When he complained, rightwingers sent him homophobic taunts online...

When he complained, rightwingers sent him homophobic taunts online.

Black gay Republican podcaster Rob Smith has claimed that “white supremacist” members of his political party called him “fa**ot” and the n-word during his Sunday night attendance of Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest event in Phoenix, Arizona. Though Smith posted a video of his brief interaction with the aggressors, commenters on X (formerly Twitter) noted that the video didn’t feature the n-word and mocked Smith his membership in an anti-gay political party.

“Last night in Phoenix, I was confronted and surrounded by some White Supremacists that don’t like gays or blacks in the Republican Party,” Smith wrote in a December 18 post on X. “They shouted ‘nr’ and ‘ft’ at me to make their point. However, I served in Iraq. I never back down. Ever.”

  • JeeBaiChow@lemmy.world
    1131·
    9 months ago

    Maybe having served in Iraq, he should have learned how a mistake is sometimes just a mistake and to know how to change your course of action once it turns out to be a mistake.

    • magnetosphere@kbin.social
      33·
      9 months ago

      Or maybe he just learned how to live in denial, and put a positive spin on a nightmarish clusterfuck. Mission Accomplished!

    • rottingleaf@lemmy.zip
      2·
      9 months ago

      Maybe he has an ideological reason and considers such events less important than that.

      Say, he’s a supporter of right-wing populist state capitalism. Satan knows why, Satan knows how, but he is.

      Is there an alternative political affiliation for him, so that he wouldn’t be a Trump supporter?

      • JeeBaiChow@lemmy.world
        1·
        9 months ago

        BCOS the military and its vets are the R’s version of ‘think of the babies’, right until the point they ask for bothersome thugs like rights and support.

    • unreasonabro@lemmy.world
      321·
      9 months ago

      gullibility combined with personality traits like “i never back down because i was in a wrong and illegal war started by the party of criminals who want to kill me and everyone like me” could be one reason, I think.

      maybe he just really hates poor people.

      • UNWILLING_PARTICIPANT@sh.itjust.works
        2·
        9 months ago

        Maybe he believes it really is just about class and nothing else and thought, ka-ching! Time to get in with the class that’s exploiting everyone and only pretending to be white supremacist to stir up the plebs

    • Duamerthrax@lemmy.world
      191·
      9 months ago

      Based on the one I know, toxic upbringing, dumb as rocks, and completely unemphatic to anyone else. I was stuck in a car with one that’s a family friend for 25 hours. He’s managed to survive, so why can’t all the other lgbts just suck it up is probably the unspoken thought he has. When he was complaining that the Metrosexuals messed up his ability to find other gay people, I told him I haven’t heard anyone use that term in years. He was also convinced that his boyfriend is hiding that fact that he works as at a porn store and that’s going to get him fired from his job as an… Pianist/Organist for the Catholic Church. I try to avoid him.

    • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
      152·
      9 months ago

      The same reason why a poor white person with kids would?

      I do agree that your example is much more extreme, but maybe it’s a question of degree not kind.

    • stolid_agnostic@lemmy.ml
      9·
      9 months ago

      It’s all about the financial aspect. These people tend to be wealthier and very anti-tax. They hope to be one of the “good ones” that are tokenized in the party.

    • smackjack@lemmy.world
      22·
      9 months ago

      We’ll probably see more gay Republicans now that same-sex marriage is legal everywhere and no one seems interested in challenging it.

      • Jomega@lemmy.world
        5·
        9 months ago

        They are absolutely still interested in challenging it. They’ve been talking about repealing it since the day that it was enacted. Why do you think they keep dialing up the anti LGBT rhetoric? Do you think that they just threw up their hands and said “oh well!” when that thing they railed against for decades happened? That which they raged against with all the hatred in their hearts. That they insisted was a sin against god and would lead to the collapse of Western civilization?

        They didn’t stop being angry at us. They’re still pissed.

    • VonCesaw@lemmy.world
      20·
      9 months ago

      It is UNFAIR to expect me to know/accept that the Leopards Eating Faces Party would eat MY face

      • orclev@lemmy.world
        17·
        9 months ago

        Not so much that last one. Nobody that’s not already ridiculously wealthy (like 0.1% wealthy) is going to profit under the GOP, it’s just a question of how far back in the queue you are to get fleeced. All their policies are based around concentrating all the nations wealth into as few hands as possible. It’s why the GOP has such a love affair with Russia of late, they want to emulate Putin and his oligarch minions.

    • TallonMetroid@lemmy.worldEnglish
      34·
      9 months ago

      Maybe he’s racist against immigrants? Alternatively, maybe he’s hoping that they’ll care more about him being a fellow rich person (if he is in fact rich) than about his gay blackness (they don’t).

      • Drivebyhaiku@lemmy.world
        12·
        9 months ago

        Maybe he bought the lie that the ideology that belies Conservative platform isn’t racist (or is an acceptable parameter of racist) or homophobic… Or maybe he just feels like he’s been accepted into the club when he gets cheered on by his Conservative buddies for slaging on trans folk and other POCs because they lift him up as an exception. " Here’s what a “good” gay black guy looks like. See we’re not racist and our platform has merit we got one of them on our side! Buy him a drink! "… This holds up until you get into company that doesn’t have to lie to themselves that they aren’t trying to oppress you and want you to just not be an uncomfortable problem anymore.

        Every genocide has idiots who join the other side in a bid to be a pet for safety and sell out their own communities in hope they will be respectable and safe… It’s a gambit that only proves you’re scum before it gets you get killed.

    • shalafi@lemmy.worldEnglish
      22·
      9 months ago

      Last job, the gay Hispanic receptionist was a Trump man. My Philippina wife was too. Past tense, once I showed her a few things. She had only seen Fox News in her 2-years in America.

      This guy? Fuck is his excuse?!

    • frezik@midwest.social
      1·
      9 months ago

      The usual answer of Log Cabin Republicans is “I like lower taxes”. Not much thought beyond that.

    • root_beer@midwest.socialEnglish
      1·
      9 months ago

      He doesn’t realize that there’s a quota of “one of the good ones” and it’s already been met

  • SeaJ@lemm.ee
    55·
    9 months ago

    He went to what was essentially a white supremacist rally and was shocked to meet white supremacists.

    • stolid_agnostic@lemmy.ml
      12·
      9 months ago

      He hoped that he would be one of the “good ones” in their eyes. He’s in it for the economic policy more than anything.

    • tryagain@lemmy.ml
      1·
      9 months ago

      For the leopards to not…uh… lynch him? It’s hard to see his position as being anything other than a grift, and I think he knew full well what would happen and this outrage/pointing-and-laughing is all part of the play.

  • telephone@infosec.pub
    391·
    9 months ago

    Black and gay? I’m just confused. Didn’t you get the memo that these are the two things Republicans hate the most?

  • KptnAutismus@lemmy.world
    35·
    9 months ago

    here in germany, we have a politician who is in the AfD (a right-wing party, where many members are literally Nazis).

    and he is an immigrant, talking about how we should stop immigration. he only gets accepted in there because he is as bigoted as them.

    i know it has little to do with this post, but i got reminded of this story by it.

    • SeaJ@lemm.ee
      27·
      9 months ago

      Trump claims immigrants are “poisoning the blood of this country.” His wife, ex-wife, and mother are immigrants…

      • violetraven@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        5·
        9 months ago

        But they’re from the correct group and countries. They want eastern European characters because they’ll be the correct religion and skin color. Do they hold those beliefs? Doesn’t matter. What matters is the image not the people. People are expendable, ideals sell.

    • fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.comEnglish
      3·
      9 months ago

      Many Republican leaders are children of immigrants.

      Many also say our birthrate is too low and we need more young people to support our future economy, something immigration builds up.

      None of it makes sense.

      • Facebones@reddthat.com
        1·
        9 months ago

        It does when you accept that it’s all a thin veneer for “we need to outbreed the undesirables”

  • BreakDecks@lemmy.mlEnglish
    31·
    9 months ago

    “They shouted ‘nr’ and ‘ft’ at me to make their point. However, I served in Iraq. I never back down. Ever.”

    I don’t understand this take. Because he served in the military, he won’t stop being allies with people even when they attack him and call him hateful slurs?

    I don’t think I’ve ever heard the “I served in Iraq, so I’m a doormat” argument before…