Last week, most Americans hung out with family and friends giving thanks. Giving thanks for still being alive greater than two years right into a deadly pandemic. Giving thanks for having the ability to gather with family members in person as a substitute of in phone calls. Giving thanks for living in a rustic where, before breaking bread with those around us, we’ve got the liberty to hope—or not to hope—to the deity or deities of our selection. Some Americans nevertheless, spent their Thanksgiving week in another way.
President Donald Trump met over dinner with the rapper Kanye West, now referred to as Ye—arguably more widely known for his vile antisemitic remarks than his music as of late—and notorious white nationalist Nick Fuentes, a racist and a Holocaust denier who often invokes his Catholic faith because the inspiration for the values he desires to see grasp america.
As a Catholic and a Republican, I can say for sure that Mr. Fuentes doesn’t represent the values of either group. More Catholic Republicans have an obligation to arise and say so. The hatred spewed by Mr. Fuentes has no foundation within the Catechism or within the Bible. Moreover, any true Republican of excellent will and customary sense ought not elevate Mr. Fuentes or associate with him.
The hatred spewed by Mr. Fuentes has no foundation within the Catechism or within the Bible.
Unfortunately, nevertheless, there may be a large minority inside the Republican Party that, of their devotion to the false god that’s former President Trump, turn a blind eye to a former U.S. president attempting to legitimize a white nationalist. Mr. Fuentes doesn’t belong in American public life. His meeting with the previous president proves yet again—as Jan. 6, 2021, already clearly did—that Mr. Trump is unfit to hunt the office of the presidency.
As Mr. Fuentes seeks to turn out to be this country’s most notorious white nationalist, it’s value noting that his own Latino heritage would have up until somewhat recently, precluded him from being accepted by those whose acclaim he seeks. It is not any secret that white supremacist organizations, while they’re most known for his or her bigotry toward Black Americans in addition to Jewish Americans, have also long harbored hatred toward Catholics. Lately, nevertheless, Mr. Fuentes’ background is unfortunately not so unusual. Take, for instance, Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, the Cuban-American leader of the Proud Boys who will soon stand trial for his actions on and around Jan. 6, 2021.
Like many fellow Catholics in america, I actually have Jewish relations and friends, for whom the results of this hatred are very real and painful. The Catholic Church’s history, unfortunately, is replete with saddening and appalling examples—most damningly in not doing an important deal more to guard Jewish communities in Europe in the course of the Holocaust—of falling well wanting the instance of Jesus Christ. That is precisely why it’s incumbent upon politically lively Catholics—particularly Republicans who can shape the longer term of their party—to arise and decry this hateful rhetoric.
Within the twentieth century, Catholic Republican William F. Buckley Jr. forged out the antisemites of the John Birch Society from the Republican Party. And to their credit, some Republican leaders similar to former Latest Jersey Governor Chris Christie (who’s Catholic), and former Vice President Mike Pence (who was raised Catholic and is now an evangelical Christian), have spoken out against Mr. Trump’s outrageous Thanksgiving week meeting.
Mr. Trump should publicly apologize for this meeting, as Mr. Pence has suggested, and denounce these hatemongers with whom he met. He also needs to publicly meet with members of communities most hurt by this meeting, particularly with members of the Jewish community, committing himself to make use of his platform as a former president to fight against such hatefulness and expel such antisemites from the Republican Party. Moreover, the previous president should seriously consider if the country really needs him to run again for president, given how his tenure in office ended and the way his latest run for office is commencing.
Whatever Mr. Trump chooses to do, a recent generation of Catholic Republicans cannot stand idly by. We must denounce this latest incarnation of an old hate and we must accomplish that now.
