racism and, indeed, lending the word a more expansive definition. Damigo wanted IE to focus on 鈥渟eeding the meme 鈥榓nti-white,鈥欌�� or, in other words, pushing the notion that racism could also include discrimination against white people. At an 鈥渙pen dialogue鈥� event IE held at Berkeley in May 2016, Damigo challenged counter-protesters who called his followers racists. 鈥淚 just turned around and told them that that word was anti-white hate speech and used to undermine legitimate European interests,鈥� he later explained. It鈥檚 a talking point Damigo has since delivered repeatedly in interviews with journalists. His expressed goal is to make the racist label meaningless.

搁颈肠丑补谤诲听厂辫别苍肠别谤听,听the white nationalist leader who heads the National Policy Institute, appeared alongside Damigo at the small Berkeley event. At the time, Spencer was busy building his emerging alt-right coalition and IE was a welcome addition. The group not only promised to recruit young people to the听movement,听but to lend the alt-right a veneer of respectability by counting among their听followers听college-aged men in khakis. And colleges, of course, stand at the frontlines of the cultural and political battles waged by the alt-right. Damigo听听that college campuses are IE鈥檚 鈥渘umber one target鈥� because they represent 鈥渢he epicenter of cultural Marxism in America.鈥� In other words, colleges 鈥� one of the institutions non-whites 鈥渁re actively trying to disenfranchise us from鈥� 鈥� are attempting to subvert听谤别补濒听American values and spread 鈥渁nti-white rhetoric.鈥� So-called race realists, he and Spencer believe, deserve a seat at the seminar table.

During its first months of existence,听IE听only had about 15 members, but their membership increased dramatically thanks to Donald Trump鈥檚 presidential win in 2016. Damigo, like the rest of the alt-right, was excited about candidate Trump, explaining that he thought electing the Republican nominee 鈥渨ould be very beneficial for people of European heritage.鈥� After the election, he used Periscope to live-stream his reaction. 鈥淲e as the alt-right are the reason why Trump won,鈥� he told his viewers, before yelling 鈥淵ou have to go back!鈥� to people on the sidewalk that he, presumably, believed to be immigrants. When听two IE members several months after Trump took office, they explained that they were 鈥渞iding this wave of Donald Trump,鈥� and that the president was 鈥渢he closest to us that we鈥檝e ever had in recent memory.鈥� When the interviewer noted that most people would see their rhetoric as racist, one of the men loyally repeated one of Damigo鈥檚 talking points: 鈥淚 think those slurs like 鈥榬acist,鈥� 鈥榳hite supremacist,鈥� 鈥楴azi,鈥� these are anti-white slurs.鈥欌��

IE鈥檚 membership experienced a听boost thanks to听Trump听,听but most recruitment was done through a campus flyering campaign begun in September 2016 called #ProjectSiege. The organization鈥檚 flyers听feature classical European sculptures and, in a bold white text, phrases like 鈥淧rotect Your Heritage鈥� and 鈥淪erve Your People.鈥� In just听the听of听the campaign,听IE听managed to hit more than two dozen campuses stretching across the country from Evergreen State College in Washington to Bates College in Maine.听IE听posted pictures of the hanging flyers on their Twitter account so their messages could reach more than those who happened to pass them on campus. The campaign aligned closely with IE鈥檚 larger strategic vision, which involved establishing a clear set of talking points and simple phrases and slogans that held, in Damigo鈥檚 words, 鈥渕emetic power.鈥�

IE also has its members participate in communal activities and demonstrations, including dramatic banner drops. In the summer of 2017, IE hung banners with the phrases 鈥淪ecure Our Border Secure Our Future鈥� and 鈥淎 New Dawn is Breaking, Rise and Get Active鈥� from overpasses and buildings in placing ranging from Plymouth, Minnesota, to Boone, North Carolina, and Atlanta, Georgia. In June of 2017, IE听members听held听at the Fort Lauderdale, Florida鈥檚 Stonewall Museum, which documents LGBT history and culture in America. The students stood silently with a banner that claimed they 鈥渁pologize for nothing.鈥� A couple months later in Miami, six young IE members used the same tactic to interrupt a panel discussion on sanctuary cities and later promoted the action on their website with a bizarre 鈥淢iami Vice鈥�-themed video.

These real-world activities served not only to create tweet-able听content,听but also to help build fraternity among the IE members 鈥� something that was also sustained through chapter meetings and other formal organizational events. Their activities weren鈥檛 all political. One chapter participated together in a Warrior Dash, 鈥減romoting health, fraternity, and community.鈥� Real-world interaction, Damigo insisted, would lead to greater investment in the organization and its mission.

Despite their attempts to cultivate an image that was youthful and wholesome,听IE听was one of the primary participants in what neo-Nazi听Andrew Anglin听would dub the 鈥溙�Summer of Hate听.鈥� Over a period of several months in 2017, a coalition of white supremacist groups held a series of rallies around the country as the听primarily听online alt-right movement made the leap into real-world action. A number of those demonstrations took place in Berkeley, emerging over disagreements about controversial speakers who were scheduled to visit the campus. It was at an April 15 Berkeley protest, after Ann Coulter canceled her appearance at the university, that Damigo and IE gained a degree of notoriety. Normally somewhat diffident during interviews, the public saw a harsher side of Damigo when he was filmed punching a petite female counter-protestor in the face as the chaos of the 鈥淏attle of Berkeley鈥� seethed around him.

Within the alt-right, the video possessed a kind of memetic power Damigo was always trying to harness. Almost two weeks after the clip appeared online,听IE听tweeted a graph of membership applications that showed an enormous spike beginning the day after the protest. 鈥淲hat could possibly have caused this spike in applications?听Hmm鈥�.鈥� they asked in a tweet. In mid-May, they told their followers they would be slow to contact aspiring members because of a recent influx of applications. At the American Renaissance conference at the end of July,听听that IE had 700 members nationwide.

The Summer of Hate culminated in the August Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, which Damigo and other members of IE attended alongside Klansman, militia members and an assortment of other racists. A听听at the event shows him linking arms with four other men and charging into a wall of state police in riot gear. It was a hopeless effort 鈥� the police had mostly cleared Emancipation Park of rally-goers after declaring the gathering unlawful, but Damigo and his compatriots continued to resist, yelling and digging their heels into the ground as the officers cleared the remaining stragglers. When the rally concluded, with one counter-protester dead, alt-right leaders quickly set about constructing a narrative that would absolve them of guilt. Unable to find a venue that would host them,听Spencer听in听his living room 鈥� with Damigo standing quietly by his side 鈥� and laid the blame on the City of Charlottesville for failing to adequately prepare for the event.

Damigo鈥檚 tenure as IE鈥檚 leader was cut short when, just after the events at Charlottesville, he left due to undisclosed 鈥減ersonal issues,鈥� according to听the听驳谤辞耻辫鈥檚听苍别飞听濒别补诲别谤听,听Eli Mosley. Born Elliot Kline, he changed his name to pay homage to the British fascist Oswald Mosley. The new leader was one of the听principle听organizers of the Charlottesville rally, having worked his way quickly up the ranks in the preceding months. He even produced the 鈥溾�� document that provided instructions and a schedule of the weekend鈥檚 events for participants in 鈥淓XTREMLY听[sic] VETTED circles.鈥� Like Damigo, Mosley took an aggressive stand during the event.听that听he screamed at attendees who suggested leaving in order to avoid arrest. 鈥淚鈥檓 the f------ organizer. Listen to what I say, goddamnit!鈥� He also put out a call for men who had guns, apparently to protect his fellow protestors. 鈥淚鈥檓 about to send at least 200 people with guns to go get them out if you guys do not get our people out,鈥� he said听on听.听Spencer, Damigo听and听Mosley have all been named defendants听in听state听and federal听lawsuits听seeking听damages for the violence that broke out at Unite the Right.

Before connecting with Richard Spencer and others on the racist far right, Mosley was a libertarian and Ron Paul enthusiast who worked a desk job as a human听resources听professional in Reading, Pennsylvania. His disillusionment with libertarianism coincided with the growth of the alt-right and 鈥渟o from like 2015听to, you know, now,鈥� he explained after taking the reins at Identity Evropa, 鈥淚 started essentially digesting alt-right media,鈥� including Red Ice Radio, The Right Stuff, Radix Journal and older racist outlets like American Renaissance. He chatted with alt-righters on the video game messaging platform Discord and, through connections forged online, received an invite to an alt-right event around the 2016 presidential election. There, he met听惭颈办别听笔别颈苍辞惫颈肠丑听and听Jesse Craig Dunstan 鈥� hosts of 鈥淭he Daily Shoah鈥� podcast 鈥� as well as members of IE. He got involved with the movement, joining both the听笔谤辞耻诲听叠辞测蝉听and听Identity Evropa.

Mosley claims he saw the alt-right as 鈥渉alf serious, half joking,鈥� until he saw the footage of Richard Spencer getting punched on Inauguration Day, after which everything 鈥渂ecame incredibly serious.鈥� He hadn鈥檛 met Spencer yet, but reached out and was soon devoting his weekends to helping the leader of the National Policy Institute coordinate events, including a number of speeches on college campuses. 鈥淚n the span of like eight months, nine months, I went from being听an anonymous, like, Twitter shit lord听to, you know, one of the people who was really pushing the alt-right into听real life听activism,鈥� he told Red Ice Radio.

Mosley tried to appear polished and stuck to IE talking points 鈥� focusing on 鈥渕etapolitics鈥� and claiming he wanted members of the organization to 鈥渢ake up space鈥� 鈥� but his politics were forged in the crasser spaces of the racist right. On March 4,听2017听he attended a Philadelphia pro-Trump rally and, in a听for听the neo-Nazi website听顿补颈濒测听厂迟辞谤尘别谤听,听described the counter-protesters as 鈥渉ooked-nose Philadelphians鈥� and held听special听animus for one 鈥渇ilthy Jewess鈥� in the crowd. He took the tension between the two factions as a sign that 鈥渨e have moved into a new era in the Nazification of America. Normie Trump supporters are becoming racially aware and听Jew wise鈥� 鈥� a positive development, in his opinion.

More of his hatred came to the surface during his March 20 appearance on 鈥淭he War Room,鈥� the 鈥渙fficial podcast for right-wing veterans.鈥� Mosley said he served in Iraq, and it was during his time in the military that he acquired his political education and became 鈥淭---听aware鈥� 鈥� or conscious of women鈥檚 promiscuity and the ways they manipulate men. 鈥淭hat was a big red pill for me, just like feminism bullshit,鈥� he explained. The conversation in the episode mostly centered on how useless women were in the military, and how they should simply serve as 鈥渕attresses.鈥� 鈥淭here鈥檚 no reason that these females should be near our highest T guys, and it鈥檚 just a distraction. It鈥檚 ridiculous,鈥� Mosley said. They discussed the trials of dating in a multicultural society, and Mosley proposed creating a 鈥淛ew-detecting app鈥� so he wouldn鈥檛 accidentally sleep with a Jewish woman. Another guest suggested they just 鈥淛ack the Ripper the t----.鈥�

The show wrapped up with Mosley describing an exchange he had with a woman on Twitter. He laughed as he told the other men he sent her a message that read, 鈥淚 work in HR firing n------ and s---- all day. Before that, I was in the army and I got to kill Muslims for fun. I鈥檓 not sure which one was better: watching n------ and s---- cry because they can鈥檛 feed their little mud children or听watching听Muslims brains spray on the wall.听Honestly听both probably suck compared to listening to a k---鈥檚 scream while in the oven.鈥�

Like Damigo, Mosley claimed that his time in Iraq led him to the far right. 鈥淚 did become jaded in the fact that I didn鈥檛 understand, like, why are we in Iraq? And I saw first-hand how silly it was,鈥� he told a reporter. Indeed, his entire political conversion narrative is remarkably close to Damigo鈥檚, just without the stint in prison. He, too, claims to have become disillusioned by the war and returned to take refuge in literature, reading 鈥渙ver 500 books鈥� to educate himself about the realities of race as well as leftist organizational tactics. 鈥淚鈥檓 fascinated by leftist tactics, I read Saul Alinsky, Martin Luther King 鈥� This is our 鈥�60s movement,鈥澨�.

As it turned out, he made up his claims about serving in Iraq. According听to听,听Mosley had served in the National Guard but was never deployed. All the stories he had told about his tour of duty were almost certainly fabricated 鈥� like one he recounted on 鈥淭he War Room鈥� about a married, female lieutenant colonel who trolled the military base鈥檚 bar every weekend desperately looking for enlisted men to seduce. As Mosley apparently intended, the other guests reacted with revulsion, agreeing she should be 鈥渇------ shot鈥� in order to 鈥渃lear up some room for some good white men to get promoted.鈥� The fact that he fabricated stories to prove his misogynist bona fides throws into question his entire personal narrative, and it seems likely he simply borrowed Damigo鈥檚 story whole cloth, concluding that an intellectual conversion would play better than one of a man who came to his politics just by being 鈥渁n anonymous Twitter troll鈥� who dubbed himself 鈥渢he Judenjager,鈥� or 鈥渢he Jew hunter,鈥� in his bio.

Mosley鈥檚 time at Identity Evropa ended before his lies came to light. He stepped down on November 27 after only three months of serving as the organization鈥檚 leader, explaining in a Gab post that 鈥渨e had irreconcilable differences on what the relationship with the rest of the #AltRight should look like.鈥� After his resignation, Mosley began to work more closely with Spencer on a project called Operation Homeland aimed at creating more real-world alt-right activism. After the news of his fake Army career came to light in February of 2018, Spencer鈥檚 National Policy Institute released a statement explaining that they plan to give Mosley time to 鈥渄ocument his military background and correct what听The听New York Times听has reported about him.鈥�

Whatever Mosley鈥檚 disagreements with IE might be, his resignation seems to be part of a plan to rebrand the organization after the fallout from Charlottesville. After Mosely stepped aside, the boyish Patrick Casey 鈥� who had previously gone by the name Reinhard Wolff 鈥� took his place. Casey/Wolf has been a member of Identity Evropa since its early days, during which time he has also hosted the online video series 鈥淥peration Reinhard鈥� and 鈥淪eeking Insight鈥� on the white nationalist media platform Red Ice Radio. His segments focus on culture and the state of right-wing politics, with titles like 鈥淧epe and the War on Memes,鈥� 鈥淢etapolitics and Social Capital,鈥� and 鈥淗ow the Alt-Right Should Relate to the Alt-Lite.鈥�

The latter segment helps explain why Casey made a good candidate for Identity Evropa leadership: unlike Mosley, who wanted to 鈥渦nc---鈥� those in the alt-lite, Casey called for partnership. 鈥淒irecting vitriol toward other Trump supporters because they aren鈥檛 fully red pilled is counterproductive and unnecessary,鈥� he explained in the video. 鈥淭he ideal relationship between the alt-right and the alt-lite should thus be one of cooperation, dialogue, and constructive criticism.鈥� If Identity Evropa is supposed to be the welcoming face of white supremacy 鈥� a place where 鈥淭rump supporters [can] realize that identity politics needn鈥檛 involve genocide and hatred,鈥� as Casey put it 鈥� then his leadership makes sense. After Charlottesville, Identity Evropa is less interested in being associated with the alt-right and, according to Casey, will be portraying themselves more as a specifically identitarian organization than an alt-right one.

Casey鈥檚 revamp is aimed at mainstreaming identitarianism and appealing to 鈥渘ormies鈥� outside the white nationalist movement, a strategy he outlined in an online debate in early 2018 with听Brad Griffin听, a member of the neo-Confederate听League of the South听and founder of the blog Occidental Dissent. Griffin wrote that that it was 鈥渁 waste of time to try to appeal to the average person鈥� because, in doing听do, they are asking people to betray the 鈥渂iggest taboo in American politics.鈥� Casey disagreed, arguing that people within the movement can 鈥渆xplicitly advocate for their respective people鈥檚 interests without being completely barred from polite society.鈥� 鈥淲e want to depathologize ethnic/racial identity, and [G茅n茅ration Identitaire] has proven that it鈥檚 can be done,鈥� he wrote. Casey drew a distinction between 鈥�1.0鈥� white nationalists like Griffin and听idenititarians听like himself who, through the creation of their own culture, memes, and unique content, have created a space that appeals to a younger generation.

Identity Evropa members want to protect their brand while still growing their movement. According to Casey, IE plans to host more private, invite-only events instead of big rallies like Unite the Right, where they have little control over what groups might show up. They鈥檒l be focusing more on community-building by creating fitness clubs and meetup groups, and already had members host a beach cleanup in southern California and march in a New Orleans Mardi Gras parade. Their flyering and banner drops continue, and in some cases have become more dramatic. In February, for instance,听IE听tweeted a video of members littering flyers down on a city from a propeller plane, because 鈥淎viation is an American tradition.鈥� They also plan to hold more demonstrations that tap into immigration anxiety and attract the sympathy of those outside their movement, like memorials they created for听and听鈥� white women who were, respectively, killed by a Somali-American police officer and an undocumented Mexican immigrant.

Casey has brought Identity Evropa into more mainstream conservative spaces, like the 2018 Conservative Political Action Conference, and noted later in a blog post that he found many attendees amenable to his ideas thanks to 鈥渢he Left鈥檚 anti-White rhetoric and blatant unwillingness to tolerate any restrictions on immigration.鈥� He has also attempted to create distance between IE and Spencer,听whose听now-defunct听college听tour听led听to a number of violent clashes and arrests. IE members present at听Spencer鈥檚 chaotic March听speech听at听Michigan State University were reportedly expelled from the organization. Spencer called Casey鈥檚 decision 鈥渄etrimental to a functioning movement.鈥�

Casey has tried to hold IE above the fray of movement infighting and claims that Identity Evropa鈥檚 high-profile actions have been effective when it comes to recruitment, with many applications citing their flyers or social media posts. According to their own account, Identity Evropa had roughly 1,000 members during the first month of 2018 and aims to reach 5,000 by the end of the year.