Tim Dickinson
In the wake of Kanye West’s gruesome media tour gushing love for Hitler, denying the Holocaust and preaching naked anti-Semitism, many far-right GOP members are cleaning up their social media feeds of past praise for the rapper. A notable exception to this trend is Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) who retained his praise of the artist now known as you.
The Republican Party has few celebrities outside of kinky rockers like Ted Nugent, Kid Rock and Lee Greenwood, so it was no surprise GOP figures made headlines for Ye after pissing off Paris Fashion Week in early October. while wearing a “White Lives Matter” sweatshirt. , accompanied by MAGA troll Candace Owens.
That stunt, and Ye’s defense on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show, drew cheers from GOP Twitter accounts — including the account of GOP members of the House Judiciary Committee, controlled by Rep. Jim Jordan ( R. Ohio), who tweeted love for a trio of then-heroes: “Kanye. Elon. Asset.” Other far-right Republicans got in on the act, including Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Arizona), who tweeted“Pray for Kanye West. They’ll throw everything at him just for telling the truth.
Both of these tweets were deleted after Ye bragged about his love for Hitler on Alex Jones’ InfoWars, an appearance that came just days after he brought the Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes at dinner with former President Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
Boebert, however, left standing a tweet that aged like heavy cream in August. When MSNBC shared an opinion piece on Oct. 7 warning that Ye seemed determined to mark “a legacy as a racist hatemonger,” Boebert came to his defense. She called the reviews “pathetic” and praised Ye’s eloquence. “Since speaking out against the ‘unholy agenda’ the media is pushing,” Boebert wrote, “they are now retracting the old ‘hateful’ attack.”
The tweet followed a shoutout Boebert gave Ye the day of his interview with Carlson. The rapper’s fiery proclamations of Christian faith clearly struck a chord with the lawmaker, who wrote “amen” to Ye saying he only plays for God.
Boebert’s office didn’t immediately respond to questions about why she didn’t delete her praise for Ye, even as the entertainer – and supposed 2024 presidential candidate – has gone radioactive as a one of the country’s most prominent hate mongers. Boebert previously denounced Ye’s new sidekick – Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes – in a February interview with Policyinsisting: “I don’t support white supremacists, like Nick Fuentes, period.
Ye and the legislator seem to share an ideology of Christian nationalism. Boebert is known for insisting at a church service in Colorado in June that she was “tired of this separation of church and state.” waste“, specifying that” the Christian church is supposed to lead the government. The government is not supposed to run the church.
While Ye’s hateful comments toward Jews have rightly made headlines, he has also dropped sweeping statements about Jesus’ role in public life. In his interview this week with Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes — in which Ye called on Jews to “forgive Hitler” – the rapper also insisted that non-Christians should have no role in shaping American public life:
Boebert, normally extremely outspoken, has been exceptionally quiet from the mid-terms. Despite serving in what should have been a “safe” Republican district, Boebert found herself in one of the tightest elections of 2022, winning an unofficial victory by just a few hundred votes. While the Democrat, Adam Frisch, had conceded, the race has still not been called. It is currently undergo a state-mandated recount.
If the Boebert clarifies his position on Ye, or his tweets in his defense, this story will be updated.