Rep. Matt Gaetz Promotes Antisemitic Conspiracy Theory to Smear Black Lives Matter

On episode 35 of his podcast, Hot Takes with Matt Gaetz, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) stated: “Black Lives Matter is not about police, it’s not about race, it’s not about justice. It’s about making us hate America so we can replace America. Because as long as we love her, we will not allow someone to replace her.” He later shared a meme amplifying this quote:

This was not the first time a right-wing figure has fear-mongered about a progressive movement or minority group trying to “replace” America. On August 11, 2017, white supremacists and neo-Nazis marched in Charlottesville, Virginia chanting, “You will not replace us!” and “Jews will not replace us!”

The following day, they gathered again for Unite the Right — a violent protest against efforts to tear down confederate monuments. Armed and planning to engage in acts of violence, they beat counter-protestors. The violence peaked when one of the white supremacists drove his car into a crowd of counter-protestors, injuring dozens and killing one, a woman named Heather Heyer.

The conspiracy that Jews are orchestrating the “replacement” of white America is widespread among white supremacists and is known as Replacement Theory. The idea is simple: Non-white people are coming into the United States to literally replace existing white populations, causing "white genocide.” The supposed masterminds behind this imagined conspiracy are, of course, Jews.

White supremacist group, Identity Evropa, posing with a “You Will Not Replace Us” banner.

Proponents of Replacement Theory have seized upon ongoing Black-led efforts to take down Confederate Monuments to extend Replacement Theory, presenting the removal of statues honoring historical figures who enslaved Black people as a campaign to “replace” American history.

Although this was perhaps Matt Gaetz’s most explicit promotion of Replacement Theory, it was not his first time popularizing the conspiracy. In 2018, Gaetz posted a video on Twitter of someone supposedly handing cash to immigrants. In his tweet, Gaetz stated that immigrants were being paid to “storm the US border @ election time” and posited that Jewish billionaire George Soros or American non-profits were behind the manufactured scheme. 10 days later, a white supremacist walked into the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, PA, and murdered eleven people in the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history. In his manifesto, the shooter cited Replacement Theory, writing that he targeted this specific synagogue because of its work with HIAS (a Jewish organization that provides humanitarian aid to asylum-seekers). Multiple other white supremacists shooters have cited Replacement Theory in their deadly manifestos as well.