Most everyone reading here will remember the iconic photo up top of the tiki torch bearing frat boys/fascists terrorizing folks in Charlottesville, Virginia in August of 2017.

The man on the left above, I am ashamed to say, is (or, more accurately, was) from my home of Springfield, Missouri and is no longer with us – he shot himself behind one of the outbuildings on his property rather than facing charges of smuggling fentanyl across the U.S./Mexico border.

You heard that right, folks, as members of especially the MAGA caucus in Congress daily slander refugees fleeing poverty and oppression in their home countries, accusing them of being responsible for the flow of drugs from Mexico, it appears that one of their own ideological brothers was engaged in that deadly trade.

The Daily Beast

“Teddy Joseph Von Nukem, one of the most prominent faces lit by the glow of tiki torches in what became the lasting image of the 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, killed himself as he was due to face criminal trial last month.

The 35-year-old skipped out on his first day of trial for a drug trafficking charge in Arizona on the morning of Jan. 30, according to court records. At the very moment a federal judge was issuing a warrant for his arrest, Von Nukem was actually still back at his home in Missouri, where had walked out in the snow behind the hay shed and shot himself…

… Von Nukem gained notoriety for attending the Aug. 12, 2017 hate speech rally that aggressively revived a nativist movement in the United States. He glorified the violence, and researchers of domestic extremism suspect he was a key figure in a brutal beating of a black man that day.

Von Nukem’s sudden death was initially reported by Molly Conger, an independent journalist in Charlottesville who has become a key anti-fascism researcher in the years since the rally shook the city. An obituary said Von Nukem left behind a wife and five children aged under nine. “Some people knew Ted and understood he was a different type of fellow and had different views of things,” it noted.”

I first read of this about an hour ago, from Molly Conger’s thread, so I will post it below as it is full of more details about the story, and she deserves recognition for her hard work.

15 kilos, BTW, is roughly 30 ponds of the deadly drug, I sincerely doubt that Nukem was stupid enough to mule it over the border for a little over $200.00.

But hey, he was stupid enough to pal around with a bunch of cosplay Nazis and beat a man on camera.

He probably rightly suspected the court would find that he was engaged in the trade.

I can’t say I feel sorrow for the way his life ended, but I am sorry his wife had to find him shot dead in the snow.

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9 COMMENTS

  1. I hate when innocent children lose a parent. However, I also wonder about the families of the 100,000 overdose cases just last year, most from fentanyl. He was a murderous nazi. It brings to mind a scene out of Yellowstone where a motorcycle gang returned to the scene of their crime intent on more crime. Kevin Cosner(John dutton), and his men were waiting. They made them dig their own graves, and as the formerly tough guys begged for their lives, saying they had children, Kevin replied, maybe so. But from where I’m standing it looks like they’d be better off without you. His children will be also.

    18

  5. So a MAGA who gloried in being a Nazi icon offed himself for getting caught smuggling Fentanyl. Frankly, the whole conservative screaming about immigrants being the smugglers has been a ton of projection. But they won’t be embarrassed, and won’t miss a beat. Hell, he took the coward’s way out a couple of weeks ago and it’s only now in the news! Anyway, I for one won’t shed any tears or lose a moments sleep over this fuckwad. I understand he was a father, but what kid needs a dad like that fucking up their mind as they grow up?

    17

  6. Like most of white supremacists, Teddy is a,coward unless surrounded by a bunch of bros so he can beat up a PoC. He had his best moment leaving life behind, because he knew Black.gangs would deservedly target him in prison,and like most cowards,could dish out punishment nut not take it.
    No loss. Saved the country money by not requiring a,trial.

    4

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