Arizona Secretary of State Referred to Trump’s ‘Base’ as ‘Neo-Nazi’ in 2017

Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs said in 2017 that President Donald Trump’s “base” of supporters were “neo-nazi” [sic].

Hobbs, who is overseeing the closely contested vote in Arizona, was a Democratic state senator immediately prior to being elected Secretary of State in 2018.

She was far behind on Election Day, but eventually surpassed her Republican opponent as more votes were counted in the days that followed.

In 2017, Hobbs tweeted:

.@realDonaldTrump has made it abundantly clear he's more interested in pandering to his neo-nazi base than being @POTUS for all Americans.

— Katie Hobbs (@katiehobbs) August 15, 2017

Hobbs appeared to be reacting to news reports about the riots in Charlottesville in August 2017.

The President is on the side of the freaking Nazis. Don't just say stuff – DO SOMETHING!!! https://t.co/Es9ScskF58

— Katie Hobbs (@katiehobbs) August 12, 2017

It took you a day and a half to figure this out? Also if you're not condemning @POTUS for not condemning nazis, it's just words. https://t.co/OI0JAlvOYX

— Katie Hobbs (@katiehobbs) August 14, 2017

The president did, in fact, condemn extremists on all sides in Charlottesville. While he did not single out any group in his initial statement, he later made two separate specific condemnations of the neo-Nazis. The timeline was as follows:

• Aug. 12, 2017: Trump condemned “violence “on many sides” in Charlottesville, after neo-Nazi and Antifa clashes
• Aug. 14, 2017: Trump condemned “neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other hate groups” in White House statement
• Aug. 15, 2017: Trump condemned neo-Nazis “totally,” praised non-violent protesters “on both sides” of statue debate

Last week, Hobbs predicted that there would be no recount of the presidential vote in Arizona.

ABC 15 Arizona reported: “Under Arizona law, an election has to be decided by 200 votes or less, or one-tenth of one percent of the votes cast, whichever is the smaller number. No one is predicting either candidate will lose by 200 votes or less.”

As of Thursday morning, Joe Biden led Trump by over 11,000 votes in the state.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). His newest e-book is The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.