Texas GOP Chair Defiant About Links To Neo-Nazis

The Texas Tribune reports:

Faced with ongoing scandals this month involving his allies’ ties to antisemitic extremists, the leader of the Republican Party of Texas has come out strongly — to attack other conservatives who’ve criticized his friends. For three weeks, Texas GOP Chair Matt Rinaldi has been defiant in the face of calls from members of his own party to cut ties with Defend Texas Liberty leader Jonathan Stickland, who recently hosted avowed white supremacist Nick Fuentes at his office for nearly seven hours.

Separately, Rinaldi is at the center of a parallel controversy involving a group for young conservatives that he recently embraced despite warnings about its leaders’ openly antisemitic views and ties to white nationalist figures. The Texas Tribune spotted Rinaldi earlier this month at the office building where Fuentes, an Adolf Hitler admirer who has called for a “holy war” against Jews and encouraged his followers to beat women, was being hosted by Stickland.

Read the full article. Rinaldi last appeared here when he ridiculed Texans complaining about long lines to vote, saying, “If you can wait in line for a COVID test, you can wait in line to vote.” In 2017, he allegedly threatened to shoot a Democratic legislator during a floor brawl about about an anti-immigration bill. Months later, he was unseated by a Democrat.

Faced with ongoing scandals involving his close allies’ ties to white supremacists, Texas GOP Chair Matt Rinaldi has been called on to distance himself and the party from antisemitic white nationalists. https://t.co/IZOgBspoA4

— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) October 27, 2023