Real Talk

Did the US military turn a blind eye to recruiting neo-Nazis? | Matt Kennard

May 7, 2026·1h 13m
Episode Description from the Publisher

"My commanders liked the fact I was a Nazi. They saw it as making me a better warrior."Matt Kennard is a British investigative journalist who co-founded Declassified UK, and is also the author of Irregular Army. It’s a book that uncovers how the US military, desperate to fill its ranks during the War on Terror, began looking the other way on things that would once have disqualified soldiers from serving, such as neo-Nazi tattoos, gang affiliations, and mental illness.In this conversation on Real Talk, Kennard speaks with Mohamed Hashem about the openly neo-Nazi veterans he met and interviewed, the moral waiver programme that opened the door to convicted felons, and the Rumsfeld Doctrine that was the catalyst.

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