Washington, DC – Tomorrow morning, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a full committee hearing, “Examining the ‘Metastasizing’ Domestic Terrorism Threat After the Buffalo Attack.” Below are key resources and key reminders about the intersection of nativist anti-immigrant conspiracies and the killings in Buffalo, as well as earlier instances of white nationalist terrorism in places such as Charlottesville, El Paso and Pittsburgh.
In April, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas noted at a House hearing that, “domestic violent extremism poses the greatest terrorism related threat to our homeland.” Yet despite white “replacement” and “invasion” conspiracies motivating past extremist killings in Charlottesville, El Paso and Pittsburgh, Republicans and right wing media were busy mainstreaming these vile ideas like never before:
- The America’s Voice ad tracking project has identified more than 100 different Republican ads over the past year that employed “invasion” language and more than 70 different ads that employed both anti-immigrant themes and fears about election integrity.
- Since the start of 2022, there have been 236 tweets that employed the “invasion” theme by top Republicans.
After the Buffalo massacre occurred, with a gunman whose diatribe again closely hewed to the same white nationalist conspiracies promoted by the GOP and right wing media, the Republican position has not wavered. Instead of a chastened response or change in direction, numerous GOP and right wing figures instead doubled down on these tropes, while Republican leaders stayed silent and refused to denounce the conspiracy theories touted by the Buffalo gunman or hold accountable their Republican colleagues who have helped mainstream and defend the lies.
Meanwhile, Senate Republicans voted in unison against legislation to combat domestic terrorism. Meanwhile, 33 House Republicans signed a letter to the White House, not a week after the tragedy pushing employing the “invasion” rhetoric. Candidates and aligned PACs are still employing the same rhetoric around “invasions” and “replacing” voters in there Facebook ads, for example:
- Rep. Lance Gooden (TX-05) in a Facebook ad on May 26 about Title 42 calling to “stop the invasion”
- Rep. Troy Nehls (TX-22) ran a Facebook ad on May 19 promoting a his letter to the White House writing “STOP THE INVASION”
- Republican candidate for Georgia 10th US Congressional, Mike Collins, ran an ad on May 18 that warned of an “immigration invasion”
Beyond these instances of horrific killings, the “invasion” and ‘replacement’ conspiracies are also central to the worldview of some of the insurrectionists behind January 6th. For example, Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the far-right paramilitary Oath Keepers, warned of migrant “invasion” in 2018, stating: “That’s the endgame for the Democratic Party, it’s what they want, which is to bring in more voters that they think will vote Democrat. That’s the whole point. And so we have to stop that. It’s an existential threat to the survival of our nation.”
The following is a statement from Zachary Mueller, America’s Voice Political Director:
Only two Republicans in Congress have condemned and rejected white replacement ideology. At the hearing, Republican Senators can set the record straight with an opportunity to denounce and reject the racist lies of the ‘white replacement’ and ‘invasion’ conspiracy theories. They should publicly acknowledge the role their party has played legitimizing and amplifying these deadly fictions and commit to rooting out these racist and anti-democratic ideas – and their promoters – in the Republican Party from its top leadership to media allies to rank-and-file voters.
Sadly, we are not holding our breaths for the leading members of the Republican party to suddenly change course. But we must be clear-eyed about what is at stake here. By refusing to denounce or hold to account those in their midst who amplify racist lies that have led to mass murder in multiple American cities in recent years, the Republican Party’s leadership is complicit and actively working in opposition to the health of our democracy and the safety of the American people.
