In Ohio, amid the row crops and rolling hills, the Olive Gardens and Steak ’n Shakes, Mr. Hovater’s presence can make hardly a ripple. He is the Nazi sympathizer next door, polite and low-key at a time the old boundaries of accepted political activity can seem alarmingly in flux. Most Americans would be disgusted and baffled by his casually approving remarks about Hitler, disdain for democracy and belief that the races are better off separate. But his tattoos are innocuous pop-culture references: a slice of cherry pie adorns one arm, a homage to the TV show “Twin Peaks.” He says he prefers to spread the gospel of white nationalism with satire. He is a big “Seinfeld” fan.
Politsturm: It should not be surprising that the bourgeois mouthpiece “The New York Times” wrote this piece normalizing American Nazism. The piece attempts to make Nazis seem like every-day people who just have an extreme political view. The article examines the life of Tony Hovater, who was one of the neo-Nazis present at the Charlottesville rally that murdered Heather Heyer. The New York Times writer at no point takes a strong stance against Nazism and tries to downplay the phenomenon as being “edgy” or “trolling”. When Hovater refers to the Charlottesville murder as a historic event or refers to Hitler as “a guy who really believed in his cause”, there is no rebuttal from the author.
The New York Times does not explicitly question Nazism because it is not a threat to the capitalist class. The media outlet can use “controversial” articles such as these to generate traffic and advertising revenues. The only principle that is dear to The New York Times Company is the maximization of profit. Hovater said the fascist ideal society “would resemble the early days in the United States, when power was reserved for landowners”. The ideal society for the The New York Times would likely be similar with the addition of capitalists, of course. It is clear that racist, bigoted fascists and media conglomerates have more in common than they would like us to believe.