For most of the last few weeks, we were led to believe that White House Chief of Staff John Kelly was weeding out alt-right influence on Donald Trump. Steve Bannon, the once and future boss of Breitbart News, the alt-right’s favorite “news” site, was pushed out as chief strategist. Soon afterward, former national security columnist Sebastian Gorka was dumped as a counterterrorism adviser.
It initially appeared that the “Breitbart faction” of the West Wing had been reduced to just one person–policy adviser Stephen Miller. But it turns out there’s one more member. The man Trump has tapped to tilt windmills for evidence of voter fraud writes a column for Breitbart.
Kansas secretary of state Kris Kobach has been a regular columnist for Breitbart since June, a gig he has maintained even after becoming operating head of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity. According to The Kansas City Star, Kobach first wrote for Breitbart earlier that month, about the potential terrorism threat posed by refugees. Bannon approached him about writing a paid column soon afterward. His most recent column rolled out on Thursday.
My latest piece for @BreitbartNews on ending the #DACA amnesty. https://t.co/Xl1jT7xoMO
— Kris W. Kobach (@KrisKobach1787) August 30, 2017
Never mind that by the time Kobach signed on with Breitbart, it had become infamous for giving succor to white nationalism. Bannon, for instance, has documented ties to white nationalists both at home and abroad, and frequently quotes from a staggeringly racist book that argues only white Europeans are truly human. He also has no problem with suppressing the black vote, and believes only property owners should be allowed to vote.
This would be disturbing in and of itself. But Kobach is running for governor in 2018, and you really have to wonder what kind of message that sends. State representative Gail Finney, one of only three blacks in the state legislature, was initially incredulous that anyone running statewide would want his name associated with that outfit. But after thinking about it, it came as no shock that Kobach was writing for Breitbart. She recalled his history of blowing dog whistles about “black crime.”
But that doesn’t matter to Kobach. He claimed that any claims that Breitbart was a hate site were “completely baseless,” and vowed that he would have had nothing to do with the site if it really embraced white nationalism. As he sees it, Breitbart appeals to “a broad spectrum of conservative readers.”
Let’s assume that all the talk that Breitbart is racist is a lot of fuss over nothing. But is Kobach willing to tell the people of Kansas why he associates with a site that kept Milo Yiannopoulos on its payroll even after it was proven beyond all doubt that he was a noxious troll? And is he also willing to explain why he associates with a site that even had to debate whether to dump Yiannopoulos’ ouster for being a pedophilia apologist, then spun his ouster as a liberal hit job?
Patrick Miller, a political scientist at the University of Kansas, doesn’t think Kobach’s ties to Breitbart will hurt him, since most voters who find that a red flag wouldn’t vote for him in the first place. That may be true, but it could also make a big difference with swing voters. It could also potentially make Kobach a millstone around the entire Republican ticket.
The fact that Kobach associates with a site that, at the very least, gives succor to racists is a red flag. The fact that he associates with a site that gave succor to a notorious troll and pedophilia apologist is a red flag. Both together? Kansans deserve a lot better.
(featured image: photo art courtesy Emil Lendof, The Daily Beast)
