Tom Kawcyznski is awhite separatist who produces acoronavirus-related podcast which has been criticized for pushing misinformation. Kawcyznski was town manager ofJackman, Maine until he was fired for promotingwhite supremacist content on social media.
Kawcyznski began producing the podcast "Coronavirus Central" in 2020. In this podcast, Kawcyznski brands himself as a coronavirus expert, though he has been criticized for spreading incorrect, alarmist, and conspiracy-laden content,[1] including the unproven idea that COVID-19 was engineered in a lab.[2] The podcast has also been criticized in terms of quality, withVulture describing it as "long and poorly edited, packed with rambles and recitations of scientific papers of dubious fidelity."[3] This podcast has attracted considerable viewing, rising as high as fifth spot on Apple's 'Health & Fitness' chart in February 2020 and remaining largely in the top twenty podcasts in that category. Kawcyznski claims that his podcast receives around twenty-thousand listeners per episode (though this claim cannot be easily verified).[1] The podcast argued that the government is incompetent and supported several conspiracy theories about the coronavirus, including that it was man-made.[4]
Kawcyznski has also guested on others' podcasts. In January 2020, he joined onChristopher Cantwell's podcast, a white supremacist who came to prominence following the 2017 CharlottesvilleUnite the Right rally.[1]
Kawcyznski has expressed beliefs described by various outlets as a white separatist[5] or white nationalist.[1] TheSouthern Poverty Law Center describes New Albion, a white separatist group Kawcyznski started, as a white nationalist hate group.[1][6] Kawcynzski was fired in January 2018 after less than a year as town manager ofJackman, Maine due to his posts on social media calling for racial segregation and condemning Islam.[7]
Kawcyznski argues that he is not racist, not a white supremacist, and not anti-Islam. He argues that his view are misrepresented and that he accepts anyone whose culture is "rooted in western civilization."[5]
TheAnti-Defamation League (ADL) notes that, though Kawcyznski's views align with those of thealt-right, he chooses to deliberatively obfuscate his beliefs in most public spaces. However, argues the ADL, Kawcyznski speaks more clearly on Gab, where he makes more clearly racist statements and at times talks explicitly about his communication strategy. He said in 2017, "I’m putting a happy face on #AltRight thinking that brings normies in."[8]
Crash Barry describes some details of Kawcyznski's personal life in a profile forMainer News. He notes that Kawcyznski was born in Arizona in 1980 and graduated fromSwarthmore College in 2003. Kawcyznski has worked in a variety of positions, including in procurement for a construction company in New Hampshire. Kawcyznski is married to Dana Steele. Barry describes Steele as more blatant in her neo-Nazi views than Kawcyznski, and Kawcyznski has said on Gab that Steele "is considerably more radical" than he is.[9]
Barry notes that, following college, Kawcyznski launched two short-lived political runs. He first rang for Congress asLibertarian, and later ran for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. In both cases, he left the race before Election Day. Kawcyznski later moved to New Hampshire to join theFree State Project, an effort launched with the goal to create a libertarian stronghold. While in New Hampshire, he volunteered as a state campaign organizer for Donald Trump.[9]
In 2017 Kawcyznski moved fromArizona toJackman, Maine, a town of 1000 near the US-Canada border. He argues that he identifies as neither Republican nor Democrat, though he voted forDonald Trump in the2016 election.[10]