Hunter Bonner
One of the hallmarks of being a Republican, and really being a normal human being, is that when you see something wrong, you address it. There is something wrong inside of the Republican Party of Texas. That problem is, we have allowed the specter of antisemitism to creep into our party ranks.
If you are not aware of what I am referencing, let me tell you of two recent events.
At the September SREC (State Republican Executive Committee) meeting, “The Young Republicans of Texas” submitted an application to be an official partner with the state party. Prior to voting on this, Chairman Matt Rinaldi, as well as members of the SREC, were presented with irrefutable evidence that a number of the members of this organization expressed antisemitic views on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter). The secretary of this newly formed club expressed his desire to see Israel wiped off the map.
In fact, Chairman Rinaldi personally took an interest in seeing this group and pushed for approval despite this evidence. It was reported that retribution would come to anyone that objected to their application.
The SREC voted overwhelmingly to allow this club to partner with it. Note: Our SREC reps both voted no.
Next, in early October when Defend Texas Liberty PAC, run by former State House Rep Johnathan Stickland, met with Nick Fuentes for nearly 7 hours at their offices. Nick Fuentes is a nationally known antisemite and Nazi sympathizer, who has stated, “Hitler was a cool guy”, and has openly stated on a number of occasions that Jews are the source of America’s problems.
Defend Texas Liberty PAC contributes heavily to Republican candidates, and to the Texas GOP. With individual donations at their lowest levels, Defend Texas Liberty PAC is literally keeping the lights on. This organization unsuccessfully offered several explanations that were all soundly refuted based on the timeline of events. Since then, they have been silent.
When journalists and other grassroots voters like myself, started reaching out to SREC members to question these relationships, the state party responded by removing all email addresses for SREC members from their website. Those email addresses had been posted since the late 90s. While “security concerns” was the reason given, county chair emails were not removed. The timing is noticeably suspicious.
After these events, a number of SREC members drafted a letter condemning antisemitism and demanded that the party not receive any funding from any organization that is led by Stickland. Stickland runs a number of PACs under the business “Pale Horse Strategies”. Strangely enough, there are a number of SREC members that have refused to sign, and some that had signed it, requested their names be removed.
As a Jewish Republican, I find the chain of events disturbing to say the least. Antisemitism runs counter to the Texas GOP platform.
Why would party leadership vote to associate with an organization of “Young Republicans” that express antisemitic views? Why would the state party leadership accept money from a PAC that met with an infamous antisemite?
In all my years, I never envisioned that the words “antisemitism” and “Republican” would be mentioned in a sentence together. Yet, here we are.
When SREC members, State Party Chairman, and local county parties cannot bring themselves to openly condemn and separate themselves from antisemitism, this only comes across one way. Silence equals tacit approval.
It is time to clean house.
From the local party level all the way up to chairman, new leadership needs to be elected. Part of that takes place during precinct and county convention. It is there that delegates to the state convention are elected, and then those delegates vote on policy and platforms for our party. This will take place in the Spring of 2024 after the Primary Election.
If antisemitism is something that you as a Republican voter do not subscribe to, then it is time to get involved. This is an open call for you to contact the Marion County GOP Chair Scott Stebbins, and your precinct chairs, and ask them what they are doing to combat antisemitism that has crept into our ranks.
As I have stated all year, you can no longer sit on the sidelines and let someone else do the work. You need to get in the game. The very soul of our party is now at stake.
Hunter Bonner is a grassroots Republican activist and local leader in the Jewish community in Marion County. He can be reached at hunterbonner@outlook.com or on X via the handle @HunterBonner. His views are his own.