Doug Mastriano, the Republican candidate for governor of Pennsylvania, has come under increasing scrutiny for his ties to the far-right social media platform Gab and its founder.
Earlier this month, news broke that Mastriano’s campaign paid $5,000 for “consulting” to Gab, a haven for white supremacists and users displaced from other platforms. According to state filings It was first discovered by a liberal watchdog group, Media Matters for America.
Since then, Mastriano, a far-right state senator who falsely claimed the 2020 presidential election was stolen and rarely speaks to the traditional press, has ignored criticism of his relationship with Gab.
But the platform’s founder and CEO, Andrew Truba, has hit back with anti-Semitic language.
“We’re no longer kneeling at the 2 percent,” Truba said in a video this week.
Mr. Torba responded Appeared on MSNBC Anti-Defamation League Chief Executive Jonathan Greenblatt on Tuesday criticized Mastriano for using the gab to post messages and gain political support.
Truba and his platform support Christian nationalism, the view that America was founded to promote Christianity and biblical values.
“We are taking back our country,” he added. “We have our government back, so deal with it.”
“Andrew Torba is one of the most toxic people in public right now,” Goldblatt told MSNBC. “Elected officials who engage in this kind of rhetoric are bringing fascism to the forefront of the political debate, not just flirting.”
In April, shortly after the payment from the Mastriano campaign, Mr. Torba interviews Mr. Mastriano On his site, when a candidate said to him, “Thank God for what you did.”
Ahead of Pennsylvania’s May 17 primary, Gab endorsed Mastriano, who was at the forefront of Republican efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in the state.
Mastriano won the nomination in a controversial field despite warnings from some Republican officials that he would be too extreme to win the November presidential election. Recent polls have shown him to be an unexpectedly close race against Democratic candidate Josh Shapiro.
According to reports of HuffPost, Mastriano may be paying Gab to get more followers on the site. It seems that new users are automatically assigned as followers of the Republican candidate.
Pennsylvania-based Torba responded to criticism of him and Mastriano in a recent series of live-streamed videos by emphasizing his own Christian nationalist and anti-Semitic views. I objected.
jerusalem post Mr Torba was quoted in a video on Tuesday as saying that neither he nor Mr Mastriano intends to interview non-Christian journalists.
“My policy is to not conduct interviews with non-Christian reporters or non-Christian outlets. Doug has a very similar media strategy of not conducting interviews with these people.” He won’t talk to these people He won’t give these people access to the press These people are dishonest They are liars They are a den of vipers and will destroy you I am trying.”
Mastriano did not respond to a request for comment from the campaign.
When asked about the details of his consulting agreement with Mastriano, Torba replied via email:
Republican and Democratic Jewish leaders are calling on Mastriano to leave Gab. Matt Brooks, executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition, said: “We are asking Doug Mastriano to end his association with GAB, the social network that Jewish Americans view as a cesspool of bigotry and anti-Semitism. I urge you to do so,” he said. told the Philadelphia Inquirer last week..
in Pittsburgh, Jewish and Black Leaders Condemn Mastriano For his ties to Gab, who was used to post an anti-Semitic attack by a man accused of massacring 11 people at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue in 2018.
The state’s attorney general, Mr. Shapiro, opened an investigation into Gab after the killings, but eventually dropped it.
On Monday, Mr Shapiro, who is Jewish, tweeted urging donors to “stop” Mr Mastriano. “We’re paying thousands of dollars to recruit anti-Semites to Gab, the same platform that gave power to the tree of life killers,” Mastriano said. and white supremacists into his campaign. “
