Questions are swirling around Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) and an event scheduled for April 20 – Nazi leader Adolf Hitler’s birthday – by the American Populist Union.
After the congressman allegedly promoted the event on Instagram, Gosar’s campaign consultant said he wasn’t contacted by the group and that the lawmaker would not attend the event. However, the American Populist Union said in a statement posted to Twitter Thursday that they were in contact with Goasr’s team and that the congressman withdrew due to scheduling conflicts.
According to the Political Research Associates think tank, “the American Populist Union ecosystem present a respectable veneer, while strategically downplaying the explicit White nationalism and antisemitism present throughout the movement.”
It is also “closely aligned with groypers, a group of white nationalists who strive for their ideas to become a part of the Republican mainstream and are largely followers of 23-year-old white nationalist Nick Fuentes,” said the Arizona Mirror.
The Anti-Defamation League identifies Fuentes as “a white supremacist leader,” who has made antisemitic comments and jokes about the Holocaust.
However, the American Populist Union’s Vince Dao denied being affiliated with white nationalism in his Twitter statement.
“We are not affiliated with ‘Neo-Nazism’ or ‘white nationalism.’ We are authentic American conservatives who stand by faith, family, and tradition,” it said. On the group’s website, Christian values, family values, protectionism, law and order, business reform, education reform and “America first” are listed as the American Populist Union beliefs.
The decision to hold its event on April 20 was logistical and not tied to Hitler’s birthday said the American Populist Union. That date is also associated with a holiday celebrating cannabis use.
Gosar – who CNN reported last month, has “lengthy” ties to white nationalists, including Fuentes – was the first elected official to speak at Fuentes’ America First Political Action Conference in 2021, according to the Arizona Mirror. The outlet reported Wednesday that Gosar promoted the upcoming American Populist Union event, and his appearance, in an April 2 Instagram story.
Though Gosar’s office did not reply to requests for comment before the story was published, within three hours of the report Gosar campaign consultant Rory McShane told the Arizona Mirror that the congressman has a “farm tour” scheduled on April 20.
“McShane did not immediately respond to questions about why Gosar promoted his planned appearance at the American Populist Union event on his official Instagram account,” said the outlet.
According to the Arizona Mirror, Gosar has distanced himself from Fuentes, who recently said that he and Gosar will continue to “collaborate behind the scenes.”
Gosar is serving his sixth term in Congress. Late last year he was censured by the U.S. House of Representatives for posting a manipulated video to social media that depicted “himself killing Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and attacking President Joseph Biden.”
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