Replacement theories, hunting RINOs: How GOP candidates, lawmakers push 'dangerous' language

WASHINGTON – A number of GOP candidates have spent hundreds of millions on ads this campaign season pushing replacement theories and other conspiracies targeting people of color, while also attacking fellow Republicans who don't fall in line.

During the 2022 midterm cycle, more than 2,700 ads have aired on television and social media focusing on racist tropes, according to a compilation by America's Voice, which advocates for immigrants' rights.

More than 100 directly mentioned the racist Great Replacement Theory and "invasion" language, accusing Democrats of deliberately encouraging migrants to cross the southern border illegally to replace white voters. And more than 300 ads cite critical race theory, claiming Democrats are trying to indoctrinate children with fake history lessons about systemic racism against Black people.

Critics say the ads can be effective but come with a societal cost.

"Without a doubt, there are serious downstream violent consequences," said Zachary Mueller, political director of America's Voice, a group that advocates for immigrant rights.

For example, the Republican candidates' claims that liberals were "grooming" children by pushing for LGBTQ rights were repeated by the Proud Boys when the extremist street gang disrupted a drag queen story hour on June 11 in California.

A Buffalo, New York, gunman who has been charged with a hate crime for the mass shooting of 10 Black shoppers at a Buffalo supermarket referenced the racist replacement theory 10 times in his writings before the shooting. The gunman said Black people were "replacers" of white Americans.

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GOP rhetoric: Republican leaders yet to denounce racist replacement theory repeated by Buffalo shooting suspect

Experts who study language, rhetoric and communication see a disturbing pattern between a string of violent incidents across the country and an increase in "dangerous" language from Republican candidates and sitting GOP members of Congress in ads, social media posts and speeches.

While there's no direct one-to-one connection between one campaign ad and a person or group carrying out a crime, "there is a really clear relationship between the hateful speech of politicians and hateful acts," said Sophie Bjork-James, an expert on racism who teaches at Vanderbilt University.

Embracing the replacement theory stoking fear among many white Americans

J.D. Vance, a Republican Senate candidate in Ohio, said in a tweet on Feb. 16 that the only way President Joe Biden could win reelection in 2024 "is to replace the citizens of his own country with illegal foreigners. The invasion he's allowing to happen at the border is about power for democrats and nothing more."
J.D. Vance, a Republican Senate candidate in Ohio, said in a tweet on Feb. 16 that the only way President Joe Biden could win reelection in 2024 "is to replace the citizens of his own country with illegal foreigners. The invasion he's allowing to happen at the border is about power for democrats and nothing more."

All over the country, sitting members of Congress, candidates, state politicians and former officeholders have been echoing the replacement theory or its key elements.

They often try to distance themselves from the conspiracy theory’s antisemitic origins – a baseless belief that Jews are behind a systematic replacement of white people with immigrants and Black people – and instead say Democrats are trying to import nonwhite voters to take over American elections. They often denounce racism and bigotry in general but not replacement theory.

Mueller has been tracking political ads since 2018 and can see that the "dangerous language (is) much worse" this year.

Despite an outcry from Democrats and others for Republicans to stop embracing such hateful language, GOP leaders have not denounced replacement theory rhetoric.

And some members have doubled down.

For example, 32 GOP members of Congress repeated the invasion language in a letter to the White House five days after the Buffalo shooting. 

Accountability: Republican leaders yet to denounce racist replacement theory repeated by Buffalo shooting suspect

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The letter, led by Republican Texas Congressman Troy Nehls, told President Joe Biden he had a constitutional duty to use war powers and "protect America from invasion."

Lawmakers claimed in the letter that "dangerous individuals" are crossing the border and worsening the country's drug crisis. U.S. border officials reported encountering more than 234,000 migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border in April, a 22-year high, according to NBC news.

Three days after the Buffalo shooting, when it was widely known that the gunman espoused racist replacement theories, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas,called the border crisis "an invasion."

J.D. Vance, a Republican Senate candidate in Ohio, used similar language on Feb. 16, when he said the only way Biden could win reelection in 2024 "is to replace the citizens of his own country with illegal foreigners. The invasion he's allowing to happen at the border is about power for democrats and nothing more."

The Republican National Committee on March 31 also called it an "invasion."

Mueller pushed back, saying the majority of people trying to enter the U.S. are refugees seeking asylum.

But the GOP is spending a lot of money to "fear monger," he said.

Going after moderate Republicans they call 'RINOs'

It's not just Democrats, immigrants, or drag queens in the crosshairs. GOP candidates and lawmakers who have not embraced the aggressive language also are being targeted.

Eric Greitens, a former Missouri governor running for U.S. Senate this year, drew criticism from both parties when he released a new ad on social media on June 20 in which he was carrying a gun and told the audience: "Today we are going RINO hunting."

He claims RINOs are corrupt and cowardly.

"Join the MAGA crew," he said in the ad. "Get a RINO hunting permit. There's no bagging limit, no tagging limit and it doesn't expire until we save our country."

The ad was quickly removed by Facebook and flagged with a warning on Twitter.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican who voted with Democrats to impeach former President Donald Trump, said a day earlier on ABC's "This Week" that he recently received a letter from someone threatening to kill him, his wife and their newborn.

"There is violence in the future, I'm going to tell you," said Kinzinger, who has often been derided as a "RINO" by the former president. "And until we get a grip on telling people the truth, we can't expect any differently."

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Earlier this week, the congressman shared a compilation of expletive-laden and threatening voicemails and phone calls recently made to his office.

His comments come at a time when the Department of Homeland Security is also warning of a "heightened threat environment" because of domestic terrorism and a politically charged climate. The agency cited false narratives and racist conspiracy theories in its June bulletin.

"Some domestic violent extremists have expressed grievances related to their perception that the U.S. government is unwilling or unable to secure the U.S.-Mexico border and have called for violence to stem the flow of undocumented migrants to the United States.  We assess that there is increased risk of domestic violent extremists using changes in border security-related policies and/or enforcement mechanisms to justify violence against individuals, such as minorities and law enforcement officials involved in the enforcement of border security."

Sunday on "Face the Nation," DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the department is keeping a close watch on extremist groups.

"Individuals spurred by ideology of hate, false narratives, personal grievances, to acts of violence and it is that we respond to and we seek to of course prevent," he said."We are in a heightened threat environment."

'These are from people in positions of real power'

In cities such as Buffalo, Charlottesville, Virginia,  and Pittsburgh where racial and ethnic tensions have led to violence, white nationalists have echoed the same language in white supremacist marches and mass shootings.

The narratives they are repeating aren't coming from "kooks in the basement writing online," Mueller said. "These are from people in positions of real power."

The National Republican Senatorial Committee, the campaign arm of the Senate GOP, has run multiple television and digital ads spotlighting the thousands of immigrants trying to cross the border illegally every day,  including anti-immigrant ads in the key battleground states of Arizona and Wisconsin.

In Wisconsin, where GOP Sen. Ron Johnson is seeking reelection, he and the National Republican Senate Committee are running a seven-figure television and digital ad package alleging open borders and migrants are responsible for fentanyl overdoses. It says every town is a border town because of overdoses.

Data shows drugs typically enter the country through U.S. Ports of Entry, according to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol.

Arizona GOP Senate candidate Blake Masters’ has run multiple ads, including a recent one after the Buffalo shooting, claiming Democrats were trying to "flood the nation with millions of immigrants to change the demographics of our country." Masters said Democrats want to do that "so they can consolidate power so they can never lose another election."

Florida GOP Sen. Rick Scott, who chairs the National Republican Senate Committee, did not respond to a USA TODAY request for comment.

A political strategy that's 'working very well'

Many historians and professors who study U.S. democracy place the blame for escalating rhetoric squarely on Republicans. They say it is highly unusual for leaders of one of America's two major political parties to be engaging in, much less condoning, such dangerous and divisive speech.

"It elevates extreme views to a legitimacy they haven't had in the past," said Ziad Munson, a sociology professor at Lehigh University. "Words that used to be in the fringes of political life are now part of major political campaigns."

Democrats have used incendiary rhetoric at times but experts said they've also tried to walk back their words more so than Republicans, experts said.

After a gunman went to Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's house last month following the high court's decision to roll back the 1973 Roe v. Wade case that made abortion rights the law of the land, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., immediately apologized for comments he made at a rally two years ago.

During a March 2020 abortion-rights rally outside the Supreme Court, Schumer directed his speech at Justices Neal Gorsuch and Kavanaugh: "You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price. You won't know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions."

Republicans two weeks ago accused Schumer of calling for violence in his speech two years ago. He echoed an apology he first issued two years ago on the Senate floor that same week as the March 2020 rally.

“I should not have used the words I used yesterday," he said at the time. "They didn't come out the way I intended to. My point was that there would be political consequences – political consequences – for President (Donald) Trump and Senate Republicans if the Supreme Court, with the newly confirmed Justices, stripped away a woman's right to choose. I shouldn't have used the words I did, but in no way was I making a threat.”

Analysts say the rhetoric of the racist replacement theory, the invasion of the southern border, or critical race theory has so far not significantly hurt the GOP, which is expected to take back the House in November and could recapture the evenly divided Senate.

Republicans didn't start this trend, but they are normalizing it, the experts said. The hate speech that found a home on social media threads is now in ads from political campaigns and their PACs.

"It has become a political strategy," Bjork-James said, "and it's working very well,"

Contributing: Will Carless

Candy Woodall is a Congress reporter for USA TODAY. She can be reached at cwoodall@usatoday.com or on Twitter at @candynotcandace.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Border invasion to grooming children: How GOP uses 'dangerous' words

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