“I’ve been a senator since ’72. I’ve served with real racists. I’ve served with Strom Thurmond. But guess what? These guys are worse. These guys do not believe in basic democratic principles.”
— President Biden, quoted by Axios, on Republicans in Congress.
In a series of interviews and public appearances spanning nearly two years, Jim Marchant, a Republican candidate for the Senate seat in Nevada, has frequently invoked antisemitic tropes claiming that “evil people” including the “Khazarians,” “the cabal,” “globalists” and “central bankers” have controlled the government and conspired to oppress the American people and the world for centuries, Jewish Insider reports.
New York Times: “The racist discourse by Republican members of Congress, both in casual comments and in official statements, has become so commonplace that it now often slips by without any real condemnation from the GOP. Democrats frequently call for apologies but no longer expect any response, and those futile denunciations quickly disappear into a morass of polarized content on social media.”
“The pattern is playing out as the Republican Party once again coalesces behind former President Donald Trump, who routinely made bigoted statements during his first campaign for the White House and his presidency. His approach has encouraged some Republicans to freely use rhetoric that denigrates people based on ethnicity, religion or nationality.”
You're reading the free version of Political Wire
Upgrade to a paid membership to unlock full access. The process is quick and easy. You can even use Apple Pay.
“Michigan state Rep. Josh Schriver (R) lost his staff and his spot on a legislative committee as punishment for sharing a social media post amplifying a racist conspiracy theory,” the Detroit Free Press reports.
“House Republicans are critical of diversity and inclusion programs within the federal government and elsewhere, but they see recruiting women and minority candidates, along with veterans, as key to expanding their slim majority in November,” the AP reports.
Rep. Jerry Carl (R-AL) said that “everyone has some racist in them,” pushing back on GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley’s assertion that the United States has never been a racist country, NBC News reports.
Said Carl: “I used to work a lot with ministers, and I had some very private conversations. Everyone has some type of racist in them.”
He added: “My mother, who after Pearl Harbor — she couldn’t stand the Japanese. She couldn’t stand them. And it used to just eat her from the inside out. So it’s there.”
Washington Post: “The Republican Party’s three leading presidential candidates are speaking about history and race in polarizing and provocative ways that sometimes diverge from or distort the facts, some political strategists, experts and civil rights leaders said. Their comments have stoked outrage among many Americans and risk alienating wide swaths of voters, including the independent and moderate voters whom Haley has been courting, according to strategists in both parties.”
“But their rhetoric is also appealing to many Americans who lean conservative, interviews with voters in Iowa and New Hampshire show, including some who reject the accusations that the statements are racially insensitive or worse. Many in the GOP are resentful of liberal leaders who they see as constantly pointing out or forcing the country to apologize for past atrocities, and some are angry about demographic and cultural shifts in America driven in part by immigration.”
“Donald Trump is getting headlines for saying immigrants are ‘poisoning the blood of our country.’ But for months the GOP race for president has been shadowed by xenophobia, as some candidates or those backing them have embraced racist and white nationalist themes,” Axios reports.
“It’s partly a reflection of how Trump has moved Republican politics toward the harder-edged, ‘us vs. them’ view that now dominates the GOP’s base and is reshaping its membership in Congress.”
“It’s not just Trump. Even as the GOP has recruited more minority prospects for public office — this year’s initial field for the presidential race was historically diverse — more Republicans are latching onto Trump’s racially divisive rhetoric.”
The White House on Friday lashed out at Elon Musk for promoting “Antisemitic and racist hate” after the Tesla CEO and X Corp. owner said he agreed with a social media post accusing “Jewish communities” of pushing “hatred against whites,” CNBC reports.
Jonathan Chait: “It is certainly true that there is antisemitism on the left, frequently presenting itself as criticism of Israel. (The usual trick is to make an antisemitic statement and replace ‘Jews’ with ‘Zionists.’) But it is overwhelmingly directed in opposition to the Democratic party.”
“The most antisemitic activists on the right tend to be pro-Trump, which is why the ranks of J6ers were overrepresenting with white nationalists. The most antisemitic activists of the left despise Joe Biden and generally oppose the Democratic Party.”
Agreeing with an antisemitic post on his social media platform X, Elon Musk endorsed the claim that Jewish communities push “hatred against Whites,” CNN reports.
FBI Director Christopher Wray warned that antisemitism in the United States is reaching “historic levels” in the wake of violence in Israel and Gaza, the BBC reports.
Said Wray: “The Jewish community is targeted by terrorists really across the spectrum.”
He added: “This is not a time for panic, but it is a time for vigilance. We shouldn’t stop conducting our daily lives — going to schools, houses of worship, and so forth — but we should be vigilant.”
“The white gunman who killed three Black people at a Dollar General store in Jacksonville, Florida, over the weekend wore a Rhodesian army patch on his tactical vest, law enforcement sources say, a reference that has been used before during white supremacist attacks,” NBC News reports.
“The patch — representing Rhodesia, a former white minority-ruled territory in southern Africa in the 1960s and ’70s that would become Zimbabwe — is yet another symbol of how the shooter, Ryan Palmeter, was racist and was influenced by racist ideology, investigators say.”
“I’ve probably been called the N word more times in the last two-and-a-half years than most — a hundred people combined.”
— Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, quoted by WSB-TV.
“Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), facing a barrage of criticism over a Monday night television interview in which he refused to say white nationalists are racists, relented Tuesday afternoon, acknowledging to reporters on Capitol Hill that they in fact are,” the Washington Post reports.
Said Tuberville: “White nationalists are racists.”
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) on Tuesday told ABC News that white nationalists shouldn’t all be labeled as “racist” while also insisting he opposes racism — tripling-down on controversial comments that have drawn criticism from Democratic leaders and head-scratching from some of Tuberville’s Republican colleagues.
The Messenger reports Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) condemned white nationalism when asked about Tuberville’s comments: “White supremacy is simply unacceptable in the military and in our whole our country.”
“I’m not sure exactly what he was trying to say there. But I would just say there’s no place for white nationalism in our party.”
— Sen. John Thune (R-SD), quoted by Punchbowl News, responding to Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s (R-AL) refusal to admit white nationalism was racist.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) was interviewed by Kaitlin Collins on CNN:
TUBERVILLE: My opinion of a white nationalist… it’s an American. If that white nationalist is a racist, I’m totally against them.
COLLINS: White nationalist is racist.
TUBERVILLE: That’s your opinion.
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
“There are a lot of blogs and news sites claiming to understand politics, but only a few actually do. Political Wire is one of them.”
— Chuck Todd, host of “Meet the Press”
“Concise. Relevant. To the point. Political Wire is the first site I check when I’m looking for the latest political nugget. That pretty much says it all.”
— Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the Rothenberg Political Report
“Political Wire is one of only four or five sites that I check every day and sometimes several times a day, for the latest political news and developments.”
— Charlie Cook, editor of the Cook Political Report
“The big news, delicious tidbits, pearls of wisdom — nicely packaged, constantly updated… What political junkie could ask for more?”
— Larry Sabato, Center for Politics, University of Virginia
“Political Wire is a great, great site.”
— Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”
“Taegan Goddard has a knack for digging out political gems that too often get passed over by the mainstream press, and for delivering the latest electoral developments in a sharp, no frills style that makes his Political Wire an addictive blog habit you don’t want to kick.”
— Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post
“Political Wire is one of the absolute must-read sites in the blogosphere.”
— Glenn Reynolds, founder of Instapundit
“I rely on Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire for straight, fair political news, he gets right to the point. It’s an eagerly anticipated part of my news reading.”
— Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist.