Texas GOP Chair Defends Political Violence, Promotes Antisemitic Conspiracy Theory

On October 30, 2020, Texas Trump supporters participating in a MAGA caravan, or “Trump Train,” surrounded a Biden campaign bus and, according to the former Vice President, attempted to run the bus off the road.

In response to questions from the Texas Tribune about this display of violence and aggression, Allen West, the State Chair of the Texas Republican Party, (and former U.S. Congressman from Florida), gave an incendiary statement that included blatant lies and antisemitic tropes:

“Three Trump supporters have been executed, one in Portland, one in Denver, and one [in] Milwaukee. A leftist mob attempted to storm the house of the McCloskeys, threatened to burn their house down, rape Mrs. McCloskey, and then kill them both.

Where is the liberal corporate media’s concern about that real violence? Additionally, none of what your question implies is accurate. It is more fake news and propaganda.

Prepare to lose…stop bothering me. Maybe Soros can cut y’all another check in 2022.”

West’s claim that Black Lives Matter activists — who he characterization as a “leftist mob” — attempted to raid the McCloskey’s house, “burn their house down, rape Mrs. McCloskey, and then kill them both” was a complete fabrication. The McCloskeys themselves were indicted for their acts of aggression against the civil rights marchers who passed by their home. West’s claim that the activists attempted to rape Patricia McCloseky was not only a lie; it was a continuation of centuries of falsely accusing Black men of rape or attempted rape of white women in an effort to engage in or justify racist violence. West himself is Black, but this has not prevented him in trafficking in anti-Black racism.

In the final line of his statement, West referenced an ugly antisemitic conspiracy theory about George Soros and alleged Jewish control of the media. By suggesting that Soros has been paying the Tribune for electoral gain, West promoted the antisemitic idea that Jews own the media, and that Jews exert economic power over political events.