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sebastian gorka
Trump Move to Bring White Nationalist Sebastian Gorka Back to White House Blasted as 'Sanctioning Discrimination'
"Trump and Gorka are spreading fear and division that leads to violence and harassment targeting Jews, Muslims, immigrants, Asian American Pacific Islanders, and all people of color."
Jul 16, 2020
Rights activists and anti-racism advocates decried news from the White House this week that President Donald Trump is appointing notorious white nationalist Sebastian Gorka to the National Security Education Board, calling the decision a "slap in the face" to Jewish Americans and other marginalized communities around the country.
"President Trump's decision to rehire Sebastian Gorka, who holds close ties to white nationalist and antisemitic groups, is yet another slap in the face to Jewish Americans," Bend the Arc: Jewish Action CEO Stosh Cotler said in a statement Wednesday responding to the appointment. "White nationalists and their allies should have no place in our government."
\u201cBREAKING: President Trump just announced he intends to appoint SEBASTIAN GORKA to be a member of the National Security Education Board.\n\nGorka has ties to the Vit\u00e9zi Rend, a far-right Hungarian group aligned with Nazis.\n\nHe is a bigot & a white nationalist. \n\nWe must #StopGorka.\u201d— Bend the Arc: Jewish Action (@Bend the Arc: Jewish Action) 1594758495
"Gorka's reappointment continues a pattern of shameful behavior by Trump and his allies of claiming to defend Jewish people from antisemitism while actively putting our lives in danger," Cotler added. "From enabling a growing white nationalist movement, to governing with an agenda rooted in bigotry, to popularizing dangerous conspiracy theories, Trump and Gorka are spreading fear and division that leads to violence and harassment targeting Jews, Muslims, immigrants, Asian American Pacific Islanders, and all people of color."
A self-described national security expert, Gorka has a long history of inflammatory comments and alliances with white supremacist groups, including Vitezi Rend, an extreme-right Hungarian group that critics say is antisemitic and racist.
As CNN reported, Gorka's credentials are at best questionable:
In 2017, CNN interviewed a dozen international security and terrorism experts and scholars who said Gorka's experience in their field is limited. They pointed out that Gorka does not speak Arabic, has done very little traveling in Muslim countries and has never worked in any official leadership or management role in foreign policy, intelligence or the military.
Nonetheless, Gorka has remained close to the White House even after leaving the administration, where he previously served as a deputy assistant to the president, in August 2017. His appointment to the National Security Education Board will give the right-wing commentator power on a panel that delivers scholarships and aid to students in the national security field and has oversight over the National Security Education Program (NSEP).
\u201c\u201cBy placing Sebastian Gorka in a position that influences national security interests, President Trump has abandoned all public pretense and decided to openly embrace extremist views." - @splcenter \n\nhttps://t.co/J1TWDQRAWe\u201d— The Bridge Initiative (@The Bridge Initiative) 1594909044
The appointment of someone with Gorka's views to the board sends a message, Southern Poverty Law Center Action Fund president and CEO Margaret Huang said in a statement.
"The NSEP is supposed to help provide a broad pool of civil servants who understand different cultures and speak critically needed languages to work for the United States government," said Huang. "By placing someone like Gorka on the board that oversees this critical program, President Trump is sanctioning discrimination and exclusion of individuals who hold these skills that are gravely needed."
On Tuesday, the Jewish Democratic Council of America tied the appointment to Trump's nationalist agenda and increasingly racist re-election campaign.
"In the past few weeks, Trump has amplified calls for 'white power,' advertised on Facebook using Nazi images, and sold campaign shirts with the Nazi Eagle," the group said. "Now, Trump is bringing a medal-donning Nazi-sympathizer back to the White House, where he'll be in good company alongside the team driving Trump's vile 'four more years of hate' re-election campaign."
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Trump's Reappointment of Sebastian Gorka "A Slap in the Face to Jewish Americans"
Bend the Arc: Jewish Action released the following statement on Wednesday in response to Sebastian Gorka's appointment to the
Jul 15, 2020
Bend the Arc: Jewish Action released the following statement on Wednesday in response to Sebastian Gorka's appointment to the National Security Education Board:
"President Trump's decision to rehire Sebastian Gorka, who holds close ties to white nationalist and antisemitic groups is yet another slap in the face to Jewish Americans," said Stosh Cotler, CEO of Bend the Arc: Jewish Action. "White nationalists and their allies should have no place in our government."
Gorka was ousted from his former position as Trump's deputy assistant in 2017 after widespread criticism of his white supremacist ties:
- Gorka has been widely criticized for his ties to Vitezi Rend, a far-right and antisemitic Hungarian group that collaborated with the Nazis. Gorka denies being a sworn member of the group, but he attended the 2017 Inaugural Ball wearing a Vitezi Rend medal -- one he had been photographed wearing in the past.
- Vitezi Rend's leaders claim Gorka swore an oath of allegiance to the group, in which he promised he had "never betrayed my Hungarianness" and would follow the group's orders "for the rest of my life."
- In 1998, Gorka served as an advisor to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has his own documented history of antisemitism.
- In 2007, Gorka co-founded a far-right political party in Hungary with known antisemites.
- In 2007, Gorka appeared on Hungarian television endorsing the Hungarian Guard, a militia condemned by the European Court of Justice for attempting to found an "essentially racist" political order.
- Around the same time, Gorka wrote several op-eds for Magyar Demokrata, a paper notable for publishing antisemitic articles.
- In 2016, Gorka was fired by the FBI for making Islamophobic comments including calling Osama bin Laden "the Martin Luther of Islam."
"Gorka's reappointment continues a pattern of shameful behavior by Trump and his allies of claiming to defend Jewish people from antisemitism while actively putting our lives in danger," said Cotler. "From enabling a growing white nationalist movement, to governing with an agenda rooted in bigotry, to popularizing dangerous conspiracy theories, Trump and Gorka are spreading fear and division that leads to violence and harassment targeting Jews, Muslims, immigrants, Asian American Pacific Islanders, and all people of color."
That's why Bend the Arc: Jewish Action launched the resource www.howtofightantisemitism.com to track the spread of antisemitism and conspiracies from far-right extremists who have taken over the GOP. Sadly, new examples are posted on the website almost every week.
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Democratic Socialism, Sebastian Gorka Warns CPAC, Wants to "Take Away Your Hamburgers... What Stalin Dreamt About But Never Achieved'
"You are on the frontlines on the war against communism," former assistant to the president tells right-wingers at conference in Maryland
Feb 27, 2019
Sebastian Gorka, former deputy assistant to President Donald Trump, told attendees at the right-wing CPAC convention on Thursday that nobody should be fooled about the term "democratic socialism," because that's just the politically-correct term for "communism" being used by people that "want to take away your hamburgers." Also your house and your pick-up truck.
"This is what Stalin dreamt about but never achieved," Gorka blustered. "You are on the frontlines on the war against communism."
It's pretty funny. Watch:
\u201cFormer Trump White House official Sebastian Gorka: "They want to take away your hamburgers. This is what Stalin dreamt about but never achieved."\n\n\ud83d\ude02\ud83d\ude2d\ud83d\ude02\ud83d\ude2d\ud83e\udd26\u200d\u2642\ufe0f\u201d— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1551361366
Gorka front-loaded his fear mongering by pointing specifically to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and her leadership on pushing for a Green New Deal to help solve the climate crisis. "That is why Ocasio-Cortez has introduced the Green New Deal, which is, which is -- remember this one, use it -- it's a watermelon," Gorka said. "Green on the outside, deep, deep red communist on the inside."
For people afraid of actual communism or having their hamburgers taken away by an authoritarian left-wing state, however, Gorka said there is no reason to be scared. "Donald J. Trump," he declared, "is never going to let it happen!" The crowd roared with approval.
Whether that's true or not, the American people--who polls show are increasingly favorable to the ideas of "socialism" and "democratic socialism"--will just have to wait and see.
In the meantime, everybody remains free to watch this sendup of Gorkas speech which features, you guessed it, infamous Stalin sidekick "The Hamburglar":
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