posted February 16, 2023 01:48 AM            

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Conger’s research identified Von Nukem as one of the men who attacked Deandre Harris in a parking garage. She also connected the dots to show how Von Nukem gloated about the attack in text messages to another white supremacist rally organizer, who was later prosecuted in a separate case.

Journalists, researchers, and anti-fascist activists spent months carefully examining photos and videos of the violence that day to identify white supremacists and hold them accountable. Von Nukem, who stood front and center during some of the most iconic moments of the hateful procession, was quickly outed by former classmates back in his home state. One former student told the local Springfield News-Leader that in school he was known as a “token goth kid” who had what the newspaper described as “an unsettling interest in Nazi Germany.”

At the time, Von Nukem told the newspaper he supported Donald Trump and had adopted the white supremacist worldview that whites are now “disadvantaged.”

"I don't mind showing solidarity with them," he told the newspaper then. “You have to pick your side. You have to throw your support behind the army that is fighting for you."

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