RNC speaker pulled after tweet
Mary Ann Mendoza was pulled from the lineup of Tuesday night’s Republican convention speakers after she encouraged her Twitter followers hours earlier to read through a QAnon believer’s convoluted conspiracy theory about a Jewish plot to control the world.
“Do yourself a favor and read this,” Mendoza tweeted, sharing a thread of tweets that promotes antiSemitic conspiracy theories.
The thread began by claiming that, in 1773, a Jewish goldsmith summoned other businessmen to his home and proclaimed that if they pooled their money, “it was possible to gain control of the wealth, natural resources, and manpower of the entire world.”
After The Daily Beast and others publicized the tweet, Mendoza deleted the thread and posted that she had “retweeted a very long thread earlier without reading every post within the thread.”
QAnon conspiracy theorists believe President Donald Trump is battling a cabal of deep-state saboteurs who worship Satan and traffic children for sex. The FBI has identified the online movement as a potential domestic terrorist threat.
“My apologies for not paying attention to the intent of the whole message. That does not reflect my feelings or personal thoughts whatsoever,” she wrote.
But in 2018, she tweeted something similar about a wealthy Jewish family controlling the world: “The Rothschilds have used their globalist media mouthpiece to declare that Donald Trump is threatening to destroy the New World Order!”
Mendoza, who’s on the Women for Trump campaign board, previously has been suspended from Twitter and Facebook for posts the sites have determined had violated its standards on hate speech.
Mendoza was supposed to be included in the Republican convention representing “angel moms,” a term Trump has popularized among his base for a mother whose child was killed by an undocumented immigrant.
Mendoza’s son was killed in 2014 by a drunken driver who was living in the United States illegally.
Campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh said of the cancellation of Mendoza from the lineup: “We have removed the scheduled video from the convention lineup and it will no longer run this week.”
There was no immediate word on whether Mendoza would be removed from the Women for Trump campaign board.
Matt Brooks, executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition, said his group was “deeply troubled” by Mendoza’s tweet.
“While we mourn the horrible loss of her son, her views clearly disqualify her from addressing the convention,” Brooks said. “We are pleased that convention officials took prompt action to make sure the Convention reflects who we are and our values as a party.”
American Bridge 21st Century, a Democratic super PAC, put out a statement condemning Mendoza and the Republicans.
“This speaks volumes about the radicalization of the Republican Party under Donald Trump and where our country is headed if he has four more years to spread hate and division from the White House,” said Kyle Morse, a spokesman for the super PAC.