E. Mansfield and C. Woodall, USA TODAY
Sun, May 29
Republican congressional candidate Joe Kent took to Twitter last summer to repeat a racist theme that has become commonplace in the country’s immigration debate and upcoming elections.
“The left is supporting an invasion of illegal immigrants to replace American voters and undercut working class jobs,” Kent wrote.
Then in the spring, in an interview with a white nationalist group, he nodded along as the host said Democrats don't care about the "Anglos" or "the founding stock of America."
“You believe they’re trying to replace white Americans?” the host asked.
“Yeah, and they’ll say, if you even mention that, you’re some sort of a neo-Nazi, white nationalist, ‘That’s the replacement theories.’ Well, no. You’re literally trying to replace an American,” Kent said
Kent is backed by former President Donald Trump.
Kent is not the only Republican to repeat the central themes of the racist and antisemitic Great Replacement theory.
All over the country, sitting members of Congress, candidates, state politicians and former officeholders have been doing the same, bringing a white supremacist conspiracy theory to the forefront.
They often try to distance themselves from the conspiracy theory’s antisemitic origins – a baseless belief that person are behind a systematic replacement of white people with immigrants and Black people – and instead say Democrats are trying to import nonwhite voters to take over American elections. They sometimes denounce racism and bigotry in general, but not replacement theory.
“If you turn yourself into a perceived victim, it justifies the horrible things that you do to them (immigrants)," said Nolan Cabrera, an education professor at the University of Arizona