Republican Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona was the keynote speaker at a conference on Friday night in Orlando, Florida, where speakers spread white nationalist rhetoric, organizers complained about the US losing its “white demographic core” and some asked more engagement like the anger that led to the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
Gosar, who skipped Friday’s House votes – including the vote on the $ 1.9 trillion COVID-19 aid package – spoke on Friday night at America’s First Political Action Conference (AFPAC) , where he blamed former President Donald Trump for “big business, big technology and the swamp,” and pushed anti-immigration arguments into the crowd of “Groypers,” a coalition of young right-wing extremists led by organizer Nick Fuentes.
In the days leading up to the event and during the marketing of tickets online in part using his Twitter account, Fuentes joked that there would be a special guest, who ended up being Gosar. Other speakers on Friday night included former Iowa deputy Steve King, known for his long history of racist comments, and conservative commentator Michelle Malkin.
After speaking at the event, less than 12 hours later, Gosar was featured on a panel on Saturday morning at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) that was taking place simultaneously with AFPAC in the Orlando area. Speaking on a panel moderated by CPAC’s own Mercedes Schlapp, Gosar criticized the Biden government’s immigration policies.
At the beginning of the panel, Gosar – spontaneously and without mentioning Friday’s event or Fuentes by name – tried to distance himself from “racism”.
“I want to tell you, I report it when we talk about white racism. This is not appropriate. I believe in a strong immigration system, ”said Gosar.
Neither Gosar nor CPAC representatives responded to ABC News’ requests to comment on the Congressman’s speech at the AFPAC event.
On Friday night, Gosar’s lecture was followed by a speech by Fuentes full of white complaints and far-right anti-immigration rhetoric. “If [America] loses its white demographic core … so this is no longer America, “the AFPAC founder said to the crowd.
Fuentes went on to praise the attack on the Capitol, boasting that it led to a delay in certifying election results.
“While I was there in DC, outside the building, I saw hundreds of thousands of patriots surrounding the United States Capitol building and I saw the police retreating … I said to myself, ‘This is incredible'”, Fuentes said to the crowd’s applause.
And amid security concerns over threats to interrupt President Joe Biden’s expected speech at a joint Congressional session, Fuentes further encouraged the kind of commitment shown by the rowdies on January 6.
“To see that Capitol under siege, to see the people of this country rise up and mobilize for DC with the pitchforks and torches – we need a little more of that energy in the future,” he said.
Gosar, who was elected to Congress in 2011, has emerged as one of the far right Republicans in Washington. In January, The New York Times reported for the first time that one of the main members of an Oath Keepers chapter in Arizona, Jim Arroyo, posted a video on YouTube claiming that Gosar attended one of their meetings and supported the group’s pleas for a war in the country.
“We had a meeting a few years ago, at which our elected representative from Washington, Paul Gosar, introduced himself and asked him at the time: ‘Do you think we are going into a civil war?'” Said Arroyo. “And his response was simply, ‘We’re in it. We just haven’t started shooting each other yet.'” Gosar did not respond to the Times’ request for comment.
During the January 6 attack on the Capitol, Gosar posted a message on Twitter asking protesters to “not get carried away”. But on the right-wing Parler service, he shared a much nicer message, using the same photo of people climbing the Capitol walls and writing, “Americans are upset.”
Gosar’s appearance at Friday’s event will be another big test for a Republican Party that is being split between traditional conservatives and a growing radical extremist element as it seeks a way forward after the pro-Trump attack on the Capitol.
Earlier this month, the House passed a resolution that removed newly elected Republican MP Marjorie Taylor Greene from its designated committees due to a long history of pushing QAnon rhetoric and baseless conspiracy theories, including the Sandy Hook and Parkland shootings. “false flag” operations were staged. Green apologized to members of the House for his earlier comments before the vote.
And former President Trump delivered the first blow of his revenge trip against Republicans who voted for his impeachment, endorsing Max Miller, a former Trump adviser, in his main challenge against Congressman Anthony Gonzalez (R-Ohio), who was among the 10 House Republicans to vote for impeachment.
Trump’s name was a recurring theme at the Friday night event, with Fuentes also promising to reach Republicans who were not sufficiently loyal to the former president.
“He’s one of us,” Fuentes told the crowd.
Friday night’s AFPAC event marked one of the first big gatherings of far-right extremists since the January 6 uprising. The event was attended by at least two people, Fuentes and AFPAC spokesman Vincent James Foxx, who were present near the Capitol building during the siege.
Fuentes, who denied involvement in the Capitol invasion, was seen in videos and photos demonstrating outside the Capitol on January 6. In a video, Fuentes can be seen on a megaphone telling the crowd to “leave this Capitol until Donald Trump is sworn in.” Foxx, who on Friday night said, “We shouldn’t fear the idea of secession,” was photographed with Fuentes on January 6th. Neither was charged with connection to the riot.
Fuentes, who attended the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, has a long history of making racist and anti-Semitic comments. Since the Capitol uprising, a handful of America First followers have been arrested for their participation in the January 6 attack.
After spending parts of his speech Friday night celebrating the Capitol rebellion, Fuentes at one point tried to ignore his comments.
“I reject all violence. I reject all vandalism. I respect the government being sovereign over us,” he said – then he added: “Okay, well, I think this will hold up in court.”