# The crying nazi Chris Cantwell is back in the news **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 31, 2018, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-crying-nazi-chris-cantwell-is-back-in-the-news/811546 "2018-03-31T20:33:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2018, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-crying-nazi-chris-cantwell-is-back-in-the-news/811546/1 "2018-03-31T20:33:38Z")
Remember this guy? [https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=833962](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=833962) He’s now claiming to be an FBI informant against Antifa. > **[The ‘crying Nazi’ from Charlottesville now says he’s an FBI informant](https://thinkprogress.org/crying-nazi-says-hes-an-fbi-informant-540c438c31f0/)** > > Chris Cantwell has infuriated his supporters on the far-right. > [@](#): > > In a recent conversation with the notorious far-right hacker Andrew “Weev” Auernheimer, Cantwell said that he “talked to cops too, gonna talk to the feds soon most likely” and that “the feds want to bust Antifa, and I’m keen to help them.” Weev described Cantwell’s actions as “fucking shitty scumbag behavior” and then promptly leaked  screenshots of the conversation. > > Cantwell then doubled down in a blog post Sunday, titled “I Am A Federal Informant,” in which he claims that cooperating with the FBI is the only way to get back at antifa since the authorities in Charlottesville “had given license to masked thugs and terrorists to wage war on the streets.” This is confusing. Wouldn’t he have to be a member of Antifa to be an informant against them, and why does the far right consider this to be scumbag behavior? ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2018, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-crying-nazi-chris-cantwell-is-back-in-the-news/811546/2 "2018-03-31T21:45:10Z")
He could have just been talking straight out of his ass. He could also have seen things that are illegal without being in the group. He’s not that reliable of a “bystander” witness but that doesn’t absolutely mean he wouldn’t have been interviewed by police. Giving a single statement with an elevated sense of self-importance could lead to his claims. He might have previously infiltrated them and actually have something from that time. It would be much harder after he got internet famous but never underestimate people’s ability to be stupid, ignorant, or both. He might have even been involved in groups that shared membership with anti-fascist organizations. There’s some spillover between the extremist groups along with individual movement among people that are just testing things out until they find the right fit as they radicalize. One of the possibilities is he started out with, or was exposed early to, [“greenwashed nativism.”](https://www.thenation.com/article/greenwashing-nativism/) That’s a movement to spin nativist themes in terms of environmental concerns. I’ve even seen reports of small nativist, green-focused, anarchist groups. (Talk about a fringe of the fringe. 😛 ) It’s entirely possible he started his journey of extremism among the left’s extremists before ending up with the right’s. He might have some real, although older, information from that time. I’d still lean towards this whole conversation being pulled out of someplace uncomfortable. I don’t mean the back of a Volkswagen.