The Washington Post - USA (2022-05-17)

A10 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.TUESDAY, MAY 17 , 2022

buffalo shooting

BY AARON BLAKE

After a mass shooting appar-
ently driven by racism in Buffalo
this weekend, a former member
of House GOP leadership didn’t
mince words.
“The House GOP leadership
has enabled white nationalism,
white supremacy, and anti-semi-
tism,” Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.)
tweeted Monday morning. “His-
tory has taught us that what
begins with words ends in far
worse. @GOP leaders must re-
nounce and reject these views
and those who hold them.”
Cheney’s comments come after
the tragedy in Buffalo has forced
something of a reckoning about
how the racist “great replacement
theory” — that is, the idea that
immigrants are replacing native-
born Americans in some undesir-
able and politically calculated
way — has gained traction on the
right.
Racists have long espoused the
theory — as the Buffalo suspect
apparently did — to suggest that
Whites are being usurped. Mean-
while, in recent years, Republi-
cans and conservative pundits
have increasingly cast Democrats
as favoring immigration in the
hopes of diluting the GOP’s p oliti-
cal power.
Attention this weekend turned
to Rep. Elise Stefanik (N.Y.),
Cheney’s replacement as the No. 3
House Republican, who promot-
ed the latter idea, though not by
name, in Facebook ads last year.
She was denounced at t he time by
her hometown paper, which
linked the idea to fomenting vio-
lence. A spokesperson this week-
end insisted that Stefanik “never
advocated for any racist position”
and suggested she was being
smeared.
But it’s also a case in point:
Observers at the time instantly
linked Stefanik’s ads to the poten-
tial for violence. Now we have
actual violence that authorities
say was perpetrated by someone
who apparently advanced a more
overtly racist version of the theo-
ry. And Republicans find them-
selves, once again, faced with a

decision about how much to con-

demn this rhetoric.

What’s remarkable about the

right’s increasing embrace of this

racist theory is that it has mostly

come after a number of other

recent high-profile mass shoot-

ings in which the killers have

supported it. Republicans have

argued that their version of re-

placement theory is merely politi-

cal in nature — focused on votes

and not necessarily race — but the

two clearly overlap, and they’re

often difficult to cleanly differen-

tiate. The party also has declined

to punish members who have

allied or affiliated with white na-

tionalists and other racists. In-

deed, with one key exception, the

prevailing response has been to

denounce and/or play down such

transgressions and then move on.

We’ve written about the GOP’s

descent into replacement theory

before, but it’s worth laying out

the timeline. The idea was mostly

relegated to the fringes when

Donald Tr ump first ran for presi-

dent, but he did nod to it. And

then it took off last year despite

tragedies involving the theory in

20 17, 20 18 and twice in 20 19.

Sept. 9, 2016 : Tr ump espouses

a version of replacement theory

pertaining to elections. “I think

this will be the last election that

the Republicans have a chance of

winning because you’re going to

have people flowing across the

border ... and they’re going to be

legalized, and they’re going to be

able to vote, and once that all

happens you can forget it. You’re

not going to have one Republican

vote.”

Aug. 11, 2017 : White national-

ists and white supremacists pro-

test in Charlottesville against a

plan to remove a statue of Confed-

erate general Robert E. Lee. They

chant, among other things, “Jews

will not replace us.” A counterpro-

tester is killed by a white suprem-

acist the following day. Trump

responds to the riot by citing

“very fine people, on both sides”

of the protests and counterpro-

tests.

Oct. 16, 2018 : Fox News host

Laura Ingraham says Democrats

“want to replace you, the Ameri-

can voters, with newly amnestied

citizens and an ever increasing

number of chain migrants.”

Oct. 27, 2018 : A man kills 11

people at a P ittsburgh synagogue,

citing the idea that Jews have

deliberately allowed “invaders”

into the United States.

January 2019 : House Republi-

can leaders strip Rep. Steve King

(R-Iowa) of his committee assign-

ments after the congressman

said, “White nationalist, white

supremacist, Western civilization

— how did that language become

offensive?” Then-Senate Majority

Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)

says there is “no place in the

Republican Party, t he Congress or

the country for an ideology of

racial supremacy of any kind.”

King would later lose his 2020

primary.

March 15, 2019 : A man kills 51

people at two mosques in

Christchurch, New Zealand, after

writing a document invoking

great replacement theory by

name and warning of an “inva-

sion” by “nonwhites.”

Aug. 3, 2019 : A man kills 23

people at a shopping center in El

Paso, citing a “Hispanic invasion

of Texas.”

Nov. 5, 2019 : Responding to

2019 election results in Virginia,

Ingraham cites immigrants as the

reason the state’s electorate has

trended to the left. “Since immi-

grants are more likely to vote

Democrat, well, this of course has

dragged the electorate to the left,”

she said. “It’s just a fact of life.”

Feb. 4, 2021 : The House votes

to strip Rep. Marjorie Taylor

Greene (R-Ga.) of her committee

assignments for, among other

things, floating the idea that a

Jewish cabal had sparked a dead-

ly wildfire. Only 11 Republicans

vote with Democrats.

Feb. 26, 2021 : Rep. Paul A.

Gosar (R-Ariz.) delivers the key-

note speech at a w hite-nationalist

conference hosted by the America

First PAC (AFPAC), an organiza-

tion run by a man who has advo-

cated white supremacy. Gosar

quickly assures that he denounc-

es “white racism.” He receives no

punishment from GOP leaders.

April 14, 2021 : Rep. Scott Per-

ry (R-Pa.) says at a hearing that

“what seems to be happening or

what [Americans] believe right

now is happening is ... we’re

replacing national-born Ameri-

can — native-born Americans —

to permanently transform the po-

litical landscape of this very na-

tion.”

April 15, 2021 : Sen. Ron John-

son (R-Wis.) asks rhetorically

whether Democrats “want to re-

make the demographics of Amer-

ica to ensure their — that they

stay in power forever? Is that

what’s happening here?”

June 2021 : AFPAC a dvertises a

fundraiser with Gosar. Gosar ini-

tially appears to defend his ap-

pearance at the fundraiser, but

House Minority Leader Kevin

McCarthy (R-Calif.) says Gosar

told him the event was “not real.”

April 8, 2021 : Fox News’s

Tucker Carlson expresses a ver-

sion of replacement theory. “I

know that the left a nd all the little

gatekeepers on Twitter become

literally hysterical if you use the

term ‘replacement’ — if you sug-

gest for the Democratic Party is

trying to replace the current elec-

torate, the voters now casting

ballots, with new people, more

obedient voters from the Third

World,” Carlson said. “But they

become hysterical because that’s

what’s happening, actually. Let’s

just say it! That’s true.” Carlson

added: “White replacement theo-

ry? No, no, this is a voting rights

question.”

April 12, 2021 : Fox News head

Lachlan Murdoch defends Carl-

son, insisting he hadn’t actually

embraced the “great replace-

ment” theory.

April 2021 : A report indicates

that Gosar and Greene aim to

form an “America First Caucus,”

whose goals, according to a draft,

include promoting “Anglo-Saxon

political traditions” and warning

that mass immigration would

harm the “unique identity” of the

country. McCarthy responds by

decrying “nativist dog whistles,”

and Gosar and Greene back off

the idea.

September 2021 : Stefanik, the

newly minted No. 3 House Re-

publican, runs Facebook ads

warning of a “permanent election

insurrection” by Democrats in

seeking a path to citizenship for

undocumented immigrants.

“Their plan to grant amnesty t o 11

MILLION illegal immigrants will

overthrow our current electorate

and create a permanent liberal

majority in Washington,” says the

ad, which features apparent mi-

grants reflected in sunglasses

worn by President Biden.

Sept. 22, 2021 : Carlson more

directly endorses the great re-

placement — this time by name.

“In political terms, this policy is

called ‘the great replacement’ —

the replacement of legacy Ameri-

cans with more obedient people

from faraway countries,” he said.

He adds that Biden wants “an

unrelenting stream of immigra-

tion. But why? Well, Joe Biden

just said it: to change the racial

mix of the country. That’s the

reason: to reduce the political

power of people whose ancestors

lived here, and dramatically in-

crease the proportion of Ameri-

cans newly arrived from the

Third World.”

Sept. 25, 2021 : Rep. Matt

Gaetz (R-Fla.) tweets, “@Tucker-

Carlson is CORRECT about Re-

placement Theory as he explains

what is happening to America.”

Nov. 17, 2021 : The House votes

to censure Gosar and strip him of

his committee assignments after

he posted an anime video depict-

ing him killing Rep. Alexandria

Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). Just two

Republicans vote in favor.

February 2022 : Gosar again

appears at the AFPAC conference

— this time in a video clip — and is

joined by Greene, who delivers a

speech. They a re also joined at t he

event by King and Idaho Lt. Gov.

Janice McGeachin (R). McCon-

nell responds by saying there is

no place for “white supremacists

or antisemitism” in the GOP. Mc-

Carthy calls it “appalling” and

says he’ll talk with the members.

But McCarthy soon restates that

he will restore Gosar and Greene

to their committees if Republi-

cans retake the House. Greene

claims she was unfamiliar with

the group — despite Gosar’s ap-

pearance the year before — and

GOP leaders again give her the

benefit of the doubt.

May 14, 2022 : A man kills 10 at

a grocery store in a predominant-

ly Black neighborhood in Buffalo.

Authorities believe the suspect

drafted a document that shows a

fixation on great replacement

theory.

ANALYSIS

Origins of right’s rising embrace of ‘replacement theory’

JABIN BOTSFORD/THE WASHINGTON POST

House Republicans K evin McCarthy, Marjorie Taylor Greene and

Elise Stefanik visit the Texas border last month.

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