No One's Surprised About Nazis and the GOP

Surprise, surprise-- a new Nazi accusation in the Republican Party just dropped.  Over the weekend, Republican Sen. Jon Husted of Ohio had some cleaning up to do after it was discovered that one of his aides, Stephen Woytek, had publicly posted Nazi-linked content.  This past Friday, The Washington Post revealed that Woytek had used a photo of SS soldiers as his Facebook profile.   The Ohio senator, who is in a contentious race with Democratic Senate candidate Sherrod Brown, decided to “part ways” with Woytek.

Does this sound familiar? It should. Nazi ties or support appear to be abundant across the right. From Elon Musk’s Nazi salute on stage at an inaugural event for President Donald Trump to retweeting images laden with Nazi propaganda, the signs are there. And leaders of GOP-aligned youth groups have had their chats exposed, filled with racist jokes and antisemitic remarks. 

The White House is also teeming with links to sympathetic Nazi sentiment. For example, the Trump administration hired a young man that Florida Gov. Ron Desantis, a Republican, had previously dropped due to the man sharing Nazi imagery. Now, he is a speechwriter for Secretary of State Marco Rubio and works as deputy director of the State Department’s policy planning office. 

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has links—some permanently inked on his body—to antisemitic groups. And Trump’s choices inside his White House, including hiring the likes of Ed Martin and Paul Ingrassia, point toward a larger message: This bigoted sentiment isn’t only common, it’s accepted.