'A white nationalist problem': Washington State GOP gave money to an infamous 'pro-Nazi blogger'

12 October 2022

Few political strategists would disagree that Washington is a deep blue state. Seattle is known for being a bastion of liberal and progressive politics, President Joe Biden carried Washington State by 19 percent in 2020, and the last Republican to win Washington in a presidential election was Ronald Reagan in 1984. Yet Washington State has its pockets of far-right extremism. And Greyson Arnold, a White nationalist blogger and Nazi sympathizer, has, according to Daily Beast reporter Zachary Petrizzo, received money from the Washington State Republican Party.

“It’s no secret that Washington State has a White nationalist problem,” Petrizzo writes in an article published by the Beast on October 12. “Among the rugged mountains and towering pines are neo-Nazi groups and one of the largest chapters of a violent White supremacist organization. But there’s one group that has been increasingly and alarmingly connected to these extremists: Washington State’s GOP. The latest example is…. pro-Nazi blogger Greyson Arnold’s affiliation with the state party. According to Federal Election Commission records reviewed by The Daily Beast, the Washington State GOP paid Arnold $821.87 on July 15 for ‘payroll.’”

Arnold, Petrizzo notes, “runs the far-right Telegram account Pure Politics, which traffics in January 6 conspiracy theories, praise of controversial lawmakers, and anti-COVID-containment sentiments.” Pure Politics, according to Petrizzo, has “more than 12,000 followers who frequently comment with racist and anti-Semitic language” — and Arnold himself has “posted praise for Nazi Germany” and “advocated shooting refugees (and) killing undocumented immigrants.”

Petrizzo reports that Ben Gonzalez, communications director for the Washington State Republican Party, “didn’t deny Arnold’s employment but claimed his tenure was short-lived.”

“Still, Arnold’s ties to Washington’s Republican Party extend beyond a one-time payment,” Petrizzo notes. “As the Associated Press reported in April, Joe Kent — the GOP congressional candidate who beat Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler in a Republican primary earlier this year — was photographed alongside Arnold, a move praised by his followers as they work to gain traction with GOP political figures. Arnold has strong ties to infamous white nationalist Nicholas Fuentes, who leads a group of college-aged, far-right activists that refer to themselves as ‘Groypers’ — a rebranding of the racist alt-right movement.”

Petrizzo notes that CNN’s KFile, in late September, “unearthed” a recording of Arnold interviewing Kent.

“This isn't the first time the Kent campaign has found itself in hot water over White nationalism,” Petrizzo reports. “Back in March 2022, after Fuentes endorsed Kent, the campaign had to denounce the alt-right leader’s glowing praise. Subsequently, a 2021 tweet from Kent surfaced showing the candidate was previously aware of that particular White nationalist leader.”

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