There is no element of antisemitism within the Republican Party, Republican National Convention Chair Michael Whatley said to reporters Wednesday night outside of the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual summit in Las Vegas.
Whatley’s comments come as right-wing pundit Tucker Carlson is going viral for using the latest episode of his online talk show to interview a self-proclaimed “historian” who promoted falsehoods about the Holocaust.
Trump has a documented relationship with Carlson.
In the interview, Darryl Cooper, author of a Substack with around 112,000 subscribers, told Carlson that the Nazis were simply in over their heads.
“In 1941, they launched a war where they were completely unprepared to deal with the millions and millions of prisoners of war, of local political prisoners,” he said during the 138-minute conversation.
Cooper then suggested that the murder of millions in the camps was an unintended consequence of Hitler’s unpreparedness for war, contradicting the documented historical fact that it was the explicit goal of the Nazi regime’s Final Solution and carried out through a vast system of mass murder that included extermination camps, gas chambers, military units dedicated to mass executions, and firing squads.
RNC chair deflects questions
“If you want to talk about antisemitism, you need to go across the aisle. We stand by Israel. We stand with the Jewish people,” Whatley said.
Whatley then refused to answer any questions about North Carolina state legislature candidate Joseph Gibson who, the ADL has documented, has numerous ties to Nazi organizations, or any questions about Lt. Gov Mark Robinson, who has posted antisemitic tropes on social media.
Whatley, who served as the North Carolina Republican chair, has never publicly disavowed Gibson, even when Republicans in leadership positions tried to stop him from appearing on the ballot.
A North Carolina newspaper, The News & Observer, said it tried to reach Whatley three days earlier this year to get a response to Gibson’s running.
When The Jerusalem Post asked Whatley to disavow Gibson, Whatley said, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Whatley also did not condemn Trump for lambasting Jews who vote for Democrats.
“I think that what we see in this election cycle, it comes down to a question of strength versus weakness, and our ability to protect American interests at home and abroad, as well as the interests of our allies like Israel,” Whatley said in response to Trump telling Jewish Democratic voters to get their brains checked.
“There is no question that is why Donald Trump is winning on that issue in every single poll where they’re polling it as well as whether we’re going to have a strong economy, or a strong southern border."