It would be a monumental miscalculation to assume that the alt-right’s poor showing in Washington over the weekend was a sign that the white supremacist movement is not as robust as it was directly following Trump’s poorly attended inauguration.
In fact, based on the number of alt-right (Nazi) candidates running for public office as Republicans, the white supremacist movement is growing with support of the party of Trump. No American should be fooled by “official party” criticisms of Republican candidates running under the Trump-Aryan banner because there are never any “official” condemnations until the candidates’ bigotry is widely exposed.
A perfect example occurred last week in Missouri after a Hitler sympathizer’s easy primary victory for the state legislature. That win informs that white supremacists are taking control of the GOP because they have support of the base, as well as the white supremacist-in-chief Trump.
It was only a race for the Missouri state legislature, but the victory of a conservative Christian renowned for raging against Jews, Muslims, LBGTQ Americans and any other non-Aryan, non-Christian person is a portent that the GOP is rapidly becoming the “official” party of white supremacists. Of course racists and all manner of religious bigots flocked to Republicans prior to Trump, but they were primarily closeted bigots; anti-gay and anti-women Republicans were never in the closet, they were in mega-churches with mega broadcast networks.
The racist, Steve West, easily won the four-way Republican primary race for a Missouri house seat by 25 points, garnering nearly 50 percent of the vote. West is, besides a Republican politician, an alleged “businessman” and KCXL radio show host. He is also a raging anti-Semite and a devotee of Adolf Hitler whom West asserts had the right idea in “dealing with who was behind” what was happening in Nazi Germany.
The Kansas City Star, in an effort to describe West’s background after his victory, reported that last week on his radio show West promoted “fanatical conspiracies” about “Jewish cabals harvesting baby parts through Planned Parenthood, and torturing and molesting children.” West also claims that they [Jews] “run the Republican Party” he belongs to. And as far as his adoration of Adolf Hitler, West celebrated the evil monster claiming:
“Looking back in history, unfortunately, Hitler was right about what was taking place in Germany. And who was behind it.”
The only thing West did not do was praise Hitler for his solution to the “who” behind what the dictator claimed was taking place in Germany.
The “Star” also reported that West hosts a YouTube channel where he is less restrained from spouting his particularly dangerous brand of Trumpism – demeaning and defaming non-Aryans and non-Christians. Apparently West “dons a wig and fake beard and calls himself Jack Justice … unleashing an array of bigotry including homophobia, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and outright racism.”
West’s Democratic opponent, incumbent State Representative Jon Carpenter, hoped that the people who voted for West simply were unaware of his views. That is highly doubtful since West is the host of a radio talk show and not some character who crawled out of an alley. Mr. Carpenter issued an email statement:
“I just want everyone who lives in this community to know that they’re welcome here. Muslims, Jews, Catholics, the LGBTQ community, people of all races and national origins, and everyone else Steve West has targeted with hate. His views do not reflect our values. We’ll stand together and love will conquer hate, as it always does.”
That West won a four-way race by 25 percentage points, if typical of the GOP base, is a bad omen that the nation is even more deeply divided than even a dark cynic might have thought. Of course the Missouri Republican Party issued a statement disavowing West as one of their “fine people,” but the group waited two days after West won to issue a statement saying in part:
“Steve West’s shocking and vile comments do not reflect the position of the Missouri Republican Party or indeed of any decent individual. West’s abhorrent rhetoric has absolutely no place in the Missouri Republican Party or anywhere. We wholeheartedly condemn his comments.”
Like all official Republican Party condemnations, it is purely for convenience and far too late. Where were the official condemnations prior to the primary? West has been a hateful broadcast bigot long enough that the party knew who they allowed on their ballot; just like the RNC knew what kind of bigoted pig Trump is and yet they still support him. No sane human being can imagine the RNC or GOP Congress issuing an “official” statement condemning Trump’s “shocking and vile comments” or his perpetually “abhorrent rhetoric;” because they appreciate that it incites the base to flock to the polls. West’s shocking and vile comments and abhorrent rhetoric certainly incited Missouri Republicans to vote for the Hitler-loving anti-Semite.
Regardless of the accusations Omarosa Manigault-Newman made about Trump being a racist and using the “N” word to refer to African Americans, there are plenty of indications that he is a bigot inciting his racist base he knows oppose any non-Aryan and non-Christian. His attack on professional athletes exercising their rights under the Constitution is specifically focused on African Americans to divide the nation.
His praise of the “very fine” alt-right (Nazis) after they brutally assaulted peaceful protestors in Charlottesville was offered as an official commendation to “his people.” On the anniversary of Charlottesville, he issued another dog whistle condemning “all types of racism;” he did spend the 2016 campaign convincing his base that there is raging discrimination and institutionalized bias against white people, and it is a belief that is growing among Republicans.
As much as Democrats, and decent human beings, should beware of the powerful evangelical extremist voting bloc in an important midterm election, they should give particular attention to the white supremacist bloc. They are just as driven as the fundamentalist cult, and most certainly hate the same people as the religious right.
As an aside, although evangelicals claim to support Israel, it is only because it is cited in their scriptural mythos. If the Christian’s bible said that Havana was the home of the “chosen people” and the site of an Earth-shaking spiritual battle, Israel would just be another Middle East country and Cuba would get an inordinate amount of taxpayer dollars and weaponry. It is important to remember that Nazi Germany was a Christian nation with support from the Christian, primarily Catholic, population and they participated in an unimaginable atrocity against the Jews. In addition, despite the complete demise of the Aryan Reich, many German Christians wanted the Nazi leadership back after the war.
It almost seems natural for a bigot like Steve West to run for office as a Republican after praising Hitler and using flagrantly bigoted dog whistles; his is aping Trump and tapping into his base. If Trump is not inciting racial and religious animus against non-Aryans and non-Christians like Hitler, he is doing his best to rule with an iron fist like der Führer. It should be unfathomable that a publicly acknowledged bigot like West could run for political office anywhere in America and beat his opponents handily, but this is Trump’s America now and the Republican base is sick with white supremacists and evangelical extremists.