Arizona Senator Wendy Rogers Promotes Far Right Event Featuring Hanukkah-Basher Grilled Alaska

In November, internet far-right Tim “Baked Alaska” Gionet charged with allegedly defaming the Hanukkah screen outside the state capital of Arizona. “No more “Happy Hanukkah,” just “Merry Christmas,” Gionet said during a live stream. Three months later, he was a speaker at a conference that had just been endorsed by an Arizona senator who worked in the same building.

America’s First Political Action Conference, scheduled for next week in Orlando, Florida, is an annual gathering of far-right and racist figures. Hosted by White Nationalists and “Unity Right” Attendees Nick Fuentesthe conference is a loophole for those who think the Conservative Party Political Action Conference (also next week) needs to use more foul language.

But the fringe conference is also playing with elected officials, this year with Arizona Senator Wendy Rogers, who promoted the event on Telegram. It was the second year in a row that an Arizona politician backed the convention, bringing them into alliance with Gionet and other legitimately challenged extremists.

Rogers’ office did not return The Daily Beast’s request for comment on whether the state senator intends to attend AFPAC next week. An event poster that Rogers shared last week introduces the conference’s lineup, which includes two unnamed “mystery speakers”.

The post is a far cry from the first time Rogers has endorsed Fuentes, an outspoken obstinate. (“This is going to be the most racist, sexist, anti-Semitic, denialist speech in Dallas this weekend,” says Fuentes of one of his upcoming speeches. after he was kicked out of CPAC in 2021.) Rogers has authored at least two dozen silly posts about Fuentes, according to Left bank Right side police.

Fuentes responded to the support, using Rogers’ posts to hype the AFPAC and even hinting that a state senator might be involved, Arizona Right Wing Watch researcher reported. Earlier this month, after Rogers shared a post by Fuentes about not wanting to be friends, Fuentes bragged on Telegram about the relationship. “Wait until they see our AFPAC III lineup,” he wrote on a screenshot of Rogers’ post.

Rogers’ involvement with AFPAC, beyond her work as its hype woman, is unclear. But she won’t be the first Arizona politician to fit into the far-right convention. Last year, US Congressman Paul Gosar (R-AZ) delivered the keynote speech of the event. Gosar, a denier of the 2020 election that just took place this week retweeted another white nationalist, then posed with Fuentes at a restaurant. (A Gosar spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on whether Gosar will be attending this year’s conference.)

Both Gosar and Rogers have well-documented ties to the right, especially the paramilitary group The Oath Keepers. Rogers announced her membership joined the group a few years ago and gave a speech to the members in March 2021while Gosar allegedly told a leader of the Arizona Oath-Keepers that the United States was in a civil war, “we haven’t started shooting yet.”

But their friendliness to Fuentes and his “America First” movement signal an attempt to educate themselves with a younger racist generation — an endeavor that is both worthwhile and sometimes overwhelming. dangerous to voters of Arizona politicians.

This year’s AFPAC, which Rogers promotes, features a gallery of rogues fringe speakers, some of whom have been particularly intimidating to Arizonans.

Gionet, also known as Baked Alaska, was a longtime film actor in neo-Nazi settings. In December 2020, Gionet allegedly damaged a Hanukkah display outside the Arizona capital, where Rogers worked. Gionet was released before trial for allegedly spraying pepper spray on a security guard at an Arizona bar and a few weeks later will participate in the January 6 break-in at the US Capitol. United States, where he is also facing charges.

Other speakers have caused their own frustration in the state. One, Vincent James Foxx, is a former unofficial cinematographer for the white supremacist group Rise Above Movement. In a speech against Arizona State University’s Republican Party last year, Foxx issued a call for white supremacy, criticizing Democrats for “anti-white rhetoric” and questioning why “white supremacist is a derogatory term”.

Speaker AFPAC Milo Yiannopoulos, who rose to fame for his career in racist and sexist internet commentary, attempted to organize events in Arizona but was later bailed out under unclear circumstances. Although Yiannopoulos claimed Scottsdale, Arizona police canceled his 2018 speech due to threats from the left, Scottsdale police deny those claims, note that they hadn’t even heard of the event until Yiannopoulos pulled the plug. Undaunted, fans of Yiannopoulos began offering to mass kill leftist enemies, or calling on the far-right group Proud Boys to begin providing Yiannopoulos security.

Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes is also a scheduled AFPAC speaker. The association is unlikely to bother Rogers, who posted on Valentine’s Day that she “would rather hang out” with Confederate general Robert E. Lee than a communist.