Blake Masters Pines for Support of 9/11 Truther, Jewish Space Laser Conspiracy Believing, War-Profiteering Looney Toon Somehow, Defends Russian Invasion of Ukraine, Admits to Being ‘No Expert’ on Middle East
An interview with Peter Thiel acolyte Blake Masters in Jewish Insider released yesterday contained a number of bombshells, but perhaps none so damning as his fawning for noted anti-Semite Marjorie Taylor Greene. To refresh your memory, Marjorie Taylor Greene:
- Was condemned by Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy for equating vaccine mandates to the suffering of Jews in the Holocaust
- Claimed that wildfires in California were caused by Jewish space lasers
- Is a believer in the QAnon conspiracy, which echoes the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion”
- Claimed a plane never hit the Pentagon on 9/11 and was an inside job
In this damning interview, Masters also defended Russia’s invasion of Ukraine again, calling the autocratic regime “a nuclear power with its own distinct interests.” He also put the onus on Israel to advise him on foreign affairs in the region: “It’s more Israel’s business to sort of tell us, like, is that tolerable? …I’m not an expert here.”
Jewish Insider: Blake Masters wants to take back Arizona
By: Matthew Kassel | March 09, 2022
Key Points:
- “Even by the fun-house standards of Republican politics in the swing state of Arizona — which has produced a rather colorful stream of election denialists, Nazi analogists and other far-right extremists who have gained notoriety in recent years — Blake Masters cuts an unusual profile.”
- “Either way, Masters may find himself at odds with the group over what he describes as his strong support for Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), the far-right conspiracy theorist whom the RJC has repeatedly denounced for espousing antisemitic tropes before assuming office and during her time in Congress.”
- “‘I’d love her endorsement,’ Masters said of Greene. ‘I think she’s just really impressive. Like, I’ve gotten the opportunity to meet with her and chat with her, and I think she’s the real deal.’ He criticized Twitter’s decision to ban her personal account in January over what the social media company cited as ‘repeated violations’ of its COVID-19 misinformation policy. ‘I think a lot of people in the media don’t understand her broad appeal. They don’t understand that normal Americans look to her as a champion of their values and of their issues. I don’t know, man, she takes a lot of heat, but I admire her bravery, and I think she’s quite talented.’”
- “Masters said he was unfamiliar with specific instances in which Greene has been accused of antisemitism, including likening vaccine mandates to Nazi Germany. ‘I’m not familiar with the comments,’ he said. ‘I remember there being some scandal, I forget what she said. But the thing that I remember from at least one of these things was, I think after that, she went to the Holocaust Museum and she toured it and she gave a press conference,’ he said of Greene’s visit to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., last summer. ‘How unlike a politician this was. It wasn’t fake. She’s just like, ‘Hey, I said some stuff — and again, I don’t remember what it was — but she was like, ‘It was wrong.’”
- “Since that visit, Greene has continued to compare the mandates to the Holocaust, which Masters acknowledged as ‘insensitive’ in conversation with JI. But he pushed back against accusations that Greene herself — who drew widespread criticism last month after she spoke at a white nationalist conference hosted by the Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes — holds any personal animus toward the Jewish people. ‘Do I think she actually is antisemitic?’ he said. ‘No, I don’t. She’s not, like, super close to me. You know, we’ve had a couple conversations, but I was impressed with how she owned whatever that scandal was and apologized.’”
- “Such criticism isn’t reserved exclusively for the opposition. Masters also holds a withering view of Republican leadership, with, as be made sure to note, the ‘huge exception’ of Trump. ‘Zooming out even further, it’s not just the last year — it’s the last few decades,’ Masters argued, voicing disdain for ‘a bipartisan elite’ that, he believes, has compromised American interests at home and abroad. ‘We’ve off-shored our middle class, and, I mean, America is just not on track.’”
- “The first-time candidate claims his campaign is gaining traction among a growing number of voters across the state who, he says, are eager to see a ‘changing of the guard.’ Independent polling suggests otherwise, at least at the moment.”
- “Notwithstanding such confidence, political observers in the Grand Canyon State suggested in interviews with JI that Masters’ views on some key issues remain somewhat inscrutable, while his values-driven messaging has also obscured what can seem like a lack of depth or clarity on matters of substance, particularly in the foreign policy realm.”
- “Last week, Masters posted a video to his Twitter feed in which he offered his take on the escalating conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Describing the war as ‘super dangerous,’ Masters said it was difficult ‘to tell what’s going on beyond that’ because, he alleged, the U.S. has no ‘real media’ and ‘so much of what you see is propaganda and emotionalism all the way down.’”
- “While Masters went on to condemn Russia’s invasion as ‘wrong’ — and called for sanctions in a separate post — he also argued that the country ‘is a nuclear power with its own distinct interests.’ There was, he suggested, ‘no reason to provoke them over NATO expansion and Bush-era regime change mania.’”
- “The relative urgency of Masters’ appraisal was also in tension with comments from late January, when Masters told Axios that ‘the Ukrainian border isn’t even in the top 20’ of the issues ‘our politicians should prioritize,’ which he summarized as election integrity, violent crime and failing schools, among other things.”
- “Such remarks point more broadly to what Masters describes as a ‘non-interventionist’ approach to foreign policy matters, which, he acknowledges, has raised some questions among Jewish leaders over his approach to Israel and American aid. ‘It’s more Israel’s business to sort of tell us, like, is that tolerable?’ Masters said. ‘Will that actually work? I’m not an expert here, but I guess in principle, I’m open to it, and in practice, it’s just like, I feel like I’ve grown up watching Israel try, in good faith, to coexist, and it’s always: Nope.’”
- “He expressed support for legislation that would provide Israel with $1 billion in supplemental funding to replenish its Iron Dome missile-defense system following the May conflict with Hamas… But he was unaware that the funding is currently being blocked in the upper chamber by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), a fellow libertarian-leaning Republican for whom Masters expressed admiration in conversation with JI. In a move that has angered pro-Israel advocates, Paul has insisted that the funding should be reallocated from aid for Afghanistan. ‘Don’t really know about that,’ Masters said.”
Read the full article here
###
Published: Mar 10, 2022 | Last Modified: Mar 11, 2022