Source: Joe Raedle / Getty
Here’s a question I’ve asked again and again and again: Why is it so common for today’s Nazis and Klan members to identify politically with the GOP and vice versa? Republicans never pass on an opportunity to pull out their historical Cliff Notes and point out that Democrats approved of slavery and started the KKK, but they’re the ones fighting to preserve Confederate memorabilia, constantly having to explain their connections to KKK photos and having to distance themselves from fellow Republicans who have defended both slavery and the Ku Klux Klan.
Why can’t Republicans stop neo-Nazis from marching on their behalf? Why do arrested white supremacists keep turning out to be Trump supporters? Why can’t the GOP seem to escape their ever-present neo-Nazi problem?
On Tuesday, North Carolina’s State Board of Elections voted unanimously to keep a Republican candidate for the state House on the ballot despite some local Republicans wanting him gone because he’s a felon who allegedly has ties to a neo-Nazi group. (I’ll give you one guess which of those things the GOP takes the larger issue with.)
From NC Newsline:
Joseph Gibson III is running in a House district in Rockingham County against incumbent Reece Pyrtle Jr.
Gibson is an ex-felon, and according to the Anti-Defamation League, has connections to neo-Nazis. The ADL reported after Gibson lost a 2022 primary against Pyrtle on Gibson’s posting white supremacist content and simulcasting his podcast on the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement Network. Gibson used his podcast to chat with National Socialist Movement members and supporters and to promote an NSM rally, the ADL report says.
Rockingham Republicans tried to have Gibson removed from the ballot based on his Connecticut felony convictions and what they said was a lack of proof that he is not still on probation or parole. Ex-felons who are on probation or parole cannot vote in North Carolina.
N.C.’s Boards of Election held four separate hearings on Gibson’s eligibility. Two were held by the state board, and the other two were held by the Rockingham County Board of Elections, which voted unanimously to disqualify Gibson on Jan. 3. Last week, the Rockingham board changed its tune and voted 3-2 to keep him on the ballot. So, now, it appears Republicans in Rockingham County are stuck with their little white nationalist problem.
Of course, Gibson—who was incarcerated in the 1990s and from October 2001 to April 2004—denies his ties to NNSM, but that should be a hard sell considering the ADL provided several screenshots of his social media posts promoting the group. And, apparently, that’s not all his online activity shows.
From VICE:
He appears to have deleted the most explicit neo-Nazi posts that were screenshotted and published by the ADL two years ago. But plenty others remain pointing to his white supremacist and neo-Nazi beliefs.
In one post from 2021, he uses a racial slur against Black people in a tirade against an interracial family. In several comments, he agrees with posts by a man who identifies himself as a former member of KKK, NSM, and a now-defunct “supreme white alliance.” Gibson also shared a link to NSM’s manifesto, and in one post from 2022, complained about an alleged incident where he says an “angry evil jew attacks white protesters.” He also shared a white supremacist propaganda video called “Aryan: Our Purpose.”
He’s a neo-Nazi and an anti-Black racist too, huh? I mean, the GOP sure can pick ’em, can’t they?
SEE ALSO:
Trump Apologist Katrina Pierson, Who Called Slavery ‘Good’ History, Is Running For Office In Texas
