Patterico's Pontifications

11/30/2022

Mitch McConnell Warns: It’s Unlikely You’ll Be Elected President If You Meet With Anti-Semites And White Supremacists

Filed under: General — Dana @ 7:05 am



[guest post by Dana]

Considering today’s Republican Party, I have my doubts about the accuracy of McConnell’s statement, but we’ll see soon enough…

Mitch McConnell called out Donald Trump about the inappropriateness of that now infamous dinner:

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell condemned former President Trump for his dinner with Kanye West and white nationalist Nick Fuentes, saying anyone meeting with individuals with views of antisemitism or white supremacy is “highly unlikely to ever be elected president of the United States.”

“There is no room in the Republican Party for antisemitism or white supremacy,” McConnell, R-Ky., said Tuesday. “And anyone meeting with people advocating that point of view, in my judgment, are highly unlikely to ever be elected president of the United States.”

McConnell was right to publicly condemn the actions of the man who hopes to become the next sitting president of the United States. However, we know as well as McConnell that, unfortunately, today’s Republican Party actually does have plenty of room for anti-Semitism and white supremacy. He’s seen it up close and in person for six years. In fact, in February 2022, McConnell said virtually the same thing as he did yesterday after Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar spoke at a gathering of white nationalists in Florida. And speaking of MTG:

You can read here how every Republican Senator and every member of Republican House leadership responded (or didn’t respond) to questions of whether they believed it was appropriate for Trump to have met with Nick Fuentes and Ye (Kanye West), whether they condemn meeting, and for non-leadership members, whether they called on party leadership to speak out on it.

–Dana

70 Responses to “Mitch McConnell Warns: It’s Unlikely You’ll Be Elected President If You Meet With Anti-Semites And White Supremacists”

  1. Good morning.

    Dana (1225fc)

  2. And speaking of MTG:…

    As near as I can tell from Paul’s take on Liz Cheney sending campaign money to a white nationalist racist to primary a constitutional conservative member of the House for daring to go against her and Trump, once you realize your error your latest statement on the matter is iron clad going forward.

    BuDuh (eaef9b)

  3. “Trump bad” is morphing into “GOP bad” and will kick into overdrive as Trump fades away and nevertrump enters survival mode

    JF (f8765c)

  4. But would McConnell vote for Trump if nominated? Probably yes.

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7)

  5. BuDuh still butthurt for his half-story. Sad.

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7)

  6. “Trump bad” is morphing into “GOP bad”

    It’s already happened. We saw it with the Red Ripple.

    nk (763d5c)

  7. Personal attack!

    Please apologize, Paul.

    BuDuh (eaef9b)

  8. Paul, BuDuh is trying extra hard to troll you on this one.

    Time123 (5d1082)

  9. McConnell has been in the Senate since 1985. When he tells you what wins (and what loses) elections, he knows what he’s talking about.

    nk (763d5c)

  10. But Mitch chose not to whip his delegation to ensure the 1st Amendment and religious liberty protections were passed and instead permitted anti-religious bigotry to be enshrined into law.

    NJRob (b9053f)

  11. We had an anti-Semitic president in Obama who showed that when he gave perferred status to Iran and made Netanhyu enter through the back door.

    NJRob (b9053f)

  12. NJRob, Good point, supporting laws to protect the rights of thousands to healthy, happy families while making sure there were protections against compelled speech is another good thing Mitch has done lately.

    Time123 (5d1082)

  13. Time,

    Your trolling is boring.

    NJRob (15fa95)

  14. Please apologize, Paul.

    One word: Ivermectin.

    Paul Montagu (8f0dc7)

  15. McConnell knows what hills to fight on. He also knows a gay billionaire in a same-sex marriage who gave $32 million ($32,000,000) to Republican candidates this last election.

    nk (763d5c)

  16. Mitch senses the only way to get the GOP out of the fever swamps is to remind them that each time they pander to racist militia leaders, they lose.

    Appalled (f96124)

  17. Something you know about from experience, Paul?

    BuDuh (eaef9b)

  18. He’s probably also pissed that after seven years, and his Secretary of Transportation to boot, The Stable Genius™ still does not know how to spell Elaine Chao’s last name. 😉

    nk (763d5c)

  19. MTG may have “misremembered” Nick Fuentes but another dinner party attendee is an intern in her congressional office.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  20. That article is from June, Rip.

    Was the attendee still an intern for MTG during the dinner party?

    BuDuh (eaef9b)

  21. Rob, I’m not trolling. If you look at the text of the legislation that’s exactly what it does.

    Time123 (b4aad9)

  22. Doesn’t seem a wise ‘angle of attack’ on Trump by Mitch. A glass house; stones thing. Mitch McConnell is a U.S. senator from Kentucky in his seventh term and has held the seat since 1985. So for him, it is a festering, pesky, ‘votes versus voters’ thing– for 37 years:

    Kentucky among states where white supremacist propaganda most often found

    https://fox17.com/news/local/report-kentucky-among-states-where-white-supremacist-propaganda-most-often-found

    DCSCA (478998)

  23. RiP, hypocrite is the tribute Vice pays to virtue in this case.

    Time123 (b4aad9)

  24. #22

    So, you figure Mitch should appeal to the racist militia vote, DCSCA?

    Let’s see where that line of argument takes you.

    In the meantime, Trump has declared war on Mitch. Mitch will find his ways to strike back. Because, you know, he fights.

    Appalled (f96124)

  25. That article is from June, Rip.

    Was the attendee still an intern for MTG during the dinner party?

    BuDuh (eaef9b) — 11/30/2022 @ 9:24 am

    It was only six months ago, and I haven’t seen any news announcing a change in his status. It still remains a fact that MY is/was an intern in MTG’s office, long after he established his controversial past and political views.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  26. @24. Just see his blatant hypocrisy for what it is. Clearly it’s an overwhelming problem in his state- a state he has represented and where it has festered and worsened for the four decades he has represented it. They vote– and some how, he keeps winning. Not a lot of nutbag lefty Ds keeping him him in office. Don’t see him shouting ‘I don’t want your support’ either– or rejecting any Kentuckians who vote for him– but welcomes all votes, as long as the good, the bad and the ugly keep quiet.

    DCSCA (478998)

  27. McConnell knows what hills to fight on. He also knows a gay billionaire in a same-sex marriage who gave $32 million ($32,000,000) to Republican candidates this last election.

    nk (763d5c) — 11/30/2022 @ 9:07 am

    Sure. Why bother to follow the constitution when there’s patronage and graft to be had. You just explained in a nutshell why DC is so unpopular and why we are on the gradual decline.

    NJRob (15fa95)

  28. NJRob, have you read the text of the bill in question? It’s *clearly* constitutional, since all it says is:

    * states cannot deny full faith and credit to marriages between two people performed in other states (the constitution already requires this, and explicitly gives the congress the power to codify it)

    Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof.

    * the feds must recognize any marriage between two people which is legal in any jurisdiction (congress obviously has the power to determine which marriages the feds will and will not recognize).

    Your allegation that this bill is unconstitutional is misinformed at best.

    aphrael (4c4719)

  29. Aphrael,
    I wanted to add that Section 6 explicitly protects first amendment rights and the rights of religious organizations not to participate in marriages that violate their conscience.

    https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/8404/text#id9f81bbb81c974ead9d977374f0b1d320

    https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/8404/text#idbebc991f419a4b988ba6a76ecf8199d0

    Time123 (5d1082)

  30. DCSCA:

    This is how Mitch worded his comment:

    “There is no room in the Republican Party for antisemitism or white supremacy,” McConnell, R-Ky., said Tuesday. “And anyone meeting with people advocating that point of view, in my judgment, are highly unlikely to ever be elected president of the United States.”

    That’s actually not hypocracy, even if you can prove that Mitch, sometime between 1985 and the current day, met with racists and militia folks. I am sure there are pictures of Mitch posing in front of Confederate flags.

    Mitch is talking about the likelihood of such a person winning in 2024. Tht’s not hypocracy. It’s punditry.

    Appalled (f96124)

  31. Aphrael,

    Did you read Sen Lee’s protections which were needed to protect religious liberty? You clearly ignored the discussion.

    NJRob (15fa95)

  32. NJRob, you claimed that McConnell failed to follow the constitution.

    That is *at best* absurd hyperbole.

    It’s also straddling the line between absurd hyperbole and a lie.

    This bill is clearly within Congress’ constitutional authority, and does not violate the constitution in any way.

    aphrael (4c4719)

  33. Rob, What do you feel is insufficient about the protections that are in the bill? They explicitly protect that 1A and the rights of Religious institutions that oppose SSM.

    Time123 (5d1082)

  34. Google is my friend.

    Seems like Sen. Lee wanted the law to allow non-religious institutions the right to discriminate against SSM and gay people.

    https://www.lee.senate.gov/2022/11/respect-for-marriage-act-why-religious-liberty-deserves-protection-and-my-amendment-will-provide-it

    Time123 (b27463)

  35. “Trump bad” is morphing into “GOP bad” and will kick into overdrive as Trump fades away and nevertrump enters survival mode

    You cover a rock with sh1t and it all looks like sh1t. In this case the “rock” is the GOP. More sh1t won’t help.

    Kevin M (1ea396)

  36. McConnell has been in the Senate since 1985. When he tells you what wins (and what loses) elections, he knows what he’s talking about.

    I’ve never heard hims say something stupid, either.

    Kevin M (1ea396)

  37. He wanted to protect an individual’s right to religious liberty as is recognized ny the 1st Amendment. You clearpy have an issue with people practicing their faith as recognized when our union was formed. Time, why is that?

    NJRob (33e46f)

  38. I’m guessing it’s just the standard anti-Christiam bigotry that’s practiced by much of the secular left.

    NJRob (33e46f)

  39. MTG may have “misremembered” Nick Fuentes but another dinner party attendee is an intern in her congressional office.

    To be fair, the racist and anti-Semitic base of MAGA are pretty much the majority in her district.

    Kevin M (1ea396)

  40. In the meantime, Trump has declared war on Mitch. Mitch will find his ways to strike back.

    I think he deeply regrets not voting AYE on the 2nd impeachment. I also think he tried very hard to lobby a shoulder-to-shoulder block for conviction.

    Kevin M (1ea396)

  41. NJRob, Our union was formed on the idea that people would be free to practice their faith as they saw fit/believed was God’s will. I’m fine with that and think the protections for religious liberty in the respect for marriage act are good ones.

    The law currently doesn’t allow people who operate businesses generally open to the public to refuse service to gay people because of religious reasons. But our law doesn’t allow people to discriminate based on age/sex/race either and this is consistent with that. There are a lot of ways that our laws interfere with various religious teachings when it’s necessary to balance conflicting rights.

    As for my personal feelings, The church I attend would tell someone that wanted to discriminate against a gay person that they were misunderstanding Jesus’s teachings. I don’t expect you to live to the teachings of my church, and I have no intention to living to the tenets of yours. Our country was founded on the idea that neither of us can force that.

    Time123 (ae7b06)

  42. @34:

    The only concerning claim by Lee is this:

    Under the RFMA’s current language, many religious schools, faith-based organizations, and other non-profit entities adhering to traditional views of marriage would be at risk of losing tax-exempt status and access to a wide range of federal programs

    IAMAL and would have little interest in parsing random bills and seeing how they amend current law even if I was. But I know that the more-rabid supporters of SSM (like the more rabid supporters of most anything) are quite capable of this kind of attack.

    I do note that the Supreme Court has shown an interest in protecting such organizations (Fulton v. City of Philadelphia), but here is no guarantee that smaller organizations will not be legally harassed or extorted.

    Kevin M (1ea396)

  43. The law currently doesn’t allow people who operate businesses generally open to the public to refuse service to gay people because of religious reasons.

    Nor should it. But there is a difference between serving coffee to anyone in your restaurant — or hiring someone who is in a SS marriage — and catering the reception for a SSM. The last act requires you step over the line from acceptance into participation, if not celebration.

    Kevin M (1ea396)

  44. But I feel we’ve had this argument before.

    Kevin M (1ea396)

  45. I don’t expect you to live to the teachings of my church, and I have no intention to living to the tenets of yours. Our country was founded on the idea that neither of us can force that.

    Well, a law that preserves the options taught by your church, but denies those options taught by his is actually using force. That the force does not apply to you does not make you righteous.

    Kevin M (1ea396)

  46. Not that the law does either of those, but your dicta has holes.

    Kevin M (1ea396)

  47. RIP Christine McVie (79).

    Rip Murdock (0be58f)

  48. R.I.P. Christine McVie 😢

    Icy (b0ee77)

  49. I didn’t think Christine McVie would be the first to go. Based on appearances, her ex-husband John McVie would have been my bet. Never judge a book by its cover, I guess.

    Fleetwood Mac is one of the few bands I have seen in concert. I went to their concert in Oakland shortly after Christine rejoined the band in 2014. At that concert, Stevie Nicks talked about how Christine had hired a personal trainer to get ready for their tour.

    Christine had such a sultry voice. The band better grovel and get Buckingham back. If they don’t, they’re toast.

    norcal (862cdb)

  50. @30. Except it is- given the troublesome issue in his own state. Again: clearly it’s an overwhelming problem in Kentucky- a state he has represented and where it has festered and worsened for the four decades he has represented it. They vote– and some how, he keeps winning. Not a lot of nutbag lefty Ds keeping him in office. Don’t see him shouting ‘I don’t want your support’ either– or rejecting any of those wack-job Kentuckians who vote for him– but welcomes all votes, as long as they keep quiet. He’s a hypocrite– and likely done anyway given his age and the rooting populism in his party.

    DCSCA (478998)

  51. Kevin M (1ea396) — 11/30/2022 @ 11:36 am

    I think he deeply regrets not voting AYE on the 2nd impeachment.

    He would have rounded up the vote for conviction if he had done that. I think the Democratic leadership didn’t want to negotiate with him. I don’t know if he outright regrets that (which would have probably included precluding Trump from running again also)

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  52. Broken Clock Moment for this dude (I was definitely Team Savage in that tiff):

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/fox-news-host-mark-levin-190825596.html

    urbanleftbehind (f45844)

  53. Except it is-

    This is the kind of start to a comment that tells me I’ve already read the rest of it last time.

    Kevin M (1ea396)

  54. The real reason why IL’s possible Darren Bailey administration wasn’t gonna mess with an abortion ban: https://www.yahoo.com/news/abortion-clinic-came-town-131941414.html

    urbanleftbehind (f45844)

  55. Except it is-

    This is the kind of start to a comment that tells me I’ve already read the rest of it last time.

    Kevin M (1ea396) — 11/30/2022 @ 1:03 pm

    🤣

    norcal (862cdb)

  56. Kevin, the law drew the line at organizations whose principle purpose is faith based. text is below. I bolded the pertinent part. I’m sure there will be legal challenges. But I this seems like a reasonable place to draw the line. A church that sells flowers from their garden as sideline doesn’t have to provide flowers for a SSM. A commercial florists that thinks SSM is against god’s will can’t discriminate.

    (b) Goods Or Services.—Consistent with the First Amendment to the Constitution, nonprofit religious organizations, including churches, mosques, synagogues, temples, nondenominational ministries, interdenominational and ecumenical organizations, mission organizations, faith-based social agencies, religious educational institutions, and nonprofit entities whose principal purpose is the study, practice, or advancement of religion, and any employee of such an organization, shall not be required to provide services, accommodations, advantages, facilities, goods, or privileges for the solemnization or celebration of a marriage. Any refusal under this subsection to provide such services, accommodations, advantages, facilities, goods, or privileges shall not create any civil claim or cause of action.

    Time123 (7fbc3c)

  57. #50

    I look forward forward to Trump’s stalwart condemnations of the racist militia problem
    In Kentucky. It will be like waiting for Godot.

    Appalled (f69dd9)

  58. The people who care wouldn’t vote for him anyway and the people who will vote for him don’t care/ Trump has made some pathetic excuse about not knowing and that will be good enough for his populist voters. They are already talking about going after “media judens” attacking trump on line. Cocaine mitch isn’t all that popular in his own caucus especially voting against interracial marriage when his wife is asian!

    asset (04bdb1)

  59. Time123 @56.

    You don’t see a problem with the “nonprofit organizations/entities” limitation? That maybe, possibly, remotely, a license from the IRS might violate both the Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses?

    nk (935a5c)

  60. @56:

    It must be somewhere else that it demands that the religious florist provide the flowers.

    This brings up the discrimination against people who believe their connection to God is individual, not through a church. The first Amendment does not give churches the right to hold beliefs. The rights belong to the individual members.

    I think that the individual florist has a stronger case under the 1st Amendment than the church to which they belong, as the right being transgressed (if that is what it is), is the individual’s, not the church’s.

    Kevin M (1ea396)

  61. You don’t see a problem with the “nonprofit organizations/entities” limitation?

    Scientology, for example.

    Kevin M (1ea396)

  62. I think that it is time that we left “marriage” (the civil contract and status) to Caesar and “Holy matrimony” (the binding of souls) to God. It would make so many things clearer. Few (I would hope) would sue the Catholic Church for refusing to perform a religious ceremony. After all, the Church will refuse to perform quite a few traditional marriage ceremonies.

    Kevin M (1ea396)

  63. Scientology, for example.

    I was thinking of Parson Brown, who is no kind of organization or entity, he just does the job when he’s in town, and declares the $15 on his regular income tax in April.

    nk (935a5c)

  64. Saved by the bell: Just heard a few minutes ago on the Mark Levin radio show an excerpt of the confirmation hearings for George Kent, who’s up for Ambassador to Estonia. Ted Cruz was questioning him about Joe Biden’s statement Joe Biden made on January 23, 2018 in front of the Councilon Foreign Relations abot withholding $1 billion tto force the Ukrainians to fire the prosecutor

    The truth is, Joe Biden made the whole thing up.

    If this is realized, Joe Biden could have ahard time running for re-election as president.

    And the Democrats – some Democrats – know the whole story is not true.

    Of course, the Republicans persist in claiming that Joe Biden really did fire the prosecutor on his own, and that he did it to protext his son. (or that tthe prosecuttor was investigating him)

    Sammy Finkelman (c62a24)

  65. The chair or acting chair of the committee said George Kent was uncomfortablle answering that question that Ted Cruz asked and should not be forced to answer it.

    Sammy Finkelman (c62a24)

  66. Fact check: Biden leveraged $1B in aid to Ukraine to oust corrupt prosecutor, not to help his son
    ………
    It’s true that Joe Biden leveraged $1 billion in aid to persuade Ukraine to oust its top prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, in March 2016. But it wasn’t because Shokin was investigating Burisma. It was because Shokin wasn’t pursuing corruption among the country’s politicians.

    As European and American diplomats pressed Ukraine to clean up its corruption, they focused on Shokin’s leadership of the Prosecutor General’s Office, which he took over in February 2015.
    ………
    Charlie Kupchan, who was a special assistant to President Barack Obama and a senior director for European Affairs on the National Security Council, said anti-corruption efforts were “a big part of our diplomacy” with Ukraine, since “it was that corruption that allowed Russia to manipulate the country politically and economically.”

    As a result, Biden leveraged $1 billion in aid as “a stick to move Ukraine forward,” Kupchan said. “He was acting alongside our European allies. Everybody was of a single mind that this prosecutor was not the right guy for the job.”

    Daria Kaleniuk, the co-founder and executive director of the Anti Corruption Action Centre in Kyiv, Ukraine, credited Biden, the International Monetary Fund — which threatened to delay $40 billion in aid for similar reasons — and others with the prosecutor’s removal.
    ………
    Burisma Holdings was not under scrutiny at the time Joe Biden called for Shokin to be removed, per the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, an independent agency that has worked closely with the FBI.
    ………
    The recent report by Senate Republicans also contained no evidence that Joe Biden had pressured Ukraine to fire its top prosecutor as a way to protect his son, according to the Associated Press.

    Rip Murdock (d2a2a8)

  67. It’s true that Joe Biden leveraged $1 billion in aid to persuade Ukraine to oust its top prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, in March 2016.

    It’s not true. Biden made the whole story up, what with the cancelled press conference and all. And it wasn’t aid, it was a loan guarantee. The prosecutor was not fired then, but he left office two or three months later,

    I saw George Kent testify at the House Intelligence Committee hearings in 2019, and he was never asked the right question, But you could tell that the story Joe Biden told was nit true, Biden visited Ukraine a total of 6 times, not a dozen, and he wasn’t there in March, 2016, IIRC, but in December, 2015.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/10/02/correcting-media-error-bidens-ukraine-showdown-was-december

    This is just a sampling of the many news organizations — starting with the New York Times in the first paragraph of a front-page article — that reported that Biden threatened to withhold $1 billion in aid unless a top prosecutor was fired while on a trip to Kiev in March 2016.

    But here’s the rub: Biden never traveled to Ukraine that month. The Ukrainian president at the time, Petro Poroshenko, traveled to Washington in March — but only after the prosecutor general, Viktor Shokin, had already been dismissed by the Ukrainian parliament.

    Why the confusion? Because Biden managed to squeeze months of diplomacy into a few hours when he recounted the story years later at the Council on Foreign Relations.

    That’s putting it kindly, In faact Biden made thr whole story up. He never gave a date, by the way, so the whole story consists of himm being a vice president with superpowers,.

    There’s no reason to believe that anything like the story Biden told happened in zDecemberm 2015 either. The only source, I think, is Joe Biden and people protecting him from being discovered as a liar,

    The loan guarantee was eventually announced by the U.S. Ambassadoir at the beginning of June.

    https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2016/03/31/readout-vice-president-bidens-meeting-president-petro-poroshenko-ukraine

    Sammy Finkelman (5a21a3)

  68. Can there be a difference between nationalists who are white and nationalists who want an actual all white run nation? (or an all white nation via ethnic cleansing)
    White nationalist is a term that is thrown around so easily these days- sort of like the word racist- that it needs to be annotated.
    I’ve seen white people who say they like Judeo-Christian values such as the 10 Commandments derided as “white nationalist” so its meaning has become blurred.

    I don’t follow the Kanye story much, but it is impossible be exposed to media and not be able to piece together his story. Is he an anti-semite or a high functioning mentally ill person who spouts nonsense like an advanced paranoid dementia patient? People all know Kanye is mentally ill and maybe he is both mentally ill and an anti-semite but I can’t help but have some compassion toward him.

    I don’t know Fuentes at all, don’t want to delve into his world, but here we are. This story reminds me of a guy I used to work with who was in charge of spraying the paraquat. He was hispanic an would pour the paraquat into the spray truck with no gloves and then mix it with an oar with all the fumes wafting up out of the access hole. He also used to pass out John Birch Society literature at the local supermarket on weekends. When Dave Chappelle did his skit on the blind black white supremacist, I think of the guy.

    Fuentes seems like one of those whiter hispanics who despise the brown folks (kind of like the LA City Council woman Nuri Martinez).

    I don’t really want to know what goes on in Trumps head but selfishly, I am mad at him for this. I don’t want to read about stupid S like Kanye-Trump-Fuentes. I’m not a good christian, but I believe in God and I do think it is a good idea to pray for our leadership, but lately its been less of a prayer to bring out the good God has in them and more of a prayer to rid us of the entire lot on both sides and start new

    steveg (cdf7dc)

  69. On the bright side, yesterday I got Wordle in two guesses.
    Has anyone ever noticed that on the wordle screen, top right, between help and settings, they are giving all of the players the finger?

    steveg (cdf7dc)

  70. steveg (cdf7dc) — 12/1/2022 @ 10:20 am

    an there be a difference between nationalists who are white and nationalists who want an actual all white run nation? (or an all white nation via ethnic cleansing)

    The two words go together so it sort of means the latter. The exact meaning isn’t settled.

    I don’t follow the Kanye story much, but it is impossible be exposed to media and not be able to piece together his story. Is he an anti-semite or a high functioning mentally ill person who spouts nonsense like an advanced paranoid dementia patient?

    Kanye West is most likely the victim of con artists who convinced him he could gain by repeating vile nonsense that nobody else says.

    He thinks he’s another Donald Trump, but, in truth, not even Trump could actually shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose any support and in any case he’s no Donald Trump.

    I don’t really want to know what goes on in Trumps head but selfishly, I am mad at him for this. I don’t want to read about stupid S like Kanye-Trump-Fuentes.

    Kanye brought two other people there, one of whom Trump said he doesn’t know and the other was apolitical consultant whom he knew slightly

    Michelle Goldberg said that Trump did know Fuentes — or had at least once encountered the name: (but who says that Trump has a memory like a steel trap – and besides Fuentes did not introduce himself)

    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/28/opinion/antisemitism-trump-nick-fuentes.html

    In September, I wrote a piece about a Trump-endorsed congressional candidate named Joe Kent that mentions Fuentes in the first paragraph. Trump scrawled a note of congratulations on the print version and mailed it to Kent, who sent the image out on his email list.

    The earlier column said:

    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/24/opinion/house-republican-elections.html

    In March, five months before he became the Republican nominee in a Washington State congressional race, Joe Kent appeared on a webcast hosted by a Gen-Z white nationalist group called the American Populist Union. Kent, who would soon be endorsed by Donald Trump, was there to explain his disavowal of Nick Fuentes, a smirking 24-year-old far-right influencer whom The New York Times has described as “a prominent white supremacist.”

    This white supremacist is now working for Kanye West’s campaign, so things are a bit more complicated. To put it simply, he is not anything but a total fraud.

    More from the earlier column, which Donald Trump read:

    Kent had spoken on the phone to Fuentes, a Holocaust denier and Vladimir Putin admirer who believes women shouldn’t be allowed to vote, earlier in his campaign to unseat Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler, one of the 10 Republicans who’d voted to impeach Trump. (They apparently discussed social media strategy.) Their association had become a problem in Kent’s primary, and eventually Kent tweeted that he didn’t want Fuentes’s endorsement because of “his focus on race/religion.” But this rejection infuriated some of Kent’s most reactionary supporters; Fuentes himself went after Kent in a three-and-a-half-hour livestream. So Kent appeared on the American Populist Union’s webcast (the group has since changed its name to American Virtue) to explain himself.

    There, he spoke about how white people are discriminated against in America, called for an immigration moratorium, and said the United States is the only country that “recognizes that our rights are inherent and they come from God, not from government.” Carlson pressed him: Why, given Kent’s own religious and nationalist convictions, did he consider Fuentes “divisive”?

    “It’s more of a tactics thing,” Kent said. He noted that he has “moral qualms” about Fuentes’s giggling praise for Hitler, but said that where they really differ is on strategy. “Running out there and saying, ‘This movement is for white people and Christians only,’” said Kent, “that is not how you win elections at all.” ..

    …As for Kent, his attempt to distance himself from Fuentes shows that he’s capable of modulating his political strategy. Most of the time, it seems, he doesn’t think he has to. A Kent victory would signal to other Republicans that even outside of ultra-red districts, there’s no need to appeal to moderates, and little price to be paid for courting the hard right.

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)


Powered by WordPress.

Page loaded in: 0.0951 secs.