It is nice to see the GOP riddled with diverse ***.
Black, Gay Republican Heckled With Slurs at MAGA Event (msn.com)
A Black and gay Republican influencer shared a video showing what he described as "White Supremacists" shouting slurs at him. Rob Smith, an Army veteran, shared the video on X on Monday. Smith said the incident occurred in Phoenix, where he and other conservatives gathered for Turning Point U.S.A. AmericaFest, a four-day event that runs through Tuesday.
An increasing number of Black voters were considering supporting Trump in 2024."Last night in Phoenix, I was confronted and surrounded by some White Supremacists that don't like gays or blacks in the Republican Party," Smith wrote in the post. "They shouted 'n*****' and 'f*****' at me to make their point. However, I served in Iraq. I never back down. Ever."
"Rob, I'm so sorry you had to go through this," conservative activist Scott Presler wrote. "This is completely unacceptable & doesn't represent the America First vision. The best thing we can do is lead by example. Let's keep registering voters, recruiting volunteers, & prepare for victory in 2024."Christina Pushaw, the rapid response director on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' presidential campaign, wrote: "This is embarrassing behavior. All I can say is their gutter trash talk gets rewarded online, and some of them are delusional enough to think they can act the same in real life." J.R. Majewski, a Republican congressional candidate, wrote: "I was there... when I heard the commotion, I stood up for Rob and made sure he got out of there safely. This is the unfortunate reality of a fractured party without leadership."
Others had little sympathy for Smith. "A gay black man walks into a White Supremacist Convention & is SHOCKED to see White Supremacists," actor Tom Arnold wrote. "I hope your grift is worth it buddy."
Smith, the author of
Always a Soldier: Service, Sacrifice, and Coming Out as America's Favorite Black, Gay Republican, previously told Newsweek that declaring that he is a conservative was harder for him than coming out as gay."Honestly, coming out as conservative has been more of an earth-shattering, life-altering move for me, personally, than coming out as gay was," Smith said in 2018.