The Minnesota GOP endorsed an anti-semite for U.S. Senate. Republicans are silent.

Royce White during a BIG3 basketball game on July 17, 2022, in Frisco, Texas. (Photo by Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images for BIG3)

Earlier this month, Congressman Tom Emmer (R-MN) blasted college students protesting Israel's military operations in Gaza. "By these students’ own admission, they’re not just standing in solidarity with this pro-Hamas, anti-Semitic movement—they ARE the movement," Emmer told the Washington Free Beacon. "Perhaps they’d be happier studying at Terrorist University before pursuing their careers in Gaza." 

There were instances of college protesters using anti-Semitic slogans, but Emmer's claim that the primary purpose of the protests was to support terrorists is inaccurate. Most protesters — like the Biden administration and the international community — were concerned that the Israeli military had killed tens of thousands of civilians in Gaza. Nevertheless, Emmer decided to harshly criticize young college students to demonstrate his opposition to anti-Semitism. Emmer did this even though the students lack real political power and, for the most part, were protesting far from Minnesota. 

Emmer was joined by other Republican members of Minnesota's Congressional delegation. "The antisemitism that Jewish students are experiencing on campus is appalling," Congressman Brad Finstad (R-MN) said. "Faculty at Columbia and colleges around the country who are promoting this hateful persecution need to be held accountable." In December, Congressman Pete Stauber (R-MN) accused the presidents of Harvard, MIT, and Penn of engaging in an "absolutely disgusting display of anti-semitism." Last month, Stauber called Columbia student protesters "Hamas sympathizers" and called on them to be expelled. Congresswoman Michelle Fischbach (R-MN) also gave a speech denouncing the student protesters as anti-Semitic. 

Now, Emmer and the other Republican members of Minnesota's Congressional delegation are being confronted with an issue much closer to home. Last Saturday, the Minnesota Republican Party formally endorsed Royce White, a former NBA basketball player, to be the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate. White was introduced at the Minnesota GOP convention by Steve Bannon, the far-right polemicist and former Trump advisor.  Bannon has guided White's evolution from a Black Lives Matter protester to a MAGA Republican. In the process, White has publicly promoted deeply anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. 

In April 2022, White wrote on his Substack that "many of the Jewish people have lost their faith in a loving God," and their faith has been replaced by "materialism" and "a survivalist impulse that can give birth to the darkest of intentions and most grandiose effort for world control." In another rambling post published in September 2022, White said his criticism of Jewish people is not anti-Semitic because he is actually criticizing "anti-Jews." Many Jews, according to White, "joined the woke armies of globalists." These Jews, White said, became "globalists" because they "hate God" and "are enemies of all." 

White defended Ye (formerly Kanye West) after the rapper praised Hitler in 2022. At the time, White criticized Jews for focusing on the Holocaust "to provide a victimhood cover for their own corrupt practices." White later praised Ye for speaking out against "the Jewish lobby." White also asserted that "[t]here is a group of Jewish elite, that tends to be secular in belief and corrupt in political practice." White has described Israel as "the lynchpin of the New World Order," a conspiracy theory that posits that elites are conspiring to create a global totalitarian government. 

What has Emmer and the other Republican members of Minnesota's congressional delegation said about White? Nothing. Popular Information contacted Emmer, Finstad, Stauber, and Fischbach about White's anti-Semitic views. We did not receive a response. 

This suggests their comments about college protesters are less about a principled opposition to anti-Semitism and more about a political opportunity. Emmer and his Republican colleagues criticized college protesters because it was politically advantageous. Whether or not their claims were true, they advanced a narrative that the political left was being overtaken by bigoted radicals. Criticizing the candidate that the Minnesota Republican Party endorsed for U.S. Senate is not politically advantageous for Minnesota Republicans. So they are staying quiet. 

Congressman Dean Phillips (D-MN) told Popular Information that the endorsement of White "has further tarnished" the Republican Party. Phillips cited White's use of "virulent anti-Semitic tropes" and other bigoted conspiracy theories. 

White's history of misogyny and homophobia

White also has a track record of making misogynistic and homophobic comments. In July 2023, White lamented that “women have become too mouthy” on an episode of Bannon’s “War Room” podcast. During the interview, White also complained about the “insertion of women into the workplace,” saying that women in the modern workplace “have a history” but are too preoccupied “to look into the history.” Online, White is also notorious for describing women as “cunts.”

In a Substack post from March 2022, White described abortion as “[a] purposeful eugenics so successful it inspired the murderous 3rd Reich” and baselessly claimed that abortions have led to “the greatest genocide in the history of the United States of America.” In another post, White declared that “unviable” fetuses are a “lie.” This is false. “[T]here are several situations in which a pregnancy will never be viable,” the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology writes on its website. 

White also holds extreme anti-LGBTQ views, arguing that “[t]he LGBTQ movement is the brainchild of radical feminists and their cucked men.” In a post from January, White calls the Guardian, the Washington Post, Mother Jones and the Star Tribune “beta, cuck, fags (non sexual)” and “foot soldiers of the New World Order.” According to the Daily Dot, White has used the word “fag” in at least seven posts over the last two and a half years. “Personally, I am not anti-LGBTQ citizens; but spiritually, I believe it is in defiance of the natural order, which is God’s natural order,” White wrote in 2022. White also regularly rants against “the Church of LGBTQ,” saying it has a “pervasive effect” on society and is “out of control.” The “Church of LGBTQ  must be removed from our federally funded education curriculums,” White posted on Gettr, a social media app created by a Trump aide. 

White's close ties to the far right

White has also cozied up with several far-right figures like Steve Bannon and Alex Jones. According to the Washington Post, White’s profile in right-wing politics took off after he was introduced to Bannon in 2021. Since then, White has appeared in dozens of Bannon’s right-wing podcast “War Room.” 

In addition to his time advising Trump, Bannon is notorious for his role running Breitbart. He publicly declared he aspired to make Breitbart "the platform for the alt-right." The alt-right movement sought to mainstream racism and white ethnonationalism. Bannon also played a key role in the “Stop the Steal movement.” For White, Bannon is a “friend, a mentor and an American hero.” 

White is also a frequent guest on Alex Jones’ show Infowars. Jones is a far-right, conspiracy theorist who was ordered to pay nearly a billion dollars to Sandy Hook families after he falsely claimed that the 2012 school shooting was a hoax. White, however, says that “Alex Jones is a man I'm extremely proud to call my friend.”