We’ve all seen how the ascent of Donald Trump to power has resulted in bigots with even more incendiary viewpoints than his own being seemingly let off the chain and allowed to roam about with more freedom than before.
For instance, in perhaps the most infamous example of this, white nationalists, led in part by Richard Spencer, descended upon a Virginia town late last year to “protest” the city’s plans to remove a statue honoring the slaveholder General Robert E. Lee. That weekend of “protests” ended with three dead.
Now, the increased openness with which the Trump administration has approached white nationalist causes is rearing its head in a striking and disturbing way.
Five GOP Congressmen are reportedly taking a trip overseas this week to meet with the leader of a Hungarian political party that, among other things, is known for its parliamentary secretary having calling for the “gassing of Jews, gays, and Roma.”
The incendiary figure in question with whom the Congressmen will meet is Tomio Okamura, leader of the Movement of Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD). The five U.S. Congressmen reportedly going on the trip include Reps. Steve King, Andy Harris, Dana Rohrabacher, Louie Gohmert, and Paul Gosar.
A Hungarian news outlet reports that Okamura published a press release stating that he and the Congressmen will “discuss topics of bi-lateral and global importance, including European policy which concerns demographic changes, migration and immigration.”
Ironically, the revelation of this meeting comes in the wake of the debate over immigration policy in the U.S. having reached such a fever pitch that the federal government shut down for three days because Democrats didn’t want to move forward on a spending measure without ensuring continued protections for the young people protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which the Trump administration has moved to end.
Among the interests to have so far spoken out against the Congressmen reportedly planning to meet with Okamura is European Media Director of the Human Rights Watch Andrew Stroehlein, who commented of what he called a “a trans-Atlantic hatemonger hoedown for unscrupulous politicians trying to boost their careers by driving people to fear and despise others”:
‘These US Congressmen have chosen to meet with Tomio Okamura… who is well known for calling for the banning of Islam and “external manifestations of Islam.” The SPD’s parliamentary party secretary has called for the gassing of Jews, gays and Roma. I would wonder if the Congressmen know who they’re meeting with, but then, I see Steve King is part of this US delegation. King is known for his own racist statements and open opposition to religious freedom – and he’s also a fan of other infamous xenophobes in Europe, like Geert Wilders and Marine Le Pen, so this is just par for the course with him, sadly.’
It doesn’t take very long at all to find examples of King’s racism, as referenced by Stroehlein.
In March of last year, responding to a tweet that presumably contained comments from Dutch politician Geert Wilders but has since been deleted, King wrote:
‘Wilders understands that culture and demographics are our destiny. We can’t restore our civilization with somebody else’s babies.’
As for Okamura’s political party, a report came out late last year detailing multiple witness accounts of a drunken sexist tirade from Jaroslav Staník, secretary for the party.
As Hungarian MP Marek Černoch described it:
‘He demanded that all homosexuals, Roma, and Jews should be shot immediately after they have been born. He also verbally attacked the women that were present with gross insults.’
This is the group that five current members of the U.S. Congress are reportedly meeting with this week.
Let that sink in.
The president will no doubt never utter a word against the trip if he hears about it, with his own past chock full of racism and sexism.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tl5HJBnPitU&t=3s
Featured Image via Tom Williams/ CQ Roll Call
