Texas Republicans are fighting about whether it's OK to associate with white supremacists [View all]

https://popular.info/p/texas-republicans-are-fighting-about


Last week, Jonathan Stickland — president of the far-right Defend Texas Liberty PAC and a former state representative — met with notorious white supremacist Nick Fuentes and other right-wing extremists. The meeting, first reported by the Texas Tribune, lasted “for several hours” at the headquarters of Pale Horse Strategies, a political consulting group owned by Stickland.

Fuentes’ views have been long documented. The provocateur describes himself as “just like Hitler.” An outspoken holocaust denier, Fuentes has claimed that the number of Jewish victims killed by Nazi Germany “doesn’t add up” and compared the killings to baking cookies. He has also called for “the military to be sent into Black neighborhoods,” defended Jim Crow segregation, and said that he’s seeking a “total Aryan victory.” He believes women shouldn’t be allowed to vote, and regularly espouses anti-LGBTQ and sexist views.

But in the aftermath of the meeting, “extraordinary criticism and infighting” has erupted among the Texas GOP over the meeting with Fuentes. The turmoil was triggered after Republican House Speaker Dade Phelan criticized Stickland for hosting a “Hitler Apologist” while Israel is at war.

“This [is] not just a casual misstep,” Phelan said in a statement on October 9. “It’s indicative of the moral, political rot that has been festering in a certain segment of our party for far too long. Anti-Semitism, bigotry and Hitler apologists should find no sanctuary in the Republican Party. Period. We cannot – and must not – tolerate the tacit endorsement of such vile ideologies.”

*snip*