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The Republican Party & The Far Right: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) — Transcript

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0:04But we're actually going to dive
0:05straight in with our main and only story
0:07tonight, which concerns the Republican
0:09Party narrowly beating out Bachelorette
0:11as the best type of party to join if you
0:13want to be absolutely surrounded by
0:15dicks.
0:17Specifically, I want to talk about a
0:18worrying trend that's been steadily on
0:20the rise with perhaps the stupidest
0:22example being this bold Veterans Day
0:24post that recently resurfaced.
0:27>> The Republican candidate for New York's
0:2919th Congressional District is facing
0:31criticism over a decade-old Facebook
0:35post honoring his grandfather who fought
0:38for Nazi Germany. In the photo, his
0:40grandfather is wearing a military
0:42uniform with Nazi swastikas. Oberacker
0:46told Politico it was the only picture of
0:48his grandfather that he has.
0:51>> Yeah.
0:52Not great. And for the record, don't be
0:54mad at me, that's the only picture I
0:56have.
0:57Might work as an excuse when the photo
0:59is family brunch but Aunt Matilda
1:01blinks, but not when it's Grandpa Ludwig
1:04in full swastika sheen.
1:06If that is the only picture that you
1:08have, maybe consider having no pictures
1:10of him.
1:11You can sit Veterans Day out, no one
1:14will think that's weird.
1:16But that's just one of many moments when
1:18the Republican Party has recently found
1:19itself answering some uncomfortable
1:21questions about Nazi references. In
1:24fact, on day one of Trump's second term,
1:26Elon Musk attracted attention after
1:28thanking Trump supporters like this.
1:31>> I just want to say thank you
1:33for making it happen. Thank you.
1:36>> [cheering]
1:41>> My heart goes out to you.
1:43>> Yeah, that gesture and the weird little
1:46grunt that came with it
1:48are a bit worse than you remember,
1:49right? Because everything about that
1:51screams Nazi. Well, almost everything.
1:54To be fair to the Nazis, unlike Elon,
1:56they at least looked sharp in their
1:57suits.
1:59But it does feel like the Republican
2:01Party's been getting way too comfortable
2:03with some at best Nazi-adjacent
2:06This Trump appointee withdrew his
2:07nomination to head the Office of Special
2:09Counsel after it emerged he'd said in a
2:11group chat that I do have a Nazi streak
2:13in me from time to time. And this
2:15congressional candidate in Texas made a
2:17video in which he showed off a gun that
2:19he called Hitler's Street Sweeper, and
2:21which featured him and a friend
2:23goose-stepping to a Nazi marching song.
2:25And look, let's give them maximum
2:27benefit of the doubt here, because you
2:29can potentially, right, some of those
2:31things off to just an edgy joke in poor
2:33taste or being guilty of loving Grandpa
2:36Ludwig a little too much. And I know
2:39Republicans often complain that liberals
2:40call them Nazis regardless. Elon even
2:43posted right after doing his Hitler
2:44Howdy that the "Everyone is Hitler
2:47attack is so tired." And last July, a
2:50Fox panel even tried to laugh off
2:51comparisons between ICE and Nazis with
2:53this hilarious riff.
2:56>> This is why the criticism doesn't matter
2:58to us. When you call us Nazis, Nazi
3:00this, Nazi that,
3:03you know, I'm beginning to think they
3:04don't like us. You know what? I've said
3:07this before, we need to learn from the
3:08blacks.
3:09The way they they were able to remove
3:11the power from the N-word by using it.
3:14So, from now on it's "What up, my Nazi?"
3:17>> hey, hey, hey.
3:17>> Hey, "What up, my Nazi?" Hey, "What's
3:19hanging, my Nazi?" Um
3:23>> Nazi, PLEASE.
3:27>> SO FUN.
3:30I'LL
3:30I'LL BE HONEST. I thought that clip
3:33would peak in unwatchability the moment
3:34he said "the blacks," but it somehow got
3:37worse from there. Also, for what it's
3:39worth, I never want to hear the phrase
3:41"What's hanging, my Nazi?" unless it's
3:43coming from one of the executioners at
3:45Nuremberg. "What's hanging, my Nazi?"
3:47"Oh, about 5-6 ft of hemp. Why do you
3:49ask?" But, I don't know. Those ICE-Nazi
3:52comparisons don't feel entirely unearned
3:55to me, especially given, as we have
3:57discussed before, DHS has put out
3:59material like this ICE recruitment ad
4:01with the caption "Which way American
4:03man?" Pretty clearly mirroring "Which
4:04way Western man?" a book by a neo-Nazi
4:07that's popular among white supremacists.
4:10And this Instagram post showing a beach
4:11with the words, "America after 100
4:13million deportations." captioned, "The
4:15peace of a nation no longer besieged by
4:18the third world." And I'm sure the
4:19people behind those posts will insist
4:21they do not know what I am talking about
4:24right now, to which I'd say, to borrow a
4:25truly cursed phrase, "Nazi, please."
4:29But wait, is that still not all? Because
4:32naked bigotry from prominent Republicans
4:34seems to be increasingly the norm.
4:36Tennessee's Andy Ogles has posted,
4:38"Muslims don't belong in American
4:40society." Senator Tommy Tuberville has
4:42posted, "We must immediately ban all
4:44Islam immigrants." And just last month,
4:46Bo French, Republican candidate for
4:48Texas Railroad Commissioner, attracted a
4:50lot of attention after doing this.
4:53>> Following that big Longhorns win on
4:55Saturday, French posted a photo of this
4:58group of students saying, among other
5:00things, quote, "Social media is exposing
5:03how many Americans have been displaced
5:06by foreigners. It's everywhere and far
5:09worse than any of us could imagine." he
5:11said. One of the students pictured there
5:14is a UT senior from Flower Mound.
5:18>> To see someone that's like running for a
5:19position of power saying something like
5:22that is just That's just something I
5:23never like even like
5:26thought was possible.
5:27>> Yeah, that is awful because it is pretty
5:29clear what made him jump to the word
5:32foreigner in that footage, given
5:33everything else about it is almost
5:35offensively Texan. Wearing a cowboy hat
5:39at a football game while doing hook 'em
5:41horns.
5:42I don't know how that could get any more
5:44Texan without them somehow losing at the
5:45Alamo. AND YET
5:47THAT PROBABLY shouldn't be surprising
5:49coming from French, given he's
5:50previously posted things like, "I won't
5:52rest until every Muslim is gone." and a
5:54poll asking, "Who is a bigger threat to
5:56America, Jews or Muslims?" which might
5:58be my least favorite question ever asked
6:01on that platform. With my favorite still
6:04being when in 2010, Kevin Durant asked
6:06his followers getting a massage, "I'm
6:08face down and I got a fart. What should
6:10I do?" A tweet so good it's still
6:13getting RESPONSES 16 YEARS LATER.
6:17Even though I am pretty sure the
6:19question was time sensitive.
6:22Frenchie's post got so much blowback
6:25even Karl Rove, the architect of George
6:27W. Bush's presidential campaigns,
6:28announced he'll vote for the Democrat in
6:31Frenchie's race this year, later
6:32explaining why.
6:34>> My party has been infiltrated by people
6:37like Bo French.
6:39Nick Fuentes goes to Dallas and meets
6:41with a bunch of Republican leaders. This
6:43guy is a Nazi.
6:45You know, we got we got all these people
6:47you know now on getting their little
6:49podcasts and so forth we're just asking
6:51questions about the Jews. We didn't
6:53labor in the wilderness to build a
6:55conservative party that was inclusive
6:58and welcoming.
6:59Said it didn't matter who you were or
7:01where you came from. What mattered was
7:03in your heart and what you believed.
7:06I didn't work for that party and see it
7:07taken over by a bunch of bigots.
7:10>> Okay, let's set aside all that
7:13about how the Republican Party used to
7:14be so accepting and come back to it
7:17later. Suffice it to say citation
7:19needed, Karl.
7:20But
7:21you know things have gone off the rails
7:23when you've lost the moral high ground
7:25TO KARL ROVE HERE. When you've
7:27lost the man who said he's proud of
7:29waterboarding, that's kind of the whole
7:31ballgame.
7:33But it's not just Rove sounding the
7:34alarm. The right-wing commentator Eric
7:36Erickson has said that conservative
7:37institutions have been infiltrated by
7:39men who embrace white nationalism,
7:41anti-Semitism, and even Nazi sympathies.
7:43And even the late Lindsey Graham, rest
7:45in power, felt the need to go on stage
7:48last fall at a Republican Jewish
7:50Coalition event and say this.
7:53>> But I just want to make it really clear,
7:55I'm in the Hitler sucks wing of the
7:57Republican Party.
8:00>> [cheering]
8:04>> What is this Hitler I don't know.
8:06>> Yeah.
8:07>> [laughter]
8:08>> You know
8:09a political party is in pretty bad shape
8:12when their members have to clarify that
8:13they are not the ones who love Hitler.
8:16It's like seeing a sign that says, "In
8:17this Cinnabon, we believe in hand
8:19washing." I mean, that's reassuring, I
8:22guess, but I do now have some broader
8:24follow-up questions about your larger
8:26organization.
8:28So, if multiple Republicans are raising
8:30the alarm about their party being
8:31infiltrated by extremists, we thought
8:33tonight we'd try and answer the question
8:35that Lindsey Graham posed so elegantly
8:37{slash} drunkenly there. What is this
8:40Hitler
8:42Specifically, why are we hearing so much
8:44about it right now? What are Republicans
8:46doing about it? And where could it end
8:48up taking us? Let's start with why now?
8:50Because there are a bunch of reasons for
8:52that, but one big one is in the wake of
8:54Israel's war in Gaza and our war in
8:57Iran, there's suddenly a lot more
8:58appetite for discussion about our
8:59foreign policy in the Middle East and
9:01America's relationship with Israel,
9:03which is good and long overdue.
9:07But some on the far right have seized
9:09upon this moment to elevate anti-Semitic
9:11conspiracy theories. And for many, the
9:13moment that dynamic burst into the open
9:15came almost exactly a year ago when
9:17Tucker Carlson decided to sit down with
9:19the known white nationalist and
9:20anti-Semite Nick Fuentes. The tone of
9:23Tucker's interview was suspiciously
9:25cordial with this early exchange setting
9:27a baseline for the whole thing.
9:29>> To the extent that I've been taken out
9:30of context over the years or things like
9:32that, I'm trying to set the record
9:33straight and say, you know, and I
9:35appreciate you've given me this
9:36opportunity. These are my real views.
9:38I'm not one of those haters, let's say.
9:41>> Yeah, well, I think people should be
9:43allowed to describe what they think.
9:44>> Mhm.
9:45I mean, that's like basic human autonomy
9:47question.
9:48>> Yeah.
9:48>> Like if I want to know what you think, I
9:49should just ask you and let you talk.
9:51>> Mhm.
9:51>> Right?
9:52>> Yeah.
9:53>> Yeah.
9:54It was just two reasonable guys having a
9:56chat in a cabin that looks like an
9:58Airbnb for serial killers because that
10:00place has everything. Antlers, swords,
10:04soundproofing, I assume. Everything you
10:07could possibly want for a weekend with
10:08the guys hanging out discussing race
10:10science, and maybe surreptitiously
10:12vanishing hitchhikers.
10:13In that interview, Tucker gave Fuentes a
10:16platform to present a pretty polished
10:18version of himself, while also letting
10:20some fairly loud bigotry slide. Like
10:22this moment when Fuentes slowly walked
10:24into the anti-Semitic trope that
10:25American Jews have dual loyalty to the
10:28US and Israel.
10:30>> I guess what I'm saying is that if you
10:32are a Jewish person in America, you're
10:34sort of
10:35and again, it's not because they're
10:37born, but it's sort of a rational
10:39self-interest politically to say,
10:42"I'm a minority. I'm a religious ethnic
10:45minority.
10:46This is not really my home. My ancestral
10:49home is in Israel.
10:51There's like a natural affinity that
10:53Jews have for Israel. And I would say on
10:56top of that, for the international
10:58Jewish community. They're extremely
11:00organized. And many of them are critical
11:02of Israel or Israel's current government
11:04or the project of Israel.
11:06But I guess what they have in common,
11:08unlike, let's say like, um, Singapore,
11:10for example,
11:12is that they have this international
11:14community
11:15across borders, extremely organized,
11:19uh, that is putting the interests of
11:21themselves before the interests of their
11:23home country.
11:24>> Okay. Accusing Jewish Americans of
11:26putting Israel's interests ahead of
11:28America's is just absurd. Lots of people
11:31have connections to other countries
11:32without being sleeper agents for them. I
11:35was born in the UK, and that freaky
11:37little island has no power over me,
11:40other than, I guess, making me suffer at
11:42every World Cup.
11:44And cursing me to be the only person in
11:45our office who pronounces aluminum
11:47correctly. Still,
11:49WHAT A FUN DISCUSSION THAT MUST HAVE
11:51been for Tucker's sponsors for that
11:52episode, which included, and this is
11:54true, Vande potato chips. And I don't
11:57know what's worse there, if Vande
11:58accidentally sponsored chatting Jews at
12:00the freak shack, or if they were briefed
12:03ahead of time and said, "Oh, we're
12:04definitely in, T-Bone."
12:06Anyway, I should say, Tucker did offer
12:09some soft pushback during that over
12:11two-hour interview, although notably not
12:13when Fuentes blamed America's problems
12:15on quote organized Jewry or when he
12:17mentioned Joseph Stalin's birthday and
12:19said he was a fan, to which Tucker said,
12:22"We'll circle back to that." And then,
12:24just as Stalin did when he meant to save
12:25millions of peasants from starving to
12:27death, probably just forgot to. Now, in
12:30the aftermath of that sit-down, battle
12:32lines were drawn across the political
12:34right with many arguing Tucker shouldn't
12:36have given such a softball interview to
12:38Fuentes, especially since it gave him
12:40access to one of the largest audiences
12:42he's ever had. But, the Heritage
12:44Foundation, one of the largest, most
12:46influential think tanks in America,
12:48initially stood by Tucker, with whom it
12:50had recently had an advertising deal. In
12:52fact, its president, Kevin Roberts, even
12:54put out a video in which he said, "We
12:55will always defend our friends against
12:57the slander of bad actors who serve
12:59someone else's agenda. That includes
13:02Tucker Carlson." He also said Tucker was
13:04under attack from a venomous coalition
13:06and mentioned pressure from the
13:07globalist class. Both, if you are not
13:09aware, pretty notable dog whistles. Now,
13:12in the wake of that video, dozens of
13:14Heritage staff members departed, as did
13:16several board members, and an
13:17antisemitism task force severed ties
13:20with the foundation. Eventually, Roberts
13:22admitted he'd used a terrible choice of
13:24words and addressed his remaining staff
13:26in an all-hands meeting in which he
13:28tried, unconvincingly, to plead
13:30ignorance about the issues with Carlson
13:32and Fuentes.
13:33>> I don't actually don't have time to
13:35consume a lot of news.
13:39I don't mean this is a as a fake attempt
13:41at lightheartedness. I
13:43I I consume a lot of sports.
13:46I don't consume a lot of podcasts, not
13:49even ours. I don't consume a lot of
13:50news.
13:52And that ignorance should have told me,
13:56"Ask around."
13:58>> Wow. It is one thing to say you don't
14:01watch a lot of news if you're a
14:02salesperson or an electrician or a
14:04doctor. It is quite another to say it as
14:06the president of the leading
14:08conservative think tank in the country.
14:10He's like George R.R. Martin saying,
14:12"I'm sorry I misspoke about medieval
14:14royal sibling I don't consume a
14:17lot of incest fantasy. Brother, you are
14:20the main reason we know what that is.
14:24And to be clear here, Nick Fuentes is
14:27famously a bigot. And while I admit he's
14:30also very much a troll, and you may have
14:32seen clips online of him where he comes
14:34across as an edge lord just trying to
14:36shock, it is worth seeing what he's like
14:38when the mask fully comes off because
14:40it's truly heinous.
14:42>> You know who built everything? Planes,
14:44railroads, cars, the radio, the
14:47telephone, the telegraph, whites,
14:49television, everything, whites.
14:53Jews are money changers,
14:56artists, psychopaths, charlatans,
14:59grifters, manipulators. Why do you think
15:01they're so obnoxious?
15:03Why do you think they're so
15:04obnoxious? They have no manners cuz they
15:06come from the third world. They come
15:07from the literal ghetto.
15:09>> Yeah, that's pretty unambiguous, isn't
15:11it? And it makes it all the more
15:12laughable that Tucker made such a show
15:15of offering Fuentes, a man who has
15:16literally spent thousands of hours on
15:18the internet saying whatever he wants,
15:20the chance to finally say what he
15:22thinks. You really didn't need to invite
15:24Fuentes to your antler dome to find out
15:26what makes him tick. Just Google him,
15:28you boat-shoe
15:30And the worrying thing is, it's not just
15:33Tucker. Fuentes has been inching closer
15:35and closer to mainstream Republicans
15:38over the years. Congressman Paul Gosar
15:39gave the keynote speech at Fuentes'
15:41America First Political Action in 2021,
15:44and Marjorie Taylor Greene did the same
15:46the following year. And I do have to
15:47tell you she later denied knowing who
15:50Fuentes was, as by the way did Donald
15:52Trump after he famously dined with him
15:54at Mar-a-Lago. Although I will note that
15:57the person who brought Fuentes to that
15:58dinner was Kanye West, who just a month
16:01earlier had tweeted he was going death
16:03con 3 on Jewish people. So, I GUESS
16:06TRUMP IS CLAIMING there that he only
16:08knew one of the anti-Semites at that
16:09dinner, WHICH TO BE CLEAR DOESN'T MAKE
16:11IT HALF OKAY.
16:14AND IN THE WAKE of that Tucker
16:15interview, Fuentes took a victory lap
16:17saying, "I am no longer the radical on
16:19the outside. I'm actually the leader on
16:22the inside." And on his show, he put the
16:24current situation in some pretty
16:26chilling terms.
16:27>> You can call me a Nazi. You better be
16:29careful.
16:31Because if I'm a Nazi, then there is
16:33millions of young people that are
16:35following a Nazi.
16:37>> Right.
16:39Yeah.
16:40No, that's the problem here.
16:43>> [laughter]
16:44>> Because Nazis getting in power doesn't
16:46historically bode well for anyone,
16:48including, for what it's worth, Nazis,
16:50who didn't exactly have the best 1945.
16:54JUST GO AHEAD and ask Grandpa Ludwig.
16:57And look, I don't know if Fuentes truly
16:59has millions of followers, or as they
17:02call themselves Groypers. He has an
17:04incentive to exaggerate his importance,
17:06and there's not a lot of data on how
17:07many Republicans support him
17:09specifically, but the glimpses aren't
17:11great. At CPAC this year, one young
17:13attendee said, "I'd say at least 60% of
17:16the young people here are fans of Nick."
17:18And Ted Cruz recently complained about
17:19their prevalence, saying it was
17:20difficult to avoid staffing them in his
17:22office, and that the Groyper problem is
17:24real. And data suggests many
17:26Republicans, especially younger ones,
17:28are getting a lot more comfortable with
17:30things like Holocaust denial. The
17:32right-leaning Manhattan Institute
17:34recently conducted a survey that found
17:35nearly four in 10 in the current GOP
17:38believe the Holocaust was greatly
17:39exaggerated, or did not happen as
17:41historians describe, with that number
17:43jumping to 54% among men under 50. And a
17:47focus group they ran of Gen Z
17:48Republicans offered up some alarming
17:50opinions, like when they responded to
17:51the question, "What do you think of
17:53Adolf Hitler?" with, "I think he was a
17:54great leader, to be honest. I think what
17:56he was going for was terrible, but I
17:58think he showed very strong leadership
18:00values." Which is a real compliment
18:02sandwich there, isn't it?
18:04Critical, while constructive. If I was
18:06Hitler, and to be clear, I'm very much
18:08not,
18:09I'd be pretty happy with that feedback
18:11from a manager who cares.
18:13That focus group also asked, "What do
18:15you think of Jewish people?" and one
18:16respondent said, "I would say a force
18:18for evil." And remember, that is what
18:20they were willing to say on the record.
18:23Behind closed doors, it unsurprisingly
18:25gets even worse.
18:26>> New fallout tonight from a racist and
18:29violent group chat involving leaders of
18:31some young Republican groups. The chat
18:33includes anti-Semitic comments and
18:36racial slurs against black, Latino,
18:38Asian people, and other epithets used
18:40more than 250 times, according to
18:43Politico. The outlet says one person,
18:45after being told backers would support
18:47the most right-wing candidate for a
18:48leadership role, responded, "Great. I
18:51love Hitler." At another point, someone
18:53writes, "If we ever had a leak of this
18:55chat, we would be cooked."
18:57>> Yeah.
18:58You probably would. And guess what,
19:00guys? Here we are.
19:03There was some nasty stuff in that chat
19:05with one member repeatedly using the
19:06N-word, and another referring to black
19:08people with these slurs that I'm going
19:10to take a hard pass on saying out loud.
19:12And that wasn't even the only group chat
19:14that got leaked. Another one among
19:16campus Republicans in Florida was also
19:18full of racist slurs. Now, at one point,
19:20was named Gooning in Agartha, with
19:22Agartha being a reference to a mythical
19:24white civilization promoted by Heinrich
19:25Himmler, and Gooning being a reference
19:27to, you know what? Look that one up
19:29yourself.
19:30I will let that be a fun surprise for
19:32you. And look, there are some who will
19:35say, "Look, calm down. This seems to be
19:37just a bunch of kids and shitty
19:39streamers. You can just ignore it." But
19:41let's take those one at a time, shall
19:43we? Starting with it's just kids. That's
19:45actually something J.D. Vance has tried
19:47to argue when he was asked about that
19:49group chat with over 250 slurs in it.
19:51And he said this.
19:53>> The reality is that kids do stupid
19:55things, especially young boys. They tell
19:58edgy, offensive jokes. Like, that's what
20:01kids do. And I really don't want us to
20:03grow up in a country where a kid telling
20:05a stupid joke, telling a very offensive,
20:08stupid joke is cause to ruin their
20:10lives.
20:11>> Okay, first, set aside that that's a
20:13wildly forgiving attitude coming from
20:15the VP of an administration that, as we
20:17have discussed repeatedly before, has
20:19gone ape over any perceived
20:21anti-Semitism on college campuses. But
20:22in the abstract there,
20:24I guess I agree that kids should be able
20:27to make mistakes without it ruining
20:28their lives. But, it feels important to
20:31mention that people in those chats
20:33weren't actually kids so much as
20:35full-grown adults in their 20s and 30s.
20:37In fact, the guy who posted those
20:40heinous slurs was 31, one of the least
20:43cute ages. There are no
20:4531-year-old scamps.
20:47One of our writers is 31, and she's so
20:50annoying.
20:52Meanwhile, another member of the chat
20:54was actually in the Vermont state
20:56legislature at the time, and yet another
20:58had apparently been in line to manage
21:00Republican Peter Oberacker's campaign
21:01for Congress before the chats came out.
21:03And if the name Oberacker is ringing a
21:05bell at all for you, it's because he's
21:07the guy who "Thank you for your service"
21:10his dear departed grandpa Nazi on
21:12Veteran's Day.
21:13Now, I should say those three not
21:16remotely young boys
21:17have since either apologized or claimed
21:19that their posts were just jokes. And
21:21okay,
21:22but what that all shows is that in
21:24politics, people in their 20s and 30s
21:26can rise fast. The distance between
21:29college Republican and communications
21:31director can be just a couple of years.
21:33Now, as for the whole "They're just
21:35shitty streamers" argument, these days
21:38streamers can be a lot closer to the
21:39center of power than you might think.
21:41For instance, here's one named Stu
21:42Peters bragging about how he's been able
21:44to J pill his audience, an antisemitic
21:46term for showing them a line influence
21:48of Jews. Now, I warn you, this next
21:50video sucks pretty hard, but if you
21:52stick with it, you do get to see him
21:54take some increasingly wild swings.
21:57>> As everybody knows, the Stu Peters Show
21:58and this network broadly have been and
22:01still are to this day at the forefront
22:03of J pilling the American people. If
22:05societal ills were a bunch of stones in
22:07the middle of a field somewhere, and all
22:09of us got together walking around
22:10turning up the stones to see what's
22:12underneath them,
22:13under every single one of these stones,
22:15you would find a little Jew man rubbing
22:17his hands, smirking, wearing his tiny
22:19hat, trying to get over on the
22:23Trying to kill the When it really
22:25comes down to it. Just think of all that
22:27these people are responsible for. Usury,
22:29central banking, communism,
22:31Bolshevik communism, the Holodomor, the
22:34transatlantic slave trade,
22:35transgenderism,
22:37>> [laughter]
22:38>> the normalization of homosexuality, the
22:40normalization of pedophilia,
22:41transgenderism for kids, open borders,
22:43white replacement, white genocide, the
22:46Hebrew immigrant aid society, AIPAC, the
22:48assassination of President John F.
22:50Kennedy, the assassination of Charlie
22:51Kirk, abortion,
22:54which is just a modern-day Molochian
22:56sacrifice ritual.
22:57>> I mean,
22:59I'll say this, that man is thorough.
23:02The problem [laughter] is, THAT SOUNDS
23:04LESS LIKE A COHERENT CONSPIRACY, more
23:05like what Alex Jones would say after
23:07being kicked in the head by a horse.
23:10And well, I KNOW THAT GUY sounds
23:12completely insane. What's even crazier
23:15is guests on his show have included
23:17these three sitting Republican
23:19congressmen, Kari Lake, [snorts] and oh
23:20yeah, THE DIRECTOR OF THE FBI,
23:23KASH PATEL, who appeared on Peter's show
23:26eight times from 2021 to 2022. And look,
23:29maybe they all actually like Stu Peters.
23:32Or maybe they just thought that they
23:34could pretend to in order to keep his
23:36audience aligned with their party. And
23:37you may be thinking, what's the real
23:39difference there? To which I'd say, for
23:40sure.
23:42Because here's the thing, while Karl
23:44Rove might want to pretend this is some
23:46anomaly in a party lovingly handcrafted
23:49over the years to be inclusive and
23:51welcoming, that is some deeply
23:53revisionist horse The far-right
23:55fringe currently rising up in his party
23:57is not remotely new. From the John Birch
23:59Society through Barry Goldwater and Pat
24:01Buchanan, the Republican Party has
24:03always left its door ajar for bigots,
24:05cranks, and conspiracy theorists. Have
24:07you ever listened to the Nixon tapes?
24:09They would do numbers on Rumble today.
24:12Sponsored by who else BUT VANDY POTATO
24:15CHIPS.
24:16The chip for the truly discriminating
24:18consumer.
24:20Anyway, the party's big tent philosophy,
24:22sometimes summed up as no enemies to the
24:25right, has long meant it's been
24:26reluctant to fully disavow someone for
24:28being too extreme. And while gatekeepers
24:30in conservative media used to be able to
24:32keep the racist dog whistles just below
24:34audible levels, thanks to the rise of
24:37the internet, right-wing influencers
24:38like these two are now fully off leash
24:41with every incentive to get more
24:42outrageous in order to draw more
24:44eyeballs that they can then monetize.
24:46And that brings us to our second
24:48question, what are Republicans trying to
24:50do about it? Well, the truth is, as
24:52little as they think they can get away
24:54with. Because the rise of the online
24:56right was one of the key things that
24:57helped push Trump into the White House a
24:59decade ago. And at the time, a lot of
25:02establishment conservatives went out of
25:04their way to overlook the fact their
25:06candidate had just been endorsed by
25:08David Duke and had the support of the
25:10literal Ku Klux Klan. It's worth
25:12remembering that Trump himself was asked
25:14about the fact that he had David Duke's
25:16support, and this was his response.
25:18>> Will you unequivocally condemn David
25:20Duke and say that you don't want his
25:22vote or that of other white supremacists
25:24in this election?
25:26>> Well, just so you understand, I don't
25:28know anything about David Duke, okay? I
25:30don't know anything about what you're
25:31even talking about with uh white
25:33supremacy or white supremacist.
25:35Honestly, I don't know David Duke. I
25:36don't believe I've ever met him. I'm
25:38pretty sure I didn't meet him, and I
25:39just don't know anything about him.
25:41>> Yeah, after you get over the initial
25:43shock there of seeing a glowing,
25:45baby-faced Trump
25:47who's able to speak without sounding
25:49like he has an extra couple of flaps in
25:50his throat,
25:52you have time to process what a truly
25:54terrible answer that was and what under
25:56pressure, he did eventually disavow
25:58Duke. He and other leading conservatives
26:00still seem compelled to try and have it
26:02both ways. In fact, at the height of the
26:04controversy over Tucker Carlson's
26:06interview at a Turning Point USA
26:07conference, Ben Shapiro, most annoying
26:10boy emeritus,
26:12called Fuentes a Hitler apologist,
26:13Nazi-loving, anti-American piece of
26:15refuse and called Tucker interviewing
26:17him an act of moral imbecility. But when
26:20J.D. Vance took the stage, he very
26:22pointedly said, "I didn't bring a list
26:24of conservatives to denounce or
26:25deplatform." And he got pretty
26:27sanctimonious about it.
26:28>> President Trump did not build the
26:31greatest coalition in politics by
26:33running his supporters through endless
26:36self-defeating purity tests. We have far
26:39more important work to do than canceling
26:41each other. We have got to build, and
26:43President Donald Trump is a builder.
26:46>> Okay, I'll say this. No one takes a
26:48stand about not taking a stand quite
26:50like J.D. Vance. You know what? Given a
26:53choice between Nazis and non-Nazis, let
26:56me unequivocally state, boldly and
26:58clearly, that I would like to talk about
27:01something else, please.
27:03And well, to be fair, Vance has publicly
27:06condemned anti-Semitism, and when asked
27:08directly, has condemned Fuentes, even
27:10saying at one point he could eat
27:12It is noticeable the extent to which
27:15he's paired that condemnation with
27:16attacks on affirmative action or
27:18immigration, issues where he and Fuentes
27:20have some common ground. At one point,
27:22he even told an interviewer, "If you
27:24believe racism is bad, Fuentes should
27:26occupy 1 second of your focus. And the
27:29people with actual political power, who
27:30work so hard to discriminate against
27:32white men, should occupy many hours of
27:35it." In fact, in that Turning Point
27:37speech, he had some notable lines that
27:39really wouldn't feel out of place in a
27:41Fuentes rant, from mocking Soros DAs and
27:44Jasmine Crockett's street girl persona,
27:46to telling this fun joke.
27:49>> Omar Fateh was Ilhan Omar's candidate
27:52for mayor of Mogadishu. What?
27:55I mean, Minneapolis.
27:58Little Freudian slip there.
27:59>> What a Oh, sorry.
28:02Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Little [cheering]
28:05little Freudian slip there.
28:07What a
28:10It's no wonder Fuentes himself has said,
28:13"J.D. Vance panders to the far right,
28:16but simply doesn't want the baggage of
28:18associating with the far right." And
28:19it's not just Vance trying to have it
28:22both ways. A year after Kevin Roberts
28:24finally condemned that Fuentes-Carson
28:26interview, he attended a National
28:27Conservatism conference, where he
28:29noticeably declined to even say their
28:31names, instead proposing a different
28:33approach.
28:34>> I'm sometimes asked
28:36about one or two
28:38of these podcasters in particular.
28:42Let me say here
28:44that as idiotic and absurd as their
28:47rhetoric and conspiracy theories can be
28:50that they are irrelevant.
28:52Irrelevant
28:54to the conservative coalition we are
28:56building in America.
29:03What I've learned is that the worst
29:05thing you can do is to engage with them
29:07because speaking as a parent of four,
29:10when you have a toddler who's
29:11misbehaving, you just need to ignore
29:14them.
29:15>> Okay. I mean
29:17that's pretty bad parenting advice in
29:19general.
29:21But it also isn't remotely applicable
29:22here. If your toddler's throwing a
29:24tantrum because you made pasta in the
29:26wrong shape, sure, ignore it. Parent how
29:28you want. But if your toddler hosts a
29:30full hour podcast in which he discusses
29:33his favorite Himmler deep cut, I'd think
29:36about maybe intervening.
29:38Anyway, I am very sorry for Kevin
29:40Roberts' kids, but congrats to their
29:41therapist, I guess. It's not often that
29:43you have game tape to analyze during a
29:45session.
29:47But as much as Roberts might want to
29:49pretend that these figures and their
29:50views are irrelevant to his party or or
29:52Vance might insist that they only
29:54deserve a second of attention. That is a
29:57hard case to make given how prevalent
29:59some of this extremism now is because
30:01it's not just the candidates you've
30:02already seen. Ohio Senator J.D. Vance
30:05recently fired his 25-year-old political
30:06director for using Nazi soldiers as his
30:09profile photo. And Georgia's Republican
30:11candidate for Senate, Mike Collins, has
30:13come under heavy criticism for having
30:15multiple ties to white nationalists,
30:17including, by the way, his own
30:18son-in-law who is apparently a pro-white
30:21nationalist and social media influencer.
30:24And if you are thinking that that sounds
30:25like a pretty unhinged combo, you'd be
30:28right about that. As scrolling through
30:29his content, you quickly go from posts
30:31like why you should eat red meat through
30:34you must stop watching porn and dealing
30:37with loneliness. Quick side note, the
30:39hat's probably not helping there.
30:42Just stuff like this Telegram post whose
30:45caption explains that it contains,
30:46quote, all of the proof Jews control our
30:48government through finance, which he
30:50said my wife made, who you'll remember
30:52is Mike Collins' own daughter. And if
30:54you're thinking, well, that is just his
30:56kid, you should know Collins' former
30:57chief of staff was on a group chat with
30:59famous white nationalists including Nick
31:01Fuentes and Richard Spencer. And Collins
31:04himself once responded to an
31:05anti-Semitic Twitter account that said
31:07of a Washington Post reporter, in case
31:09you were wondering, yes, she is, meaning
31:11Jewish, with never was a second thought.
31:15And while Collins has completely denied
31:16any anti-Semitic intent saying, you'll
31:18just see stuff that ain't there. ARE YOU
31:20SURE ABOUT THAT, MIKE? CUZ IT SURE feels
31:23like there's a lot there to see.
31:26And it's not just Collins. There are
31:28other worrying candidates further down
31:29ballot like Marshall Watson, who's
31:31currently running for Florida State
31:32House. He attended the Charlottesville
31:34Unite the Right rally and marched with
31:37the League of the South, the racist and
31:38anti-Semitic neo-Confederate group. And
31:40while he's since tried to downplay that
31:42saying, quote, we arrived late on the
31:43second day after the march. Not only is
31:47that in no way exonerating,
31:50I'll point out that once he did show up,
31:52this video shows him getting a pretty
31:54warm welcome.
31:57>> Marshall's finally here.
31:58>> Hey.
31:59>> It's so good to see y'all.
32:01>> What's up, brother?
32:02>> Hey, man.
32:02>> Ah.
32:03>> Mike.
32:03>> Yes, sir.
32:04>> How you doing, Mr. Watson?
32:07>> Hey, man.
32:09>> Yeah, they seemed pretty happy to see
32:11old Marshall there. And while it went by
32:13kind of fast, it is worth noting that
32:15that friendly exchange took place right
32:17next to a swastika flag. And if you have
32:19a conversation right next to a swastika
32:22flag THAT DOES NOT BEGIN, HEY, THE
32:25IS THAT SWASTIKA FLAG DOING HERE?
32:27I feel like that's already a pretty good
32:30tell.
32:31And it gets even worse because Watson
32:33later stood among the marchers at the
32:34rally. That is him right there. And that
32:36is the guy who not long after killed a
32:39counter-demonstrator with his car. So,
32:41condemning Rawson should be the lowest
32:43possible bar to clear. And yet, when a
32:46reporter asked 28 Florida Republicans,
32:48many of whom had endorsed Rawson, if any
32:51of this changed their mind about him,
32:53only three even bothered to respond.
32:55With one, Byron Donald, sending back a
32:57boilerplate condemnation of racism
32:59generally without mentioning Rawson by
33:01name, and the other two actually
33:03standing by him. The point here is,
33:05far-right views in the Republican Party
33:07are by no means irrelevant. And they are
33:10way past the point of being ignorable.
33:12Some of them are literally on the ballot
33:14in 9 days. In an election, by the way,
33:17where the single biggest campaign
33:18spender is this guy, you know,
33:21of the Adolf Aloha way.
33:24And some long-time members of far-right
33:26movements seem fully aware of these
33:28developments. In fact, when Jared
33:29Taylor, the founder of the white
33:31nationalist New Century Foundation, was
33:33recently invited to speak at a Maryland
33:34university, he recorded a video
33:36afterwards in which he both shouted out
33:38the guy that invited him there, Colin
33:40McEvoy, who's running for the state
33:41legislature, by the way, under the
33:43slogan, "It's time to fight for our
33:45home." And pointed to the larger shift
33:47that he saw underway.
33:49>> The Republican Party is, in effect, the
33:52party of white people.
33:54Look at a Trump rally.
33:55It might as well be a meeting of the
33:57Sons and Daughters of the Confederacy.
33:59There's a big difference between old
34:00Republicans and young Republicans. I can
34:03go to a meeting of old Republicans and
34:06no one knows who I am.
34:08Young Republicans treat me like a hero.
34:11And even a few old Republicans are
34:13beginning to see the light. Voters will
34:15decide in November how well they like
34:17Marshall Rawson, Bo French, and Colin
34:20McEvoy. And to all you Republicans who
34:23know what's at stake, your time to stand
34:26up for your people may come sooner than
34:29you think.
34:30>> Oh, I don't like anything about that.
34:34I don't like the way he pronounced the
34:35word "white".
34:38I especially don't like it coming out of
34:39the mouth of a man who looks like Carl
34:41from Up if he went down some dark paths
34:44after Ellie died.
34:46The one thing I'll agree with him about
34:48there is that the time for choosing is
34:50here. Some of the candidates you've seen
34:52tonight, whether they are running for
34:53the first time or are up for re-election
34:55or a new job, are currently favored to
34:57win.
34:58But even if they all lose, and I hope
35:00they do,
35:02the party that put them on the ballot
35:04still has to reckon with how it got to
35:06this point. And while I'm sure
35:08mainstream Republicans will keep trying
35:10to dodge this issue, many are clearly
35:12betting they'll be able to make it
35:13through the midterms without having to
35:15take a principled stand that could lose
35:17them a single vote. Make no mistake,
35:20this party is at a crossroads right now.
35:22Their current leader Their current
35:24leader is by the standards of both the
35:25Constitution and even the most generous
35:28cardiologist on his way out.
35:31And the next iteration of this party is
35:34currently being decided amid a rising
35:36chorus of white nationalist, open
35:38neo-Nazis, and bigots.
35:40And while I know that is a pretty ugly
35:42picture to paint of their party, if
35:44Republicans are not willing to actually
35:46stand up and do something about it, then
35:48I'm afraid, much like a certain
35:50politician running in upstate New York,
35:52it might soon be the only picture of it
35:55they have left.

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