Mitch McConnell: ‘Anyone Meeting’ with Individuals with Anti-Semitic Views ‘Highly Unlikely’ to be Elected President

The Associated Press
The Associated Press
Hannah Knudsen

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) appeared to throw shade at former President Donald Trump this week, asserting that anyone who meets with those who hold anti-semitic or white supremacist views are “unlikely” to be elected president — a likely reference to Trump’s dinner with Kanye West and with an unexpected guest — a Holocaust denier named Nick Fuentes.

“First, let me just say there is no room in the Republican Party for antisemitism or white supremacy,” McConnell said. “And anyone meeting with people advocating that point of view, in my judgment, are highly unlikely to ever be elected president of the United States”:

McConnell’s remark follows the news of Trump meeting with West, along with Fuentes, at Mar-a-Lago last week following the rapper and fashion mogul’s threat to go “death con [sic] 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE” and claiming that “Jewish people have owned the black voice,” among other controversial remarks.

West claims he asked Trump to be his vice presidential candidate and asserted that “Trump is really impressed with Nick Fuentes.” 

As Breitbart News reported:

Fuentes said his existence is “absolutely” harmed by Jewish people. In 2019, a clip emerged of Fuentes denying the Holocaust. Fuentes has called Donald Trump disavowing white supremacy  “totally wrong and a big mistake.” Fuentes was also at the Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally in 2017.

However, Trump’s campaign told Breitbart News the 45th president did not know who Fuentes was, nor did he know he would be attending the dinner. 

“Kanye West very much wanted to visit Mar-a-Lago. Our dinner meeting was intended to be Kanye and me only, but he arrived with a guest whom I had never met and knew nothing about,” his campaign stated. 

Republican leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) also weighed in on Trump’s unexpected dinner guest in Fuentes, whom the Justice Department has labeled a white supremacist, stating, “I don’t think anybody should be spending any time with Nick Fuentes.”

“He has no place in this Republican Party,” McCarthy continued, also noting that Trump did not know who he was. 

“I condemn his ideology,” McCarthy added:

On Monday night, West, joined by Fuentes and Milo Yiannopoulous, walked out of an interview with podcaster Tim Pool after facing questions over his recent stream of remarks about the Jewish people. 

“You went right into the antisemite thing … If you start bringing this up, you’re going to ask my opinion on it, I’m going to disagree with you,” Pool said, prompting West’s quip, “I don’t care about your opinion.”

“I think they’ve been extremely unfair to you,” Pool said of efforts to cancel West. 

“Who is ‘they,’ though?” West said. “We can’t say who ‘they’ is, can we?”

“Corporate press,” Pool said, as Fuentes interjected, “It is ‘them,’ though, isn’t it?”

“No, it’s not,” Pool said.

“What do you mean it’s not?” West asked, ultimately leaving the room:

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