Arizona Reps. Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar refuse to denounce 'white nationalism'

Perhaps the most disturbing part about the next sentence is that it will not surprise you … at … all.

Arizona Reps. Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar were among 26 members of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee who refused to sign a pledge denouncing “white nationalism and white supremacy,” as well the “Great Replacement” theory.

See what I mean?

No sudden shock. No nothing.

Gosar has defended a white nationalist

For years, Biggs and Gosar have been Arizona’s real-life version of Jasper and Horace from “101 Dalmatians” or Harry and Marv from “Home Alone.”

This time around, the ranking Democrat on the Oversight Committee, Jamie Raskin, drafted a letter denouncing “white nationalism” and racist junk like the “Great Replacement” theory, the creepy conspiracy belief that non-white individuals are being brought into the United States to replace white voters.

Some members of the committee have either tacitly or overtly embraced that lie.

Gosar, for example, has supported and defended the white nationalist Nick Fuentes and has attended Fuentes’ annual gathering of creepy racist trolls.

Still, the Republicans on the committee called Raskin’s letter a distraction. A gimmick.

Are some of them courting the racist vote?

And yes, it was.

But it wouldn’t alter the Republican-controlled committee’s agenda. And how hard is it to say you’re against white nationalism and white supremacy?

I’d even guess that many of the Republicans who refused to sign Raskin’s pledge actually are against white nationalism. They just don’t want to say so.

Why?

Because they’re counting on – even courting – the racist vote.

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Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism based in Montgomery, Ala., said, ”White supremacy is the No. 1 domestic terrorism threat in the United States.”

Former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney last year tweeted, “The House GOP leadership has enabled white nationalism, white supremacy, and anti-semitism. History has taught us that what begins with words ends in far worse. @GOP leaders must renounce and reject these views and those who hold them.”

This problem is probably bigger than we thought

Strange, isn’t it?

If some Washington, D.C., politician asked for signatures on a letter denouncing “wokeness” I’d guess that Biggs and Gosar would be first in line. But they refuse to denounce a racist conspiracy theory and the racists behind it?

A spokesperson for Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, who is on the committee, was asked about the anti-racist pledge and pointed out something she has said in the past: “We don’t have a white supremacy problem, we have an illegal immigration problem.”

She’s right about the latter. America has for decades had trouble trying to find a solution to our immigration and border problem. But at least we recognize it.

The fact that a sitting member of Congress and her colleagues refuse to recognize and condemn our white nationalism problem only proves that our white nationalism problem is even worse than anyone thought.

Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Reps. Andy Biggs, Paul Gosar refuse to denounce 'white nationalism'