Michael Enoch Isaac Peinovich[1] (born 1977),[2] more commonly known as Mike Enoch, is an American neo-Nazi,[3][4] antisemitic conspiracy theorist, Holocaust denier,[5] blogger, and podcast host. He founded the alt-right media network The Right Stuff and podcast The Daily Shoah. Through his work, Enoch ridicules African Americans, Jews, and other minorities, advocates racial discrimination, and promotes conspiracy theories such as Holocaust denial and white genocide.[6][7]
Mike Enoch | |
|---|---|
 Enoch in 2017 | |
| Born | Michael Isaac Peinovich 1977 (age 46–47) |
| Career | |
| Show | The Daily Shoah |
| Style | Neo-Nazi, antisemitic, Holocaust denial |
| Country | United States |
In early 2017, while operating his antisemitic media network under his pseudonym, Enoch was doxxed by fellow neo-Nazis. Most notably, the dox revealed that the neo-Nazi Enoch was married to a Jewish woman, and that their wedding had featured traditional Jewish rites and chanting.[5] Prior to the dox, Enoch's wife had appeared as a guest on The Daily Shoah, in which she had concealed her ethnicity while promoting antisemitic memes.[6]
In addition to his founding of a neo-Nazi media network, Enoch has drawn attention for his role in organizing book burnings.[7]
Early life
editEnoch was born as Michael Enoch Isaac Peinovich of Norwegian and Serbian descent. His parents divorced when he was young.[1] Enoch attended Columbia High School.[8] While in high school, Enoch worked jobs delivering pizzas and chemically testing pools. After graduating high school, he attended and dropped out of several universities before becoming a computer programmer who worked at an e-publishing company.[1]
Early media coverage
editEnoch first drew media attention for his use of the "Sieg Heil" salute at a conference organized by Richard B. Spencer to celebrate Donald Trump's election as president.[6] The salutes were performed in front of journalists, and footage of the speech and the Enoch-inspired salutes was circulated by the mainstream media. According to Andrew Marantz, the event marginalized the alt-right by defining it to the public as a neo-Nazi movement, and led to an exodus of Trump supporters.[9]
The Right Stuff
editThe Right Stuff is a white nationalist, neo-fascist neo-Nazi blog founded by Enoch that hosts several podcasts, including The Daily Shoah and Fash the Nation. The blog is best known for popularizing the use of triple parentheses to identify Jews on social media.[10][11][12] The Daily Shoah is a far-right podcast, hosted on TDS. Its name uses the Hebrew word referring to the Holocaust.[13] The podcast also uses the triple parentheses symbol.[14][15][16]
Doxing incident
editIn January 2017, users of the imageboard website 8chan leaked the identities of several of its key contributors, including Enoch, and revealed that his wife was Jewish[17][18] and that their wedding had featured traditional Jewish rites and chanting.[5] Prior to the dox, Enoch's wife had appeared as a guest on The Daily Shoah, in which she had concealed her race while promoting antisemitic memes.[6] Through his work, Enoch ridicules African Americans, Jews, and other minorities, advocates racial discrimination, and promotes conspiracy theories such as Holocaust denial and white genocide.[6][7]
Other information released included the names of his family members, his job as a software developer, his home address on Manhattan's Upper East Side neighborhood, and his hometown of Maplewood, New Jersey.[19] After initially attempting to deny the reports, Enoch later admitted that the allegations were true.[20] Though Enoch initially planned to leave the network, he quickly changed his mind and vowed to continue his activities.[21] However, the fact that the released biographical information about Enoch contradicted his professed ideology[17][18] led many listeners of TDS to question the authenticity of Enoch's commitment to the views he espoused on the show.[6]
Personal life
editIn a 2017 audio statement released on their podcast, Daily Shoah co-host Seventh Son announced that Enoch and his wife were separating.[21] The revelation was met with mixed but mostly supportive reactions from individuals including David Duke[22] and Richard B. Spencer.[21]
Enoch's father asked his son to change his surname because of his neo-Nazi political activities.[1]
Political activities
editAfter U.S. Congressman Steve King tweeted praise for Netherlands political candidate Geert Wilders's stance against further immigration to Europe, Enoch joined other alt-right voices in approval of King's position, stating "King doubles down. Great job. Take note cucks, this is how you *actually* fight the left."[23]
On 18 April 2017, Enoch joined Richard B. Spencer in giving a talk at Auburn University where he expressed that he and the movement were breaking away from the new direction that the Trump administration was taking.[24] While Auburn administration had initially cancelled the planned event, citing safety concerns, Enoch assisted Spencer in filing a lawsuit on First Amendment grounds.[24] United States federal judge William Keith Watkins issued a ruling requiring Auburn to allow Spencer and Enoch to speak.[25]
In April 2018, he was retweeted by Ann Coulter following his dissemination of conspiracy theories relating to the Douma chemical attack in Syria claiming it was faked. After Newsweek asked Twitter for a comment, his account was suspended.[26]
In addition to his founding of a neo-Nazi media network, Enoch has drawn attention for his role in organizing book burnings.[7]
Peinovich is currently chair of the National Justice Party, an antisemitic group. Following the 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas, Peinovich wrote "Hats off to the Palestinians for taking bold and courageous action in their own cause and showing us that the Zionist regime is not invincible."[27]
Legal issues
editIn October 2017, Enoch was listed as a defendant in Sines v. Kessler, the federal civil lawsuit against various organizers, promoters, and participants of the 2017 Unite the Right rally. The trial began on October 25, 2021, and the jury reached a verdict on November 23.[28][29] All defendants other than Enoch, who had previously been dismissed from the case, were found liable for civil conspiracy under Virginia state law, and ordered to pay $500,000 in punitive damages. The jury were deadlocked on the two other claims pertaining to Enoch, which argued he and other defendants had engaged in a federal conspiracy to commit racially-motivated violence.[30]
See also
editFootnotes
edit- ^ a b c d Marantz, Andrew (October 16, 2017). "Birth of a White Supremacist". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on November 12, 2018.
- ^ "Michael "Enoch" Peinovich | Southern Poverty Law Center". Splcenter.org. Retrieved July 11, 2018.
- ^ Lisi, Brian (January 17, 2017). "Neo-Nazi blog struggles after founder's wife is revealed to be Jewish". Daily News. New York City. Retrieved July 11, 2018.
- ^ Friedman, Dan (January 15, 2017). "Neo-Nazi Rivals Claim Their Media Kingpin Lives on Upper East Side With His Jewish Wife". The Forward. Retrieved July 11, 2018.
- ^ a b c (Marantz 2019, pp. 275–314)
- ^ a b c d e f Sheffield, Matthew (16 January 2017). "The alt-right eats its own: Neo-Nazi podcaster "Mike Enoch" quits after doxxers reveal his wife is Jewish". Salon. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
- ^ a b c d Hayden, Michael (1 May 2019). "Prolific Alt-Right Propagandist's Identity Confirmed". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
- ^ Staff. "Philly.com: Top Neo-Nazi Shock Jock Grew Up in Maplewood NJ", Village Green of Maplewood and South Orange, October 26, 2017. Accessed July 3, 2019. "According to a report on Philly.com today, neo-Nazi shock jock and white supremacist Mike Enoch grew up in Maplewood NJ and attended Columbia High School."
- ^ (Marantz 2019, p. 45)
- ^ "(((Echoes))), Exposed: The Secret Symbol Neo-Nazis Use to Target Jews Online". Mic.com. June 1, 2016. Retrieved September 25, 2016.
- ^ Joshua Eaton (June 6, 2016). "Secret Neo-Nazi Message on Social Media: (((Echoes))) - Anti-Semitism". Teen Vogue. Retrieved September 25, 2016.
- ^ "Anti-Zionist Chrome extension highlighted Jews for attack online". The Sydney Morning Herald. 6 June 2016. Retrieved September 25, 2016.
- ^ Hess, Amanda (10 June 2016). "For the Alt-Right, the Message Is in the Punctuation". The New York Times.
- ^ Fleishman, Cooper; Smith, Anthony (June 1, 2016). "(((Echoes))), Exposed: The Secret Symbol Neo-Nazis Use to Target Jews Online". Mic.com. Retrieved August 28, 2016.
- ^ Anti-Defamation League. "Echo". Anti-Defamation League. Retrieved August 28, 2016.
- ^ Fleishman, Cooper; Smith, Anthony (June 6, 2016). "The Neo-Nazi (((Echoes))) Symbol Is Officially Hate Speech". Mic.com. Retrieved August 28, 2016.
- ^ a b Sheffield, Matthew (16 January 2017). "The alt-right eats its own: Neo-Nazi podcaster "Mike Enoch" quits after doxxers reveal his wife is Jewish". Salon.
- ^ a b "White supremacist outed for having Jewish wife". The Times of Israel. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
- ^ Dan Friedman (January 15, 2017). "Racist Rivals Claim Neo-Nazi Media Kingpin Lives on Upper East Side With His Jewish Wife". The Forward. Retrieved May 1, 2017.
- ^ Palmer, Ewan (January 17, 2017). "Founder of Neo-Nazi blog quits after he was revealed to have Jewish wife". International Business Times UK. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
- ^ a b c Sheffield, Matthew (20 January 2017). "Disgraced Neo-Nazi pundit "Mike Enoch" vows to expand racist podcast network, despite alt-right doxxing war". Salon. Retrieved May 1, 2017.
- ^ "Neo-Nazi blog struggles after founder's wife identified as Jewish". NY Daily News. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
- ^ "White Supremacists Praise Rep. Steve King's Racist Tweet". Anti-Defamation League. March 15, 2017. Retrieved May 1, 2017.
- ^ a b "The Alt-Right and Donald Trump Get a Divorce". New Republic. April 26, 2017. Retrieved May 1, 2017.
- ^ Travis M. Andrews (April 19, 2017). "Federal judge stops Auburn from canceling white nationalist Richard Spencer speech. Protests and a scuffle greet him". Washington Post. Retrieved May 1, 2017.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge W. Keith Watkins in Montgomery, Ala., Tuesday barred Auburn from blocking Spencer, stating there was no evidence that he advocates violence. "Discrimination on the basis of message content cannot be tolerated under the First Amendment," he wrote in the ruling.
- ^ Hayden, Michael Edison (April 16, 2018). "Ann Coulter retweets White Nationalist Charlottesville Leader who attacked Trump with Syria Conspiracy Theory". Newsweek.
- ^ "Hamas Attack Draws Cheers from Extremists, Spurs Antisemitism and Conspiracies Online".
- ^ Lavoie, Denise (October 25, 2021). "'Unite the Right' rally's planners accused in civil trial". AP News. Retrieved October 25, 2021.
- ^ Paul, Deanna (November 23, 2021). "Charlottesville Trial Verdict: Jury Finds Prominent White Supremacist Leaders Liable". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
- ^ Weill, Kelly (November 23, 2021). "'Unite the Right' Trial Ends With White Supremacists Paying Millions for Violence". The Daily Beast. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
References
edit- Marantz, Andrew (2019). Antisocial: Online Extremists, Techno-Utopians, and the Hijacking of the American Conversation. Penguin. ISBN 9780525522263.