Rep. Paul Gosar Tweets Creepy Meme About a Hooker and a White Nationalist Slogan
Photo by Bill Clark-Pool/Getty Images.
If Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) has any regrets about being the keynote speaker at a white nationalist conference last month, he sure has a funny way of showing it, tweeting a meme that appeared to show a man offering to pay a prostitute to use the group’s slogan. (Happy International Women’s Day, Ladies!)
Gosar made headlines in February when he delivered the keynote address at the America First Political Action Conference (AFPAC), and then spoke at the more mainstream Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) the next morning. AFPAC organizer Nicholas Fuentes designed his event to be a rival to CPAC, even scheduling the conference in Orlando, Fl. at a hotel not far from the CPAC venue. Gosar was also one of thirteen GOP representatives who skipped a House vote to attend CPAC, claiming they could not attend due to the pandemic.
The Arizona Congressman made an awkward attempt to distance himself from the AFPAC messaging, telling the CPAC audience, “I want to tell you, I denounce when we talk about white racism. That’s not appropriate.”
Right after he spoke on that CPAC panel, however, Gosar had a one-on-one coffee meeting with Fuentes, who tweeted a photo of the two of them sitting together at a table and smiling.
And then there’s this idiotic tweet. It’s been up for an entire day and Gosar again seems unrepentant, but we have a screenshot just in case he finds some sort of moral grounding and deletes it.
The text of the tweet is simply the hashtagged slogan “#AmericaFirst,” and what appears to be some sort of sex worker leaning over to tell a man sitting in a car that for $50, he can “have whatever you want baby.” The man’s reply is to ask her to “tell everyone America First is inevitable.”
#AmericaFirst pic.twitter.com/cZRqzEcFSB
— Paul Gosar (@DrPaulGosar) March 7, 2021
“America First is inevitable” is a specific slogan used by Fuentes’ organization, and makes a mockery of whatever excuse Gosar was attempting at CPAC to distance himself from their divisive rhetoric.
Besides the distasteful white nationalist tone, the meme is also insultingly sexist. Far too many sex workers are involved in abusive or otherwise nonconsensual situations, but let’s assume for the sake of argument that this particular lady in the red dress is there of her own free will. Fifty dollars is no where near an acceptable salary for a communications professional for a member of Congress.
Whether Gosar wishes to hire this woman for his campaign or congressional office, the standard industry pay for communications director, digital outreach, social media director, and other media strategist positions is more in the range of $5,000 a month or more. (Public records show that Gosar does in fact pay his own congressional staff at this level.)
During the Jan. 6 violent insurrection, Gosar infamously posted messages with very different tones on his Twitter and Parler accounts, with the Parler post being far more encouraging to the rioters. One shudders to think if he is posting this creepy meme on Twitter, what he might be sharing on some of the less savory corners of the internet.
Gosar needs to figure out whether he is going to honor his oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States for all Americans. This tweet says he won’t.
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
