Republican warns GOP to 'take on' its young racists before it’s too late

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - August 12, 2017: Members of a white supremacist group at a white nationalist rally that turned violent resulting in one death and multiple injuries.

The flagrant racism bubbling out of the younger contingent of the Republican Party in the last few weeks is sending party leaders into a panic. But it’s becoming clear that not only are the kids not alright, they’re beginning to take control.

Vice President J.D. Vance tried to downplay the prevalence of antisemitism in the young conservative movement, but the Dispatch reports that other Republicans at the national level “have raised alarm over the rise of antisemitism in their ranks, particularly among younger people.”

“At a symposium last week co-hosted by the Republican Jewish Coalition and National Review, Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas castigated influencers who trafficked in antisemitism, but he also downplayed their power, noting the strong pro-Israel line the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress have taken,” the Dispatch reports.

“They are not influential,” Cotton insisted in his speech. “They are at least not influential with Donald Trump, who continues to reject their kooky advice. They’re not influential with Republicans in the Senate, who continue to reject their kooky advice. And if you look at public opinion polls, they’re least influential of all with normal voting Republicans all across the country.”

But the Dispatch reports that concern is brewing among party leaders that hate-curious younger members “will soon or already make up the staff in Republican offices and campaigns,” and they’re already voting for “GOP candidates [who] have fallen under their spell.”

Sen. Ted Cruz has been the loudest Republican voice warning about the threat of antisemitism among young people on the right, and he has called on the party to stem the tide before it hijacks the party.

“Speak out. Take on directly the lies that are being pushed by the other side,” Cruz told The Dispatch when asked what GOP elected officials can do to combat antisemitism among young Republicans. “There is an organized and well-funded effort that is pushing this garbage, and the Democrats allowed it to destroy their own party. I don’t want to see the Republican Party go the same way.”

Recent news suggests, however, that pushing back against racism in the younger generation of Republicans is no easy task.

Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate James Fishback, who is gaining in popularity among young Republicans, fully opposes U.S. taxpayers funding Israeli wars — which Republican leaders compare to antisemitism.

“[T]he crowds of young people at his campaign events indicate they are gravitating to him,” reports Dispatch. “… Fishback’s popularity among Florida’s youth stems in large part from his focus on affordability, an issue that plays to the economic anxieties of Gen Z voters. More recently, the political newcomer has also criticized the United States’ ‘reckless’ war with Iran.”

And the racism goes much further than antisemitism. A local affiliate of the Florida Republican Party is already begging the state party for permission to eject a secretary that created a racist group chat named “Nazi Heaven.”

“’Total N—— Death!’ wrote Dariel Gonzalez, a former board member of Florida International University’s College Republicans,” in a group chat created for conservative students last fall, according to Miami New Times.

Miami-Dade County GOP secretary Abel Alexander Carvajal started the chat, but within a month it was choked with racist slurs. WhatsApp conversations leaked to the Miami Herald revealed participants using variations of the n-word more than 400 times, regularly describing women as ‘whores,’ and using slurs to discuss Jewish and gay people.

Other participants included some of the campus’ top conservative leaders: the county GOP secretary, Florida International University’s Turning Point USA chapter President Ian Valdes and the former College Republicans recruitment chair.

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