Black, Gay Republican Tells CNN the ‘Soulless Dead-Eyed White Supremacists’ Harassing Him at MAGA Event ‘Could Have Bashed My Brains In’

Rob Smith, a Black and gay conservative influencer, was the target of vile homophobic and racist harassment at an event that took place alongside Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest in Phoenix, Arizona over the weekend.

The harassment was caught on tape and Smith joined CNN’s Abby Phillip on Tuesday night to discuss it and what it says about the larger Republican Party.

“Rob, can you walk us through what happened there? How did you end up at this event and how did you end up almost encircled by these people?” Phillip asked.

“Well, the first thing that I want to say is that anybody that thinks that this is somehow in some way fake or staged, I wanted to tell them that the hate crime that happened to Jussie Smollett was fake. This hate crime was very real,” he replied, adding:

So how I ended up there was this is a group called the Republicans for National Renewal. I was in Phoenix, Arizona, for an event called America Fest, which is held by Turning Point USA. I went to this event because I saw that a lot of other conservative influencers would be there. I actually DM’d with this group. I said, Hey, I’m going to come. Can you put me on the list? They said, Sure. So that’s how I ended up at the event. I had no idea that it was going to be infested with these people.

“Is there some kind of confrontation that preceded what we saw on the video?” Phillip followed up.

“Yeah, there was actually I realized that these people were starting to encircle me and I kind of wanted to figure out what was going on. And what I will say, what a lot of people didn’t see in that video is, number one, they did say the N-word. Absolutely. That was not caught on video, but that did happen,” Smith replied, adding:

And so, look, I am 4th ID, you know, I’m an Iraq War vet. I can know how to defend myself, but I’m looking in the eyes of people that were actual neo-Nazis and actual white supremacists. There were about 20 to 25 of these people. And that is what you do not see on camera. So I had a choice to de-escalate the situation with humor, which is what I did.

“You’re saying you had no idea that there was a faction of the Republican Party that espoused racist and anti-LGBT views?” Phillip added as the interview progressed.

“No, no, no. I absolutely know that these people exist. In fact, if we want to have a conversation about white supremacy, let’s have a conversation about the white supremacy that happens on both sides. Okay,” Smith replied.

“So I’m just wondering, just from based on what you were saying, you know, a lot of times when, you know, on the left they say there are people in the Republican Party who have these views. A lot of Republicans say that’s not true. Yes, you’re maligning all of this and calling us all deplorables. You’re saying we’re all white supremacists. You experienced it firsthand. Yes. People you call white supremacists affiliated with your party. So are they right that those individuals are in the Republican Party and need to be pushed out?” Phillip asked.

“Absolutely. They are right,” Smith replied, repeating it’s an issue on both sides.

After more back and forth Phillip wrapped the interview, asking, “Do you blame people of color or LGBTQ people who say, I can’t be a part of that?”

“Well, first of all, I don’t say LGBTQ. I say gay or lesbian, and I don’t blame gay or lesbians or Black people for saying that they can’t be a part of it,” Smith replied, referring to the GOP.

“What I will say is that a lot of people want to ask me these questions about what’s going on with the movement. They want to ask me the questions about what’s going on with, like, let’s say, Donald Trump,” he continued, concluding:

And what I say is theirs is that I don’t focus on what people say. I focus on what they do. And when it comes to Trump, when it comes to the mainstream Republican Party right now, I have seen Donald Trump be the first Republican to ever excuse me, the first president to ever in her office supporting marriage equality, either Democrat or Republican. I saw him partner with the RNC in the Log Cabin Republicans who spent over $1 million in a Get Out The Vote effort, specifically targeting gays and lesbians in this country. Okay. And spent over $1 million to do that. Okay. So I look at what people do. And so now when you want to talk about having somebody denounce this, I have seen Donald Trump denounce white supremacy over and over and over again for the past eight years. I have not seen Ron DeSantis announce this. I have not seen the Vivek Ramaswamy denounce this. I have not seen Nikki Haley denounce this. I have not seen Chris Christie denounce this.

So if we’re going to talk about the future of this party and these white supremacists absolutely do exist in this party. We all saw me face them from face-to-face. I’m looking at soulless, dead-eyed white supremacists that, by the way, I felt that these people could have bashed my brains and had they gotten the chance. I deal with these people in real life, and I know for a fact where they’re coming from.

I know that a lot of these people have infiltrated these conservative organizations from top to bottom. There needs to be accountability, and I’m exploring options as how to do so right now. But do I think that this stuff is coming from the millions of people that voted for Trump? I do not. I do not. Do I think that it’s something that the Trump campaign endorses or the Republican Party endorses? I do not, because I just want the record to show that I have been around these people.

Watch the full clip above via CNN.