Across the state, Arizona Republican leaders are condemning a false advertisement issued by a group calling itself College Republicans United announcing the noted anti-Semite Nick Fuentes as their guest speaker for an upcoming event.
The Maricopa County Republican Committee (MCRC) tweeted, “NEVER AUTHORIZED | NEVER SPONSORED | NEVER PROMOTED: The #MCRC never authorized, sponsored, or promoted the upcoming July 30 College Republicans United convention. Any placement of “MCRC” or “Maricopa GOP” etc. on anything associated with the CRU event is unauthorized. Thank you.”
Rep. Alexander Kolodin, a devout Jew who has challenged Fuentes before for his virulent anti-Semitism tweeted, “There is a flyer claiming that @ASU_CRU is hosting a joint event w/ noted POS Nick Fuentes and several county GOP Committees. The GOP Committees I have spoken to were surprised to hear it! Whoever is doing this should be treated as a saboteur!”
Former Arizona State Rep. Adam Kwasman, who heads up the Arizona chapter of the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC), tweeted, “It is becoming clearer, as we inquire, that AZ GOP county parties were entirely unaware of this event/unaware of the nature/speaker lineup of this event. Please be patient as more info is made known.”
Jake Angeli-Chansley, commonly known as the American Shaman, also renounced the event on Twitter.
“Ok, to start, WTF? When I agreed to speak at the AZ College Republicans United event I was not aware that I’d be sharing the stage with someone who wants a 16 year old wife. Should I back out? Or should I do the event & blow this schmuck out of the water & expose a false prophet?”
Kolodin tweeted in response to Angeli-Chansley, “QAnon Shaman ain’t got no time for antisemites!”
The Pima County Republican Party also released a statement asserting that it “never authorized support for or agreed to promote the Arizona College Republicans United event scheduled for July 30th, 2023. Any use of our name or logo was unauthorized.”
1st Vice Chair of LD-19 was there when they lied about the event to PIMA GOP… It was sold as a young republicans event which was targeting the youth so they can become more active. No, interviews, sorry.
— AZLD19 Republicans (@AZLD19Chair) July 11, 2023
Kwasman later applauded the MCRC and others for their quick response to the controversy.
“Regarding today’s events: What we are seeing is a fantastic collaboration between the local and national @RJC, state elected officials, like @realAlexKolodin, and @AZGOP, @MaricopaGOP, and other county Republican leaders to effectively lead. Today is a good day,” tweeted Kwasman.
The RJC issued an official statement on the matter:
“We’re proud of the fantastic collaboration between the local and national RJC, state elected officials, and party leaders who worked quickly to dispel any concept of collaboration with Fuentes.
What we saw was great leadership and teamwork all around, for the benefit of Arizona, the Republican Party, and the Jewish community.”
The RJC will continue to work diligently, with our local partners, in stamping out antisemitism wherever it appears.”
