Rep. Paul Gosar (AZ-04) may be best known for his racism, his Islamophobia, his anti-Semitism, or possibly his family disowning him for being a bigot and saying all of those hateful things that show him to be the bigot that he is. This year, Gosar released a statement calling for former FBI Director James Comey, FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, and current Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to be prosecuted for treason. Or maybe you remember him as the ghoul reportedly lobbying for the late John McCain’s Senate seat in December of 2017, the day after McCain had been admitted to the hospital for side effects of his cancer treatments. Any single one of these things is usually a calling card for an up-and-coming Republican star, but so far, no one’s listened.
So now Rep. Gosar is upping the ante. CNN reports that Gosar “attended an hours-long dinner in London earlier this summer.” At that dinner, Gosar hung out not just with Steve Bannon, but also with the European douchebag and Belgian Flemish-nationalist politician Filip DeWinter. Filip DeWinter is best known for his right-wing extremist views on Muslims and his belief in the need to rid Europe of Muslims. DeWinter’s political party, Vlaams Belang, is the offshoot of the disbanded Vlaams Blok—which was disbanded after being sanctioned for being racist.
DeWinter told CNN's KFile that he and the Congressman got acquainted at a pub before speaking at the rally and then went to a lengthy dinner together with Bannon, where they discussed the political organization Bannon was setting up in Brussels and the possibility of working together in the future.
"We were with five or six people at the same table, so we had the possibility for three or four hours to speak with each other about all sorts of topics concerning American politics, European politics, the plans of Steve (Bannon), the way things were going in Europe and the possibilities to work together also with the Freedom Caucus and with those people who are supporting us over in the States," DeWinter said.
Gosar was there to speak in support of another anti-Muslim extremist, Tommy Robinson, who has been jailed for filming defendants in a sexual assault trial, which is against the law in the United Kingdom. According to the
Phoenix New Times, Rep. Gosar’s trip abroad was also funded by an
American-based anti-Muslim organization.
The Middle East Forum, a Philadelphia-based group maligned for its views on Islam, shelled out $9,517.73 on Gosar's behalf, according to the financial disclosures. One document, filed by Gosar and signed by the director of the MEF, lists $8,612 in travel expenses – Gosar flew business class – $762 for lodging, and $142 for food.
The MEF's director Gregg Roman said in an interview that his organization supported the July 14 Robinson rally as a financial underwriter but didn't organize the speakers.
(Note that “maligned” is the verb used in the Phoenix New Times’ article.)
That’s a convenient way to position it. Here’s some of what they do agree with, coming out of Rep. Paul Gosar’s mouth during those rallies.
Speaking to a cheering crowd on Saturday, Gosar also condemned "disgusting and depraved individuals" from Muslim immigrant communities, whom he said carry out widespread sexual abuse. "We know these men come from commonly Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Muslim backgrounds," Gosar said.
[...]
At the July 14 rally, Gosar said, “Tommy as a citizen journalist has had his freedoms taken away by the British justice system. And for what? Speaking out against great demonstrable injustices."
These injustices, Gosar suggested, included "rape and grooming gangs all around the country," a reference to a British media fixation on alleged sex trafficking by men from Muslim communities.
A real treasure there in Arizona. Gosar is to the hard right of a political party circling the toilet bowl of humanity. His Democratic challenger this fall, David Brill, knows his chances are slim to unseat the incumbent Islamophobe Gosar.
“Gosar is so far to the radical side that he has caused a lot of people here in Arizona … to be pretty upset with him,” Brill said. “We’re talking Republicans, especially Republicans with families who care about the education of their kids, the debt their kids are taking on and working two jobs and not advancing a career.”
Like Trump, and most everybody in the Republican Party these days, Gosar’s running a fear-based nihilistic campaign that promises to be meaner to people of color than to white people. That’s all they have to offer, because history has shown that they’re mean to everybody who can’t make them rich.
