Social media post links Gosar to fundraiser with white nationalist

In an unsubtle rebuke to his many critics, Rep. Paul Gosar is planning a fundraising event with a white nationalist who has been banned from YouTube for repeatedly violating rules against hate speech.

A post on the conservative social media platform Telegram may have teased a fundraiser with Gosar, RAriz., and Nick Fuentes, who attended the deadly 2017 Charlottesville rally. The post came from an account said to have ties to Fuentes.

Gosar’s chief of staff could not be immediately reached to comment Monday night about the latest controversy involving Gosar.

In a tweet Monday night, Gosar seemed to respond to his critics, saying, “Not sure why anyone is freaking out. I’ll say this: there are millions of Gen Z, Y and X conservatives. They believe in America First. They will not agree 100% on every issue. No group does. We will not let the left dictate our strategy, alliances and efforts. Ignore the left.”

Earlier this year, Gosar skipped a vote on a COVID-19 relief bill to attend Fuentes’ America First Political Action Committee, a far-right conference that took place ahead of the traditional Conservative Political Action Conference that had come to be seen by some Republicans as lacking sufficient passion for former President Donald Trump and his policies.

Gosar’s presence at AFPAC was the first by a sitting member of Congress. It put him alongside other farright provocateurs, such as former Rep. Steve King, RIowa,

whose political career ended after Republicans stripped him of committee duties after he questioned why “white supremacist” was considered an offensive term.

The Daily Beast has quoted Fuentes as saying: “White people are done being bullied” and praised the deadly Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol as “awesome.”

The scheduled date for the fundraiser, apparently for Gosar’s congressional campaign committee, will be announced on Thursday.

Gosar, who is in his sixth term, most of it representing Arizona’s most conservative-leaning district, has long held forth as one of the most controversial members of Congress.

Two months after his appearance at AFPAC, Gosar reportedly was linked to the planned formation of an “America First Caucus” with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. Both members quickly distanced themselves from it after Republican leadership pushed back on a document purporting to spell out the caucus’ priorities.

The caucus allegedly aimed to carry on Trump’s agenda, adhere to an Anglo-Saxon history in government and architecture and require immigrants to be able to contribute economically.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said Republicans could not sink to “nativist dog whistles.”