Jared Taylor. via Wikimedia Commons
On the evening of September 29, Jared Taylor wrote on his website American Renaissance: “I did not expect him to be so positive. It is clear that more and more people are waking up.”
Taylor was referring to anti-Muslim conspiracy theorist Frank Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy (CSP), who, as the Southern Poverty Law Center initially reported, hosted Taylor on his Secure Freedom Radio program earlier that day. The two discussed Europe’s ongoing refugee crisis. Gaffney has since attempted to distance himself from the prominent white nationalist.
Media Matters: “Wonderful”: Wash. Times Columnist Frank Gaffney Lavishes Praise On White Nationalist Leader
Citing a lack of “due diligence” prior to inviting him on the show, CSP issued a statement claiming Gaffney “was unfamiliar with Mr. Taylor’s views on other matters and did not discuss or endorse them.” Gaffney’s interview with Taylor has also been removed from CSP’s website.
Gaffney can deny any prior knowledge of Taylor, as laughable as that may be, but it should come as no surprise that he is attracted to the racist views that Taylor espouses. In many ways they closely resemble his own. Gaffney’s interview only reinforced that.
Jared Taylor runs the New Century Foundation and publishes the virulently racist magazine and website American Renaissance. He has previously claimed that “When blacks are left entirely to their own devices, Western civilization — any kind of civilization — disappears.” More recently, Taylor was quoted by media outlets across the country this summer as he was the designated press contact and spokesperson for the white nationalist Council of Conservative Citizens following the murder of nine people in a historic Charleston, S.C., church, allegedly by a man who took inspiration from the group.
During his interview with Gaffney, Taylor derided “all Muslims” in Europe as “demonic forces.” He added, “These people are going to be all sorts of trouble for Europe, for many, many years to come.” Gaffney, rather than taking umbrage with Taylor’s characterization of Muslims as “demonic,” predictably expanded on his claims to state the United States would be similarly troubled “if President Obama has his way.”
Of course Gaffney would not object to such bigoted descriptions of Muslims, though. Taylor’s words comfortably fit within Gaffney’s deranged view of Muslims and Islam as an omnipotent danger ceaselessly working to infiltrate and destroy American society. Gaffney’s insistence in perpetuating these conspiracies – and amplifying other voices who echo them – is what has caused him to be increasingly ostracized from mainstream conservativism, much like Jared Taylor and his fellow proponents of so-called “race realism” have.
Gaffney feigns ignorance
It would be charitable, at best, to accept Gaffney’s claim that he did not have any prior knowledge of Jared Taylor’s status as one of the country’s most prominent white nationalists. After all, when introducing Taylor on his program, Gaffney specifically noted that his guest was the author of the book White Identity: Racial Consciousness in the 21st Century. Surely that would have aroused some suspicion Gaffney, right?
Even without executing proper “due diligence,” Gaffney likely at least did a simple internet search for “American Renaissance” before calling it “wonderful.” Had he used Google, he would easily find the website’s subheading: “A conservative monthly publication. Promotes a variety of white racial positions.” If that didn’t suggest any impropriety to Gaffney, all he had to do was read the line below that description to find links to articles titled, “The Cult of White Extinction, and How to Reverse It” and “What I Don’t Like About Blacks.”
Instead, Gaffney waxed rhapsodic about Taylor’s work during the interview: “I appreciate tremendously the work you’re doing at American Renaissance and the New Century Foundation,” he told Taylor near the interview’s conclusion – and expressed a desire to have him on Secure Freedom Radio “again very soon.”
Gaffney can claim ignorance, no matter how implausible it seems for a man who has been professionally involved in conservative politics for decades to not be aware of Jared Taylor and his views. The reality is that, when it comes to Muslims, Islam, and immigration, Taylor’s and Gaffney’s bigoted views are in almost complete alignment. Both Taylor and Gaffney prey on racial anxieties stemming from demographic change in their expressions of nativism – one is just more forthright about it.
And because of that, any denunciation of Taylor by Gaffney will always be insincere at best.