Rob Smith is a black, openly gay man who happens to be a veteran of the Iraq War. He is attending the Turning Point USA's AmericaFest get-together hosted in Phoenix, Arizona, by Charlie Kirk, with Maga luminaries such as Rosanne Barr and Glenn Beck providing heavy servings of raw red meat to the white nationalist attendees. He endured racist and homophobic slurs by attendees. Why any LGBT person of any race sympathizes and works to strengthen the movement of these people is beyond me because some of them wish us dead. But they do exist.
It is mind-boggling that anyone is part of this anti-woman, anti-gay movement, but here we are at a point where almost half the country is in solidarity with it.
Hate and cruelty are still doing very well in this country despite the progress that has been made. Still, the Federalist Society Supreme Court justices now endanger everybody as they dismantle the twentieth century's social and environmental justice achievements.
The GOP-leaning Newsweek writes:
The nonprofit Turning Point USA has raised considerable sums of money to fund various election campaigns, though some in the Republican Party have been frustrated by the its support of far-right candidates who struggled in high-profile races. The youth organization became prominent after tying itself to former President Donald Trump's Make America Great Again political movement. Several recent polls have shown that an increasing number of Black voters were considering supporting Trump in 2024.
"Last night in Phoenix, I was confronted and surrounded by some White Supremacists that don't like gays or blacks in the Republican Party," Smith wrote in the post.
Well, no shit Sherlock, why did you think otherwise?
His tweet received a couple of replies of support from other attendees, others not so much including the left.
Others had little sympathy for Smith.
"A gay black man walks into a White Supremacist Convention & is SHOCKED to see White Supremacists," actor Tom Arnold wrote. "I hope your grift is worth it buddy."
Another wrote that Smith "joined the face-eating leopard party and is shocked the leopards are eating his face."
There were racist slurs directed at him in the 43 seconds the clip was recorded and then posted, but the homophobic slurs were predominant in the embedded tweet below.
He handled it well, as could be expected. But you know that it had to sting.
Smith wasn't always a fascist; he was active in the Iraq anti-war movement upon his return to the States; he said that it was the massacre at Pulse Nightclub that turned him into a Republican.
Smith traced his journey to joining the Republican Party back to June 12, 2016, when 49 people were fatally shot at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando. As an openly gay man who was prominent in the LGBTQ rights movement, he wanted his fear to be met with a strong message against terrorism from his nation's leaders. In the wake of the targeted attack, it was the Republican message that resonated with him.
The shooting may have been a "turning point" for Smith, but his decision to make a public declaration about his newfound political beliefs took a little more time. As a gay, African-American man he knew he'd be going against the grain and worried about the repercussions of speaking out against the political left.
Donald Trump spoke out about Pulse but only to enhance his campaign at the time after the 2015 GOP convention with anti-Muslim rhetoric.
In his seven-paragraph statement, Trump wrote President Barack Obama "disgracefully refused to even say the words 'Radical Islam'" and called on presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton to "get out of this race" if she does not use his preferred nomenclature. The real estate mogul also blamed the attack on the "more than 100,000 lifetime migrants from the Middle East each year. Since 9/11 hundreds of migrants and their children have been implicated in terrorism in the United States."
The "terrorist, Omar Mir Saddique Mateen, is the son of an immigrant from Afghanistan," Trump continued.
If that wasn't clear enough, Trump reiterated the attacks were "just the beginning," and called attention back to his proposed "total and complete shutdown" of all Muslim entry to the U.S. as a solution.
Trump did not explain how the terrorist was able to obtain a weapon of war that killed forty-nine and wounded fifty-three. The slaughter left scars on the mental state of gay people across the country, let alone the friends and families of the victims.
Hillary Clinton stopped by the nightclub and paid her respects without media presence. Clinton was publicly against weapons of mass murder, Trump not so much. Unlike the movement Joe Smith embraced, it was a heartfelt choice for her.
We must defeat this MAGA evil in 2024. We are all fighting for our lives and our freedom. Rumors are that the Dem’s gloves are coming off very soon; I hope this includes the WH.
From David Bowie's anti-fascist album, Diamond Dogs. I'm still a fan after 47 years.