Neo-Nazi reveals how he uses woke grievances and promises of friendship to lure members

Right-wing extremists are latching onto culture war issues and preying on lonely young men to boost their ranks.

Josh Nunes, the leader of a group of white nationalists in Florida, told NPR that he regularly coordinates with other right-wing extremist groups and intentionally piggybacks on cultural issues pushed by Gov. Ron DeSantis to recruit new members to their neo-Nazi cause.

"What we have seen is certain types of activism definitely gets interest and recruitment up," Nunes said, "and that's where like the drag queen sh*t — like everybody wants to be a part of the team shutting that down."

DeSantis and other Republican elected officials have whipped up hysteria over transgender people and drag performers, who they've accused of "grooming" children for sexual abuse, and Nunes said protests against drag shows have driven new members toward his group.

"We've just seen the largest upticks in recruitment from the drag stuff," Nunes said.

The group tries to avoid direct conflict with Antifa activists, he said, and he bristled at the idea popular among some Republicans and others on the right that the far-left group were actually Nazis.

"They're like, 'Antifa's the real Nazis,' " Nunes said. "You know, they say stuff like that and it's like, 'Yeah, you know, I don't know.' "

Nunes also admitted that his group drew from the ranks of disaffected young men by offering a sense of community.

"I think our society is pretty fractured. It's like, for the average male in America right now, a lot of dudes don't have one friend," he said. "They don't have one person they can call and borrow $500 if they needed to, and that is a thing that's real within this group. If one of our buddies needs help, we're gonna help them. There is a fraternity there."

"We're like regular working-class white people that are racially aware, and so we're Nazis, right?" Nunes added. "So stuff like this, we feel like it's a good way to relate to normal people."