"Kanye. Elon. Trump." Hate Speech is Protected Speech for Republican Extremists
"Kanye. Elon. Trump." Hate Speech is Protected Speech for Republican Extremists
Antisemitism is tied to designs to take down American democracy
"I love Jewish people, but I also love Nazis," said Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, to Alex Jones during a Dec. 1 interview on Jones' show. “I see good things about Hitler,” declared Ye, who blamed “Jewish media” for giving the Führer a bad reputation. This is a sentiment that Jones’ fellow guest, neo-Nazi and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes, undoubtedly shares.
A week earlier, a dinner Fuentes and Trump had with former president Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago sparked outrage among Republicans who now see Trump as a liability to the party and want to distance themselves from him. The Republican Jewish Coalition denounced “the disgusting triumvirate of conspiracy theorists, Holocaust deniers, and antisemites,” and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy called Ye’s remarks “unbelievable.”
No one should be fooled by these Republican protestations. Hate speech, including Holocaust denial, has always been protected speech in the Trump-era GOP, and its point is to create a space for authoritarian political action.