Matt Gaetz blasted after standing up for anti-LGBTQ hate group and promoting a 'fascist sympathizer'

U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) on Thursday stood up for the Family Research Council, a hate group that has spent nearly 40 years spreading dangerous lies about LGBTQ people under the cloak of "religious freedom." He also attacked the Southern Poverty Law Center, a decades-old institution that tracks and reports on the more than 800 current hate groups of all kinds across the U.S.
It did not turn out well for the Florida Congressman, as some rushed to remind Gaetz, a top Trump MAGA sympathizer, of his own associations with the far right.
Gaetz tweeted out an article from the conspiracy theory website Gateway Pundit, whose owner was regularly labeled the stupidest man on the Internet. The article, by Cassandra Fairbanks, paints Gaetz in a very favorable light to his far right supporters. Fairbanks previously worked for Sputnik, the Russian government state media site.
The Southern Poverty Law Center is a hate group. The @splcenter's designation of @FRCdc as a "hate group" caused a… https://t.co/QiJ5oaTm1j— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@Rep. Matt Gaetz) 1616693100
The SPLC is not a hate group.
Fairbanks, according to domestic extremism expert Jared Holt, is a "self-professed fascist sympathizer."
Journalist Christopher Mathias offered up a similar characterization:
Hardly a week goes by without a GOP congressman promoting/citing the propaganda of fascists. This time, it's Gaet… https://t.co/S6pvvRhI0f— Christopher Mathias (@Christopher Mathias) 1616701049
Gaetz also suggested MAGA is not a dangerous extremist group:
How long until MAGA hats are considered an "extremist symbol?" How long until Christian or pro-life groups are "to… https://t.co/igtqPlLpTr— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@Rep. Matt Gaetz) 1616697480
Here's how some are responding to Congressman Gaetz's attack.
Journalist Daniel Moritz-Rabson posted a graphic of Fairbanks appearing on VDARE with its founder. VDARE is a white nationalist hate group, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
oops pic.twitter.com/R17NOTDOug
— Daniel Moritz-Rabson (@DMoritzRabson) March 25, 2021
Journalist Sam Youngman notes Rep. Gaetz took Holocaust denier Chuck/Charles Johnson to the State of the Union Address and appears to continue to support Trump's attempt to overturn the election:
This person took a Holocaust denier to the State of the Union and voted against honoring the police who fought off… https://t.co/nYQj0c0PJs— Sam Youngman (@Sam Youngman) 1616701347
This Twitter user offered up the details:
This you? https://t.co/CxFWz3WEpU https://t.co/6MI2azkYDl https://t.co/HhpGwF0YPr— Bizarrobrain (@Bizarrobrain) 1616700819
White supremacist tracker:
Retired journalist:
Family Research Council: -"homosexual conduct is objectively harmful" -"people can stop being LGBTQ through conve… https://t.co/JMitDo7lYV— Jon Humbert (@Jon Humbert) 1616703576
More:
Bullshit, Matt. There is an active on-going racist insurrection underway and you are part of it. It's un-American a… https://t.co/5shBxeIukD— Curley (@Curley) 1616693335
This is the classic Goebbels technique of accusing your enemies of what you, in fact, are guilty of. https://t.co/SPiJhsPdTO— Matthew Spira (@Matthew Spira) 1616707549
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