Barely a week after the Republican National Committee unanimously passed a resolution denouncing antisemitism, members of the GOP's 168-member governing board are still discussing how the measure specifically named names for condemnation.
White nationalist Nick Fuentes, rapper Ye (aka Kanye West), and Democrat Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar for their harsh language about Israel.
The resolution also condemned several other Democrat House Members such as Democratic Whip Jim Clyburn, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Gregory Meeks, and California U.S. Senate hopeful Barbara Lee, as well as Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock because "they have ties to or have spoken positively of antisemites and antisemitic organizations."
"There were some misgivings," resolution author and Republican National Committeeman Shawn Steel of California told Newsmax, "but it was ultimately passed unanimously."
Steel was referring to the objections of some on the RNC to specifically naming Fuentes and Ye. Virginia's National Committeewoman Patti Lyman said she was "completely against antisemitism but a resolution should not name names of private citizens."
"I don't want to bring more publicity to them and their views at this point," she said. "Nick Fuentes is not part of our party."
Another RNC member who requested anonymity told Newsmax that the measure's specific condemnation of Ye and Fuentes could be interpreted "as a backhanded condemnation of President Trump, who had dinner with both of them at his home in Mar-a-Lago and got lots of criticism for it."
Trump, a strong supporter of Israel as president, insisted after the dinner in November that Ye brought Fuentes along unexpectedly, that he had "never heard of" Fuentes, and that the white nationalist's views would "not have been accepted" had they been voiced in his home.
Steel explained his resolution was inspired by the late conservative columnist William F. Buckley Jr., who declared, in the 1950s, when antisemitic groups attempted to gain traction among some conservatives, that conservatives should adopt a resolution of "hypersensitivity to antisemitism."
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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