Washington, DC— It was seven years ago that a mob of neo-Nazis and an assortment of bigots descended on Charlottesville, Virginia, chanting the replacement theory slogan “Jews will not replace us, you will not replace us.” Trump famously said of the rally that there were good people on both sides, and he has made clear on which side he and the GOP stand ever since. Seven years later, this white nationalist and antisemitic replacement conspiracy theory is now the centerpiece of the GOP’s campaign message. On this anniversary, the deadly conspiracy theory, linked to multiple mass shootings over recent years, will be amplified once again by two leaders in the effort to mainstream this once fringe, right-wing belief. Donald Trump and Elon Musk – will join together for a conversation to undoubtedly again amplify replacement conspiracy theory and the corollary that Musk has been especially aggressive in advancing, that immigrants are being imported as non-citizen Democratic voters.
According to Zachary Mueller, Research Director at America’s Voice:
“The normalization of the replacement theory continues to be an active threat to public safety and American democracy. Whether it is a coincidence or not, Trump’s choice to sit down with Elon Musk on the 7th anniversary of the white nationalist Charlottesville rally is a revealing one, following Musk’s role in amplifying the white nationalist riots in the United Kingdom and his consistent pattern of amplifying the replacement theory. It won’t be a conversation of substance but one that actively puts American working families at risk.
For his part, Trump has a demonstrated pattern of downplaying racist political violence while amplifying the bigoted conspiracy theories and dehumanizing rhetoric that courts political violence. America cannot afford to ignore his path to political violence. In a recent criminal trial, Donald Trump downplayed the deadly white nationalist rally in Charlottesville as ‘peanuts.’ Seven years earlier, he flung open the door of the GOP to the bigoted conspiracy theories spewed by those white nationalists. Over the last several years, Trump has helped usher in the white nationalist and antisemitic replacement theory as a central organizing principle for the Republican Party.
The Charlottesville anniversary provides a horrific reminder of the sort of downstream racist political violence that actively threatens American democracy from the dehumanizing conspiracies that Musk and Trump will continue to normalize this evening.”
Additional Resources
- America’s Voice blog: “X Marks the Spot of the Normalization of Bigoted Political Violence”
- “A Dangerous Assault on American Democracy” – Calling Out the Game and Implications of Right-Wing Disinformation About Non-Citizen Voting
- America’s Voice Fact Sheet: Six Facts About the Myth of Non-Citizen Voting
- AVES column from Maribel Hastings: “The GOP and the false problem of voting by non-citizens.”
