Conspiracy theories and racist memes: How a dozen Texas GOP county chairs caused turmoil within the party
The Texas Tribune
On Friday morning, five GOP county chairs were facing backlash for sharing racist social media posts. The Texas Tribune identified seven other GOP county chairs across the state who shared similar posts.
On Friday morning, Texas’ top Republican officials, including Gov. Greg Abbott, had condemned four GOP chairs for proliferating conspiracy theories on Facebook. The posts, from chairs of some of the largest counties in Texas, suggested George Floyd’s death was staged to erode black support for President Donald Trump.
Meanwhile, a fifth chairperson, Harris County GOP chair-elect Keith Nielsen, announced Saturday he will not take office as planned after coming under fire for posting a Martin Luther King Jr. quote — “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” — on a background with a banana.
On Friday afternoon, The Texas Tribune identified similar posts from seven more GOP chairs across the state. Some of these posts suggested people who have been protesting Floyd’s death across the state and the country were being paid by Jewish billionaire George Soros — an oft-used anti-Semitic trope.
