Texas GOP asks people to follow it on Gab, a social media platform used by right-wing extremists
- Wikimedia Commons / Gage Skidmore
- Firebrand former congressman Allen West unseated James Dickey as head of the Texas GOP.
The Texas Republican Party, under the leadership of firebrand former congressman Allen West, is asking supporters to follow it further to the fringe.
On Saturday, the Texas GOP tweeted out a message urging followers to join it on “free speech” social media app Gab — a story first reported by Newsweek.
After Amazon Web Services suspended conservative network Parler, Gab has become a magnet for extremist right-wing figures and adherents to QAnon conspiracy theories. The platform, which touts itself a bastion of free expression, has virtually no censorship rules and is regularly used by Neo-Nazis and white supremacists.
We’re on Gab! pic.twitter.com/7KJ64xPBcu
— Texas GOP (@TexasGOP) January 23, 2021
The invitation comes as Texas GOP — under the leadership of West, a one-term Florida congressman — continues to take heat for adopting the slogan “We are the storm” in August.
Critics charge the phrase is a
dog whistle to QAnon conspiracy followers, who believe the “storm” is the moment Donald Trump will expose the network of satanic pedophiles who secretly run the government.
West has defended the slogan, saying it stems from an unattributed quote he’s fond of: “The devil whispers to the warrior slyly can it withstand the coming storm. The warrior responds, ‘I am the storm.'”
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