RNC Day Two: Woman Who Shared QAnon Conspiracy That Jews Seek to Enslave "the Goyim' Invited to Speak
Day Two of the Republican National Convention continued the prior day’s themes. The most notable incidents of antisemitism and tokenization of Jews are detailed below:
Mary Ann Mendoza, “Angel Mom” and QAnon Conspiracy Theorist
The morning of August 25, 2020, the second day of the Republican National Convention, slated speaker Mary Ann Mendoza encouraged her Twitter followers to read a thread that warned of a Jewish conspiracy to “make the goyim destroy each other.”
The thread, written by a QAnon conspiracy theorist, also argued that ”The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is not a fabrication,“ referring to the document that infamously did fabricate ‘meeting notes’ from a Jewish cabal of ‘elders’ discussing the Jewish plot to take over the world. The conspiracy is an attractive one to the QAnon network, which believes that a Satanic cabal of Hollywood stars and liberal donors are engaged in a child sex trafficking ring — a modern-day version of blood libel — and that only Trump can stop it. Mendoza actually highlighted the tweet that shared the Protocols:
Night one of the RNC featured multiple instances of blatant antisemitism. Just as the RNC was rescinding Mendoza’s invitation, a different antisemitic QAnon conspiracy theorist, congressional candidate Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) announced that she had been personally invited to attend Donald Trump’s acceptance speech on the fourth and final night of the convention.
Mendoza was removed from the RNC roster following The Daily Beast’s exposé on her promotion of antisemitic material. However, Mendoza has publicly appeared with Trump on at least two prior occasions, once at the White House in 2019, and once on the campaign trail in 2016:
While the Republican Jewish Coalition cheered Mendoza’s removal, and speciously attempted to claim the decision was a sign that the conservative movement takes antisemitism seriously, the RNC, NRCC, and Republican Party refuse to firmly reject QAnon — which the FBI has declared a domestic terror threat — or the many other antisemites in their midst. Right-wing extremist Michelle Malkin, who Trump promoted as recently as May of 2020, made her disapproval of Mendoza’s ousting clear. Malkin doubled down, claiming that the antisemitic conspiracies about George Soros in the thread Mendoza shared were true, and calling The Daily Beast “smear merchants.” The word “merchant” was and is frequently used in antisemitic portrayals of Jews, from the “Happy Merchant” cartoon to Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice.
Mike Pompeo, Secretary of State
In a precedent-breaking move, Pompeo gave his RNC speech from Jerusalem, to which he had traveled for official state business, disregarding the barrier that is supposed to exist between American party politics and diplomacy. Pompeo’s presence in Israel was intentional, and Pompeo made sure to highlight it by reminding viewers that “the president too moved the U.S. embassy to this very city of God, Jerusalem, the rightful capital of the Jewish homeland.” This continues a long line of statements from Republican politicians conflating the State of Israel with the Jewish people — something party leaders and conservative pundits regularly do to deflect away from accusations of antisemitism levied against them.
Just one week prior, Donald Trump admitted — not for the first time — that he moved the embassy to please Evangelical Christian voters, who were more enthusiastic about it than American Jews. Despite the primarily Christian audience they have in mind when it comes to foreign policy around Israel-Palestine, Pompeo and other members of the Trump Administration regularly invoke Jews as the excuse for their support for the State, as well as their Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism. In 2019, Pompeo made headlines for saying that “As a Christian” he agreed with the notion that Trump, “like Queen Esther” was raised by God to “save the Jewish people from the Iranian menace.”
Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican Congressional Candidate for GA-14
During the second day of the RNC, QAnon conspiracy theorist Marjorie Taylor Greene, who promotes the same conspiracies that Mendoza was ousted from the RNC speaker list for boosting, announced on Twitter that she had been personally invited to attend Donald Trump’s acceptance speech, scheduled for August 27, 2020. Greene has been endorsed by Trump, as well as Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Paul Gosar (R-AZ). A spokesperson for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) stated that the Congressman — who previously said that he found Greene’s ideas “appalling” — “looked forward” to her winning her general election in November. Learn more.