Several right-wing extremists, including a campaign consultant who was a member of the Proud Boys, have ties to a congressional candidate whose compelling personal story of military bravery and unfathomable loss helped him win support from former president Donald Trump.
Joe Kent, a Republican running against U.S. Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington state in the Aug. 2 primary, has courted prominent white nationalists as well.
He most recently posed for a photo with a media figure who has previously called Adolf Hitler a “complicated historical figure” that “many people misunderstand.”
The 42-year-old Kent’s compelling personal story made him a favourite of conservative media, but an Associated Press review of internet postings, court records, and campaign finance disclosures paints a different picture of the candidate.
Over 100,000 Ukrainian refugees have arrived in the United Kingdom.
Before leaving the Special Forces to join the CIA, the former Green Beret served 11 combat deployments and had a square jaw, curly black hair, and sleeve tattoos.
A terrible tragedy also befell him: his wife Shannon, a Navy cryptologist, was killed in 2019 by a suicide bomber while he was fighting the Islamic State group in Syria, leaving him to care for their two young sons by himself.
But in general, Kent’s recent associations and actions raise more questions about the GOP’s connections to extremist organizations.
The Proud Boys in particular were implicated by the House committee looking into the Jan. 6 uprising at the U.S. Capitol for their part in the attempt to sabotage the orderly transition of power following Trump’s loss in the 2020 election.
Right-wing extremism in the Pacific Northwest has been the subject of decades-long reporting by author and journalist Dave Neiwert. “Many (Republican) officials play around with it. Simply put, Kent is unafraid.
The Kent campaign turned down an interview request from the media.
In a statement, Kent strategist Matt Braynard stated that Joe Kent’s inclusive populism platform “rejects racism and bigotry and invites all Americans to support his aggressive America First agenda of rebuilding our industries, ending illegal immigration, and stopping stupid military interventions that don’t directly support our national interest.”
In Michigan, Republican Rep. Peter Meijer’s opponent John Gibbs, a former Trump administration official, once spread untrue allegations that Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign chairman took part in a satanic ritual involving human bodily fluids.
Last year, Carl Paladino, a former GOP gubernatorial candidate who is now running for the House in New York, praised Hitler as “the kind of leader we need today.” “and once sent a Buffalo newspaper an email with racist remarks about Michelle Obama for publication.
Additionally, Stephanie Grisham, the press secretary for the Trump White House, accused Max Miller, a former employee of the Trump administration, of physically abusing her. Miller is the Republican candidate for an Ohio congressional seat.
Miller has filed a defamation lawsuit against Grisham and has refuted the claims.
Over 100,000 Ukrainian refugees have arrived in the United Kingdom.
The National Republican Congressional Committee, which is in charge of aiding the GOP in retaking control of the House, declined to comment, citing a rule against interfering in primaries. Requests for comment from a Trump spokesman went unanswered.
The extent of Kent’s connections to a pervasive extremist fringe that has long existed in the Pacific Northwest but is frequently hidden by the area’s preponderantly liberal politics makes him stand out among those who will soon be running for office.
According to campaign finance reports, Kent recently paid Graham Jorgensen $11,375 for “consulting” over the previous four months.
Jorgensen was listed as a Proud Boy in a police report and was accused of cyberstalking his ex-girlfriend in 2018. Late in 2019, the accusations were dropped. According to records, a judge in Vancouver, Washington, however, issued an order of protection requiring Jorgensen to keep his distance from her.
The Kent campaign described Jorgensen as a low-level employee who distributes literature and posts signs and denied that he is currently associated with any “outside organizations.” Jorgensen was not available for an interview, according to them.
Joey Gibson, the leader of the Christian nationalist movement Patriot Prayer, and Kent are close political allies.
Since founding the group in 2016, Gibson has planned protests in Portland and the suburbs of the city in Washington State, where he and his supporters have fought with left-wing organizations. A large number of the protests were planned in conjunction with the Proud Boys.
Anti-government protesters, extremists, and white nationalists all came together to fight against left-wing activists at the Gibson-organized rallies, which were frequently violent.
Images from the events that Rose City Antifa has posted online show that in some instances, Kent’s allies have surrounded themselves with individuals who have expressed white supremacist views.
Jacob Von Ott, who has shared racist and antisemitic views online and expressed admiration for the founder of the American Nazi Party, was frequently photographed standing next to Gibson and Jorgensen, the Proud Boy employed by Kent.
Despite previously denying that he is a white supremacist, Von Ott did not respond to a request for comment sent to an email address associated with him.
These groups pose a risk because they might represent a person’s entry into the world of extremism.
And once you’re in this extremist environment, you can further your radicalization, according to Emily Kaufman, a researcher for the Anti-Defamation League who monitors extremist activity in the Pacific Northwest.
Gibson frequently promotes Kent’s campaign on social media and gave a speech at a fundraiser for Kent the previous year.
At the event, when Kent had the opportunity to speak, he praised Gibson and said that he had “defended this community when our community was under attack from Antifa.”
After a fight with left-wing activists at a Portland bar, Gibson was last week found not guilty of felony riot charges.
The Pacific Northwest is not Kent’s only connection to extremism.
One of Kent’s top advisors, Braynard, planned the Washington, D.C., rally that sought to gain support for those detained during the uprising by rebranding them as “political prisoners” last year. At the rally, which drew scant crowds, Kent spoke.
In addition, Wendy Rogers, a far-right state lawmaker from Arizona who has declared her membership in the Oath Keepers, a far-right militia group that played a significant role in the seizure of the U.S. Capitol, has endorsed his bid for office.
In addition to publicly thanking Rogers for her support, Kent has expressed scepticism regarding the circumstances that resulted in the arrest of Oath Keepers for their involvement in the attack.
Kent has also asked for help from individuals connected to the white nationalist “Groyper Army” movement, which is led by internet personality Nick Fuentes. Fuentes attended the Jan. 6 Capitol uprising as well as the Charlottesville, Virginia, rally in 2017 and has promoted white supremacist ideas.
Kent has acknowledged that Fuentes participated in a call set up by a political consultant early in his campaign where the topic of extending the reach of his campaign on social media was discussed.
But after their affiliation became widely known, he denied that there was any sort of formal agreement and began to separate himself from Fuentes in March. Kent stated in a tweet at the time that he did not want Fuentes’ endorsement because of his emphasis on race and religion.
However, Kent later made an appearance on a far-right YouTube channel where he expressed views that were shared by many white nationalists.
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During the YouTube interview with a group called the American Populist Union, Kent stated, “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with there being a white people special interest group.”
He added that because “their version of Mexico is Africa and the Middle East,” the U.S.-Mexico immigration situation wasn’t as bad as it was in Europe.
With Grouper-aligned commentator Greyson Arnold, who describes himself as a “Christian American Nationalist,” Kent was pictured in April giving the thumbs up at a fundraiser.” Arnold shared Fuentes’ location at the Capitol building during the uprising.
Arnold has circulated internet memes that characterize Nazis as a “pure race” and has referred to Hitler as a “complicated” and “misunderstood” historical figure. He also organized a “White Boy Summer” celebration in Lake Havasu, Arizona, in June 2021.
He got the idea for the event’s name from a meme that was well-liked by racist and white nationalist organizations.
