Republican governor Asa Hutchinson stated on Sunday that former president Donald Trump’s meeting with White nationalist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes last week was “extremely concerning” and “empowering” for extremism.
“No, I don’t believe meeting with an openly racist or anti-Semitic person is a smart choice for a leader who is setting an example for the nation or the party. Hutchinson said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that it was “extremely concerning, it shouldn’t happen, and we need to avoid those types of fueling the extremes.” Instead of giving them more power, you want to lessen it. Don’t go near it.
Last Tuesday, Trump hosted Fuentes and musician Kanye West for dinner at his Mar-a-Lago resort. West himself attracted attention last month after reiterating antisemitic conspiracy theories and making other ugly remarks.
Fuentes has been labelled a White supremacist by the Anti-Defamation League, and because of his White nationalist statements, he has been banned from the majority of major social media networks. On January 6, 2021, Fuentes was on the grounds of the US Capitol, promoting Trump’s unfounded allegations of election fraud in the previous year.
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In January, Fuentes received a subpoena from the House select committee looking into the events on January 6. Hutchinson commented on Sunday: “Well, I hope someday we won’t have to be responding to what former President Trump has said or done. Trump’s meeting with the two figures has garnered harsh criticism in recent days. It’s critical to respond in this case.
Once again, Trump exposes his comfort with antisemitism and unabashed racism. While I appreciate the condemnations from certain Republican leaders, the silence from others has been deafening. https://t.co/tKCXeLMD5W
— Rep. Nadler (@RepJerryNadler) November 26, 2022
Hutchinson, a former US Attorney for Arkansas, will be stepping down in January due to term limits. He highlighted Trump’s contentious meeting to highlight his record on these topics, reminding Bash that the last time he met with a White nationalist was during an armed confrontation. He is presently considering running for president in 2024. I was wearing a bulletproof vest. They were detained, charged, and sentenced to prison.
According to a source with knowledge of the meal last week, Trump was conversing with Fuentes and considered him to be “quite engaging,” especially given his propensity for quoting facts and figures and familiarity with Trump’s world. During the meal, Trump made a statement to the effect that he “liked” Fuentes.
In a post on Truth Social Friday, Trump acknowledged the meal, writing: “This past week, Kanye West called me to have dinner at Mar-a-Lago. He surprisingly turned up a little while later with three of his unknown friends. On Tuesday night, many members joined us for dinner on the back patio.
Dinner went by quickly and without incident. After that, they headed to the airport. Later on Friday, Trump reiterated that he “didn’t know” Fuentes and that he had given West both political and commercial advice.