Non-profit

Veterans Fighting Fascism (Task Force Butler Institute)

Website:

www.veteransfightingfascism.org/

Location:

Lewes, DE

Tax ID:

93-3050677

Tax-Exempt Status:

501(c)(3)

Type:

Advocacy group

Formation:

2023

Founder:

Kristopher Goldsmith

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Veterans Fighting Fascism, also known as the Task Force Butler Institute, is a left-of-center advocacy and grassroots organizing group formed in 2023 by Kristopher Goldsmith, an Iraq War veteran who has worked for or funded multiple veterans’ advocacy groups. The group is organized as an anti-fascist grassroots organization and was originally known as a project called Task Force Butler, named after an anti-Nazi military mission during World War II, aimed at opposing far-right extremist organizations and neo-Nazi groups. The group states it uses “open-source intelligence (OSINT) investigation tools to monitor and counteract extremist activity.” The group opposes President Donald Trump; after Trump’s 2024 election win, Goldsmith stated that “an authoritarian has won this year’s Presidential election.” 1 2 3

Background

Veterans Fighting Fascism was formed in 2022 as the Task Force Butler Institute by Kristopher (Kris) Goldsmith, a U.S. Army Iraq War veteran who previously worked as the chief investigator for Vietnam Veterans of America and founded another veterans group, Higher Ground Veterans Advocacy, which folded. Goldsmith also operates Sparverius, LLC, a consulting firm that does similar work to Veterans Fighting Fascism by investigating right-wing extremist and paramilitary organizations. 4

The name, Task Force Butler, was derived from an “ad hoc armored task force created by Major General Lucian K. Truscott Jr. during Operation Dragoon (the second Allied amphibious assault after D-Day) with a singular goal: destroy the Nazi defenses through combined arms tactics.” 5

The Veterans Fighting Fascism website indicates that the group has retired the name Task Force Butler, which is the legal name of the registered nonprofit organization, in favor of Veterans Fighting Fascism, stating that, “We have archived and honor the work of Task Force Butler Institute, a nonprofit which trained veterans to engage in research and operations to counter extremism by teaching them the skills and context to keep themselves and their communities safe.” 2

The anti-fascist reading list published by the organization includes How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi and Strongmen by Ruth Ben-Ghiat. 6

Activity

Projects of the Task Force Butler Institute and Veterans Fighting Fascism have included Project Husky, a 300 page report provided to journalists, local and federal district attorneys, state attorneys general, and other legal accountability practitioners targeting “Nationalist Social Club – Anti-Communist Action,” more commonly known as “NSC-131.” The report alleges that the group engages in “Conspiracies to Commit Violent Hate Crimes Against the People of Boston, Jamaica Plain, and Cambridge, Massachusetts; Providence, Rhode Island; Manchester, New Hampshire; and Portland, Maine.” 3

A similar effort of the group called Project Blacklisted targets Patriot Front, a similar right-wing extremist group. 7

In 2022, the Task Force Butler Institute used a drone to spy on a conference of the Aryan Freedom Network (AFN), a neo-Nazi group based in Texas that according to the Texas Observer is an “an openly neo-Nazi organization with links to dozens of [Ku Klux Klan or KKK] chapters and white supremacist outfits around the nation. AFN is led by Dalton Henry Stout and his father, who had previously run a KKK affiliate known as the Church of the KKK.” Task Force Butler Institute was in turn sued by the AFN for surveilling the organization. 8

Regarding the groups targeted by Task Force Butler, Goldsmith stated that “I’m not calling Republicans Nazis… I’m talking about people who consider themselves to be National Socialists, walking around with a swastika flag, burning a swastika in their backyard, and using an Israeli flag as a doormat for the tent at their conference, all of which we have on video.” 8

2024 Election

Following former President Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential election, Veterans Fighting Fascism founder Kris Goldsmith called President Trump an “authoritarian,” and stated, “This is frightening. The threats we will face under a second Trump administration are unprecedented. But we — each of us as individuals — and together as organizations — are far stronger than we were the last time this happened. My organizations, Task Force Butler Institute and Veterans Fighting Fascism didn’t exist until well after the January 6 Insurrection.” 1

References

  1. LinkedIn Post. Kristopher Goldsmith. November 6, 2024. Accessed January 12, 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/krisgoldsmith_this-is-a-message-to-all-of-the-veterans-activity-7260052183465742336-uWSf/
  2. “Home.” Veterans Fighting Fascism. Accessed January 12, 2025. https://www.veteransfightingfascism.org/
  3. “Project Husky.” Veterans Fighting Fascism. Accessed January 12, 2025. https://www.taskforcebutler.org/husky
  4. “Kris Goldsmith.” LinkedIn Profile. Accessed January 12, 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/in/krisgoldsmith/
  5. “Home.” Task Force Butler. Accessed January 12, 2025. https://www.taskforcebutler.org/
  6. “Anti-Fascist Book Club.” Veterans Fighting Fascism. Accessed January 12, 2025. https://www.veteransfightingfascism.org/antifascist-book-club
  7. “Project Blacklisted.” Veterans Fighting Fascism. Accessed January 12, 2025. https://www.taskforcebutler.org/blacklisted
  8. Monacelli, Steven and Wheatley, Jack. “Antifascist Spies on East Texas Nazi Conference with Drone.” Texas Observer. November 7, 2022. Accessed January 12, 2025. https://www.texasobserver.org/aryan-freedom-network-jason-lee-van-dyke-drone/
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Nonprofit Information

  • Accounting Period: June - May
  • Tax Exemption Received: September 1, 2023

  • Available Filings

    No filings available.

    Veterans Fighting Fascism (Task Force Butler Institute)


    Lewes, DE