Republican National Committee to Vote on Resolution Condemning ‘Infiltration’ of Antisemitism in Party

The Republican National Committee (RNC) on Friday will consider a draft resolution declaring that antisemites are attempting to “infiltrate” the Republican Party. The resolution specifically names and condemns Kanye West and the antisemitic alt-right figure Nick Fuentes who has used the “analogy” of “baked cookies” to dispute the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust

“The scourge of antisemitism, anti-Israel hatred, Holocaust-denial, and bigotry against the Jewish people is growing, represents a direct threat to all people, and is antithetical to our American principles, the U.S. Constitution, and the platform of the Republican Party,” the text reads. 

Shawn Steel, the RNC member from California who proposed the resolution, told The Algemeiner that he had noticed the growing appeal of antisemitic and bigoted figures on the fringes of the GOP in recent years.

“I’m disturbed by blatant bigotry,” Steel said. “I noticed Nick Fuentes, whom I had never heard of, from what he’s stated publicly he’s a very bad character, clearly antisemitic, white bigot, the usual stuff. But what bothered me is that in a couple of College Republican groups, there’s a couple of guys that seemed to think he was a cool dude, and I found that very, very alarming.”

Steel said that while those elements were admonished for their association with Fuentes, the rising star of Kanye West among conservatives before West’s recent antisemitic rants prompted him to act. “It’s not like it’s a one-off, it’s a slow drip, and it keeps dripping,” he said.

Steel says that the RNC resolution has more than 50 co-signers, and that he expects that it will be adopted with near unanimity and no amendments after it proceeds through the RNC rules committee on Thursday. The final vote to adopt the resolution will be held on Friday.

While the resolution does not mention former President Donald Trump by name, it comes after Trump’s Thanksgiving-week dinner at Mar-a-Lago with West, Fuentes, and alt-right provocateur Milo Yianopolis, all three of whom are denounced by name in the draft text. Trump’s meeting was condemned by the Republican Jewish Coalition and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on the right, as well as President Biden and Congressional Democrats from the left.

Trump said that he and West “got along great” at the dinner, and that he didn’t know Yiannopoulos or Fuentes. “We got along great, [West] expressed no anti-Semitism, & I appreciated all of the nice things he said about me on ‘Tucker Carlson.’ Why wouldn’t I agree to meet?” Trump said of the meeting on his Truth Social platform.

Fuentes, who is associated with West’s efforts to run for the Presidency in 2024, was re-instated on Twitter on Tuesday before being banned once again on Wednesday. During his brief return, Fuentes posted a video depicting “Defcon 3”, a reference to West saying that he wanted to go “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE” before his own twitter ban, as well as other antisemitic content.

The RNC resolution also condemns rising antisemitism and opposition to Israel on the left, including from Squad members Cori Bush (D-MO), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), and Ilhan Omar (D-MN).

Tlaib on Wednesday once again accused Israel of being an apartheid state, writing on twitter that “Palestinians may be banned from flying their flag under an apartheid government, but we can still proudly do it at my office.”

Follow Algemeiner Washington Correspondent Andrew Bernard on Twitter @AndrewJBernie