A quick update on the beleaguered Michigan Republican Party.
I’ve taken particular interest in the state party since last month, when its official X account tweeted a racist attack on Joy Reid and Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott.
And, look, I’m hardly surprised — albeit still disgusted — when I hear Republicans spouting racist rhetoric these days. But even by their standards, this was pretty overt.
“What must chapter meetings sound like?” I thought.
And suddenly, thanks to a new Media Matters report, it’s all starting to make a bit more sense. The outlet says the Michigan GOP’s new chair — Pete Hoekstra, who was ambassador to the Netherlands under President Donald Trump — has a well-documented history of anti-Muslim associations.
According to Media Matters’ Eric Hananoki:
While serving as chair of the Michigan Republican Party, Pete Hoekstra has also been working for the anti-Muslim Gatestone Institute, which has posted commentaries suggesting that Muslims are incompatible with the West, declaring “Islam is a Problem,” and claiming Europe may be facing “Great White Death” because of Muslim immigrants. Hoekstra himself has used his Gatestone Institute position to praise Geert Wilders, a far-right Dutch politician and leading anti-Muslim figure. The Michigan GOP chair also wrote that he has “often met” with Wilders, who he claimed is devoted to “religious tolerance.” (Wilders has claimed, among other things, that “Islam is not a religion”).
As Hananoki notes, Gatestone has published pieces such as “Germany’s Multicultural Suicide” and argued that “the ‘white death’ of Europe is a mathematical reality.” (Gatestone disputes being characterized as anti-Muslim and contends that it actually is a “pro-Muslim” organization that seeks to educate the public about Shariah, or Islamic law.)
Hananoki’s report included receipts, too — in particular, this page listing Hoekstra as one of the think tank’s “distinguished senior fellows”; and this page, which shows you the dozens of articles Hoekstra has written for Gatestone. The man clearly isn’t trying to hide his association with the organization.
Wilders, the Dutch politician, is associated with a mainstreaming of white nationalism in the Netherlands and has drawn interest from white nationalists in other countries, including the U.S. He has written pieces for Gatestone such as “Stop Denying the Obvious: Islam is a Problem.”
Hoekstra’s links to Islamophobia and white nationalist politics are especially noteworthy given his state: Michigan has one of the largest concentration of Muslim Americans in the country.
I want to be clear: I don’t know whether Hoekstra approved the racist tweet aimed at Joy and the Baltimore mayor. But that doesn’t matter as much as the fact that Michigan’s GOP chair has encouraged, through his own affiliations and endorsements, the culture of unabashed racial and religious bigotry that’s coursing through his party.
Hoekstra’s links to Islamophobia and white nationalist politics are especially noteworthy given his state: Michigan has one of the largest concentration of Muslim Americans in the country.
In recent months, I’ve read my share of news reports about Muslim Michiganders who are angered by the Biden administration’s response to the Israel-Hamas war. Some have even suggested that there’s little difference between Democrats and Republicans in their approach to Muslim communities.
Although I fundamentally understand the anger driving this claim about the two parties, Pete Hoekstra is evidence to the contrary.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.