Paul Gosar has been a member of the United States House of Representatives from Arizona since 2011. He flew under my radar for a long time, until about 3 years ago when he entered the far-right QAnon circle led by Georgia Representative, Marge Greene. Since then, I’ve come to see him as a really nasty piece of work. He has claimed that the 2nd Amendment is one of the most important rights listed in the Bill of Rights. He seems to be against ALL immigration and has no use for the Dreamers, people brought to this nation as children. He has referred to Native Americans as “wards of the federal government.” He has ties to far-right groups such as the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys who were involved in the attempted coup of January 6th, 2021, as well as Nazi-lover Nick Fuentes. His degree is in dentistry, which surely qualifies him for a seat in Congress about as much as Greene’s time spent running a gym qualifies her, or Lauren Boebert’s time spent running a bar qualifies her.
But today, his nastiness topped the charts … broke through the worst of the worst.
Like most other members of Congress, he sends out a weekly newsletter to his constituents. In his April 16th newsletter he included a link to an article in the February 26th issue of Veterans Today by senior editor Jonas E. Alexis that has the headline “Congressman: Jewish warmongers Nuland & Blinken ‘Are Dangerous Fools Who Can Get Us All Killed.’” That “Congressman” is none other than Gosar himself. For those who may not be aware, as I was not, Veterans Today is an antisemitic website that has called the Holocaust a “lie” and a “hoax” and praised Hitler as a “great man” and “a man of valor.” That it is the publication Gosar chooses to voice his opinions is telling in and of itself.
My question is this: WHY do we tolerate such behaviour and associations by a government official, an elected official who is paid from the public’s hard-earned tax dollars! If Mr. Gosar (and others) wishes his racism, his bigotry to be on full display, then he must step down from his seat in Congress and WE THE PEOPLE must demand it!
In the 2022 election, Gosar won his bid for re-election with 97.8% of the vote — 192,796 votes! Does this speak volumes about the state of the nation, or at least the state of the state of Arizona? If 97.8% of the people in his district in Arizona support a man who is an unapologetic bigot, who supports an organization that praises Adolf Hitler and genocide, then does that paint a picture of who this nation, or at least the people of Arizona, are?
I grew up thinking that I was lucky to have been born in the United States, that it was one of the best countries I could have been born into. When I look around today, when I see the likes of Paul Gosar, Marge Greene, Kevin McCarthy, Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz, Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Josh Hawley and so many more who are supposedly representing We the People, I realize that I have lost my trust in this nation, in its government yes, but also in the people, for it was the people who put these bloody fools in office. Have We the People no shame?