Punching back at neo-Nazis: Jewish woman targeted by alt-right Trump troll sues

The founder of the Daily Stormer targeted a woman, blaming her for protests against Richard Spencer

By Matthew Rozsa

Staff Writer

Published April 18, 2017 5:42PM (EDT)

Richard Spencer; Donald Trump; David Duke   (AP/David J. Phillip/Evan Vucci/Max Becherer)
Richard Spencer; Donald Trump; David Duke (AP/David J. Phillip/Evan Vucci/Max Becherer)

The Daily Stormer is one of America's most popular neo-Nazi websites and its founder, Andrew Anglin, is well-known for his buddy-buddy relationship with white supremacist Richard Spencer, his admiration for disgraced YouTuber PewDiePie, as well as his endorsement of Donald Trump. Yet, like Icarus flying too close to the sun on wings of wax, Anglin may soon learn that there are limits to what you can get away with even when you're already one of the most famous hatemongers in America.

A Jewish real estate broker in Montana named Tanya Gersh has claimed that Anglin led a "troll storm" against her and her 12-year-old son after she tried to convince Sherry Spencer, Richard Spencer's mother, to sell a building that was about to be targeted by anti-racist protests, according to a report by BuzzFeed.

Although Gersh has claimed that she and Spencer had simply discussed how they could sell the property in light of the growing controversy surrounding her son's activities, Spencer eventually complained on Medium that Gersh had been attempting to extort her into publicly denouncing her son's white supremacism.

"Please call her and tell her what you think," Anglin — described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a neo-Nazi — wrote of Gersh in December Daily Stormer post. "And hey — if you’re in the area, maybe you should stop by and tell her in person what you think of her actions."

The famed neo-Nazi also gave out the Twitter handle of Gersh's 12-year-old son, writing "Jacob Gersh — what a creepy little faggot!"

Anglin continued to attack the child: "The scamming little kike has 12 followers — presumably all “friends” that he knows IRL — and he’s pushing advertising scams on them!"

Gersh has claimed that as a result of Anglin's activities, she has received a number of anti-Semitic messages, many of them using Holocaust imagery and a few containing death threats. Her son has had a similar experience, she claimed. According to Gersh's complaint, Anglin made as many as 30 posts targeting her and her son. The Daily Stormer also published phone numbers, work locations, email addresses and photographs of six residents of the sleepy Montana community.

The Southern Poverty Law Center on Tuesday filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Gersh.

While Anglin did not respond when BuzzFeed reached out to the Daily Stormer for comment, that should come as little surprise. Considering how noticeably upset Anglin was when I openly ridiculed one of his attacks against me, it's no shock that he has little say now that he is finally being held to account for the vile rhetoric he so freely spews.


By Matthew Rozsa

Matthew Rozsa is a staff writer at Salon. He received a Master's Degree in History from Rutgers-Newark in 2012 and was awarded a science journalism fellowship from the Metcalf Institute in 2022.

MORE FROM Matthew Rozsa


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Andrew Anglin Anti-semitism Donald Trump Montana Pewdiepie Richard Spencer