Jarrin Jackson, the Republican contender for an Oklahoma state Senate seat, is not shy about his views: He thinks Jews are evil and that being gay is disgusting. His public comments to that effect have been reported on extensively; it only takes a simple Google search to see them.
And yet Kari Lake, the Republican nominee for governor in Arizona, was apparently caught by surprise by Jackson’s bigotry — after she endorsed his campaign for public office. “RINOs & the Soros media attack him relentlessly because he’s over the target,” Lake wrote of Jackson last Wednesday.
The Arizona Republican subsequently claimed over the weekend that she’d only seen Jackson’s résumé as a combat veteran — but apparently not the bit about Jews — before making the endorsement.
“I looked at Jarrin’s resume as (a) Combat Veteran in Afghanistan. It is impossible to dig into everything someone has said in their life. If his reported comments are true, I obviously rescind my endorsement,” Lake told Axios. “I respect Jarrin’s service to our Nation, but clearly denounce that kind of derogatory language.”
Lake added: “Let me be clear: Our great movement welcomes anyone and everyone who wants to fight for a better future.”
That Lake claims to have not known about Jackson’s beliefs is baffling: Media Matters’ Eric Hananoki and others have extensively documented the far-right internet streamer’s comments, including, “I’m not beholden to Jews.”
Separately, complaining about a documentary he’d seen, Jackson urged his followers to “outline & detail the evil. Amen. The Jews. Illuminati. Covid shots kill. Rothschilds. Communists. Woke pastors. Social gospel.”
On another livestream, Jackson promoted the racist so-called “Great Replacement” theory, playing a clip in which a narrator asserted that “an unholy alliance of leftists, capitalists and Zionist supremacists” was working to eliminate white people in Europe through “immigration and miscegenation.”
“They want to get rid of white people because of their Christianity,” Jackson commented.
Jackson has expressed hatred for gay people, too. “It’s the most disgusting, despicable, stupid, blegh thing ever,” he said in June.
The run-off race for the Republican nomination for Oklahoma’s 2nd Senate district, in which Jackson is a contender, will take place Tuesday.
Lake is far from the only prominent Republican who has gotten behind the Oklahoman. An endorsement page for the candidate lists the support of Arizona State Sen. Wendy Rogers, Arizona secretary of state nominee state Rep. Mark Finchem, and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell.
