‘He is Dangerous. He is Extreme’: Josh Shapiro Reads Brutal Anti-Semitic Responses to GOP Opponent Mastriano’s Gab Posts

GOP candidate for governor of Pennsylvania, Doug Mastriano, continues to stir controversy as a recent report found he is paying far-right social media platform Gab for followers.

MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace interviewed Mastriano’s opponent on Friday and said just when you thought he “couldn’t sink any lower than traveling to Washington, D.C., to be there on January 6th, we learned something today that you should know about. Mastriano’s campaign paid a far-right white supremacist social media platform for campaign consulting.”

“The news was first reported by the Huffington Post,” Wallace continued, noting, “The recipient of the payment was Gab, a platform used by the Pittsburgh Tree of Life synagogue shooter.”

“He murdered 11 people in the very state Mastriano is looking to lead,” Wallace added. She went on to note that the CEO of Gab, Andrew Torba, “implored his Gab followers to marry and reproduce with only white people” following the racially motivated mass shooting in Buffalo, New York.

Torba endorsed Mastriano “as part of his efforts to build, ‘A coalition of Christian nationalists at the local and state level to help pioneer a grassroots movement of Christians in Pennsylvania to help take it back for the glory of God,’” added Wallace, quoting from the New York Times.

Wallace then brought on Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania’s attorney general and Mastriano’s general election opponent, to discuss the Huffington Post story.

Shapiro lambasted Mastriano, saying, “He paid thousands of dollars for anti-semitic, racist, alt-right extremists to be a part of his campaign for governor.”

Shapiro went on to accuse Mastriano of being the only candidate for state and federal office in the U.S. to be paying for followers on Gab, which he described as a “known haven for white supremacists.”

Shapiro went on to read some of the vile comments Gab users have left on Mastriano posts:

“Jews are a cancer on society.” That’s what one of his supporters wrote. Another wrote, “Good people must fight evil Jew filth.” That’s what one of his supporters wrote in response to Doug Mastriano and they also wrote, “It’s time for Jews to face the great replacement,” obviously referencing a white nationalist conspiracy theory.

“He never speaks up and says, those anti-semitic or racist or alt-right extremist posts have no place in his campaign. Instead, he’s embracing them,” Shapiro added, noting Mastriano never contradicts the bigoted sentiments of his followers.

Watch the full clip above via MSNBC